One of the larger operations in southern New York was the Tilly Foster Mine. The mine was first opened in 1810 but the majority of its output occurred between 1864 and 1897. The mine was worked as a deep underground cavern until unstable conditions forced the mine to be worked as a massive open pit. In 1895, a massive cave-in claimed the lives of 13 miners and shortly after the mine became flooded by the nearby reservoir.

Today, the mine is completely flooded approximately 50 feet below the surface. The circumference of the now water-filled pit is so large in fact, it appears on maps as a noticeable body of water. Miner CT Mike and Mikeg joined myself to take a closer look at this historic operation...

http://www.ironminers.com/mineforum/viewtopic.php?p=108860

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"If you thought old, abandoned mines were only in the west, then you haven't been to IronMiners.com!"

Just curious, what were they mining here?

tilly foster was an iron mine

Thanks. Sad to hear about the cave-in.

Reminds me of the story about the Sunnyside mine's 2580 stope running up under lake Emma near Silverton, CO in 1978. Fortunately it was a Sunday and nobody was working when the lake fell through.

Water is certainly a scary factor around mining. So many accidents related to hitting flooded shafts, workings, reservoir and more..

Miner Greg

Miner Mike - you need to post up your ORIGINAL 1800s photograph of the tilly foster mine to show what it looked like back then! also this mine had the largest tailings pile i have ever seen at any mine, with avery interesting asortment of minerals in the tailings. that drill bit was a great find there!

No description can give it justice but I have a color (yes, color!) photograph of the Tilly Foster Mine before the mine was flooded. As soon as I move the rest of my collection to Tuxedo, I'll post this up.

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"If you thought old, abandoned mines were only in the west, then you haven't been to IronMiners.com!"

It is important to point out that the Tilly Foster Mine is posted private property and the owner takes a very dim view of any trespassing. Had Mike been caught exploring he would have been charged as he failed to make any effort to ask permission to have a look around. In recent days thanks in part to seeing Mikes pictures on line we have stepped up security with an on site security officer and camera monitoring. We don't want anybody getting hurt poking around the old pit, and this is still an active commercial site, Tilly Foster is protected folks, and unlike the other mines in the village of Brewster we are serious about it. Thank you.

Rock Island,

Welcome to our site and thank you for your warm welcome. We respect property rights and ask permission whenever necessary. As our visit was long ago, I cannot recall specifics regarding landowner status or whether it was posted conspicuously at the time of this visit. However, I assure you that our examination is complete and there are no plans by any of our staff to return. We do not promote trespassing and encourage all who seek to visit this mine to heed Rock’s warning and secure permission to visit.

Rock, now you have really piqued my curiosity. If this is still an active commercial site, might I inquire exactly what type of commercial activity is taking place? We are very interested in learning about ongoing activity on this property from an historical perspective.

(PS, please in the future, limit a unique post to one section -- I have removed the duplicates)

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"If you thought old, abandoned mines were only in the west, then you haven't been to IronMiners.com!"

The Tilly Foster mine site is now a scrap metal facility, and has been since 1946, the mine itself was in use as a diver training school training divers for deep sea ocean oil rig diving. The school is closed now, but the dock remains. In the past as far back as the 1920's leftover stone from the mine site was used in local building projects, as late as 1982 stone was still being removed from the site. Due to insurance regulations we no longer allow collectors access to the ore dumps, or the mine itself. Most folks do ask permission before entering the property, but we sometimes get some serous nut jobs around here who are involved in everything from looking for UFO's, worshiping the devil, to murder, and because of them we have stepped up security. A great deal of my time is spent dealing with people who disrespect Tilly Foster and it's history, tossing trash in the water, disturbing the peace of the neighborhood, last month I had a guy urinating off the side of the road into the water in full view of the world.
You got lucky Mike, the Old Man might have had the Sheriff on you, I would have just escorted you off the property with a warning, but one of your pics shows you directly behind the house of a very trigger happy old lady who thinks every shadow in the woods is a murderer or rapist. She keeps a sharp eye out on the mine, she and her .357 must have been off having lunch at the VFW that day. Her family worked the mine in the 19th century, has been here since the 1880's, and she still feels very protective of Tilly Foster.

Reminds me of the story about the Sunnyside mine's 2580 stope running up under lake Emma near Silverton, CO in 1978. Fortunately it was a Sunday and nobody was working when the lake fell through.

Had Mike been caught exploring he would have been charged as he failed to make any effort to ask permission to have a look around. In recent days thanks in part to seeing Mikes pictures on line we have stepped up security with an on site security officer and camera monitoring.

thanks yuanyelss for repeating what rock island had to offer.. ,,,, what the heck is with your sign line and location?

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This ain't longwall... this is long hole!

Spammer,

They want you to follow their link. Also known as delete bait.

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I don't have all the answers.
I don't even know all the questions!

Had I been caught exploring, I would have been charged as I failed to... wait what's happening!@? I'm possessed.. Buy lots of cialis! Buy corn flakes! Buy a new shovel!

Ok but seriously, feel free to just delete the posts if you can (though I must admit your responses are always funny). That is interesting but annoying that spammers are now just quoting or re-working existing posts to make them seem real.

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"If you thought old, abandoned mines were only in the west, then you haven't been to IronMiners.com!"