19 September 2022 - THE GREAT ORME COPPER MINES - WALES

 

THE GREAT ORME 

COPPER MINES

 - WALES -

G'day folks,

The world's largest prehistoric copper mine had 30,000 animal bones scattered throughout the maze of passageways. 

This 3,500-year-old copper mine lies beneath a hillside in Great Orme, Wales. The mine, deemed the largest prehistoric copper mine in the world, is estimated to have produced enough copper to make nearly 2,000 tons of bronze. One archaeologist dubbed it “the Stonehenge of copper mining” because of it’s historical grandeur.

The ancient maze of passageways was discovered in 1987 during a landscaping scheme. Over five miles of tunnels, passageways, and caverns wind throughout nine different subterranean levels. At its deepest, the mine stretches down to about 230 feet below ground. Some of the tunnels are so narrow it’s believed they were carved by children no more than five years old.

 

There were over 30,000 animal bones found scattered throughout the maze of passageways. Bronze age workers created the mine by using stone hammers and tools made from animal bones. However, some of the animal remains discovered inside may have been put there as part of some sort of ritual. There were also hundreds of Bronze Age artifacts, such as tools and even human fingerprints.

The massive mines were abandoned sometime around 600 BC until the Romans reopened them for a brief stint centuries later. They opened again the late 17th century, but again, the mine became abandoned shortly after. Now, people can once again enter the mines and embark upon a self-guided tour of the narrow, dark tunnels.

 

23 June 2022 - BURKE GHOST TOWN - IDAHO, USA

 

BURKE GHOST TOWN

 - IDAHO, USA -

G'day folks,

A mining town, now abandoned, was built in a canyon so narrow that the railroad ran right through the hotel lobby. 

Burke, Idaho, is not your run-of-the-mill ghost town. Its story starts out familiar: The mining town rose up after rich deposits of silver and lead were discovered in 1884. But the boomtown that developed was situated in a comically narrow canyon, resulting in some wonderfully creative architecture.

Burke Canyon is long and thin, only 300 feet wide at its narrowest point. It’s a seemingly impossible space to fit a whole town into, and yet they did. The train tracks and the road for vehicles both shared the main street, so cars and carriages had to pull over when the train rolled by. Stranger still, the railroad was built right through the lobby of the town’s hotel.

 

The Tiger Hotel was built in 1896, straddling the main street and the creek that ran through the canyon. When the railroad expanded in 1906, the lack of space forced it to run right through the hotel. A covered walkway crossed over the tracks connecting the two sides of the building, and five cars of the Northern Pacific Railroad passed through the tunnel in the hotel each day.

Like so many mining towns in the Old West, Burke began to decline at the beginning of the 20th century and the mines starting shutting down. By 1990 there were reportedly just 15 residents left in town. The last of the mines closed in 1991, and within a few years, there was no one left in Burke.

Some of the old buildings have been destroyed by fire, floods, or time, including the unusual Tiger Hotel, which shuttered in 1954. But the decaying remains of many of structures, deserted mining equipment, and abandoned artifacts can still be seen around town. A twisted railroad track, strewn with old massive tools, runs through the town, and there is an unmarked, unknown cemetery with most of the headstones destroyed. You can also see the remnants of the town’s unique architecture, such as the cave-like holes carved into the side of the hills where the former residents of this unlikely village built their houses.

 

25 September 2020 - A MINING GHOST TOWN IN CALIFORNIA

 A MINING GHOST 

TOWN IN CALIFORNIA 

G'day folks,

Welcome to another abandoned town that appears to contain many collectibles.

Bodie, California is an abandoned mining town east of the Sierra Nevada mountains, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It is reportedly a ghost town with lots of rich history of sightings and curses. There are still many standing buildings full of things the settlers couldn’t take with them when the gold ran out and they were forced to move on.

Peering into these buildings it’s not hard to imagine the people who inhabited these homes, stores, schools, churches, and saloons. It’s a modern-day Pompeii, the lives of real people covered in a sheet of dust and debris left exactly as they left it so long ago. Bodie is a perfect symbol of the adventurous spirit, of the settlers that traveled across America and the world to chase the dream of a better life. It’s a fascinating place to reflect on life and its heavy material burdens, something we will all shed one day.

Clancy's comment: Mm ... pickers and collectors would love searching through this town.

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