Frank Schlichting Documentary
UNDERMINE
An abandoned mine explorer visits two of the largest ghost towns in Canada and enters the long abandoned mines under them to see what remains.
New filmExploring Abandoned Mines · #404
He Bought a Caved-In Gold Mine. Then He Brought It Back.
In 2021 Frank Schlichting bought the Yankee Boy, a flooded, collapsed gold mine near Grand Forks, BC. The whole rebuild is now one film: just over two hours, told as it happened.
Over a decade underground. Get Frank’s monthly letter →
2021 · Frank in the new timber sets
165,000
YouTube subscribers
400+
Films
10+
Years underground
From the archive
Where the Cameras Don’t Usually Go
Photographs from over a decade underground. Tap any one to see it large.
Watch
Four Hundred Films In. Still Filming.
Three films that play right here, and both of Frank’s channels, with a new film most weeks. Browse the films →
Short film · 4 min
Probably Mental
A short film, on Frank’s channel since the spring of 2026.
YouTube
The channel · 165,000 subscribers
Exploring Abandoned Mines
The underground, filmed before it disappears: the workings and the machinery, from BC to Mexico and Australia. Subscribe →
The second channel · 6 min
Bear Attack Story
Frank tells the story of the black bear that charged him on his ranch near Fort St. John and followed him up a tree. More on his second channel →
Do Not Do What Frank Does
Never go into an abandoned mine. Abandoned mines are dangerous: bad air that gives no warning, rotten timber, hidden shafts under loose ground, rock that fails without a sound. Frank has years of experience and proper rope equipment, and it is still dangerous work. The films are the way in.
And one rule as firm as the first: these places, and everything left in them, are history. Take nothing, damage nothing, leave every site exactly as you found it.
New here? Start with The Yankee Boy Story →
About
The Man Behind the Headlamp
Rancher Pilot Mine Explorer Filmmaker
For over a decade, the man documenting British Columbia’s vanishing underground — more than 400 films and a lifetime of stories from places most people will never see. BC is home for Frank, but the films range from Alaska to Mexico, and in 2026 to Australia.
This is not nostalgia dressed up for the camera. It’s a working archive of places, skills and lives that can disappear in a single cave-in. More about Frank →
“We’re doing this for fun. This is what I enjoy doing.”
The Letters
Letters from the Underground
Every month Frank picks one photograph out of his archive and tells the story of the day it was taken. Start anywhere; they don’t expire. Read every letter →
The Mother Lode, Greenwood
An old drill steel, set down at the end of a shift and waiting in the dark ever since. Some tools tell you more than the records ever will.
Read the letter →
The Company You Keep
An old drill steel, set down at the end of a shift and waiting in the dark ever since. Some tools tell you more than the records ever will.
Read the letter →
Riding the Rails at the Yankee Boy Mine, Grand Forks, BC
An old drill steel, set down at the end of a shift and waiting in the dark ever since. Some tools tell you more than the records ever will.
Read the letter →“It’s really honouring the work and the history of what happened here.”
Letters from a Retired Madman
Come along. One photograph. One story. Once a month.
That’s the whole deal. Frank picks one photograph out of the archive, tells you the story of the day it was taken, and signs off until next month. A short P.S. points to whatever’s new — films and mine pages — and that’s it.
Unsubscribe anytime.
