My FAVORITE Abandoned Coal Mine in 20 years of Exploring Mines. Bituminous Heaven! Part 1 of MANY!🇺🇲
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ค. 2023
- This video is dedicated to one of my longest continuing TH-cam subscribers, YT handle Leeturner1838. He was a former Bituminous Coal Miner & asked for a Soft Coal (Bituminous) mine video. So, I dug deep into my archives & made it happen for him. Got to make my loyal viewers happy, right?! Thank you Lee for your former service as a coal miner. You helped keep the lights on in this great State of Pennsylvania.🫡
This mine, even though it's not an Anthracite Coal Mine, is my favorite mine. It just is. It's pure eye candy when you're down there. It's incredible as to how SMALL it actually is. It's like a toy mine! The rail gauge (width of the tracks) is so small that it's almost the size of the little live steam trains you can ride on at Knoebels Amusement Park! It's so little in scale that it's impressive. Don't let this fool you however, this mine is huge! I read reports in a book years ago that said there were OVER 40 miles of laid track in this mine in the year 1880! That's gigantic, let alone for a Bituminous mine! This mine was driven (constructed) by pure muscle power & animal power. There was NO mechanization down here. This mine was NEVER electrified. It was abandoned for the first time before the dawn of the 20th century. From about World War 1, all through the Great Depression, and through World War 2, this mine was bootlegged. This means miners just came here by themselves or as a small collective group to mine in order to survive. They went into old abandoned workings & took the coal pillars. This was dangerous work.
Sit back, relax & enjoy this tour of this lovely coal mine. There will be many follow up videos to this first one. Thanks again Lee for asking for a soft coal video, I've been wanting to upload this one for a long time now. This is my favorite video edit I've done so far. This mine has subsided shut due to ice forming at its portal. The ice/freeze thaw cycles from the Winter/Springtime cause most mine openings to collapse. This is why you see the more modern mines encasing the mine openings with concrete. Mother nature has taken this mine back in a sense. It's come full circle for this mine unfortunately.
DISCLAIMER: Stay Out & Stay Alive!! As you can see from this video, abandoned mines are treacherous. I've worked with the Pa. DEP/Pa. Game Commission (civilian non-employee reporting dangerous mines) over the last 10 plus years to bat gate mines, backfill open vertical shafts that were threats to people & animals, etc. I NO LONGER ACTIVELY EXPLORE ABANDONED ANTHRACITE COAL MINES. I HAVE NEARLY 2 DECADES OF EXPERIENCE & AM TRAINED, HAVE OXYGEN, FLAME SAFETY LAMPS, MAPS, MEDICAL TRAINING FROM THE MILITARY, ETC. YOU CAN EASILY GET HURT OR KILLED IN OLD MINES! Black damp can kill you in mere moments & it is something you cannot smell or see, without training & proper equipment, you will succumb to this. No locations will be given or discussed anywhere on my channel; I will delete them if comments as such arise. I always carried a closed-circuit oxygen self-rescuing apparatus that miners carry. I always a had a ridiculous number of batteries & multiples of flashlights themselves, glow sticks, hard hat, tourniquet, maps of the specific mine, a safety party on standby should I not come out at a predetermined time, etc. I kept my explorations as professional as one possibly could. I also had an extensive knowledge as to how & why miners did what they did underground. I knew what could possibly happen to the roof/walls before it happened in a sense. My geology knowledge was something I worked hard at & most people could miss what I often saw thus resulting in collapses, etc. PLEASE STAY OUT & STAY ALIVE!
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Check out that intro...I had to remove the "Anthracite" in the opening scene 😆!
Remember to STAY OUT & STAY ALIVE! Do not venture into old mines. It's S-K-E-T-C-H-Y!
This video is dedicated to YT user:Leeturner1838 who was a former Bituminous Coal Miner.
The pick ax marks gave me chills. This mine is a memorial
You're right. I never thought of it that way! That's an interesting point of view. I like it. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Excellent work!!!
Thanks a lot!
Beautiful.
Thank you sir.
23:08 as long as it isn’t a spider! 😂
by far your best in terms of well-preserved. What a time-machine representing a century and a half of Pennsylvania's coal mining heritage. Simply outstanding! Your understanding of the history of coal-mining in general adds so much depth to the presentation. Well done my PA brother from another mother, well done! Oorah!
Thank you sir! Always good to hear from you. I really appreciate the compliment my friend. Glad you enjoyed it. This one was the best mine hands down, there will be more videos on this one for sure. I showed less than 25% of the mine (or less) in this video. So much more to see. Hope all is well in your end!
i really enjoy hearin your historical anecdotes bro
Thanks man! I appreciate your watching my video &, the friendly words. 👍
I became all ears and eyeballs when you said that this was a bituminous mine! My dad would’ve loved it too. From the descriptions I remember him talking about, this mine was gargantuan. The offshoots, twists and turns brought out unique dimensions . Same mine, different characteristics. Thank you for this marvelous journey.
Thanks for watching and I appreciate you talking about your Father. He sounds like he was cool! 🙂I'm sure I would have liked him. Sorry for your loss.
what a GREAT video!!!!!!!!! it is very hard to work in low coal, and the only thing good about that mine is that they didnt have to lay in water as they worked the vein!!!! well done!!!!! LOAD COAL my brother!!!!!!!!
True, true. Some sections were wet, but overall pretty dry. Thanks man. There will be several more videos on this one. I only scratched the surface of this one. She was a HUGE one!
Outstanding🎉🎉🎉🎉
Thank you buddy.👍
Very cool
Thank you.
Awesome job man 👌.
Many thanks.
Interesting
It is. This one was the best one. My baby.
What an interesting place. Thanks for another interesting tour.
Thanks! Appreciate you viewing it!
Very cool thanks for sharing⛏️
Thank you & I appreciate you watching/commenting.
So I take it that Lee has passed? He worked for Rushton in Philipsburg. Not far from me. We used to ride all over in that territory. I enjoyed reading his comments on your videos. I'm sure that even though the entryway has collapsed there is still another entrance via airshaft that isn't documented on the maps. Many aren't. The bituminous mines don't give you the colors that Anthracite does. Just dirty and chalky. When we would come home from riding our bikes up there we would look like you just stood in front of your furnace flu while someone blew it out with an air hose! When I was a kid we'd find these drift's with broken wood plank's at the entrances. We would look in but I never remember actually walking inside of them? I mainly remember the old cars and trucks left to rust. Ancient vehicles from the early 20's and 30's. Amazing stuff to find. Tangascootac, Peacock, Beach Creek Mountain!
Wait....who passed?!
Edit: I read my description and see the reason. Lol! My bad, no he's fine and well. He was just a Bituminous miner so I figured I'd give him a soft coal mine tour.
This one is pretty colorful like an Anthracite to be honest. In the back there's tons of acid mine drainage that looks like an Anthracite mine too. I love this mine. Hands down my favorite. Those trucks and cars sound cool you saw. You could get black lung riding around culm piles I've heard. Even outside, that dust can get you in the long run!
My bad too!! Sorry Lee!! I wonder if Lee remembers Al Hamilton? Al was a sprint car racing legend with a big excavating history in Clearfield. Nothing was better than riding in the strippings in my area. Shamokin and Mt. Carmel were excellent as well! I learned so much from racing with the guys from the coal region. A friend of mine was sponsored by Lucas Mining in Hegins, Pa. They used to stop at our shop when coming up to this area to go to their cabin. Great guys.@@AnthraciteHorrorStories
@@Davewilliamson5w sounds like great times. I'm envious. The strippings were great places to hang out as kids. Sled riding down the culm piles was great...till you hit garbage or tree stumps..lol.
Jude, holy hell! This is definitely like nothing I've seen before. Like everyone is say, it's a time machine. Only thing thats missing are some ore cars, men, mules and the hustle and bustle.
Definitely some Tommyknockers down there.
Thanks for sharing this time capsule with us. ⛏️🪨🤘
Thanks man! Ikr? Frozen in time. I bet there's a coal car somewhere down there still. There were pick axes down there, mule shoes, mule harness pieces, etc. A cool mine for sure. There has to be some Tommyknockers for sure. 🙂
@@AnthraciteHorrorStories Gotta leave some ciggys and change. 😉
nice thorough job on this one, bro. watch out for lizard people down there though buddy.
Hahaha. I haven't seen any lizards in almost 20 years....thanks though for the kind words. This one was a fun mine for sure to document.
Fascinating! Amazing! I was totally glued to watching this and rewinding. That rail looks to ready for cars and pick up where they left off. Were there any hoof prints? Any reason why they stopped mining there? I love the history and stories of the miners. Thank you. Much respect for doing what you do. All your videos are absolute treasures.
Thank you. I love hearing when people enjoy my videos. Glad I'm getting the history out into the world for all to see. I'm really happy you liked this one though for real. They stopped mining the coal because I read in old reports that they exhausted the seams of coal. They were "robbing the pillars" too from these old sources I've read. I disagree with this however because bootleggers came in after the first miners & proceeded to mine coal for 50 more years! Small independent miners that is. So clearly they initially lied when they said that they "exhausted" the coal. There's still a lot of coal not worked in the mine too. Kind of odd if you ask me. No hoof prints, but mule shoes are still down there.
@@AnthraciteHorrorStories you sure do need a shout out for amazing content, I am totally glued fast soaking up all the history. Yes I agree with your theory about the mine. It’s amazing how miners would work down in the mines long hours and then too they would dig in their own mines. If I am not mistaken the mine disaster at the Portal Tunnel in 1977 occurred related to mining into unknown bootleg workings? All the injuries had. I love listening to oral history from the miners themselves. When I was a little girl my pap was the night watchman at Kocher Coal Co. and I would walk with him to “turn the clocks” as he said. We went high up in the breaker and around the whole site. Loved it and that’s where my interest began. I have to ask my dad if he still has a copy of a book about PA mining history. I remember sitting and reading looking at all the old pictures. Golly, it would be interesting to go back in time. I could go on and on. By the way that gobbling was truly jaw dropping. People don’t understand that we need to preserve our PA mine history. Miners are a special breed of people for sure and should be revered.
@@butcherwoman3753 so true. That's awesome about your Pop. What year was that if I may ask? That's a cool memory you have! I don't know much about the Porter Tunnel Disaster. I'll have to go look it up now! Thanks for the compliment. Ya, the channel is struggling in the traffic department...oh well. Appreciate it so much though.
@@AnthraciteHorrorStories it had to be 1979-1985 timeline. I was young elementary school age I think. Enjoying your content…you present it perfectly.
@@butcherwoman3753 thank you so much. I appreciate the comment more than you'll know, for real.
Amazing history by brave as brass veteran's my friend
Hell yeah man, there was a lot of Welsh or Scottish Protestants in this village that did this mine. There was a Catholic minority here, but this village was primarily Presbyterian, are they Welsh usually?
@@AnthraciteHorrorStories usually the Irish is Catholic brother but I loved the video you posted of your favourite mine pretty excellent in there and the history as you said was civil war vets so big respect there I'm ill just now bud got fluid in the knee hellava sore but I'm just resting n surviving I meant to say yeah I was I the army for 90 to 99 sorry I didn't get back to you quicker my regiment is the 1st battalion royal highland fusilers c coy seen the world met the queens sister the boss of my regiment she was she gave me my northern Ireland medal nice lady but I'm not a huge fan of the Irish cause if the crap the army drives into you...life eh brother but loved that video thanks
@@ritchieblackmore2711 👍nice. So were you in N. Ireland during the Troubles? My last name is O'Donnell, I'm also a Gibbons, Connor, etc. They fled during the Famine I suppose to here. Ya, the Civil War vets here were tough dudes. Imagine lining up, charging into grape shot, fixed bayonets, what hell.
@@AnthraciteHorrorStories yeah done 2 tours of Belfast was in Hollywood barracks nasty place saw a few very eye openers there my real names Colin James mcluckie bro yeah I know tons of them left n travelled everywhere as we know yeah first tour as well after going to my battalion n then half way through that tour got called up for Iraq in 91 done 29 weeks after the initial combat which was exciting and the rest ad you know isn't nice nor easy on the mind at times especially when your kill citations are the same number as my yellow weapon card...67...you know what I'm saying
@@ritchieblackmore2711 hahaha. What's the kill citations? Over in Iraq? I read a book about N. Ireland called "Bandit Country," was about Armagh. Interesting book, pretty surreal. My family's from Donegal, Mayo, Cork, etc. Always wanted to go to Ireland, but now I feel like the Republic is full of idiots and the Orange in the North are just as idiotic. Garrison in the Army is hell. I hated it. I traveled alone to Ukraine last spring trying to join a militia, that was a freaking wacky experience. I didn't even bring a cell phone bro lol. I essentially just entered from Poland and walked around Ukraine. Was a miserable time. I think I'm going back soon, I know some people that want/need advisors to help train the new troops going to the front. I'm either going to do that or help with casualty evacuations if given the chance.
At 28:40 you said you have seen crosses in an anthracite coal mine behind an air door where lots of people got killed. Which makes me wonder what the significance of the air door there was, where they killed because of the air door there, despite the air door there, by an event that the air door prevented them from escaping from, by an event that they trying to shelter from behind the air door, or was the air door just a random location where lots of people happened to get killed by a non-air door related event?
Yes. Sorry for the lack of clarification. Air doors were often the sites of injuries and deaths because mules and or electric mine locomotives could come crashing through them. Often, there were little boys working at these door sites. They would hear the coal cars coming down the gangway and would open the door. These doors regulated air flow by the way, so they were crucial for mine ventilation. If the boy was not paying attention, sleeping or simply didn't get the door open in time, that door could easily kill him by crushing him. In the anthracite coal mine where I saw the cross, I'd definitely wager a bet that a little boy was killed on that exact spot. Some sad stuff for sure. Creepy when you're face to face with that memorial marker too...
Im guessing they were beetles that live on decaying wood or a termite
Agreed. Weird stuff. Cool though. We were far into the mine at that point.
What is the red slate looking rocks?
I see it in west va..capon bridge area, above ground..very dark gray to black and the rusty red comes on the hands..also very brittle
Hello. Believe it or not, it's sandstone with some acid mine drainage on it. I did enhance the coloring with filters on my video editor however. That gives it a more pronounced look than what really visually is present underground. Ya, this rock is pretty brittle.
@@AnthraciteHorrorStories
Still close to color..hit my eye immediately..thank you..
@@sbrazwell42 anytime. Appreciate the comment & you watching.
Old wine bottle?
Looks like one. Wonder what was in it?
Erm..wine?😂
@@thesussexbunion hello! I don't know what that liquid was. Bizarre.