Abandoned Lead Mine, Woodstock NH

In 1905, Fred Hunton purchased land on Mt Cilley in Woodstock New Hampshire, and operating as the Hunton Mining Company began drilling into the side of the mountain. He was in search of lead, but as with many mid-sized mines in our state during this period, more wealth went into the ground than ever came out of it. After five unsuccessful years Hunton's bank foreclosed on the property, and no further mining has taken place at the site. A hundred years later, there are not only structural remnants such as a foundation and brick platform to explore, but the prize of every one of our mine hunts, a tunnel.

I located this mine in the fall of 2017. My search led me through a mile-long zigzag as I ruled out one suspect location after another, before I finally - and inadvertently - stumbled upon it via the backdoor. It looked a lot trickier from above, but this shaft was at a 45-degree angle and had plenty of rocks to climb down on.

Nearly all of the mine is at walking height, consisting of a main tunnel and two side ones, dead-ending in either direction. One of these offshoots was too flooded to enter, and the other terminated after a short distance in what may have been a collapse or a backfill.

The tunnel cut through the length of the hill where I exited from the main entrance. Although this was a good day of exploring, unless I leave a place with no stone unturned and no tunnel unexplored, I'm not completely satisfied. I knew someday I'd be back, but for now I fired off a selfie to my wife to show her that not only was I successful, but still alive, and that I was on my way home.

I returned to the site in the winter of 2019, battling several feet of snow-drifts before reaching the half buried - and completely undisturbed - entrance. I hadn't expected any human prints leading into the mine, but it was nice to not see any large animal tracks, either. Over the drift I climbed and entered on my hands and knees.

Although fun to explore at any time of year, mineshafts in the winter - particularly those with ice - are usually a thing of beauty.

On this trip I took my time. Including the main tunnel and side branches I measured 150’ of mineshaft, and considering I was only working with a 25-foot tape measure, that made for a bit of back and forth shuffling along the ice. But I was able to cover the entire mine, including the side tunnel that had been previously off limits due to flooding. As I often do, I left a couple presents in the wall at the end, and I'm hoping to find them gone if I'm ever underground here again.

Now I was able to call my exploration of the Woodstock Lead Mine complete. My database is up to 45 entries and counting, but with rumors of New England's underground mines numbering into the triple digits, having checked another one off the list puts me in no danger of running out of places to explore anytime soon.


Additional Reading:
http://www.logginginlincoln.com/uploads/UPHS_Summer_2008.pdf

Sawyer, Ida T. - Woodstock History, Barbara Avery, transcriber, 2013