Old dynamite found at Tuolumne County mining claim

Six sticks of dynamite found Tuesday afternoon at an old mining claim in Tuolumne County were detonated by bomb personnel from the Sheriff's Office in neighboring Calaveras County.

The find was made at the very end of Jack Page Road by the owner of the mining claim, the Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office reported. The dynamite was spongy and it was unclear how long it had been in the mine. "It was too deteriorated to determine" age, spokeswoman Sgt. Deborah Moss said Wednesday.

Tuolumne deputies cordoned off the area and requested their Calaveras colleagues. The dynamite was carefully moved to an open area and disposed of.

Cal Fire also responded in case the detonation caused a fire. Its Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit posted on its Facebook page, "Sometimes the cops get to do fun stuff, we just need to be there to make sure they’re safe."

Perhaps once a year does someone report finding old sticks of dynamite, Moss said. It's "more common (in gold country) than other locations just based on the past history of the area and the mining that was so frequent in our area years ago," she said.

On its Facebook page, the Tuolumne Sheriff's Office posted, "Old dynamite can be very unstable, we ask the public not to handle, cover, move or transport unwanted explosives. We are thankful this dynamite did not explode unintentionally and that no one was injured."

This story was originally published June 27, 2018 at 9:28 AM.