Stay Outa There!

“State riddled with unsafe mines

By Judd Slivka
The Arizona Republic
June 18, 2002

The Tonopah-Belmont Mine near Wickenburg, where a man died
Sunday, now has claimed more lives since it closed than while it was
open.

The second death at the mine underscores the danger of the estimated
120,000 abandoned mines, prospect holes and tailing piles that dot
Arizona.

The state has about $15,000 left to make them safer. Of the mines,
nearly 900 are in Maricopa County, and more than 20 are within five
miles of Phoenix.

On Sunday, the former copper, gold and lead mine 27 miles southwest
of Wickenburg claimed its second victim when 21-year-old Josh Chupp
wandered into the mine shaft and fell 340 feet to his death.

Chupp followed the same route to his death that a Boy Scout did in
1990, through the McNeil Tunnel entrance, 150 feet into the mine's
mouth.

It was the first abandoned-mine death in Arizona since January 2001,
when a 40-year-old man fell 350 feet down an abandoned shaft outside
Globe.

The Tonopah-Belmont mine is one of only a few the state has been
able to close. Over the past two years, the state has spent about
$32,000 to close the entrance to the Tonopah-Belmont Mine with iron
bars and a lock. Officials also closed some of the ventilation shafts with
gates that the 40,000 bats that live in the cave can fly through, but
humans can't open.

However, the lock on the McNeil Tunnel's entrance had been broken
sometime in the past month, the state's mine inspector said Monday.
And the iron bars that were supposed to keep the curious out had been
pried apart so people could slip through.

"Whenever we put up signs or try to keep the public away, they think
that something there is worth seeing behind the signs," said Douglas
Martin, the state's mine inspector. "What's behind there is danger."

In 1997, the state began its abandoned-mine program with $80,000 in
seed money from the Legislature and four mining companies. In 1999,
a mine in Cave C reek was filled up and sealed, using about $8,000.

The remainder of the money has been taken up with little jobs here and
there: fencing off mine entrances, plugging prospect holes, filling up
adits (horizontal mine entrances) to keep people out.

The legislation that enables the program to operate requires the
Legislature to match voluntary contributions from private industry.

But little money has been forthcoming. So while estimates grow about
the number of abandonded mines - two years ago, there were about
100,000 known abandoned mines - the amount of money available is
shrinking.

"It's probably not enough for a closure," Assistant Mine Inspector Phil
Howard said of the state's remaining funds. "It's enough for maybe
fencing. The total on fencing for the Prescott and Humboldt mines (in
Yavapai County) was $18,000."

The damage at the Tonopah-Belmont site will eat further into the scant
resources. And Howard said the money doesn't begin to approach a
$190,000 wish list his office has to make mines in 10 areas around the
state safer.”

“"21-year-old Josh Chupp wandered into the mine shaft"

Please tell me, how does someone in their right freakin mind "wander" into a mine shaft”

“Curiosity killed the cat. Sad.”

“Exploring an abandoned mine is a form of reverse darwinism.”

“We've got a bunch of those in the desert near Salt Lake City. Alot of those are unmarked and are just a hole in the ground. Usually someone on a 4-wheeler drives into the shaft because they're travelling too fast to see it. If you know where they are, it's a great place to dump a body, or toxic waste, or letters from estranged spouses.”

“Dreadful sorry, Clementine.”

“It's scary all the things that humans have done to the earth. But I could see myself, wandering down a path (or no path at all) and day dreaming myself down a 350 foot deep hole.”

“There are old mine shafts not too far off the A-Trail in Pa, but it would take almost a conscious effort to fall into one. Standing at the lip of the maw is a sobering thought, I would have to say.”

“There are numerous abandoned mines in the Big Bend area. Same scenario as mediaman described. Usually they are vertical shafts extending several hundred feet down. Every now and then, some bubba will decide to get close enough to peek over the side. When it crumbles away, another one bites the dust.”

“There's a lot of caves around where I live (N. AL) because this is a limestone area. In the state park near here, there's this huge natural well that goes a couple hundred feet straight down. I can remember a couple of idiots a year falling down that thing until they finally put a huge fence around it.”

“There are a bunch of mines around the Reno area. Some are marked and some are not. I agree that to fall down one of the shafts, you would have to totally not be paying any attention to where you were walking. I do not know how many people have fallen down the shafts here in Nevada.”

“Just cleaning up the gene pool.”

“Imagine an upright walking intelligent being evolving from a raptor female dinosaur LONG before humans were even thought of... Just imagine if some of them survived underground for THOUSANDS if not MILLIONS of years now and have been interacting with us as "UFO ALIENS" from another world... Could they really be THAT CLOSE right now? Just IMAGINE.”

“I imagine quite a few of these happen because of a few beers and a dare.”

“Tahoe:

I get the shaft everytime I visit a casino.”

“Yeah, I wonder what the profile of a mineshaft accident victim is. I knew a nurse in Tucson once, said most of their snake bite cases involve 20 something males, high alchohol content, and a bite in the hand.

Same thing goes here, don't mess with 'em (mines or snakes) or anything else that can kill you.”