Stolen Coal: A Look Inside an Abandoned Bootleg Coal Mine
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- Опубліковано 16 сер 2022
- Large scale coal mining in Alabama began in the 1850s. During the infancy of coal extraction, the primitive methods and machinery often required many men to do the jobs. As collieries became more efficient in the 1920s, thousands were put out of work. With miner strikes, the Great Depression and workers being replaced by equipment, bootleg mining was conceived. Oftentimes these racketeers would reopen mines that the companies had closed using existing equipment left behind. The majority of bootleg coal was sold within a 30 mile range, mainly to local merchants and families. The bootleggers would sell the coal at a fraction of the price, making it an attractive option for families and businesses to save money on heating costs. This abandoned coal drift mine @MrTropics64 and I explored dates back to the 1880/90, and was closed around the 1920s. Bootleggers would return back after it was closed, reopen it and mine the coal left to provide for their families. Also, it appears moonshiners had set up an operation after the bootleggers finished, giving the mine another bit of history, but we will save that for another time.
#underground #caving #mines
Amazing footage and a great piece of history, thank you. The seam looked about 24 inches where it was visible, in the drifts. Did you notice the massive areas of "goaf" (i.e. worked-out areas backfilled with deads)? Looks like a stone wall on one side, with intact coal on the other. Keep up the good work, from the UK.
thank you so much, I didn't notice it at the time I was in there, it's always interesting to watch the videos to see what you missed. Glowstick films will have some amazing history on this as well, be sure to give him a subscribe :)
Just a few miles from where I lived in Pennsylvania, a family had a coal mine right there in the back yard and they used an old pickup truck perched on top of a huge wooden tower rigged up to be a winch for the coal cars to get them up the slope.
In my part of Pensylvania, we were cautioned to watch our step in the woods, branches and leaves could cover over the old shafts left by bootleg miners, leaving 'death traps' for the unwary.
Many open shafts on state game lands
Second generation electrician eastern ky coal miner here and i can say doing that without a methane detector is suicidal. Usually you can find old hand tools and dynamite, carbide lanterns and a host of great things.
Aren't you worried about bad air? I hope you're carrying a monitor!
Great job! When was the last time someone set foot inside it!!!!
Thanks for sharing 👍
In south east Kentucky it's called wildcating I've heard stories of my grandfather stealing the coal support columns from abandoned mines how desperate he must have been just blows my mind
Wrong , wildcat miners are unionized workers that strike , breaking their contracts.
Great explore guys but please take care and always take a gas detector with you in old coal mines they can kill in an instant and helmets come in handy invest in the correct protective equipment to keep you safe, and take only photos, take care from a UK cave and mine Explora.
I thought the same thing. Walk into a dip with “black damp” and its curtains.
There is a ideo on our channel showing how quickly a coal mine can kill uou within feet of the entrance.
That was a busy mine after the company abandoned it, we call em " farmers levels" in the UK not so much taking over a abandoned mine ,but driving a drift on the claim higher up, I saw a couple of years ago someone had been hacking out coal on the outcrop next door to a abandoned mine, left thier tools there too, probably a rucksack two at a time. Looked like you were in a dry spot when the video ended.👍
Yea we were in a dry spot, the mine didn’t seem to have an end in sight. I’m going to look up farmers levels, that sounds really cool
I’ve often wondered if people especially ex miners went and dug a sack or two for home to keep the bills down.
@@zerofox7347 miners had coal for life as a perk of the job, when coal stopped being mined ,so did the perk, it could of been ex miners hacking out the outcrop ,one things for sure its been going on for generations, its not publicised because every one would be doing it,not just coal every mineral has been extracted illegally, eg gold.or mineral collectors hacking out a vein deep in a stope,then selling the mineral to other collectors.
I see a lot of bootlegging operations on old collieries in the anthracite regions here in PA. They often robbed the pillars or took the barrier pillars that separated the collieries themselves haha.
the pillars were easy to access, but removing them is so sketchy lol
@@UndergroundBirmingham you know it man. People don't realize that just the pillars being exposed to the air causes them to degrade also. It's always a pleasure to hit unrobbed workings though as it can lead to endless explorations.
I cannot imagine shinning back in there. Insane.
Probably just hid it in there and did the shinning outside .
Wow what an adventure. Well done !!!!
Very interesting thank you.
I’m amazed they went so hard after moonshiners that they would go down a coal mine!
Excellent Presentation Sir⛏
Enjoyed it buddy
Thanks for sharing,, i like your vdio my friend
Thanks for giving it a view, it really helps with the analytics. Glad you enjoyed it 😊
Whoa, in a coal mine with a naked flame lamp 💥. I know that’s how they did it back then, pretty scary to watch 😬
Hi, I tried to PM you but I wanna ask about some of the footage you've found. I'm the author of a book about bootleg coal in PA. Thanks.
Cool video guys. I’m not trying to be a safety sally but do you carry gas detectors. I’ve worked in coal mines for a long time. You should at the minimum carry a o2 detector. Real easy in old works to run into low oxygen.
Oh no you’re not at all, good looking out. Yes, we use a iBrid mx6 gas meter and on o2 detector as well
@@UndergroundBirmingham Good to hear. I see a lot of people doing this without them. Even in a modern properly ventilated mine it's possible to run into low O2. Also be careful around loose rock, sometimes just your footsteps can be enough to rattle already loose rock. Be careful guys!
Are there any active soft coal mines were you live. I worked in a bootleg coal mine in the anthracite coal fields in the 90s we leased the property from the mining company who own the closed mine we reopen it and mined it we sold the raw coal to the company and payed a royalty charge to them for each ton.
yes, all soft coal, bituminous, in my region. several big companies still operating underground and surface operations, but it seems the green movement is closing a lot of them down.
Awesome video, better history
that is a lot of work
brilliant set up if all u got is coal for home heat
Got to stay warm somehow.digging, loading,carrying , stoking the stove and all those steps keep you warm until you light the fire.
Wow that's awesome mine
It had cool artifacts
Mine still lots of coal
You could still pull some out to heat the house if youyou needed
Yep there enough coal last very long time
How long coal burns
Nice explore!! Your thumbnail looks like the Pioneer coal mine tour's bootleg mine on the lokie ride in Ashland, Pa.
Is it?
thanks bud, yes, that is the one :)
Is that what you explored??
@@coalcrackerchris so that's just a mock-up for display only, not a real bootleg... but if you walk the hills around that mountain you're sure to find a few ;)
thanks
Cool video, I enjoyed it. Sure hope you had gas detectors, nothing to play around with.
This isn't far from where I live the bottom of what's known as Appalachia you couldn't imagine how poor these people were. They used this coal to sell, heat and make whiskey at night and store in the hole til sold
I like your video's as i am a coal miner. Any methane gas if any i would not worry about the gas as long as you don't use and open flame. The two big dangers i see is number one go buy and oxygen detector by all means you can drop dead if the oxygen level gets to low. Number two is bad top just hanging waiting to fall. Hard hats are a plus for the ole head lol.
You didn t have to be a heavy drinker to work down there but it was recommended !!!!!
Kept saying moonshiner remains? Where they fireing there still on coal clear down there or using a induction heater
They was lucky to make it back out alive. That was incredibly dangerous.
When you said bootleg I thought it was an old mine used to hide a still. I wasn't completely wrong. 7:31 looks like a finger.
Should have left the bottle for the next person to see
Wow camera looks way better
Little bit better light
Brave heart ❤
It's scrabbler nature to scrabble without responsibility or regard for safety, it's the scrabbler struggle and the scrabbler dream
What was being treated with the Linseed Oil??
It was oil, it burns, and they could use it in the lanterns if they didn't have lamp oil, and it also could be used to lubricate the tracks if needed.
Great video i subscribed. i work as a coal miner and i greatly enjoyed this. I also explore old gold, silver, and copper mines i post them on my channel.
that's awesome! just subscribed to you, looking forward to watching some of you videos
@@UndergroundBirmingham Thank you so much.
I am curious if we have to worry about methane much in old abandoned coal mines? There's one here which was said to go back about 700 feet into the hill, according to old mapping. Collapsed at entrance but I found another way in. What I found seems like a 75 degree declined angle air shaft / tools skip sled. Mine hasn't been worked since the 1960's. Would methane be more of an issue when they are actively being worked than when abandoned or does it build up over time when not being worked?
@@nefariumxxx Yes there is the possiblitly. You must always be mindful of bad air in any mine. Bad air is deadly.
@@nefariumxxx coal mines, yes, always worry about that. Carry a meter, we use the Ibrid mx6. Coal is much more dangerous than hard rock. Just be safe
Can’t believe you guys take stuff out of the mine!
Smh read the comments
Ugh! Don't break those staglite whatcha call it. Took a long time to make them. Drip by drip.
We navigated around them as carefully as possible. That sounds much better than alien things 😂
Correct me if I’m wrong but a stalagmite I think comes up from the ground and a stalagtite goes down from “ceiling” of a cave or mine in this case.
@@csrrjefflloyd6496 that is a little out of my knowledge. I still think it comes from UFO's lol
Is there any methane gas in that mine?
LOL, you saying that you weren't going in there because its unsupported, I don't think i saw any of it that was supported. I was a coal miner at one time by the way and i saw no supports anywhere.
How could anyone make moonshine in mine, a fire would be a nightmare with smoke and C02
So has no idea of dates of bottles????
I believe one was 1903 and the other was 1915
You guys got real guts to go down there or else maybe you are just nuts.
You can't steal something that's just lying in the ground
Production
They did what they had to do to survive I would too
let me tell you something this is history ! 🤣
You couldn't pay me enough money to go into one of those underground mines. No thanks, dislike being buried alive.
shame i was expecting birmingham ENGLAND not usa
Those dang robbers, the billionaires owned that coal!
birmingham?
No moonshiners worth a shit would use steel for there still product would taste horrible
That’s kinda what I thought too. Mashpot or whatever it was called didn’t look great either
OLD grand dad whisky
a Volkswagen bug drove coal from a mine....no
Id say the area we were, more than likely transporting moonshine
Where is your breathing equipment? Coal mines are notorious for noxious gases. It doesn’t look well ventilated.
Ok mom.
Look I love this type of video (. But ) why do you steal old artefacts from the mine so no one can see them again ?.
The was a private property mine. The artifacts were removed per request of the owner, and they are now on display at the local museum for all to see
Thank you for update of mine ownership , apologies given , cheers .
@@williamdovey9971 no worries. It’s rare we ever remove items, if we do it’s for the museums and Schools
Not wise to go into an abandoned underground like that lots of unknown dangers for you guys.
This channel is full of abandoned mine videos. They know what they're getting themselves into.
not wise at all, we don't advocate anyone doing so. we understand the risks involved
Thanks mom.
haaa yeah,,every ..toxic waste dump drum...is a fkn...still
Pretty much
Man I love what you guys do. Just ignore all the Karen's bitching about the artifacts and making sure you have your SAFETY equipment. Lmao! I suppose it comes with the territory as your channel grows.
EDIT: In the future could you give some close up shots of the whiskey bottles including the bottom?
My family's land was taken for coal. Well, we are still getting royalty checks for pennies. We won't cash them.
GAS DETECTOR !!
How is it stolen coal? You don't own the mineral Rights on your land?
Exactly
Shaky video, so hard to watch...
I take it you’ve never explored this kind of terrain
Great footage. Awful music.
Thanks man
Living in the era when all coal mines were open, that was the bestcdays of my life when seeing all the machinery, dad's going to work, giving that blood and sweat, but what do we had today, too much of climate activists and wokes saying its destroyed the planet, these people haven't seen life or lived through those years, as most don't even know what a coal mine looks like and a piece of coal.
No doubt TV PROGRAMMING and College has infiltrated the minds of the fluoridated masses...
Are you stealing artifacts out of these mines? I hope they are on your property otherwise that is not cool man. Us other real mine explorers don't appreciate that one bit.
Ok Karen
not stealing. no one reported it stolen and im sure if the person that paid pennys for them 100 years ago wants them back he"ll gladly give it to them. saving then is what the owned would want.
The bottles were taken with permission to the property owner to donate to the museum in town for everyone to be able to see. I personally don’t care about bottles, but we understand some do and want to see it.
@@UndergroundBirmingham Cool, thanks! Great explore, looks like you had one hell of a time climbing out of there.
@@brannancloward it was so steep, with soft dirt that gave away with each movement. It was a fun challenge
Stolen coal stolen history bottle
how do you figure that? so every old left behind bottles you see everywhere in collections and for sale are stolen? More like saved history
Bottles were removed with permission from property owner, and donated to the town museum, but speculate away, Karen.
@@UndergroundBirmingham lol I’m not a Karen just a comment most people steal stuff that should be in museums. I love history and it should be shared with everyone. I’ve been to many historic sites I’ve never taken anything from them. By the way I didn’t call the cops on him so that doesn’t make me a Karen, for me to be a Karen I would have to make more than just an observation of how ironic it is for people stealing coal and a person stealing a bottle. So what you are telling me if you saw someone robbing an old lady you would not say or do anything because that would make you a Karen?
@@thembijan again it wasn’t stolen, so you continuing to debate makes one a Karen.
@@thembijan the Karen thing is really just a joke, grandma better be packing
Just Robin and steeling and breaking shit
stealing relics from mines *sad sigh* red thumb for that.
You should talk less in your vids