4 posts tagged “mining”
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.
Another wet weekend in the Northeast. Second mine visit to the Theall Mine (part of the Croton Magnetic Iron-ore Mines). Arrived earlier in the day this time to have time to explore the surrounding area and hopefully find additional mine workings. Hiked up the slope on the right side of the mine entrance, to above the mine entrance and carefully walked toward the height of land. Carefully because I knew there is a shaft somewhere in this area. Within a few hundred feet found the vertical shaft; a rectangular hole cut into the earth and rock with very steep sides. If you were unfortunate to fall or trip into this hole you're not getting out. How deep the shaft is I have no clue, I did not throw anything into it. There was the remnant of a rope tied onto a tree hanging into the shaft.
I marked the location (lat/long) and continued up the slope. I reached an overgrown road and followed it, reaching the open pit mine (McCollum Mine) now a small lake with several houses around it. I followed the road back and continued in the opposite direction. There are several old roads (more like wide trails) intersecting each other. Although, my memory of walking through this area is 35 years old and a bit dim I specifically remember four silo shaped concrete structures. After over an hour trying several different roads (I would not have tried this without a GPS) I found them. I will include several images with an image of a rusting metal piece possibly the workings of the furnace if that is what these structures are. There are four of them in-line about twenty five feet tall. All of these workings and rusting metal are over one hundred years old.
I continued along the road to the height of land where I found additional workings including a deep concrete sided shaft into the ground. The structure/foundation did not look like it was connected to any shaft below but I was not going into it to find out, images will be included. I continued along the road but as the weather was starting to get wet I decided to find my way back to the mine entrance and out. I had covered some distance making many turns down one old road and then another and was slightly disorientated as to direction, fortunately the GPS wasn't it got me back to the shaft and then the mine entrance without incident. I was able to verify a more direct route to the other mine workings; I also mark the location to the open pit mine so that I could find my way into that from the main road.
Driving out of the area I stopped near an old, and still in use, railroad bridge (1906) to investigate the possiblity of an abandoned railroad bed near by that may have been a rail spur into the mine area. This is a possibility but it could have also been used in the construction of a water connection between the two reservoirs in this area.
Now to the Southeast museum to see if I can find additional information on these particular mines as well as mining in this area. No luck with this today, museum closed although according to the sign it should be open, it is Labor Day weekend after all.
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The rain continues in the northeast and is forecast to continue through next week. Late this afternoon the sun came out for as short period. I managed to get the top down for the ride home. Looking forward to a dry walk in the morning but it may be tight in-between rain drops.
Have not been able to do any work or research on mining history in the local area. If I can get out of work at a reasonable time tomorrow I'll try to stop in to one of the neighboring Historical Societies offices to see what I can find out.
Oh, and the MINI event at Lyme Rock on Monday - the rain has to stop for that!
Actually about an hour late in the day on Saturday. I believe that I have found the (old) Theall Mine an iron mine in magnetite ore which connected underground with the McCollum mine an open pit mine. The entrance to the mine has been blocked by a large mound of earth. But, individuals being curious have removed some of the dirt and found their way in, not me! (May be some day??). It appears to be very wet, probably flooded. Near by should be the open pit of the McCollum mine. It was too late in the day to do any more investigating-exploring. One must be very careful walking around these places, good light is essential. I failed to mention that about thirty-five years ago I had explored this area. Then it was more adventure, than history. At that time there were steel doors that blocked the path - not too effectively.
In the late 1890's this area had several iron/mineral mines the history of which is very sparse unless you dig for it (no pun intended). There were also rail spurs that would be located near some of these mines, another interesting industry only traces of which can still be found. The most notable mine in the local area was the Tilly Foster mine, a large iron ore mine discovered in 1810. The mine was 600 feet in 1879 and may have exceeded 700 feet by 1890, at the time the largest mining operation in the US. Mining ceased in 1897 after 13 miners were killed in a rockslide.
