Page 126 - Walks In The Black Range

The vistas to the south, as you walk up the valley to Ready Pay Mine, are quite nice, with views of Cooke’s Peak in the distance.
29. Stowaway Mine
The Stowaway Mine is an abandoned gold mine at 32°56’40.73” N by 107°32’53.77”. The short trail (.84 miles each way) to the mine shaft shown on the following pages starts at an elevation of 5,496’ at a parking area just off of NM-152, east of Hillsboro, New Mexico. Near the end of the walk, the trail reaches its maximum elevation of 5,787’ (see elevation profile on following pages).
The walk is entirely on an old mining road with the usual loose cobbles and small stones. The usual culprits and dangers are present so be watchful. Route finding is obvious. There are a couple of washouts on the road so there is a bit of clambering required. The trail shown here ends at the main shaft, it is possible to follow the wash uphill. Since there are remains of an old road I suspect that there was additional mining above this point.
It is possible to follow the base of the wash as an alternate, and probably more interesting route, but I have not done so.
There is very little information about the mine itself. There are some surface trenches in the area but no apparent adits, what appears to be the main shaft was framed (much of the side framing appears to still be in place) and either a structure above the shaft has collapsed onto it or lumber has been piled on top of the shaft (see photos). Just north of the shaft is a concrete platform with pipes embedded - this was probably the location of the winch which was used to raise and lower miners and raise ore and rock. There are a number of scrape metal pieces about.