Steam Powered Coal Mines

[rake60]

We have several abandoned coal mines very close to here.
Three of them closed in the late 1930's after decades of
being powered by steam and mules.

They were all simply abandoned in place, leaving all of the
hardware there to rust away. Almost 80 years later most of that
equipment looks pretty much as it did then.

Here's a link to the Cascade Mine.
It is about 7 miles north of my home.
http://patheoldminer.rootsweb.ancestry.com/jefcascade.html

I recently found the names of the current owners of those
properties. I'll be asking them for permission to take a walk
through with a camera.

Both of my Grandfathers worked in a mine about 3 miles south
of the Cascade Works. It was the Kramer Mine. They were in
their early teenage years when they became coal miners earning
$3 a week. I did find a link to it's story but there isn't much there.
http://patheoldminer.rootsweb.ancestry.com/jefkramer.html

That site is now occupied by my favorite scrap yard.
Everything that could be scrapped has been.

Enough of my history ramblings.
If it's steam engines I'm in it!

Rick

 

[hammers-n-nails]

great site rick. i hate to see all that history crumble into a pile, but we cant save it all, no matter how much we want to.

 

[ChooChooMike]

Rick,

Please do take LOTS of pictures and videos !!

Exploring old mining areas & sites has become somewhat a hobby of mine. I've spent many days in the mining areas of Colorado - Leadville, Cripple Creek, Black Hack, Georgetown, Ouray, Durango, Silverton with lots of more areas to explore ! The old surface works - winches, tipples, buildings, boilers, mills, headworks, etc. are just waiting to tell you their stories !! Plus they are usually so picturesque you can't help but take lots of pictures !

An excellent book is Riches to Rust - A Guide to Mining in the Old West by Eric Twitty. Talks about the typical equipment you'd find at old mines and helps identify what is there and what might have been there - especially steam boilers/engines/compressors. Kind of a forensic guide to old mining sites. Deals a lot with precious ore mining, esp gold/silver.

Yes, I've got tons of pictures and need to post a few of them th_wwp th_rulze cut youse guys off at the picture pass

Since I live in southern California, I need to explore old mines that are closer to home - old gold mines from the Sierras - areas outside Sacramento where the 1849 gold rush started - lots of stuff up there !!

Mike

 

[rake60]

I have accumulated lots of pictures from the very early mines over the years.
Mostly of the workers, such as these mule drivers from 1908.

How old do you suppose those "men" are?

Here's a good one!
This guy was earning top pay as a blaster.
He's charged a blasting tube with black powder from a 20 pound cast.
Working by the light of an open flame oil lamp on his hat was part of
the reason he was so well paid.

OK, so I'm drifting off topic now.
I am still looking forward to the winter killing off the undergrowth so I can
go get some pictures of that old iron.

Rick

 

[RobWilson]

Hi
I too live next to a mine ,,,, well lots of old mines,,,,,,,,,,, but there is a sad story attached to the mine that 200 yrds for my house
one of the worst collery disasters in the uk , when in 1862 the beem from the pump shaft snapped and shot down the shaft killing men accending in a cage,caving in the only shaft, blocking the shaft and sufercating another 205 men and boys
http://www.iln.org.uk/iln_years/year/1862a.htm
http://www.mining-memorabilia.co.uk/HartleyDisasterMedal.htm

Regards Rob

 

[ChooChooMike]

How old do you suppose those "men" are?

Teenagers at best

Here's a good one!
This guy was earning top pay as a blaster.
He's charged a blasting tube with black powder from a 20 pound cast.
Working by the light of an open flame oil lamp on his hat was part of
the reason he was so well paid.

Geeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzz, how'd those guys survive ? A simple spark or dripping oil and their life comes to an explosive end

IIRC, mining was one of the most dangerous jobs at the time, what was the life expectancy back then, late 30's ?? If black lung or silicosis didn't kill them before that.

 

[RobWilson]

Hi
the youngest was 10years old and the oldest was 71 years old
http://www.ndfhs.org.uk/Articles/HartleyDis.html

Regards Rob

 

[rake60]

I do have a few hard artifacts from those days.
This is my Dad's miner's safety belt.

When working in a condition where a fall might be possible
they would hook that belt to a safety cable. If you fell that
3" wide strap of leather would break the fall, or more likely
your back. The heavy brass tag on the side of that belt is
stamped with his name and social security number. It wasn't
there in case he forgot who he was. It was there to identify
a body.
There is a clip on that belt where a Self Rescuer was
attached. A handy little device that in an emergency was popped
open to give you up to 2 hours of filtered breathing to allow time
to walk out on your own. They looked like this one.

The year Dad was disabled I talked him into opening his Self Rescuer
to see what was in it. It took us 15 minutes, a screwdriver and a pair
of pliers just to get it open. In other words, that would have been one
more dead coal miner.

My great uncle did fall 300 feet down a mine shaft when a scaffold failed.
He landed on his feet in 3 foot of water. The impact drove his hip up to
his arms killing him instant. His brother, my Grandfather was the superintendent
on that shift. How would you back to work the next day?

I apologize if my coal miner stories are getting boring.

Rick

 

[JimN]

Far from boring, thanks for posting them.

 

[RobWilson]

Keep them coming Rick

Regards Rob

 

[ChooChooMike]

Fascinating stories Rick !! Makes you realize how dangerous those jobs are/were and the special hardy breed of men it took to do them.

The year Dad was disabled I talked him into opening his Self Rescuer
to see what was in it. It took us 15 minutes, a screwdriver and a pair
of pliers just to get it open. In other words, that would have been one
more dead coal miner.

So what was in it ??

 

[Bernd]

A simple spark or dripping oil and their life comes to an explosive end

Black powder doesn't explode in if just laying on the ground, it burns fast. If confined in a container then it becomes explosive.

Bernd

 

[rake60]

An opened self rescuer looks like this:

It has a soft rubber mouthpiece and the suction cup looking part is
a nose clamp.

Rick

 

[oilmac]

I have been most intrigued by the Stem powered coal mine articles, Before i began my apprenticeship, the first two years of working life was in a Scottish coal mine - firstly above &then below ground ,this was in the early to mid 1950/s, Although it was most intresting the thought of one spending the whole of ones working existance down there to me was not a particularly pleasant thought
Intrestingly enough the big engines and other machines used in these places are most fascinating to see in action, especially the big winding engines for lifting &lowering the cages examples of the high art of engine building
At one stage my maternal grandfather was a winding engineman, his father &uncle also, but that was before my time Another fascinating set up in the training mine where i was employed was the big mixed pressure steam turbines, used to drive the electric generators these worked by a combination of waste steam from the winding engine &live steam direct from the boilers, via a regulation system on the big turbines as required
My dad was in the mid 1930/s employed in shaft repairs, In this occupation one travelled down on the roof of the cage to the appropriate position of the repair, leaned over &pulled the signal bell wire to the engineman to stay at that position, other signals were used to hoist up, at the commencement of the repair It is my opinion, this was every bit as hazhardous &dangerous as skyscraper construction

Before i left that colliery, my heart went out to the plight of the poor ponies still as late as that date in the century, still employed underground,a most sad existance

 

[rake60]

Great story oilmac!

I do love the history tales of the old mines.
In my Dad's days of working the mines, they were construction workers.
Their job was to sink the vertical shafts to ventilate the working deep mines.
Once those shafts were completed huge horizontal turbine blower fans were
placed at the top of those shafts to draw air out of the mine creating a positive
ventilation. Dad and Grandpa would take us to those sites so we could see what they
had accomplished. As soon as they turned their backs, we'd be standing in front of those
turbines leaning back into the draft. We'd jump up in that air to see who would be
blown the greatest distance from where we were originally standing.
Looking back it was a pretty stupid thing to do.
A grain of dirt or even a bug in the air could have cost us an eye.
It was still a hell of a lot of fun to jump up in the air and land 15 feet away.
*club*

Rick

 

[Artie]

That part about jumping into the draft made me shiver Rick..I would hate to think of what my kids got up to..... im so glad they are now adults (and survived).

Im surprised that I did (survive that is...), had a great life on the farm as a kid........ 8)

 

[ariz]

interesting thread Rick, I like those old stories and to see what remains today in those places: here we call them 'industrial arcaeology'

and thinking about the conditions of the workers in the past is an exercise that's always useful

thank you for sharing