Greetings from Carbon County

[ghostshot]

Howdy,
A friend and I visited the lucky strike mine the other night looking for pyrite, wanted to know a little about the mine and google led me here. After reading a few posts, decided to join in. Sounds like you folks know how to have good times. I'd like to join in your adventures next time down in this neck of the woods (desert). Have 4wheel drives, cameras, etc. I suppose I should post some of my pics of ghost towns etc.
I live just off US 6 between Price and Helper (Carbonville). It sure is pretty down here (castle country). I think it's a shame the way that they think they need to protect us from ourselves by sealing up these historic places the way they are doing. Are they going to put railings around all the cliffs next?

[acidman1968]

I'm new here myself, but welcome! I haven't had the opportunity to meet up with the group for any activities - but hopefully that will change in the future...

As for your comment about protecting us from ourselves, yeah, it's pretty ridiculous... On average, 30 people per year are killed nationwide in abandoned mines - that's 30 out of some 300 million people in this country, and the majority of the fatalities are due to drowning in abandoned quarries... Granted, not all 300 million people enter abandoned mines, so the percentage of people who explore mines and enter mining areas may be higher, but still - the leading cause of death is drowning in abandoned quarries that have flooded.

Compare that to deaths in our National Parks - "There were 356 reported fatalities during 2003 and 2004. Fatalities were most common during the summer months and on weekends. Males accounted for 75% of the reported fatalities, and visitors aged 20 to 29 and 50 to 59 years accounted for 51% of all deaths. Only 99 of 388 (26%) NPS units reported at least 1 fatality, and only 10 units reported 10 or more fatalities. However, these 10 units were responsible for 36% of all fatalities. Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Blue Ridge Parkway, Grand Canyon National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Yosemite National Park reported the highest number of fatalities. Domestic visitors accounted for 73% of the fatalities, and European visitors accounted for 13%. Transportation and water-based activities recorded the highest number of fatalities. Motor vehicle crashes accounted for 20% of fatalities and was followed by suicide (17%), swimming (11%), hiking (10%), plane crashes (9%), climbing (6%), and boating (5%) incidents."

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121535807/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

So should the government close down all the national parks to keep people safe? After all, roughly 10 times more people are killed in national parks and national recreation areas than the people killed in abandoned mine areas...

[Stuart]

Carbon County

Welcome to MU!

The Lucky Strike is a great mine, beautiful country down there. Feel free to post any pictures you have, I'd love to see them! We were actually just up Spring Canyon a few weeks ago shooting this video about Standardville. I'd like to get over to a few other historic coal sites in the area in the next few months. Keep an eye out for any new trips we post out there.

You make a great point acidman1968, its good to see it all put statistically like that. We know exactly how many visit the parks and how many fatalities occur. Unfortunately It is so hard to determine exactly how many people explore abandoned mines every year... we can guess many thousands based on how many we interact with every year and run into out at the mines. We will keep doing our part to make sure everyone explores safely and responsibly so the statistics don't rise.