Flooded Mine

[defied]

Yah, there was a scootch of "Bada$$" in that video. Very impressive.

D(B)

[CaptnJack]

Very cool. Any idea of how far she goes, or how deep she gets? Was it just getting deeper at 100'?

We were diving 32% in fairly small doubles, so we stopped at 91ft. I was looking down at least 35ft more feet and it just kept going. So we need trimix for part 2. There's probably a pile of wood debris at the bottom, we're curious if there are any substantive horizontal passages, the 2 we found were only ~2x body length.

[John Rawlings]

This is really exciting!

Do you guys know anything about the history of the mine?

[Mattleycrue76]

I know that smurfs have had some pretty wild partys there

[CaptnJack]

Do you guys know anything about the history of the mine?

Apparently initial claims were staked about 1896-7. It was last worked about 1930; the 1929 stock market crash took the bottom out of commodity prices I imagine. Its changed hands a few times since then and the land has been logged. Supposedly "some guy" from Everett has dove it in the past. We don't know if that's true, his name or anything more than the rumor. It took me multiple years to find this and get gear in here; its not "walk up" access by any means although it may have had better logging roads in the past. We saw lots of modern debris in the dry to knee deep portions of the tunnels, a small amount in the upper ~30ft of the flooded shaft. Below that depth down to our max at 91ft we didn't see any evidence of recent human passage. The water quality seems ok since we have seen frogs and salamanders living here, given their permeable skin they wouldn't live in a toxic waste stream.

[Sockmonkey]

Very cool. Any idea of how far she goes, or how deep she gets? Was it just getting deeper at 100'?

Must... not... make... deep... and/or long... shaft... joke.

Oh oops. Crap.

The water quality seems ok since we have seen frogs and salamanders living here, given their permeable skin they wouldn't live in a toxic waste stream.

What did your dive adventure teach us? Always bring a toxicologist specializing in water quality with you whenever swimming or diving in unknown waters.

Really guys/gal... impressive.

-Eric

[Romer Treece]

YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO SOME DIGGING AND FIND OLD MAPS OF THE SYSTEM. I DID A QUICK SEARCH AND CAME ACROSS INFO SAYING SOME OF THESE MINES HAVE TO BE CHECKED AND UPDATED AS FAR AS STRUCTURAL STATUS, ETC.

[Nwbrewer]

YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO SOME DIGGING AND FIND OLD MAPS OF THE SYSTEM. I DID A QUICK SEARCH AND CAME ACROSS INFO SAYING SOME OF THESE MINES HAVE TO BE CHECKED AND UPDATED AS FAR AS STRUCTURAL STATUS, ETC.

Dude, no need to yell, we listen to you around here already....

[Romer Treece]

sorry, my computer is on "caps" cause I'm at work entering in some stuff.

[Sounder]

sorry, my computer is on "caps" cause I'm at work entering in some stuff.

NO PROBLEM HOMIE!! IT'S ALL GOOD!!

[BDub]

This is really exciting!

Do you guys know anything about the history of the mine?

What Richard said...

Additionally, I think it flooded in the 1930's or 1940's

[airsix]

YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO SOME DIGGING AND FIND OLD MAPS OF THE SYSTEM. I DID A QUICK SEARCH AND CAME ACROSS INFO SAYING SOME OF THESE MINES HAVE TO BE CHECKED AND UPDATED AS FAR AS STRUCTURAL STATUS, ETC.

Dude, no need to yell, we listen to you around here already....

He builds and tests DiveAlerts for a living. He's completely deaf. Show some sympathy.

-Ben

[Romer Treece]

Naw, it's all the heavy metal music!

[vlad]

This is really cool story, thanks for sharing! The video is just great!

In case you need more info about local mining history, consider contacting these guys http://nwuemines.com/mirror/index.html
They published a few quite interesting books on the subject. Who knows, they might even have a plan of this mine.

[Dusty2]

This is really cool story, thanks for sharing! The video is just great!

In case you need more info about local mining history, consider contacting these guys http://nwuemines.com/mirror/index.html
They published a few quite interesting books on the subject. Who knows, they might even have a plan of this mine.

Wow Interesting stuff. I might just have to see if I can find some of their books. There isn't much info about mining in our state and I have always been fascinated by that stuff!

[CaptnJack]

Their books are self published but there's a link on their website. Most technical information is with the State Geologist's office which is part of DNR. The 1950s was the heyday for mining publications so most are too old to be online/digital.

[Paulicarp]

consider contacting these guys http://nwuemines.com/mirror/index.html

Someone should trademark that name and start a 501c3.

[BDub]

We made another dive in the mine yesterday.

Mattley did an amazing job of gathering some info on the mine, including maps. These proved helpful in planning the second dive. The maps are quite old, and the way they were drawn led us to believe the bottom of the mine would be in the 185 - 210' range, or the 120-130' range. We planned our dive for 210'

Turns out, the bottom of the mine is at ~115'. The bottom is blackest silt I've ever seen. I was leading and running line. The main tunnel is almost vertical, with horizontal passages running off of the main tunnel. However, at ~100', it drops completely vertical to 115' or so. This is why, on our last dive there, it looked like it continued to go a long way....because of the silt. When I dropped over the ledge, I got to within inches of the bottom before realizing it was silt. It was incredibly black.

However, at the bottom there is a Y, with passages leading in opposite directions. The southern passage is 35-40' long, and the northern passage is ~15'.

We also found another passage on the ascent, at ~53' while on deco. This was a really cool passage as it had wooden crates in it, with the print still on them!

Again, I'd like to thank Mattley and Joe for their help. It takes a lot of work just to get to the mine. Then, once there, it's a loooong hike in. This time, we each had double 119's and 2 deco bottles each. Matt and Joe, each trudged in 2 or 3 times to carry gear in and out.

Also, I'd like to thank Scott Lundy. He loaned us his hd video camera for the dive and we got some awesome footage. Richard and Jeanna both filmed while I ran line, so we have a lot of footage to sort through. We'll get it posted as soon as possible.

[defied]

Make it happen! 0]

D(B)

[ArcticDiver]

Cool!

Thanks for posting.

[loanwolf]

Looks like fun.

[BDub]

Make it happen! 0]

D(B)

Working on it. Will try to get it up tonight!

[MrsDiverBob]

Make it happen! 0]

D(B)

Working on it. Will try to get it up tonight!

On the edge of my seat already!!!

[coachrenz]

Working on it. Will try to get it up tonight!

It has been 2 hours and no one has jumped on that line?

Where is everyone? Out salmon fishing?

[Sockmonkey]

Working on it. Will try to get it up tonight!

It has been 2 hours and no one has jumped on that line?

Where is everyone? Out salmon fishing?

I'm not jumping on anything that Brian is trying to get up.

-Eric