Witch Pits?

Urban exploration in Springfield, Missouri
Jesta
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Re: Witch Pits?

Post by Jesta »

Haven't been on here in years but Google just brought me back searching for what the Gardner Trust was. Lived very close growing up and I always remembered wonder what it was on a map.

Now that I know I'll probably check it on the next time we float that part of the James.

Thanks guys, you're always such a help for random information in the Springfield area.
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Re: Witch Pits?

Post by gimpface »

I checked this out today, thanks in a large part to jammer_smith's info and the Ultimate Cave map/post. Pics to follow. Through my own research/exploration and a helpful local, I have some additional information about the mines.

The "Witch Pits" are the remnants of two separate mining operations. One was called the Gem Mine, and the other is the Cook mine. Both were lead/zinc mines, and both were actually underground shaft mines, not surface mines. I never saw the large pit jammer described, but the smaller pits are almost certainly collapsed shafts. One shaft is still in pretty good shape; goes about 20' down to a debris filled bottom- may be deeper with a fence or something blocking it, you would have to rappel down to find out. There's a large mound of tailings and the cast concrete foundations of what was probably the mill and/or smelter.

The neighbor I spoke with had lots of good info. I took the path jammer took, but it was pretty rough terrain. This guy recommended going to the very end of Riverview street and asking the people there to cross their land to get to it. I'm sure this would be easier; going up the hill a bit from the mine you can clearly see their barn. He also told me about some of the other mines in the general area. I guess some of them you can get down into the shafts and explore drifts that you can't otherwise see. Worth considering for those of us daring/stupid enough to try it.
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RE: Witch Pits?

Post by gimpface »

Some right purty pictures.

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This berm is actually a pile of tailings at the mouth of the Gem mine.

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This is what the majority of the pits look like. These are either collapsed shafts or perhaps just test digs.

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A view of the mill/mine plant ruins

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Here's a view of the one open shaft

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Looking into the mine. About a 20' drop or so.

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Yours truly at the mouth of the shaft

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Twail Wetard
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Re: Witch Pits?

Post by Twail Wetard »

Damnit why wasn't I invited
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Re: Witch Pits?

Post by Kit »

very nice
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Re: Witch Pits?

Post by jammer_smith »

I think the large pit you have there is the large pit I was describing. When I came across the place it was very nearly dark (I had been hiking literaly all day) and I couldn't see the bottom and the light may have been playing tricks on my eyes. It doesn't look nearly as large in your picture as I remember it, but the excitment of the find coupled with poor light can play tricks on your memory.

Was there a large earth pile next to it? That large earth pile was in fact how I found the large pit. I saw the hillock and said to myself "That doesn't look natural" and wen to check it out and lo, there was a great big pit on the other side.
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Re: Witch Pits?

Post by jammer_smith »

Also, as far as the "other mines" your local mentioned. I have heard there there are other mine shafts and collapsed mine pits south east of Nixon Cave "in a field across the tracks, between the tracks and the river".

If you go to the Cave map, just to the north east of the Witch Pits you'll find my markers for Nixon Cave and Cave Creek Pit (also an old lead/zinc mine). Based on the information above, I think the mostly likly place for these other mines to exist is either in the fields almost directly south of Nixon Cave, or in the fields just to the east of Kershner Cemetary.
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Re: Witch Pits?

Post by gimpface »

Yeah, there was a large pile of tailings in front of the main shaft obscuring it from view... I had the same thought process of "That doesn't look right... better check it out".

As for which other mines this gentleman was referring to, it's hard to say- he was quite knowledgeable and enthusiastic about local mines, and he quickly put me into information overload. I do have records of more than twenty other mines in that general area (mostly directly across the river). I think one of the ones he talked about exploring was probably Wolverine shaft #2 near pleasant valley and farm road 148, possibly also the Clark shaft and the Eversol mine.
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Re: Witch Pits?

Post by jammer_smith »

Well if you find one that has some underground tunnel left, let me know, well, let me know regardless cause I will want to put even open pit mines on the map, but some mines with underground tunnel is the holy grail.

I spent several afternoons last summer searching for the Carver Mine based on what I felt was a very reliable source, who promised me snake-filled subterranean tunnel adventures. I did eventualy find the Carver Mine, but it was much less than what I was lead to believe. If the mine as he described it did exist in the woods behind the school when he was a kid, it has long since been filled in.
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Re: Witch Pits?

Post by gimpface »

So I got bored and started googling around for local mining maps and found this sweet map of the mines east of Springfield If you look in the lower right corner you can see the area of the witch pits and where the Gem mine was situated... apparently it had a drift that ran under the James... it seems like that would be prone to flooding, but what do I know. Edit: Here's a another one that shows more detail.
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Re: Witch Pits?

Post by jammer_smith »

Very cool. I have been mine hunting on old topo maps lately have have a number marked to explore at some point. In the springfield area almost all of the mine or mine-like markers are for quarries, not so many for pit mines or even tunnel mines.

However further into the eastern part of the state I see quite a few of them. Of course the map is from the 70s so who knows if they are still even open?

What I find even more exciting is when I come across hollows way out in the national forest land labeled "mine hollow" "lead mine hollow" "mine shaft hollow" stuff like that.
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RedRook
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RE: Witch Pits?

Post by RedRook »

http://www.undergroundozarks.com/forum/ ... php?t=8640

You can read some about the mining operations around here in the Schoolcraft writings. He wrote them just after the Louisiana Purchase if you are interested. The mines here could be very old.

I searched pretty extensively for a mine that was still possible to enter on the South East side of town, and I found nothing. The most likely candidate was closer to Sunshine, but there was nothing at the bottom. It was still a pit. There's a cave in that general region though as well.

I'm guessing the drift mines are so old that their entrances were long ago sealed or collapsed. The most likely time to find it is when a house has the ground collapse under it.

http://articles.ky3.com/2013-03-08/mine-shaft_37568918
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Re: Witch Pits?

Post by jammer_smith »

So, If I am reading those mine maps correctly, and I might not be because I have no experience with mine maps, it looks like all of those Mine shafts along Peirson Creek are not just pits, but connect to horizontal lengths of passage. Is that right? At least that is what it looks like here. If that is the case, how in the world has nobody on this site discovered them yet? Seems like UE gold, really dangerous UE gold, but still attractive.

I had a co-worker once who swore to me he and his friend explored a mine behind Carver elementary when they were young, supposedly across the creek. He gave lots of convincing details, talked about how you could go in it and there was this really old rusted equipment and it was full of spiders and had so much water you couldn't go back very far.

When I went poking around out there I did find some kind of old dug out well/cellar thingy (on ultimate cave map as Carver Mine) , but no mine, and in fact given how close it is to the creek I doubt there could have even been a mine there with the water table, but I have always wondered if he was just conflating memories from his youth, and his story really did happen just somewhere else in town.

Or maybe he was just making stuff up.
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RedRook
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RE: Witch Pits?

Post by RedRook »

It was Gimpface that helped me find these maps when I was first looking. IF there is a maintained entrance, it is probably some place the owners have a close eye on. You don't just need to find the tunnel. You need to find an entrance, and I'm guessing property owners have an interest in keeping kids out of old mines.
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Nicotti
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Re: Witch Pits?

Post by Nicotti »

Which pits?
More online investigation than onsite exploration these days.

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