[Rockhounds] Abandoned mine exploration

[Paul van den Bergen]

Hi Linda - now days that is a given - but this was the early 90's...

On Tue, 9 Mar 2021 at 13:24, <linda at middleearthminerals.com> wrote:

> It's also a good idea to consider investing in a satellite text messenger.
> Then a 30 km jog to a phone might not be needed.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rockhounds <rockhounds-bounces at rockhounds.drizzle.com> On Behalf Of
> Paul van den Bergen
> Sent: Monday, March 8, 2021 5:20 PM
> To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors
> <rockhounds at rockhounds.drizzle.com>
> Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Abandoned mine exploration
>
> I am perhaps my own worst enemy when it comes to 'stupid things' like old
> mines and natural hazzards.
>
> I have to remind myself that I'm not the only one at risk - inevitably
> someone will insist on putting themselves at risk to attempt to recover my
> body - my wishes in that regard are moot since i'll be dead, but  that's
> not
> what I want...
>
> so...
>
> always let someone know where you are going.
>
> The rule of three is very sensible - two friends were on a hike when one of
> them crushed his ankle - his friend had to abandon him for a 30km jog back
> to a phone then helicopter trip back to the slope where he was left alone
> waiting...
>
>
> On Tue, 9 Mar 2021 at 10:01, J. R. Hodel <jr50wv at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > I watched a couple more of his videos, it's pretty interesting to an
> > old rock-hound. My late rock-hounding buddy Danny Kebles would have
> > loved it, would have wanted to do it so bad!
> > But the second video I watched he was solo, in a mine by himself,
> > going across 50-90 year old wooden floors around ore chutes, etc. So
> > very dangerous, if you hurt yourself, you're probably dead before they
> find you.
> > Because no one appears to know in advance where he's going underground.
> > First thing they teach cavers is "never go underground alone!"
> >
> > The people I went caving with had a 3-person team rule, that way an
> > injured person would have someone with them while the third person
> > went for help. Maybe the tradition with abandoned mines is "you're on
> your
> own?"
> >
> > Otherwise he seems like a guy who enjoys going into abandoned mines
> > more than he's a mineral collector. A collector would have a rock pick
> > with (and probably other rock-hounding tools like chisels etc), and
> > containers for any specimens they wanted to bring out, as opposed to his
> hip pocket.
> >
> > The one time Danny and I went out west to spend 3 weeks rock-hounding
> > in Colorado and Wyoming, we found our way to an abandoned mine, about
> > half-way up a mountain side north of Bonanza CO, with a talus slope to
> > climb up to get to the adit. There was an old cable hanging that they
> > had used to man-trip up and down, and for ore.
> > But once we were up there and knew there was a mine, we had no lights,
> > and no helmets. So we dug through the tailings around the mine face, I
> > still have a couple of nice rocks from there. Finally I looked up from
> > the rocks at the sky, which was suddenly dark gray billowing clouds,
> > soon in late May it started snowing hard before we got off the
> > mountain. "Uh, Danny, maybe we need to get down off this mountain now?"
> >
> > My little Ford Ranger had a lot of tools and supplies under the
> > topper, so we had pretty good traction, and made it to our friend's
> > mountain cabin where we were staying between rock-hounding trips.
> > Built a fire in the stove late in the evening. Stopped in Salida for
> > dinner on the way home. I will always wonder what if we had lights and
> > helmets, what would it have been like in the mine? What kind of rocks
> > would we have found? What would the weather have been like when we got
> back out?
> > I miss Danny, he was struck with Pick's Disease, which is a hereditary
> > dementia, and died relative young in a VA nursing home. I don't go out
> > collecting much any more, partly because I'm 70 now... & partly
> > because Danny isn't here to poke me awake. Also Covid, of course.
> > You all take care, best of luck with finding great rocks!
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>
> --
> Dr Paul van den Bergen
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-- 
Dr Paul van den Bergen