3 posts tagged “iron mining”

More days of exploration have reveled additional artifacts, foundations, prospect pits, another look at the Hatfield adit and possible RR road bed with several foundations.  

The Theall and McCollum Mines are the most complete and fascinating in the area.  A second, intact, Dynamite shed was found as well as a furnace site.  The two dynamite sheds appear to be of 20th century design, possibly installed in the 1940s when there was some consideration to reopen the mine.  Needed and appreciated assistance from Ironminers.com brought the site alive you could almost see and feel the bustle of activity in an active Iron Mining operation.  

Additional documentation from the Putnam County Historical Archive helped to provide insight into ninetieth century mining operations but more research needs to be done to piece this mosaic together including images to down load, ideas to explore and pages of hand written accounts to examine.

From a History of Putnam County:

Judge Thatcher H. Theall and Arvah Theall through hard and determined effort  worked their fathers farm after his death and paid off all loans and and encomberances.  They continued their endeavors and were able to add to the homestead on the east bank of the Croton River as well as acreage to the farm through the purchase of a farm from Stephen Travis formerly owned by Gilbert Travis.  This purchase in about  1840 increased the Theall holdings by approximately 135 acres and included the land that the Theall mine was to be located on.

Unfortunately there are contradictory dates from the "History of Putnam County" making the exact timing a little fuzzy about +or- five years.  

The Theall Homestead still stands in 2006 on east side of Rte 22 about one mile north of the Putnam - Westchester county line in New York State.  The Theall Homestead in it's current incarnation is now an Indian Restaurant.  At some time prior to that it was a "topless" bar (The Inner Circle - don't ask how I know that) and before that an Inn and restaurant (The Colonial Pines).   To say the least it has had a colorful history.  But on to findings and revision of previous posts.

From the post "Third Mind Visit" I incorrectly identified the McCollum Mine as a large open pit, it was not (really).  The pit, supposedly was a pond built to supply an "unfinished" mill (iron ore processing plant) with water for it's steam engines.  There were two "prospect pits" one probably became part of the lake named the "Harvey Pit" another about a 1000 feet to the southwest named the "Vivian Pit".  

The "Harvey Pit" does not appear to be discernible although I did try to investigate only to be deterred by a large rottweller.  I was trying to get permission from the home owner but this imposing pooch made me think more than twice about leaving the relative safety of my car.  Relative because the top was down and this horse of a dog could have stepped right in if he wanted.   Needless to say the better part of valor was to retreat!

I have not tried to investigate the Vivian Pit as yet, waiting for the leaves to fall before I make another attempt to obtain permission for a reconnoiter.  I will also attempt to visit Roddy's house as well but with the top up and several spools of razor wire!  My forays into the wooded areas, away from local homes, will also need to be postponed until the end of hunting season.  Back to the McCollum Mine.

The Hatfield adit is actually the entrance to the McCollum mine.  The McCollum is at a higher elevation than the Theall Mine and was connected to the Theall Mine by at least two shafts that are now filled in with debris but do still exist - fascinating, at least to me.   I know this from entry into the Theall Mine!  Yes, I did say entry into an abandoned Iron mine through several thousand feet of tunnels and shafts up to the connection with the McCollum Mine.  

I  have NEVER seen as many BATs as live inside!  The tunnel extends for thousands of feet with many side tunnels (of 20 to 100 feet).  In some places the main tunnel resembles  a gigantic cathedral, vaulted ceilings and massive vertical walls with a rusted iron colored sheen.  The flooded part reaches about 800 - 900 feet then soggy earth beyond until the McCollum mine is reached by an inclined shaft of approximately 100 feet where two other blocked vertical shafts are found.  There is the remnant of a wide gage rail track (about 39" wide) leading into tons of loose rock, molding trees and bent metal waste probably used to block access from the shafts above.  The mine ended in a water filled grotto with constant dripping water from the ceiling and muck to a depth of about two feet on the floor.

There is no light inside, blacker than black with the constant shriek of hundreds if not thousands of bats from their resting places and as they few inches from you with uncanny precision.  Of all the "near" misses their navigation was flawless no matter how we moved they darted around us.  

The mine historians (Ironminers.com) were very prepared with illumination one 15 million and one 10 million candle powered light provided a clear but eerie feel leaving dark foreboding shadows at the lights edge to the right, left and beyond.  There remain two side tunnels to visit, however, I don't know if I will ever go back in, certainly not alone.  It was a fascinating experience but certainly not without risk!  An exploration like this is not to be taken without planning, equipment, multiple forms of illumination and back up available if trouble is encountered.  

The folks from Ironminers were extremely informative concerning the artifacts found within the cavern, the structure and mining logic in the way and manner the tunnels were excavated.   There were two types of rail tracks found, narrow gage in the Theall and wide gage in the McCollum.  One rail line ended in an ore chute which probably directed ore from the McCollum mine above to the Theall Mine below were the narrow gage (24 inches) rail transported the ore out of the mine to the processing plant and furnace then by elevated tram to the the spur rail line for transport on the Grand Central Rail line.  

On Saturday I explored the McCollum mine, part of the Croton Magnetic Iron-ore Mines (Theall & McCollum), both mines were originally named for the farms they were discovered on and were worked from about 1851 to the turn of the century.  The McCollum Mine is a large open pit mine (filled with water) with an adit on the north side.  The adit is completely hidden from view behind brush and trees but is easily accessible if you know where it is.  There is a gate at the entrance with several large holes, not a very effective deterrent. 

Although I knew this adit existed at one point in time (swimming hole as a child) I had assumed that when the homes were built around the Pit (lake) the adit was filled in.  After a short conversation with the home owner (the house is above the adit) she verified that access to the adit was very possible.  I secured permission to take a few images and off I went.  The opening is quite large, you can walk in several feet until you reach water of at least two feet in depth.  It appears that the cut goes back at least 100 feet, probably more, and it is very cavernous with a high rounded ceiling.  I am unsure as to how deep the water is further back as I just looked in, took a few shots and was out.  

This adit may have connected with the Theall mine on the other side of the hill.  It is my understanding that a connection did exist but was lost in a cave-in.   The home owner did mention that there was a connection to the adit in the back of their property but alas (and understandably) they are trying to fill it in.  

I also asked the home owner if she was aware of the history of mine.  She did not know but advised I speak with the granddaughter of the former owner who lived a short distance away.   The granddaughter did not know of the early history of the mine, was aware of a girl-scout camp that once used the lake and advised that I visit the Southeast Museum for additional information.  She was also genuinely puzzled as to why I would be interested.  I'm not sure that my explanation of interest in local history satisfied her curiosity but off I went to the museum. 

The Southeast Museum is very interesting, a large open room with several exhibits on the rich history of this area, one exhibit on mining.  The mining exhibit is mostly on the Tilly Foster Mine the most famous and largest mine in the area.  I will have more on the Tilly Foster Mine in a later post.  I asked the attendant for information on the Croton Magnetic Mines but she was not aware of this Mine and advised that I call on Monday or Tuesday when the curator would be in.  At that point I left, off to look for other stuff.  Thinking back I should have stayed for awhile to further investigate their other interesting exhibits, I will stop back.

I turned south and did briefly explore for information - evidence on the the Clover Hill Mine in Somers but for now have run into a dead end.  I also attempted to locate the Brewster mines (not too seriously) by coordinates from mindat.org but was not successful there either.  Then a short trip into the area of the Tilly Foster mine just for fun but it is heavily posted, more to come on that.  I do have images to post on the McCollum Mine, as soon as I get my card reader working again I will add them to the BLOG.