"Brass in" means to flip a little brass coin by your name on a pegboard so that the red side faced out. That's how they knew who was in the mine at any given moment. IMG_0777.JPG:Mine car and the "hallway" we came in through IMG_0778.JPG:Me with the mine car IMG_0779.JPG:Depressions in the silica left by ancient shrimp digging tunnels through the sand prior to its compression IMG_0780.JPG:Depressions in the silica left by ancient shrimp digging tunnels th rough the sand prior to its compression.
The orange outlines are from shrimp poop, which the shrimp used to line their tunnels and keep them open back when the sand was still soft. IMG_0781.JPG:Old mine shaft IMG_0784.JPG:Looking back through the abandoned area. IMG_0785.JPG:Old coal vein which collapsed on itself (you can see the timber which originally held the working area -- about 3' high -- open) IMG_0786.JPG:Entrance to the portal IMG_0787.JPG:The divot-shaped hole in the ceiling is from a 1-ton piece of rock falling during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake -- the mine's only damage. IMG_0788.JPG:The divot-shaped hole in the ceiling is from a 1-ton piece of rock falling during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake -- the mine's only damage. IMG_0789.JPG:Hills outside the Hazel Atlas mine IMG_0790.JPG:Hills outside the Hazel Atlas mine IMG_0791.JPG:Bikes in the Black Diamond Coal Mines parking area IMG_0792.JPG:Nifty grasses in the parking area IMG_0793.JPG:Nifty grasses in the parking area IMG_0794.JPG:Old Sommersville township site. The cluster of trees in the upper right is the Rose Hill cemetery. IMG_0795.JPG:Old Sommersville township site. The cluster of trees in the upper right is the Rose Hill cemetery.