[Rockhounds] Abandoned mine exploration

[Tim Fisher]

It's a minor miracle if I can get cell reception anywhere near where I go
rockhounding. One of our favorite sites has some weak reception from the
main road a few miles away. That's the closest and it's barely enough to get
email and a few messages but I'm sure a 911 call would go through, an ATVer
got a signal after they rolled off the road and landed a couple hundred
yards down the mountain and that may have saved their life.

Tim Fisher
Http://OreRockOn.com 
Email nospam at orerockon.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Rockhounds [mailto:rockhounds-bounces at rockhounds.drizzle.com] On
Behalf Of Glen Miller
Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2021 11:45 AM
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors
Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Abandoned mine exploration

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!