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A32 FEATURE
Wednesday 31 OctOber 2018
U.S. West's abandoned mines hold danger and, for some, thrills

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST completely uncontrolled
Associated Press situation."
EUREKA, Utah (AP) — Un- In Arizona, prospector John
derneath the mountains Waddell fell to the rocky
and deserts of the U.S. West bottom of a mine shaft af-
lie hundreds of thousands ter the rigging he used to
of abandoned mines, an lower himself broke Oct.
underground world that 15. He survived by sucking
can hold serious danger moisture out of his shirt be-
and unexpected wonder. fore a friend who he'd told
They are a legacy of the about his plans came to
region's prospecting past, check on him.
when almost anyone could There are also cases like
dig a mine and then walk Riley Powell and his girl-
away, with little cleanup friend, Brelynne "Breezy"
required, when it stopped Otteson. Prosecutors say
producing. an enraged man killed the
In Utah alone, the state is teenage couple after they
trying to seal more than visited his girlfriend despite
10,000 open mines with This Sept. 7, 2018, photo shows Nick Castleton looking down a shaft, near Eureka, Utah. his warning her not to have
cinderblocks and metal Associated Press male visitors. He dumped
grates after people have their bodies in the mine
died in rock falls and all- people. That's how he got metal tracks that once with tainted water, as in the shaft, where they remained
terrain-vehicle crashes and to know Bill Powell, who carried ore carts, making toxic 2015 spill from Colo- for nearly three months be-
from poisonous air over looked for his 18-year-old their way through a tunnel rado's Gold King mine, but fore being discovered in
the past three decades. son, Riley, for months be- shored up in places with most in Utah are dry. March.
Just this month in Arizona, fore the teenager and his squared-off timbers. After Legally, entering a mine Similar cases have oc-
a prospector broke his left girlfriend were found dead nearly a mile, the railcar can be considered tres- curred in states like Wyo-
leg and ankle after plung- in a mine shaft the outside tracks suddenly dropped passing in Utah if it has ming, Colorado and Cali-
ing to the bottom of an old the small town of Eureka. into an abyss as the tunnel been closed or there are fornia. Investigators also
mine shaft. He spent nearly The teens' families formed opened wide into a huge signs posted outside, but searched old mines in Utah
cavern. A hundred years prosecutions are rare. Ex- and neighboring Nevada
ago, it would be a bustling plorers argue it's no more after the high-profile 2009
scene lit with candles and dangerous than outdoor disappearance of Susan
carbide lights, as miners sports ranging from hiking Cox Powell, though the
climbed a scaffolding the to skiing, which also claim 28-year-old Salt Lake City-
size of a seven-story build- lives in the West. area wife and mother was
ing to drill out lead and sil- But there are hazards spe- never found.
ver. cific to mines that can "Unfortunately, an aban-
Now, it is silent and pitch- be especially dangerous doned mine is probably
black, illuminated only by to the unprepared, from a good place to dispose
the searching headlamp abandoned explosives to of something like that — a
beams. the potentially fatal low-ox- person or something you
Bill Powell thought of his ygen air known to miners as want to hide forever," said
In this Aug. 26, 2018, photo, Jeremy MacLee explores a mine son, and the trips they took
near Eureka, Utah.
Associated Press through the desert when
he was a kid. Sometimes
they'd come across an old
three days there with no a close bond with Ma- mine shaft and toss a rock
food or water fending off cLee and other volunteer down, trying to imagine
rattlesnakes before a friend searchers. Despite his pain- how far it fell. He doesn't
heard his cries for help. ful memories, Bill Powell de- do that anymore, not since
Still, not everyone wants to cided to see what draws his his son's body was found in
see the mines closed. For friend to those dark recess- one of those pits.
years, a dedicated subcul- es deep in the desert. Though the teenager never
ture of explorers has been "It's a whole different life. got to explore a mine like
slipping underground to The underground life," said the one his father was in,
see tunnels lined with spar- Powell, who has a gravelly Bill Powell thought he'd like
kling quartz, century-old voice, close-cropped gray seeing it. "He'd probably
rail cars and caverns that beard and a quick smile. wish he was with me, hang-
open in the earth like bur- On a recent day, he and ing out." This June 6, 2018, photo shows a contractor hired by the Utah
ied ballrooms. MacLee joined a group of But the dangers of aban- Division of Oil, Gas and Mining sealing off a abandoned mine
near Gold Hill, Utah.
"Nobody has walked the friends in front of a moun- doned mines weigh on Associated Press
path you're walking for 100 tainside opening near Eu- Utah officials' minds. There
years," said Jeremy Ma- reka, wearing helmets, have been 11 deaths since
cLee, who uses old min- oxygen meters and strong 1982 and more than 40 in- "black damp," reclamation Hollie Brown, spokeswom-
ing documents and high- lights, and a carrying stash juries, including people specialist Chris Rohrer said. an for the Utah Division of
tech safety equipment to of extra batteries. Cool air who entered mines to ex- And while some explor- Oil, Gas and Mining.
find and explore forgotten blasted from the opening, plore and others who fell ers like MacLee go in pre- For the state, the message
holes, mostly in Utah. cutting through the desert in by accident, according pared, many do not. is as clear as its skull-and-
He also lends his exper- heat. to state data. Some aban- "It's just a wide open, Wild crossbones signs: Stay out
tise to searches for missing The group walked between doned mines become filled West thing," he said. "It's a and stay alive.q