WE FOUND THIS HIDDEN IN THE MONTANA MOUNTAINS...

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]So, right now, Bryson and I are hiking to the Smuggler gold mine in Montana, and there's supposed to be a lot left.

[00:00:08]We're already making our way to it. I see some ruins all around us. So, let's go have a look around. This is one of the coolest things I've seen out of mining camp is like these giant towers side by side signifying the entrance in.

[00:00:23]And you could see they had lights on top at one time, but this was it. There's buildings scattered all over the place.

[00:00:30]We got a few here, some behind, and then further in the woods there. But what we're actually going to do is begin on the left because as we were hiking in, I noticed a couple buildings. So, let's go check those out. In the late 1800s, during Montana's gold rush era, prospectors pushed into mountains searching for new deposits. The smuggler mine was established during this period with development beginning in the 1890s as part of the Shuridan mining district.

[00:01:00]It was a small underground gold mine with minor silver and copper also present. Like many mines of the era, it was claimed on a private load claim, and miners carved addits and shafts into the mountainside, following narrow or court veins that promised rich returns, but often delivered only modest yields.

[00:01:22]Unlike the large industrial operations elsewhere in Montana, smuggler mine remained a relatively small and difficult venture. Work here was seasonal, shaped by harsh winters, steep terrain, and the constant uncertainty of underground mining. By the early 1900s, activity at the mine slowed as ore quality declined and large, more profitable operations drew miners elsewhere. Eventually, the smuggler mine was abandoned, leaving behind quiet workings carved into the rock and surface structures that now stand frozen in time. Today, the site stands as a reminder of Montana's mining past. A place built on hope, hard labor, and risk, preserved in the rugged mountain landscape. Join us as we explore what remains of this amazing mine operation, the smuggler mine. Just a few ruins.

[00:02:18]We'll quickly gloss over it.

[00:02:20]Unfortunately, all fallen down. There's something up here, too.

[00:02:28]the old outhouse and then looking down there's two houses where I checked them out. They were kind of outliers cuz if you see they're by themselves and all of the other mining camp was way over there. But it's really amazing scenery here.

[00:03:04]It's interesting to see all the different colors, the different paint.

[00:03:07]Definitely an interesting house. It's all tore up now. The others today are going to be in a lot better condition.

[00:03:15]They're all standing, but let's just go through it.

[00:03:31]Yeah, it's all tore up. That was the back door. Looks like the bedroom.

[00:04:01]Oh, check this cabin out. They built it right on a huge rock right here.

[00:04:17]You just have the old bed spring and then a couch.

[00:04:22]Now, this is interesting.

[00:04:24]>> It's like a crawl space.

[00:04:28]Oh, no way. Stairs that go down.

[00:04:32]>> Oh, there's even a boot.

[00:04:33]>> I bet you that was like a deep storage or cold food storage room.

[00:04:43]Coming back to the main section, and this is really the more interesting part. There's all these buildings. Let's see these ones real quick.

[00:04:52]There's like a giant garage door opening and just a huge piece of equipment inside.

[00:05:05]And then veering off is another equipment building.

[00:05:16]What would have that been? Let me know.

[00:05:46]Everything's just super overgrown, so you just got to get around it to even have a look in.

[00:05:54]Someone's old house.

[00:05:56]Oh, no way. That's a cool bed frame.

[00:06:05]And it's all emptied out, you know.

[00:06:07]Here's the kitchen. Kind of like the living area.

[00:06:12]There really isn't a whole lot. And I hate that when there's not a lot left.

[00:06:16]It's always neat to see the old stuff.

[00:06:34]And then right beside the house was this storage room.

[00:06:42]A couple mine sampling boxes and just some piping.

[00:06:49]I like the look of this building.

[00:06:50]However, the two chimneys side by side like that.

[00:06:56]So, there's a couple sections of mines.

[00:06:58]The more modern ones are going to be tucked over there, we'll have to see.

[00:07:02]But then tucked away in these trees were the original mines that really established this camp.

[00:07:12]Now we're approaching the older mines.

[00:07:14]This was the old workshop and assay office. The mines themselves are all gone.

[00:07:46]I could imagine the equipment that sat on those huge.

[00:07:54]You see, this was one of the mine portals that's just completely collapsed now. I'm pretty sure that was the main holage.

[00:08:04]But we'll get back down, see the rest of this mining camp. I just wanted to see this upper workings real quick. There's really nothing else out here.

[00:08:13]This is what I love about exploring in Montana is everything's so overgrown. As you keep exploring, you find more stuff.

[00:08:19]Tucked behind is another house. And there's this old dynamite storage room, too.

[00:08:35]So that's the dynamite storage room.

[00:08:38]It makes sense why they would have built it by a rock, you know, if it goes off or something.

[00:08:43]>> Yeah, >> it's protected.

[00:08:50]Old bunk house. It's all falling down now. There's the old stove.

[00:09:01]Directly adjacent is another bunk house.

[00:09:03]This one would have been huge.

[00:09:18]Now, here's an awesome looking house.

[00:09:20]It's going to be an interesting one to get into. This was the old front door.

[00:09:26]It's pretty high up now.

[00:09:39]>> Yeah, that's definitely an easier entrance.

[00:09:48]>> I know. It's just an old bunk house.

[00:09:51]Same as the others, except this one's actually standing. Yeah, >> probably has a kitchen here.

[00:09:59]What's trippy is look how these shelving are going off to the side.

[00:10:12]But that's it. Just goes in a giant circle with that area. There's like a storage going up to this. It's an old pantry.

[00:10:23]which is a huge one. And that makes me think with all that kitchen equipment, with the size of this place, you know, there's one bunk house there, another one, even more houses. That could have been just a dedicated cook house.

[00:10:37]I don't know.

[00:10:41]I love these rock walls, though.

[00:10:50]More bushwhacking because there is another cabin. It's tucked behind all these trees.

[00:11:03]We found it. This is the other cabin we seen coming down from that small mine.

[00:11:12]Tons of bushwhacking, but we finally made it.

[00:11:17]There really isn't anything inside.

[00:11:28]Other than the cooktop, it's everything else is taken out. Well, just look at the electrical work, too.

[00:11:39]Oh, and it's all up here as well.

[00:11:46]It goes down. Where does it go?

[00:11:48]>> I have enough. It just stops right.

[00:11:50]>> Yeah. Kind of grounds out.

[00:11:52]>> And what I like, one of my favorite type of trees is these aspen trees.

[00:12:21]Heat. Heat.

[00:12:39]This is the coolest place though.

[00:12:41]Definitely worth coming up.

[00:12:46]And now what we're doing is we're actually finishing up. There's another house here and then the mine itself, the main holage after that, another cabin.

[00:12:56]This house has just collapsed into itself.

[00:13:03]I don't even think this is going to open at all. But it was two levels.

[00:13:08]Yeah, that's long gone.

[00:13:11]I want to try to get up there, though.

[00:13:15]Like even this wall is completely fallen.

[00:13:18]>> Yeah. Oh, it's that's the wall, not the roof. Jeez.

[00:13:20]>> Yeah, that's the wall that's falling down. You can see the door, the window.

[00:13:27]Oh, not even a chance.

[00:13:29]It's all caved in in the middle.

[00:13:32]>> Yeah.

[00:13:34]>> So, whatever ruins or antiques are down there, we might never know >> the area.

[00:13:40]>> I know it's sketchy here. I did find a way to look in though.

[00:13:45]>> I don't see anything though.

[00:13:52]See, now we finished up this whole area.

[00:13:55]We're going to go see the mine.

[00:14:04]This is just insane. It is all flooded.

[00:14:08]There's no way.

[00:14:15]Even if you wanted to explore it, you'd be chugging through all this water. I've done it. But I think this one's just going to be the type where it gets deeper and deeper as you go on.

[00:14:27]It's neat though.

[00:14:38]This is our last cabin and it's all tucked away from everybody else.

[00:14:54]The door looks all locked up.

[00:14:57]We can look through the window.

[00:15:02]Oh, it's super cool in here. This place is in great condition.

[00:15:07]You can make it into a volunteer cabin.

[00:15:09]That would be awesome.

[00:15:14]Heat.

[00:15:25]Heat.

[00:15:34]Heat. Heat. N.

[00:16:06]All right, we got camp set up. Check it out. Bring a campground of the year all pushed back in this one spot.

[00:16:18]Yeah. See, this is what we do after the mine, which the mine is only about a/4 mile off.

[00:16:26]And then we just found this campground.

[00:16:28]Said screw it. This is the place to camp. Got the tent.

[00:16:33]Got Mr. Bryson.

[00:16:34]>> What's up?

[00:16:35]>> That's my spot and Lee's spot. He always tries to take my spot, so I usually end up sleeping on the ground.

[00:16:42]>> Yeah, >> it's life.

[00:16:44]Hell yeah.

[00:16:47]Fun stuff.

[00:16:50]What's up, Lee?