Cool Underground Tunnel and Nanaimo's Old Mine Shafts

[dpill]

I did not want to offend anyone. I think this thread is great!!!!! We are interested in the history of mining in Nanaimo and have talked about exploring a couple years ago, but with young children it held us back. Like I said before, I did not mean to offend anyone, just looking for some help.

hey guy
If you do indeed have kids don't go wandering into collapsed mines. That is an a-hole thing to do to your family. Just realize that this thread is hardly about going exploring in tunnels. This is about the rich history of nanaimo. We all wonder what's going on in the tunnels but in my experiences its a great risk for a whole lot of nothing. The pictures are neat. I feel like i should mention how wonderful it is to have this forum as a on-going memoir of the past nanaimo has. I wonder how many people have been turned on to this forum because of this information. Its a powerful tool and id hate to see it go because some yahoo dies in a mine collapse. On topic again I've often wondered about this tram way. Can one actually make the five mile trek along the former tram without major detours?

[Peter Roosen]

hey guy
If you do indeed have kids don't go wandering into collapsed mines. That is an a-hole thing to do to your family. Just realize that this thread is hardly about going exploring in tunnels. This is about the rich history of nanaimo. We all wonder what's going on in the tunnels but in my experiences its a great risk for a whole lot of nothing. The pictures are neat. I feel like i should mention how wonderful it is to have this forum as a on-going memoir of the past nanaimo has. I wonder how many people have been turned on to this forum because of this information. Its a powerful tool and id hate to see it go because some yahoo dies in a mine collapse. On topic again I've often wondered about this tram way. Can one actually make the five mile trek along the former tram without major detours?

Count me in on a tramline tour expedition once I get back there. I am in Roswell New Mexico stuck to cool down the fuel tank. Unable to fill because fuel boils at current 116F outside temp. Weird when opening gas cap to have the contents boil out like this. Good time to check out the latest forum posts. Who organized the Harewood Mines group tour last year?

[dpill]

Count me in on a tramline tour expedition once i get back there. I am in Roswell New Mexico stuck to cool down the fuel tank. Unable to fill because fuel boils at current 116F outside temp. Weird when opening gas cap to have the contents boil out like this. Good time to check out the latest forum posts

Hey peterroosen what's the price per gallon?

[Peter Roosen]

Hey peterroosen what's the price per gallon?

3.279

[dpill]

3.279

Wow that's cheaper by almost 1.50..if i did the math right.

[BigMac]

Count me in on a tramline tour expedition once i get back there. I am in Roswell New Mexico stuck to cool down the fuel tank. Unable to fill because fuel boils at current 116F outside temp. Weird when opening gas cap to have the contents boil out like this. Good time to check out the latest forum posts

Holy crap that's hot!!!

[Peter Roosen]

Holy crap that's hot!!!

It is the hottest I've ever experienced. It was in a dead, windless valley a few miles south of Roswell where I was checking out some things that it was that hot. My thermometer showed it about 10 degrees cooler in town. The gas station manager has never seen gasoline boil like this and was worried about the place turning into a big fireball. We sprayed water underneath onto the fuel tanks and eventually had them cooled enough to get the caps off to pump in fuel. The tanks were near empty beforehand after a long day's running which is likely why they were able to get so hot and build up pressure. It was a foamy boiling mess when I first opened the cap. Managed to get the cap slammed back in after a couple gallons shot out. Good thing I wasn't right in front of it at that moment. Another guy who saw it said it has happened to him in the past and he figures it is fuel that hasn't been properly refined which has some excess volatiles in it (like hexane which has a lower boiling point than octane). Not a problem except on extreme hot days. In this respect, poorly refined modern fuel is no different than the raw Wellington coal from a century ago except that the main volatile there was highly explosive methane gas that would have been released mainly during the mining itself. Being a non-smoker paid off for me today! Come to think of it, I wonder if the area mines ran deep enough to get to similar temperatures. Anybody know how hot it got for those working island coal mines?

3.88 litres in a US gallon (I think). That makes it about US$0.85/l and if the Canadian dollar is still about 1 to 1 with the US dollar, not a bad deal. Except that I was likely getting ripped off here because when the fuel is so hot, it expands so when sold by volume, not such a good deal.

Never been to Roswell before. This is a weird place with inflatable aliens and all sorts of weird stuff for sale in the various shops. Anybody need a tinfoil hat?

[Nostradama]

Wow! Stuck outside Roswell. Next thing we know, you'll be beaming in comments from some alien space ship. I have a friend, otherwise sane, who's a Roswell/Area 51 nut. I don't think there's a darned thing about all the stories, tapes of TV shows, mini-cassette recordings of radio shows by some guy named Art Bell about Roswell, etc., that he doesn't have. I figure it's a good source of income for the locals, 'tho--always a good thing.

[Peter Roosen]

I've listened to a couple of Art Bell's radio shows about 10 years ago when they were popular on American late night AM radio, especially in the desert states (Nevada, Arizona, etc) where the heat tends to cook the brain. Any extraterrestial visitors that might have tuned in to one of his shows and heard his callers would have formed some interesting opinions about humankind. Hopefully I won't get abducted by a bunch of angry Art Bell fans for poking fun at them here. Whatever happened or didn't happen at Roswell at the time sure changed the town since then. I didn't stick around long enough to get in on the preparations for the big festival they are planning for the upcoming July 4 weekend - some sort of gathering of people who wear tin foil hats.

Speaking of desert states, I made it to the Goldfield Arizona site in Apache Junction a few hours ago this Sunday afternoon after arriving in Phoenix. Goldfield is about a half hour drive east of town and the suburbanators almost have the Goldfield site surrounded by modern houses and subdivisions. I was told to check out this interesting restoration. I'll post a few pics here to illustrate what maybe could be done in Morden Park. These people erected a replica tipple made from steel, made a 36 inch gauge railway (using zero original equipment) and dragged artifacts from all over the United States to the site to make it more interesting to tourists and locals alike. They built this about 20 years ago beside a highway and it is a big tourist draw even though I am told the original mine on the site never had a railway of this type - or this little town right on top of it. The little restored town is great! Includes a couple expensive gift shops and a working saloon (I tested it and the saloon does in fact work). Morden would be much better using original equipment. Not sure where the saloon would come from unless somebody is willing to move the Granby (again). I've been told the Granby (near the bungy jumping, railway and highway bridges over the Nanaimo River) was moved across the highway to its present location several years ago after having originally been on the E&N side of the road. Or move the concrete Morden tipple closer to the Granby and bungy jumping site so people can see it from the highway??

[riverrat]

These maps and photos (especially the Chase River and tramway ones, respectively) are totally awesome! Thanks to everyone for creating all of this.