Cripple Creek

[Dave Grubb]

Gold mine----entrapment. One person died and all the rest have been recovered from about 1000 feet below the surface.

A good friend of mine visited this mine some years ago--he said it was very interesting since much of the machinery was still there and he could get up close to it. The town itself is a bit of a tourist trap but still interesting to see.

[UTAH]

If one of our mines is shut down the property owners are required to seal off access to it. However, particularly in our West desert, cavers will cut through the mesh or grates and go inside. I had a friend who'd go into such caves, but I stayed outside of it so I could leave and bring back help if an accident occurred.

Every cave I went into in California had bats inside. But, I've not seen bats in a Utah cave yet.

Hunter

[Phillbo]

In Utah the caves have openings at each end that you can typically see and are referred to as Arches


I've been to Cripple Creek many times. I would never go down in the mine. I know what a dark hole looks like and don't need to spend money to see another one.

[UTAH]

Yeah, I've enjoyed cave outings, though it takes me a while to get into it.

Wifey and I have snorkeled in caves in Belize and Mexico. The water was cold, but not wet suit cold. One learns to avoid touching the walls or ceilings where assorted cave critters lurk (spiders, lizards, bats). I was concerned about drowning rather than a collapse occurring.

Hunter

[Dave Grubb]

This mine was being operated as a tourist attraction with an educational side to it. We have a few coal mines in PA that are doing the same thing. In PA anyone who guides groups (or even one person) into a coal mine has to be a licensed coal miner and the mine must be licensed which means that it undergoes periodic state inspections. The one closest to our home was a standing "go to" venue for any visitors from out of the area---at one point I think I could have conducted the tour. The commentary of the miners, which varied from one to another, made the experience seem more "real".

The open PA mines are all drift mines which are "self draining". Vertical shaft mines (here) all have dewatering pumps and when the mines shut down the pumps stop and the mine floods.

[Truckman]

I know what a dark hole looks like and don't need to spend money to see another one.

^^^^^
This......Ben

[UTAH]

Wifey's father was a Mining Engineer and worked at mines throughout the West. He'd survived several "bounces" (it's what he called localized collapses). Wifey's brother followed in his footsteps - initially. He was in a Carbon County coal mine during a bounce. At the end of that same day he left work and never went back into a mine again.

Hunter

[FredK]

Only one I went in was this one. https://www.nps.gov/orca/index.htm

That to me was a great experience.

I understand the door open or something. Feel sorry the the young man may he RIP.

[Dave Grubb]

For me seeing these mines was educational and valued.

Cripple Creek is hard rock mining, structurally different than coal mining. Coal mining followed coal seams that often laid on angles between horizontal and vertical. The miners worked in these seams which could be as little as 18" thick, laying on their bellies. The coal would slide down the slope to a cross shaft were a tram waited to be loaded. A miner there would control a "gate" to fill a tram car pulled by mules. The coal dust would preclude seeing anything and the "gate man" would swing his foot over the tram to tell when it was full.

One of the miners working in that mine (which was owned by the town) talked about his early days in the mine and when WWII broke out he enlisted in the Marines---thinking it could not be as bad as that mine

Many of those drift mines became major sources of acid stream pollution because of the dissolved minerals, mostly sulfur in the rock, as the water filtered down from the surface. A good friend of mine ran a survey crew in the early 70's mapping all the sources of flow in one of the streams in the coal area, in preparation of a major abatement project.

[UTAH]

Good info, Fred. I've got family in Oregon. Didn't know about the Marble Halls of Oregon - but it looks like an excellent side trip to see it.

Hunter

[Phillbo]

I have a friend into spelunking that talked me into following him into a cave.... Once we got to a spot where the hole was not much wider than my shoulders I pee'd myself and asked for directions out.

I don't like being under... under ground or under water..... Rather be 12K and free.