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So, what did you guys do today?
So, what did you guys do today?
Didn't get to go in a mine.. that's what I did today.
Had to go to Comox with the wife so she could take a vet class in a clinic there. Finished reno'ing a bathroom at my place.
Lightened some pictures. I just do it to see more detail.
How far can you walk around in there?
I took some pictures of a piece of coal http://www.nanaimoinformation.com/fo...8565#post48565
and helped put up some Christmas lights.
Did you go back up(I mean down)??
I reckon that the water at the bottom is a little over 200 ft from the entrance.Originally Posted by AceMcCool
Who knows how much further the slope goes underwater?
Books I read described the water, always present diespite the pumps. Some areas of the mine were so narrow and short the men laid or crawled through water to work the coal seam.
A lot of those shorter tunnesl would be blocked, and not advisable to crawl in except from the main entrances with a camera.
Nasty job, coal mining.
How about the Chinese dead from the exlosion? Just a list of numbers!
All facing death to earn a living.
Widows and children were kicked out of the mining cabins when the husband died too.
Those women still managed and kept the renmants of the familly together.
A respectable and heroic group of people were the pioneers of Nanaimo, of all cultures.
Amazing how life was expendable in the face of profit, and there are personal stories that make me even glad it is Monday and I work above ground!
(pic) Keep warm, and winter well.
Well, when I say I would have been a coal miner, I would have been because there weren't any other jobs. It does sound like a miserable job. Being cold and wet all day, breathing in coal dust all day, walking miles and miles to and from work. I just like the exploration bit. It's interesting to think about the tunnels and shaft beneath us right now.
I'll go to the mines for pleasure, not for business.
If it would somehow make you look cool, kickidee, then I will sign you an autograph anytime you want!
Hard to tell from the pics, but if it is full of water at the bottom, the tunnel must drop off pretty steeply downwards? Another thing, are the timbers that we are seeing lying around shoring for the walls, that has fallen down?
Yes, most of the timbers have fallen down. There may have been a sorting table or conveyer system in the middle of the mine made of wood, too. There is still a piece of track down there, though. The roof will never cave in because it is solid rock, resembling a train tunnel through a mountain, or cave. Probably the greatest danger in this mine are the remaining timbers as they are old and continue to rot and fall down. There are still a few nice ones in "near new" condition.Hard to tell from the pics, but if it is full of water at the bottom, the tunnel must drop off pretty steeply downwards? Another thing, are the timbers that we are seeing lying around shoring for the walls, that has fallen down?
I can't say I'd wander around in there much if this weren't the case....
Still a fascinating place considering it's age (est. 1926).
Coal Mines, 1887
(Taken from the British Columbia Directory of 1887)
In 1887, The Vancouver Coal Company employed about 600 persons of whom about 100 were Chinese and Indians, and has expended a quarter of a million dollars in exploration and works.
The average rate of wages is $2.00 to $5.00 per day; Chinese, $1.00 to $1.25; Indians, $1.25 per day. Miners earnings are from $2.50 to $5.00 per day.
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