Osage Asphalt Mine

Urban exploration in Missouri
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Headframe Hunters
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Osage Asphalt Mine

Post by Headframe Hunters »

I dunno if anyone here has been in this one; it's behind the ready-mix plant in Osage Beach. It was an aggregate mine owned by Osage Asphalt, Inc. that seems to have closed around 1984.

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There are three entrances on the north side of the face; all are covered with corrugated metal siding. The siding has come loose on one; I'm 6'0" 260lbs and barely fit through the man-squeeze between the two-by-fours holding the whole thing up. This is a view of the inside of the gate.

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One of the rooms is walled off with cinder blocks; it's empty except for PVC pipe, buckets, and miscellaneous junk. It was probably the underground shop and storeroom for the mine.

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I thought that this 'DANGER - EXPLOSIVES' sign was worthy of a photo op, with obligatory face hiding.

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I believe that the drifts here are approximately 20 feet high by forty feet wide. It seems like someone wanted to use the mine as a warehouse, based on pickup tire tracks and 'CONTROL STORAGE' being painted on the gate, but it didn't pan out.

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This is the gnarliest pillar failure I've ever seen. The pillar intserects a pocket of clay, which dissolved once it got wet. As you get towards the eastern side of the mine, the back (roof) conditions get sketchy. There are a bunch of rock falls and mangled roof bolts, and some installed roof bolts that backed out almost a foot from stresses. In addition to the three entrances on the northern pit wall, there is a fourth on the eastern wall. The workings there seem to be under the ready-mix plant, and are slowly failing from the weight of the plant, its stockpiles, and the massive heap of waste concrete. We didn't enter them for obvious reasons.
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Re: Osage Asphalt Mine

Post by mindwaave »

I hadn't heard of this one before, thanks for sharing! We've got some mines closer to St. Louis if you're ever in the area. Do you go to S&T? Cause you should definitely check out the Rolla Thread if you live there.
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RE: Osage Asphalt Mine

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Yep, I'm at S&T. I've done some poking around near STL, particularly near Festus and Pacific. We reconnoitered the Glencoe underground mines- the south mine is being worked on; there's an office trailer in the southernmost entry and at least one security camera, and I heard a trackhoe operating inside. The north mine may be GTG. The yellow tubular-steel gate on the east side of the road is not actually locked; you can drive a vehicle right by it. It would seem as if a house may be built on the spot, across the creek from the mines, but it makes a good place from which to observe the mines. All my recon was done with binocs from 100-200yds+ away.

We also did the Pacific thing when driving back from visiting family friends in Indiana. The entries behind the car wash, specifically. There's enough crap falling off the back there that I didn't feel safe doing it without my PPE, which I had left back in Rolla, so I ran out after getting maybe a hundred feet in. The sound of crackling St Peter sandstone is terrifying when it makes up the roof over your head!! :shock: :shock:

Which mines did you particularly have in mind? I'm trying to coordinate a trip to a multi-entry underground copper mine at an undisclosed location. Private property; I'm trying to work with one of the landowners.
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Re: Osage Asphalt Mine

Post by Chris »

Thanks!
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Re: Osage Asphalt Mine

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I just wanted to post a link to YouTube video of this mine. The video quality is a bit iffy since the huge drifts made proper lighting completely impossible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCk08ACbN_0
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Re: Osage Asphalt Mine

Post by gimpface »

Nice find! I'll have to look into that the next time I'm up that way.
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Re: Osage Asphalt Mine

Post by Chris »

Do you (Headframe Hunters) also post on AR15.com?
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Re: Osage Asphalt Mine

Post by Headframe Hunters »

Chris wrote:Do you (Headframe Hunters) also post on AR15.com?
Yep! I'm assuming you've run into some of my posts in the Creepy Thread?
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Re: Osage Asphalt Mine

Post by Chris »

Yessir! Small world!
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RE: Osage Asphalt Mine

Post by Headframe Hunters »

That is too funny! Imitation crab meat, FO, and get both, as they say!
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RE: Osage Asphalt Mine

Post by Eagle90 »

So did you fent 87 times? Any BFL's around here?
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Re: Osage Asphalt Mine

Post by Chris »

I have a BFL on my car, trash can guns in my safe, dags in my house...

Anyway...yeah. So there's 3 of us? Sweet!
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Re: Osage Asphalt Mine

Post by Eagle90 »

Looks that way. I don't have any trash can guns. Shot one once and I didn't like it so never bought one. I do have a dag. Dumber than a box of rocks in a smart sort of way. Don't have a BFL but I don't generally put stickers on my vehicles. Only one is my parking lot sticker.

Maybe we should meet over in Havener once the new hate chicken place opens......
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RE: Osage Asphalt Mine

Post by Headframe Hunters »

Havener is getting a Hate Chicken?!? :D :D

I'm in. I'm working for a mining company in Arizona this summer, and will return by mid-August. Been a bit out of the loop as far as goings-on in Rolla.
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Re: Osage Asphalt Mine

Post by Eagle90 »

Yup, it will be in the food court and open when the fall semester starts. I'm really hoping they use it as a test bed to see if Rolla will support it and then build a full store out in Rolla West or somewhere. It's going to be slammed ALL THE TIME though. I imagine parking is going to be a problem too.
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