Cable Reel
A tripod mounted pneumatic rock drill.
This shovel was designed at the
mine to fit through small tunnels.
Cable Reel |
A tripod mounted pneumatic rock drill. |
This shovel was designed at the mine to fit through small tunnels. |
 Pink Cobalt stained stalagmite, formed over the last 40 years. |
The 1909 Rail Depot where we lodged. |
 A Dolly under the clear water in the mine. |
Mark, Dairen, Ben, & I went to the Bonne Terre Mine in Bonne Terre, Missouri for a little scuba diving. The surface of the water is 125 feet underground in a very old section of the mine, the area where mining for galena (lead ore) had started in the 1860s. We carried our gear down the chute mules once used to enter the mine. The air temperature is in the low sixties and the water temperature is in the high 50s year round. From the dock in the mine we saw pillars and tunnels like the ones we would dive through. We made four dives between Saturday and Sunday. We saw lots of old mining gear, ore carts, tunnels, pillars, etc. The mine has lights above the water, so while diving between pillars, there was plenty of light, but it was much darker in tunnels.
Pillars in the mine near the dock. |
There were lots of these 1 ton ore carts throughout the mine, we saw several on each dive. |
Pillars, holes to next level above, scaffolding on roof. |
 Mark, Dairen, Ben, & I after a dive. |
This large shovel often had to be disassembled to move from room to room. |
Limestone nodules and pools formed in the last 40 or so years. (Right) This elevator car protected miners from bumping into walls and from falling rock. |
|
 These stalactites grew in the last 40 years. |
Bonne Terre Mine Dive Operator 
See my other SCUBA Trips