[Rockhounds] Abandoned mine exploration

Tue Mar 9 11:45:18 PST 2021

Thanks Linda. That info should be useful to many of us desert wanderers.

On Mon, Mar 8, 2021 at 9:34 PM <linda at middleearthminerals.com> wrote:

> Yes, I figured it was a few decades ago, but the same situation does keep
> happening to people when they're away from cell phone range.  And sometimes
> the extra time is a killer.
> Of course, a satellite messenger or phone won't do anyone a lick of good if
> caught inside a mine!  You need to have line-of-sight to satellites.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rockhounds <rockhounds-bounces at rockhounds.drizzle.com> On Behalf Of
> Paul van den Bergen
> Sent: Monday, March 8, 2021 7:37 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
>
> 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
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