Awhile back I ran into a file or spreadsheet with GPS coordinates of known old mine sites etc. At the time I didn't have a portable GPS unit so it didn't matter, but now I do, and I don't remember where I saw that file. Can some one help me find it again, or email it too me. There is not enough daylight to reinvent the wheel. Thanks, Dave

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Always interested in Mining & Railroad History particularly the Reading Lines in Schuylkill County PA

This isn't what I was looking for, but if you go to this site,
http://ismhdqa02.osmre.gov/scripts/OsmWeb.dll
enter the state and county your are interested in. It gives you a list of what they deem problem areas. When you go to that problem area, such as a mine in the Pine Grove area it gives you the name of the mine and the Lat / Lon coordinates.

I also found if you goto www.orangewaternetwork.org and download the .KML file you can use that with GoogleEarth. I haven't figured it all out yet, but it looks promising. It should show all the sites. Maybe some of the better geeks here can find more of the power hidden in here. But the coordinates are a good place to start. Now these may be Orange Water Discharge areas but wheres theres orange water there is coal. Hope someone else chimes in here. Thanks, Dave

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Always interested in Mining & Railroad History particularly the Reading Lines in Schuylkill County PA

That site will also give you an indication of what is at the location. When you get to the first AMLIS page (with all the OSM logos as the background), click on "search for info/query the AML database. Then click on Query the AML database. Then click on your state and "priority 1". Priority 1 sites are those that are considered the most dangerous to the public or the environment. Scroll through the "Problem Types" screen and you'll see things like "portals", "hazardous water bodies", "hazardous equipment and facilities", etc. That will give you an idea if it is an open portal or an old tipple, etc.

Some states like WY and TX have certified that all of their P1 sites are reclaimed, but there are tons in the eastern states.

Anyway, just a tip. Remember, stay out and stay alive. Sometimes the characteristic that makes a P1 site a P1 isn't obvious.

Thanks Fed. I'm mainly interested in Photographing them and documenting any visible remains of our heritage before they are all gone. I'm curious if they use some offset factor to their lat / lon numbers. On some when I put them into Google Earth, it showed the problem site as being in a baseball field or on a road. But mine type areas would show up close by on the satellite image.

Do you or anyone know if there are many inactive mines / tipples still standing in WVA Southern VA ? A friend of mine who was an operator in PA said that they are very strict on reclamation down there and there would be little to be seen. Thanks, Dave

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Always interested in Mining & Railroad History particularly the Reading Lines in Schuylkill County PA

- Before any AML work is done now, permission has to be obtained from the SHPO (State Historic Preservation Office). There have been many AML projects that result in the dangers being remediated, and the relics merely stabilized. Some states have come to realize that it is a heritage.

- P1 sites are often just an identified dangerous highwall segment in the middle of other, more benign mining disturbance. So, P1 money would just be used to reclaim a part of a mining area and not the whole site. This might account for you just finding a field on Google Earth?

- It's been many years since I worked southern WV, but I would be surprised if your operator friend was correct. Every hollow had something in it. I was living in Albuquerque and did a summer detail there one time. I was taking a lunch break and drove along a bench on some overgrown trail. Off to the side I could just see an old powder magazine on its side. When I pried it open, it had weathered dynamite and primers jumbled together. MSHA and I got with the surface operator I was inspecting and he loaded the stuff in a shot he had drilled. Was either that or burn it. The stuff was 30 years old. The funny thing about it was that when I moved to Denver, I found out that our blasting/mining engineer was the blasting supervisor for the coal company on that mountain during the time it was dumped.

I had forgotten about the nitroglycerin headaches we used to get handling dynamite sticks. Whew, makes my head throb to remember it.

Thanks again Fed. What does a dangerous Highwall mean. I saw that often as the issue. Dave

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Always interested in Mining & Railroad History particularly the Reading Lines in Schuylkill County PA

this is another place where you can access the AML data. http://www.emappa.dep.state.pa.us/emappa/viewer.htm
check the box next to mining in the features tab and look for AML point features. the problem with AML database is many of the points are rather inaccurate +/- 1000'.

A dangerous highwall more often than not means it is proximite to a road, house, shopping center, or some public feature that has people around it. More of a chance to get a human impact. Another example may be an unstable highwall upslope from some public structure...it sloughs, and rocks roll down the mountain and through your living room. Yikes.

anyone know if these are accurate?
like once a site is taken care of is it taken off or is it left on the list?

if you use the site : http://www.emappa.dep.state.pa.us/emappa/viewer.htm
then you can use the identify tool to get some info on the points(read the help section), if you look at the "sf type" column, it will give the status of the site(abandon or reclamation complete).

as for the accuracy, the coordinates are not very accurate.