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294:, effectively eliminating large-scale hydraulic operations. For the next 14 years, drift mining placer gold deposits in buried Tertiary channels partially made up for the loss of placer gold production, but overall production declined. Production rose again with the advent of large-scale dredging. The first successful gold dredge was introduced on the lower
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Around 1900 the population of Nome was more than twenty thousand, many of them drift miners. Nome's gold fields, appearing untouched from the surface, are honeycombed with tunnels left by the gold rush drift miners. Today's miners, prospecting with modern drilling equipment, sometimes hit old drifts; this was, and is, a technique copied from the
238:. During summer, surface deposits could be worked, but some placer deposits were buried too deeply for surface placering. In addition, water to wash the gold from the placers was not available in the winter. Many miners tunneled into deep placer deposits, bringing out the high-grade gravels to be washed at the spring thaw. Most of the ground in
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257:. Gold was usually found on top of "false bedrock," a layer of clay that occurred at the base of the beach or stream deposit. Miners initially sank shafts to prospect for the pay streaks by building a fire atop the permafrost, then as it melted, shoveling away the mud. The process would continue down to either a pay streak or bedrock.
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Mine) (1906-?), a drift mine, non-gaseous, mining a 38" thick seam of Lower
Kittaning coal using compressed air machines; ventilation provided by an 8' Stine steam-powered fan, Clymer, PA. Rodkey Mine(1906-?), a drift mine, Clymer. Ernest Mine No. 2 (1903–1965), a drift mine, at Ernest, Rayne Twp., Indiana Co., PA.
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When gold was found drift mining began. Miners would tunnel horizontally from the bottom of their prospect shaft to follow the gold along the surface of the bedrock. The tunnels did not cave in because the ground was frozen. Miners discovered old underground beach and river gravels rich with gold.
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is a more general mining term, meaning a near-horizontal passageway in a mine, following the bed (of coal, for instance) or vein of ore. A drift may or may not intersect the ground surface. A drift follows the vein, as distinguished from a crosscut that intersects it, or a level or gallery, which may
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gold deposits up and down the state and in varied environments. Initially, easily discovered deposits in surface and river placers were mined until about 1864. Hydraulic mines, using powerful water cannons to wash whole hillsides, were the chief sources of gold for the next 20 years. In 1884, Judge
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The first ton of coal in a shaft mine 100 feet in depth and having a daily capacity of 600 tons frequently costs the mining adventurer upwards of $ 20,000 (1888), and cases are on record where owing to the extraordinary amount of water in sinking, $ 100,000 (1888) have been expended before coal was
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In 1989 the U.S. Bureau of Mines published a study of eastern
Kentucky drift mines as part of an ongoing research program to characterize the outcrop barrier zone. "Hillseams" were identified as the dominant geologic cause of roof instability unique to the outcrop barrier zone, with many roof fall
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Indiana County: Graff Drift Mines, near
Blairsville. Commodore Mines, Nos. 1 & 3 (drift mines), No. 2 (slope mine), Green Twp. Empire "F" Mine (1910-?), Shanktown; a drift mine, mining the "B" coal seam, mining done by machine, owner Pioneer Coal Company, Clearfield. Empire "M" Mine (McKean
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where surface slopes are steep. Hillseams are most conspicuous within 200 ft laterally of a coalbed outcrop and under 300 ft or less of overburden. Hillseams form by stress relief, and therefore tend to parallel topographic contours and ridges. They can intersect at various angles,
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In 1820 the first commercial mine in
Kentucky, known as the "McLean drift bank" opened near the Green River and Paradise in Muhlenberg County. In Drift, Kentucky, Beaver Coal & Mining Company was the most well known operator of mines, but there were other smaller mines (Floyd-Elkhorn
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do either. All horizontal or subhorizontal development openings made in a mine have the generic name of drift. These are simply tunnels made in the rock, with a size and shape depending on their use—for example, haulage, ventilation, or exploration.
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especially under the nose of a ridge, and create massive blocks or wedges of roof prone to failure. Examples of hillseams are described in both outcrop and in coal mine roof to establish their geologic character and contribution to roof failure.
101:'s website says the Argyle Hollow (occupied by a lake since 1948) has been rich in coal, clay and limestone resources. Historically, individuals commonly opened and dug their own "drift mines" to supplement their income. In
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The capacity or output of the mines of the State varies greatly. Thick coals are capable of a greater daily output than thin seams, and as a general rule drift mines possess greater advantages for loading coal rapidly than
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driven into the surface outcrop of the coal bed. A drift mine is an underground mine in which the entry or access is above water level and generally on the slope of a hill, driven horizontally into the ore seam.
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Many, many references to and photographs of WV drift mines in the
Scrapbook of Appalachian Coal Towns, including Sprague, Kaymoor, Nuttallburg, Venus, Layland, Elverton, Casselman (aka Castleman), etc.
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openings. In many of the mines of the great vein region of the
Hocking valley the capacity is equal to 1,200 to 1,500 tons per day. In shaft mines 600 to 700 tons daily is regarded as a good output.
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117:, was in operation from the late 1800s through the late 1920s. Too small for commercial operation, the mine probably provided coal for the Lusk family and later for the park.
705:
Sames, Gary, and Noel Moebs. "Hillseam
Geology and Roof Instability near Outcrop in Eastern Kentucky Drift Mines." U.S. Bureau of Mines. 1989. Accessed December 28, 2015.
134:
Dorsey Coal
Company's Ashby coal mine, a small drift mine probably in the Upper Freeport coal; and the mine of the Taylor-Offutt Coal Company near Oakland, MD.
694:
Silva, Michael. "Placer Gold
Recovery Methods (SP87)." California Department of Conservation Division of Mines and Geology. 1986. Accessed December 28, 2015.
105:, small coal mining operations such as these were known as "country bank" or "farmer" coal mines, and usually produced only small quantities for local use.
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injuries and fatalities attributed to them. Hillseam is the eastern
Kentucky miners term for weather-enlarged tension joints that occur in shallow mine
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In the 1880s, State Inspector of Mines, Andrew Roy, issued a report on the Mines and Mining Resources of Ohio, which includes the following paragraphs:
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The Fork Mountain, TN, drift portal entered an 84-inch unnamed seam of coal (see picture above). Most coal seams in Tennessee were not this thick.
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Washlaski, Raymond, and Ryan Washlaski. "Virtual Museum of Coal Mining in Western Pennsylvania." September 18, 2010. Accessed December 28, 2015.
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reached. Drift mines, as they require no machinery for pumping water and raising coal, cost less than half the amount required in shaft mining.
646:
DellaMea, Chris. "Eastern Tennessee Coalfields." Coalfields of the Appalachian Mountains. November 1, 2006. Accessed December 28, 2015.
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DellaMea, Chris. "Upper Youghiogheny Coalfield." Coalfields of the Appalachian Mountains. November 1, 2006. Accessed December 28, 2015.
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DellaMea, Chris. "Upper Youghiogheny Coalfield." Coalfields of the Appalachian Mountains. November 1, 2006. Accessed December 28, 2015.
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DellaMea, Chris. "Eastern Kentucky Coalfields." Coalfields of the Appalachian Mountains. November 1, 2006. Accessed December 28, 2015.
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Gold at Nome was concentrated in three ancient beach lines, now inshore, above sea level, and buried under roughly fifty feet of
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662:"The Mineral Wealth of Virginia Tributary to the Lines of the Norfolk & Western and Shenandoah Valley Railroad Companies"
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Roy, Andrew. "Mines and Mining Resources of Ohio." Mines and Mining Resources of Ohio. 1888. Accessed December 28, 2015.
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Drift mines in eastern Kentucky are subject to roof collapse due to hillseams, especially within 100 feet of the portal.
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483:"Glossary of Mining Terms." Kentucky Foundation, Coal and Energy Education Project. 1996. Accessed December 28, 2015.
450:"Glossary of Mining Terms." Kentucky Foundation, Coal and Energy Education Project. 1996. Accessed December 28, 2015.
567:"Kentucky Coal Heritage." Kentucky Foundation, Coal and Energy Education Project. 1996. Accessed December 28, 2015.
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was drift mined from 1863 to 1939. Measurements in 2003, 2005, and 2022 showed that the mine has an active
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https://assets.bouldercounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/marshall-fire-investigative-summary.pdf
554:"Working in a Drift Mine." DNR Reclamation Posters. August 29, 2005. Accessed December 28, 2015.
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Rothwell, Richard P.; Raymond, Rossiter W.; Kirchhoff, Charles Jr, eds. (August 2, 1884).
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of the coal, and underground hauling under such conditions is unusually costly.
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503:"Drift | Mining." Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Accessed December 28, 2015.
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issued a decree prohibiting the dumping of hydraulic mining debris into the
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Coal miner standing in a drift portal at Fork Mountain, Tennessee, 1920.
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Consolidated Collieries, Turner-Elkhorn Coal Company, etc.) as well.
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Water is, however, an expensive item in drift mines opened on the
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528:"Argyle Lake State Park." About. Accessed December 28, 2015.
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http://www.coalcampusa.com/westmd/upperyough/upperyough.htm
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http://www.coalcampusa.com/westmd/upperyough/upperyough.htm
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http://www.in.gov/dnr/reclamation/files/re-driftmine.pdf
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http://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/10524/cdc_10524_DS1.pdf
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http://www.coaleducation.org/coalhistory/default_H.htm
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The Boulder-Weld Coal Field beneath Marshall Mesa in
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472:A Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms
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170:Drift mine entry in West Virginia, 1908. Photo by
27:Mining of a mineral deposit by underground methods
505:http://www.britannica.com/technology/drift-mining
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671:. Vol. XXXVIII, no. 5. p. 70.
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485:http://www.coaleducation.org/glossary.htm
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306:Historical drift mines in other countries
681:"A Scrapbook of Appalachian Coal Towns"
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234:during the early years (1899- ) of the
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345:Drift mines in current production
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