Many of us are familiar with the Beach Glen Mine in Rockaway and the wealth of artifacts that could be easily seen. An ore cart, a winch pad and drum and many other items of interest.

Long story short, it appears that persons hungry for scrap metal have taken everything that could be carried away or cut up. I 'm quite certain (or I'll have quite the sizeable egg on my face) that I covered the whole area. My feeling is this must have been a prolonged
operation in that some items could just not be hauled away.

I'm obviously saddened by this. And I feel somewhat personally responsible as this was a favorite place of mine. And given that this destruction/looting was not accomplished in a day, perhaps if I visited more frequently, I might have seen something so I could have saved something.

I do not want to sound preachy but I think it behooves all of us, as mining enthusiasts to keep a closer watch on our treasured favorite sites, particularly if those sites have artifacts that might be exploited. To state the obvious, once the site has been looted, it can't be restored.

Well stated.

_________________
Scott K
"Watch Your Top"

I agree 100% !!!!

A visit to Beach Glen Mine as recently as 1990 would have revealed one of the most well preserved, artifact-rich mining sites in all of New Jersey. A fully intact tipple, standing completely upright, could still be seen from as far as County Route 513 as you drove by. A host of machinery including the winch pad, ore car, and drum as Jackstraw pointed out, appeared almost secondary to the sight of the tipple. With its rails firmly affixed to the top, and operational chute, the tipple served as a striking landmark of our deep rooted history in iron. Now the tipple is lying on the ground after once being strangled by vines, and the once many artifacts are disappearing leaving but a third growth forest to remember the mine by.

It is both unfortunate and inevitable in our day and age that regard for the past is secondary to our often selfish needs and desires. It seems unlikely that the artifacts have been moved to a museum for any one of us would and should be notified. It is for reasons like this that IronMiners was born, to help these historic places live on through pictures, documentation, and story, when all that otherwise would have been left behind is memories. We didn't take as many pictures as we would have liked to in our earlier days. When we started to realize sites personal to us were being destroyed, we made it our obligation to always carry our cameras with us. And so as we see continued destruction at Beach Glen, let us document what is left and maybe, even snap a photo or two of the perpetrator...

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

Speaking of pictures, here is a link to my Beach Glen pictures on Mindat, taken at various times during the last three years.

http://www.mindat.org/user-13560.html#2_12303_0_0_0_0_

This is terrible news. This mine was the last closest to untouched mines left in the state, other than Mount Hope and Sterling Hill. Such a shame that people would lude whatever metal is left for scrap. I remember the tipple when it was still standing. A little bit of work could have been done to stabilize it, but it was just left to collapse as the poison ivy pulled it apart. Now we lost what little was left.

Miner Greg