It's surprising how many people in Nanaimo don't know about the mines. Probably not a big selling feature for real estate.. I worked with a guy who bought a new house near Divers lake, (this was in the Free press back then) he could hear water running in his basement. He got curious one day and took a sledge hammer to his basement floor. Underneath was an air shaft to a coal mine. If you check building codes for the mine areas concrete floors and driveways have to be reinforced with steel mesh to avoid collapse.
I lived in Nanaimo in the 1960s to 1980s. I knew a guy whose house had to be demolished after an unknown shaft opened up under his house. This was in the Divers Lake area.
I lived on Northfield Rd in the 80s, never found an entrance to the mine then, but recently an entrance was found by the highway onramp a couple hundred feet from our yard. SCARY I totally would have went in there as a kid.
My great great grandfather George Robinson was engaged in 1854 to manage the Hudson's Bay Company's coal mine in Nanaimo in 1854 in Staffordshire, arriving in Nanaimo late in 1854. He got involved in local politics and his contract was not renewed in 1859 but he was responsible for some of the holes under Nanaimo.
@@tombevilockway8754 My dad's biography of George Robinson lists a Joseph Bevilockway on the Princess Royal from London to Victoria so yes our great great grandfathers were on the same ship.
Nanaimo was the source for coal to Victoria and even Portlands' huge mansions, no central heating. The foundation of some millionaires off the island. And of course no safety laws and probably few records kept or turned over.
Interesting. While collapse of former mine workings is an obvious concern, methane produced from coal or former tailings piles can be of greater concern.
So far it's just been a problem with cracked foundations here. No reports like they have in Newcastle in Great Britain where the mines "breathe" due atmospheric pressure changes, filling basements with noxious gases and causing unhappiness for the residents when they go downstairs for something and pass out.
I notice several comments about too many people in Nanaimo, don’t come here etc. Well, I am pretty sure most of these people ‘moved’ to Nanaimo themselves, so…. The only thing that is constant folks…. …is change.
I'm puzzled, why no mention of the British royal navy who found the coal deposits for use as fuel for their coal powered warships in the Pacific. The natives knew some locations but, for pitch.
Those working don't go all the way to Gabriola, maybe 1/2 way, if that. There are shafts in downtown Nanaimo (just south of the mall) that connect with shafts on Protection Island through the workings under the harbour. There's a story that's where the water and electrical supplies for Protection are placed, don't know if that's still true. There's also connections from the shafts near the Departure Bay ferry terminal under the channel to workings under Newcastle Island. There's at least 5 shafts on Shaft Point (surprise, surprise). The mines shut down due to economic conditions (competition with oil) not because they ran out of coal.
3 bedroom water damaged lead paint house without vents that might also fall into a mine shaft and cant be renovated cus its on heritage land or whatever. $7,000,000 and $20k yearly land payments. Than go work at McDonald's to pay for it cus there is literally nothing going on whatsoever on Vancouver island. The most exciting thing to ever happen here is seeing the change from winter to summer.
Nanaimo used to be such a beautiful place to live back in the 1900s when harewood was still mostly farming land . Now our beautiful islands 🏝 are turning into $hitty cities 💩 with horrible traffic .
this place reminds me of the game night in the woods
3 месяца назад
The very mines my granddad worked in. One too many deaths made him quit and move to Vancouver. A shame that the mines are coming back to haunt the locals.
Another strong reason to avoid Nanaimo as a place to live. Violent crime in this area is reported on almost a daily basis in Victoria and other regional newspapers.
Maybe do some retakes when you say the wrong dates instead of a little fumble correction. Now we have incorect dates in our heads for no reason. And bro dont mention something really cool and interesting like the riots and shootings over protest about the mines than say "look it up" like bro, were literally watching a video for the history of that right now, Dont tell me to to look it up myself instead of just explaining it for 30 seconds while were all already here and you know the history
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coal_mines_and_landmarks_in_the_Nanaimo_area Also I have seen a map with all the mine tunnels on it. It was alarming how many tunnels there was and how far they went.
Bonus for the Chandler Encroachment near Northfield. All records have been lost, so we just have a hatched area on the map labelled "Here Be Dragons, err, coal workings, approximately".
