No caves here, we have to improvise

[rjack]

This has been posted elsewhere but in case you haven't seen it, here's a brief report on our initial exploration into a flooded mine last weekend.

Product mined: copper
Last worked: ~1930
First dive: unknown, no evidence
Max depth: 91ft and still going
Water temp: ~42f

Our first foray, max depth 91ft, runtime 20mins, 120ft of line laid, basically a near vertical shaft 4ft tall x 8-10ft wide, timbers for sliding up ore on the 'floor', ladder on the west side, piping and pumps along the east edge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_26k2DOvHk

[FW]

Be careful! Submerged mines can collapse due to rotting timbers, with the added stress of air bubbles, water movement, etc.

[rjack]

This one seems pretty solid. The only shoring is at a raise (vertical shaft up to the surface) and that appears to be to keep debris from raining down on you. There is some cribbing at the top of the incline shaft (the part we dove). Those timbers are huge and have very little material on top. We are nevertheless trying to limit our diving for safety reasons and we are not disclosing the mine outside our group.

[fixxervi6]

man thats super cool, wish I had something like that around here.

I'd rather have caves, but this would be better than what we have :-(

[rjack]

Thanks, there are alot of mines in Washington, but very few are reasonably intact or flooded. We know of a couple more possibilities that will take more research and probably a insane amount of hiking to access. There are lots of caves up on Vancouver Island and a lava tube in Oregon on private land with difficult permissions. So we have options, just nothing like the southeast, FL or Mexico.

[rjack]

We went back. Fun diving, difficult filming in a near vertical shaft tho.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1ig3ZuQdNU

[Swede]

Nice Mine!

One thing that we have learned from many dives in flooded mines is that it is wise not to put placements or tie offs in any debris in the mine… especially not in wooden material. It is easy to kick the line and the wooden part can fall over or break. And if you would grab the line… no good…

Well… hope you get some more nice dives in the mine... try to get hold of some video lights till next time.

[FW]

Nice Mine!

One thing that we have learned from many dives in flooded mines is that it is wise not to put placements or tie offs in any debris in the mine… especially not in wooden material. It is easy to kick the line and the wooden part can fall over or break. And if you would grab the line… no good…

Well… hope you get some more nice dives in the mine... try to get hold of some video lights till next time.
Good advice!

[BDub]

Nice Mine!

One thing that we have learned from many dives in flooded mines is that it is wise not to put placements or tie offs in any debris in the mine… especially not in wooden material. It is easy to kick the line and the wooden part can fall over or break. And if you would grab the line… no good…

Well… hope you get some more nice dives in the mine... try to get hold of some video lights till next time.

Yeah, we definitely learned that on this dive as well. That actually happened when I was attempting to make a couple of tie-offs.

[brokenbones]

Up here, we also suffer from lack of caves (there are a few, but access is tough and viz is really crappy right now).

We do a few dives a year in an old quartz mine. It has a huge cavern area and the cave goes down to 170ft. Water temperature is always cold (between 37-39f) except at the thermocline at 5 feet. Viz is usually good except in the tunnel between

Here is a video a friend of mine made a few years ago...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EkOJhFrbTs

[Swede]

Yeah, we definitely learned that on this dive as well. That actually happened when I was attempting to make a couple of tie-offs.

It's also a good way to conserve the mine, as long as you never put the line over or around any thing you will never break or destroy any artefacts/constructions in the mine (sometimes you have too, but try to use rocks or metal objects). Minediving is really nice, its a mix of caves and wrecks...

be safe

[rjack]

Last short video of some of the side passages ("drifts" in mine lingo)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOmxB62BXJQ

To summarize, there are 4 drifts off the main shaft at 36, 54, 75 and 115ffw depths. Total length of all drifts combined is about 90ft. Maximum depth of the main shaft is 115ffw. Length of the main shaft is about 145-150ft.

[rainbowbrite0884]

We are in Washington also. Where would we find out more about the Canadian caves?

We are diving Edmond's underwater park this weekend. And really miss the caves.

[rjack]

We are in Washington also. Where would we find out more about the Canadian caves?

We are diving Edmond's underwater park this weekend. And really miss the caves.

Sorry you'd have to get hooked up with the Karst Canucks to find out about those. I am not privy to their locations or access arrangements

[Blackchains]

What is the music on part 1, very cool video!

[JDostal]

Fun to see that others are diving mines as well. We've got a few up in Wisconsin that we regularly dive and it is really nice to have cave diving local. Keeps the skills up!

[BDub]

What is the music on part 1, very cool video!

The music in all 3 videos is by Massive Attack and are on their "Collected" album.

1 - Inertia Creeps
2 - Angel
3 - Risingson

[rjack]

Fun to see that others are diving mines as well. We've got a few up in Wisconsin that we regularly dive and it is really nice to have cave diving local. Keeps the skills up!

Thanks, I found a new one last weekend. Its at a pretty high elevation, 4600ft, so we're going to have to try and dive it before November, or it will have to wait until late spring when the snow's gone.

[huvr]

Fun to see that others are diving mines as well. We've got a few up in Wisconsin that we regularly dive and it is really nice to have cave diving local. Keeps the skills up!
Love to know the locations as I'm living here in Northern WI now. PM me please if you don't want it out for everyone to know about.

[huvr]

Guess you don't want it out for anyone to know about.

[rjack]

Guess you don't want it out for anyone to know about.

Mines are pretty easier to research, try starting with your State DNR, they generally have a database of claims and patents.

[JDostal]

Guess you don't want it out for anyone to know about.

Not that at all. It's more that I apply a filter to any mail coming from the CDF and only check it about once a week :)

Shoot me your contact info, it's about that time of year that we start diving mines instead of ships. We are always looking for more people to join us.

[aquanut...]

Excellent video, well worth the time spent. Nice job gents.

[rjack]

Excellent video, well worth the time spent. Nice job gents.

You must have recognized one of your custom exploration reels :). We have shorter reels but our big Aquanuts ones have the knotted line on them.

[30below]

man that sounds fun.. wish there were one near me!!