Explorer Finds a Rare Pair of 100 Year Old Levi's Jeans in an Abandoned California Silver Mine

Brent Underwood of Ghost Town Living, who makes his home in the abandoned mining town of Cerro Gordo, California, spends a great deal of his time exploring the old silver mine of the same name, going as deep as he can go in order to find out more about the town’s long history.

In this video I continue my descent down the Jefferson Chimney here at Cerro Gordo. The adventure took hundreds of feet of rope and multiple days.

During one hard-won descent into the Jefferson Chimney, Underwood located a very rare pair of Levi’s jeans that were at least 100 years old (or more). While this discovery is remarkable, it’s not surprising as Levi Strauss & Company began doing business in San Francisco during both the Gold and Silver Rush in California.

Why are Levi’s interesting? And why are there be Levi’s down in the mine? …Levi’s invented the first pair of blue jeans ever in the world. Not denim, that was already created, but blue jeans for California silver miners in the 1870s and this Cerro Gordo is a California silver mine that was active in the 1870s. …Levi’s invented the very first pair that was worn by miners.