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 Jonsered
     
Location: Back in New Mexico where I belong
Gender: Male
Dressed for a scarecrow ball.........
 |  |  |  | Newbie Mine Tips
< on 5/30/2006 9:11 PM >
|  | | | I have had a number of people PM or E-mail me with questions about how to get started exploring mines, so I thought I'd post some honest information here. Please understand that this has nothing to do with ego, and I'm not trying to be tougher or cooler than other explorers on this board. A 125 foot fall will kill the toughest guy in the world, and 500 tons of collapsing rock will kill the toughest guy in the world, and Carbon Monoxide poisoning will kill the toughest guy in the world. Are you starting to see a pattern here? If you don't believe me, ask Freak, or Akron, or Doug from Cave Clan, and I suspect they will all back up what I am about to say.
If you have never explored mines before, DON'T. Its just that simple. Those of us that do mines could spend the rest of our lives trying to prepare you here online, and you still wouldn't really have a grasp of what's really going on underground. If you want to do mines, PLEASE find somebody that has experience and make a dozen or so trips with them. I don't want to hear about one of you on the news.
I will give you a couple of mine entrance tips that may keep you out of trouble:
#1 Flooded mine. These are bad news. Timber shoring is rotted away, and the mine is like a prostitute: it has no visible means of support. Avoid.
#2 Badly shored overhangs. Also bad news. This is nothing more than a lip of rock supported totally by a timber or two which have been rotting in the sun for 80 years. Avoid.
#3 Loose Rock. These weren't real stable when they were new, and decades of weathering haven't helped. They won't generally cave in, but a 100 pound boulder on your head will leave you deceased. Avoid
#4 Dirt Mines The Dr. Kevorkian of mines. These generally have a bad case of "the Crumblies" and cannot wait to collapse. People died in these regularly when they were new. Avoid.
I love mines, and I know they have a certain allure for others on this board, but there is something you have to understand:
If you're one true love is abandoned mines, you have chosen the absolute, all-time, world class bitch of a mistress, and she will kill you if she gets the chance. You generally only get one mistake, and sometimes not even that.
Lets be careful out there.
I have changed my personal exploring ethics code. From now on it will be: "Take only aimed shots, leave only hobo corpses." Copper scrappers, meth heads and homeless beware. The Jonsered cometh among you, bringing fear and dread.
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blackhawk
This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.
Location: Mission Control
UER newbie
| |  | Re: Newbie Mine Tips
<Reply # 1 on 5/30/2006 10:55 PM >
| | | | Damn, now your making it sound fun. Stop that! That dirt mine looks like a bad joke; never knew they did shit like that. Of those pictured did you venture in any of them? Thanks. 
Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in.
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'Dukes
Noble Donor
Gender: Male
At least someone llikes me
| | | Re: Newbie Mine Tips
<Reply # 2 on 5/30/2006 11:36 PM >
| | | | Don't forget the classic open pit; in NY's case we got a Magnetite pit that used to be so deep you could barely see the bottom. Now... It's quite a scenic lake about a mile long.
I got your tour winner right here pussies, at least he'd crash out trying. |
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DrDeke
 
Location: Michigan
Gender: Male
| | Re: Newbie Mine Tips
<Reply # 3 on 6/1/2006 12:04 AM >
| | | | As much as it irks me when people make posts here warning about the dangers of this or that in something of a boastful or condescending manner, I have to agree with your post and I agree that you are not boasting, either.
I'm all for personal responsibility, and if you want to go in a mine, I'm not going to stop you. But as your post illustrates, people really should be aware that old mines are, in general, significantly more dangerous than old factories.
-DrDeke
If you don't want it known, don't say it on a phone. |
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'Dukes
Noble Donor
Gender: Male
At least someone llikes me
| | | Re: Newbie Mine Tips
<Reply # 4 on 6/1/2006 12:33 AM >
| | | | I'm in agreement with dreke; Mines CAN be safe, but you have to know what the hell you are dealing with.
My first intro to shaft mining was in Colorado when I was about ten years old; my uncle had purchased some old gold mine (for god knows what reason) and while touring the old place, every step I took yielded a "don't touch this, dont go near that" comment. And it wasn't because he was a buzzkill. We got to look down the main vertical shaft, but did it on our stomachs, according to him it was a four hundred foot vertical shaft, with stopes off of that.
Then you got unsafe wood, arsenic, you name it.
My uncle taught me a good lesson, even though I haven't been near a "western" style mine since '87 or so.
I got your tour winner right here pussies, at least he'd crash out trying. |
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Fleg
Location: Rio Rancho, NM
Gender: Male
| | | | Re: Newbie Mine Tips
<Reply # 5 on 6/1/2006 2:47 AM >
| | | | I think it was three years ago or so that someone died in example #3 at a mine near Bingham, NM. A many ton rock fell from the roof after they were trying to remove a sample that was holding it up.
I've been exploring mines for 10 years. Started in Nevada, then Arizona, now Colorado and New Mexico. Haven't done many in New Mexico yet but that is slowly changin.
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nohbdy
Gender: Male
| | Re: Newbie Mine Tips
<Reply # 6 on 6/1/2006 3:37 AM >
| | | | want to add any thing about pit mines?
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Jonsered
Location: Back in New Mexico where I belong
Gender: Male
Dressed for a scarecrow ball.........
| | | | Re: Newbie Mine Tips
<Reply # 7 on 6/1/2006 6:18 PM >
| | | | Posted by nohbdyshome
want to add any thing about pit mines?
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I have absolutely no knowledge of pit mines. If anybody here has good info, this is sure the place to post it. I'm always up for learning something that may save me.
I have changed my personal exploring ethics code. From now on it will be: "Take only aimed shots, leave only hobo corpses." Copper scrappers, meth heads and homeless beware. The Jonsered cometh among you, bringing fear and dread.
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nohbdy
Gender: Male
| | Re: Newbie Mine Tips
<Reply # 8 on 6/2/2006 1:54 AM >
| | | | all i know about them is that they are open to the air and very very big, very steep walls and unusual a sloping road for trucks
old photo of the empire iron mine in MI
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Deuterium
Location: PNW
Gender: Male
| | Re: Newbie Mine Tips
<Reply # 9 on 6/2/2006 2:11 AM >
| | | | Posted by 'Dukes
I'm in agreement with dreke; Mines CAN be safe, but you have to know what the hell you are dealing with.
My first intro to shaft mining was in Colorado when I was about ten years old; my uncle had purchased some old gold mine (for god knows what reason) and while touring the old place, every step I took yielded a "don't touch this, dont go near that" comment. And it wasn't because he was a buzzkill. We got to look down the main vertical shaft, but did it on our stomachs, according to him it was a four hundred foot vertical shaft, with stopes off of that.
Then you got unsafe wood, arsenic, you name it.
My uncle taught me a good lesson, even though I haven't been near a "western" style mine since '87 or so.
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Wow, it seems like just being a legal owner itself would be a liability.
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rapcw
Location: Antioch, CA
Gender: Male
| | Re: Newbie Mine Tips
<Reply # 10 on 6/2/2006 2:49 AM >
| | | | Good tips Jonsered. I think two very important tips also are once in the mine, don't touch anything, and don't be loud. Both can cause cave-ins and falling objects. Both of these things aren't hard to do, and not doing them will decrease the chance of something bad happening considerably.
Good tip about flooded mines. I would never go into a flooded mine, they just seem so dangerous.
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GreyDeath
Location: Ontario
Gender: Male
The Darkness is coming...
| |  | Re: Newbie Mine Tips
<Reply # 11 on 6/2/2006 11:22 PM >
| | | | Be careful around the edges of open pit mines. There are a few around here where the walls are starting to break off and cave in. http://maps.google...,0.053988&t=k&om=1
You can see where the walls are caving in, where the roads use to run, and where massive fishers are forming.
-Me!
Im not stupid, Im Canadian! |
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jasonbirder
| | Re: Newbie Mine Tips
<Reply # 12 on 7/5/2006 4:22 PM >
| | | | Don't forget false floors - over open stopes, can be very very hard to recognise when you're actually standing on one...
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Captain Obvious
Location: among the tank farms
Gender: Male
in ur xbox...there are midgets
| | Re: Newbie Mine Tips
<Reply # 13 on 7/6/2006 11:26 PM >
| | | | The edges of pit and strip mines can be prone to collapse due to age and subsidence, especially with sheer walls or unstable soil.
Regarding false floors, one of my greatest fears is that one day I will plunge through old diamond plate into the ubiquitous Pit of Sharp Objects.
[last edit 7/6/2006 11:29 PM by Captain Obvious - edited 1 times]
Nov. 24, 2007--The city of Cleveland, Ohio, announces that it has developed tactical nuclear weapons, and does not wish to hear any more jokes.
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'Dukes
Noble Donor
Gender: Male
At least someone llikes me
| | | Re: Newbie Mine Tips
<Reply # 14 on 7/6/2006 11:45 PM >
| | | | The cool thing about open pits... In many cases they hide history.
At Tahawus NY, the old company village was entirely relocated to Newcomb after more Iron ore was discovered underneath the company village.
Houses, churches, you name it were trailered off to make way for the new pit.
I get email from old timers back before UER was "full member" thanking me for showing me where they used to work.
One guy even had a girl in the old village of Adirondak, 6 miles north (the original 1840's mine). He walked in the dark on a dirt road just to get a peice of ass!
My dad met a girl (woman) in florida that was born in on the kitchen table in the Mcnaughton cottage (where teddy roosevelt stayed). Small world.
Today its being torn down, and it makes me cry every time I think about the old mill. Middle of nowhere, the most special place I've ever been.
I got your tour winner right here pussies, at least he'd crash out trying. |
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KTownUE
Location: Kenosha, WI
Gender: Male
Small town UE all up in the midwest.
| | | Re: Newbie Mine Tips
<Reply # 15 on 7/10/2006 8:56 PM >
| | | | Very enriching article. I dont have any mines down by me but the next time I take a jaunt up north im gonna find some mines and check em out.
5D Mk 2 with Grip
50mm f/1.2L || Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS
|| 16-35mm f/2.8 L Mk. 2 || Canon 580EX 2 Flash |
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Freak
Location: Usually Alaska, now MSP.
Gender: Male
Hypocrite
| | | Re: Newbie Mine Tips
<Reply # 16 on 7/14/2006 4:09 AM >
| | | | Hidden or covered shafts can be a huge danger both inside and out of mines. Often the accepted method to "seal" old shafts was to throw a few logs across the top and forget about it. Decades later those logs, boards, etc are rotting away and may be hidden under leaves, dirt, water, etc. I've seen shafts covered with bed frames, rotting wood, gravel-covered logs, etc, and they're even harder to see if they're in the floor of a tunnel ahead of you and covered in shallow water or mud.
Turn off the internet and go play outside.
http://spamusement...hp/comics/view/137 |
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