Cool Underground Tunnel and Nanaimo's Old Mine Shafts

[kaycee]

Hey guys... this thread prompted me to do some quick researching and I found a Wikipedia topic on the 1887 Nanaimo mine explosion. At the bottom of the page it mentions the underground tunnels that reach out to Protection and Newcastle Islands, and that they were part of the old mine tunnels.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1887_Na...Mine_Explosion

[Dog Lover]

At the Nanaimo District Museum you can see a map of the old mines that criss cross under the harbour. (I think I saw a link to a photo of it on another thread). Miners used to barge over to Protection Island Mine every day and drop down a mine shaft elevator to get to work. If they missed it, they had to walk under the water to get to the mine working. Apparently you could hear the boat motors and horns as they passed overhead.

After an explosion in 1912 of the Oscar (a ship carrying 50 tons of dynamite and black powder) a section of the mine was permanently closed due to flooding (southwest corner of protection Island).

[CHUBer]

Behind the Seacrest high-rise is right. There used to be a place where you could see some kind of blocked up mine entrance or shaft.
Tom Terry, who came to Nanaimo in 1923, told me in 1977 (he was 80 then) that he walked through one of the tunnels under the harbour with Joe Sutton and Bill Johnson. It took them a little less than an hour to get from Protection Island to the South End. He said the tunnel (designed for coal carts) was about 10 feet wide and not quite high enough to stand straight up. The only light they had was from their miner's lamps.
I'm not sure that i would ever have wanted to walk under the harbour.

[CHUBer]

Awesome photo of the "tunnel" found during excavations. I remember city hole watchers (six guys watching and one guy working) digging in the middle of Commercial Street and Bastion Street (Royal Bank and Metropolitan store area), when they discovered an old well. There must be lots of these old structures underneath the downtown area.
There was also an tunnel or cave up past Bayview School where two boys got lost and died in the late 50s or early 60s. Not sure how true this is, but I did see the blocked entrance when I was a teenager. the story goes that their skeletons were found many years later. Anyone remember that? Perhaps it was an early urban legend.
There used to be a movie theatre, maybe it was the Caprice, just up the hill from the old firehall at the foot of Nicol Street and Victoria Road. (I haven't been to Nanaimo for a few years.) The theatre was built on top of a mine shaft and it had to be filled in before construction started. I often wondered what would happen if just maybe they didn't get quite enough cement in there!
Some guy excavating his back yard area off Jingle Pot Road near Westwood Lake once came upon an old mine air shaft. Luckily no one fell in.
Spooky, eh?

[riverrat]

Arghhh, thanks CHUBer! I'm gouging out my eyes here....I wanna find something! Some relic, or an air shaft that nobody knows about - imagine how many huge caverns are under us! Many of them could be flooded - heck, most - but I bet they would only need to be pumped for a while, and then kept clear with diversions or intermittent pumping....

I know, I know, old coal mines are beyond dangerous. They could never be a viable tourism venture, not even safe enough for a ten year old's fort...

Can I say this in public?: Oooh my god, if I found an entrance, I would definitely go in a ways. I'd probably die horribly and/or get lost, long before I ever convinced myself to turn around - curiosity would pull me further and further.

Or, I'd totally freak! at the first draft from the deeps. I'd think of the Balrog, and turn tail.

[Dog Lover]

There is a closed off (cemented)mine entrance that you can visit at the corner of Cavan and Victoria, just across the street from the Old Firehall downtown. On the rock wall that is behind the parking lot.it is on the left facing the rock wall. You can also see a thin coal seam (about 18 inches thick) running up through the rock.

Two kids went missing in the 1980's. Divorced parents each thought the kids were with the other. Took them two weeks to realize thet were missing and two more years to find the bodies. They were overcome by the gases. Not urban legend. It was in the newspapers but can't remember the dates.

[riverrat]

There is a closed off (cemented)mine entrance that you can visit at the corner of Cavan and Victoria, just across the street from the Old Firehall downtown. On the rock wall that is behind the parking lot.it is on the left facing the rock wall. You can also see a thin coal seam (about 18 inches thick) running up through the rock.

Really? I've noticed the seam...so what does the "entrance" look like? Can you see anything at all?

Two kids went missing in the 1980's. Divorced parents each thought the kids were with the other. Took them two weeks to realize thet were missing and two more years to find the bodies. They were overcome by the gases. Not urban legend....

WOW!

Er, terrible.

[Bathtub in Bohemia]

I recall a shaft entrace still being around up in Extension, but I'm not sure if has been sealed or not. Maybe one of the local Extensionese might know more.

[Dog Lover]

There is a closed off (cemented)mine entrance

Just a slab of white cement standing upright.

[yogi bear]

Yep, there's a few open shaft entrances in Extension, or were last time I checked.....
But most have uber water in them....

Cheers,
Al