Yesterday was darn HOT and sticky, but I decided to take a trip back up to the Coal Mining Town of St. Clair to see if my “free shooting range” was still there. It was there, but across the road was a different story.
The last time I was up here the Bulldozers, Yukes, Earth Movers, and Dump trucks were just starting to dig out a old “Strippie Mine” that was left over from the early 1900’s. It has been a on-going project to re-claim the land that has been wasted for so many years. The above Image is just one of what I was greeted with. It’s one heck of a big hole in the ground that has been dug out to make way for a landfill. Look down at the red truck to see how deep it was.
A Komatsu D850 Bulldozer in action leveling out the ground. This “dozer” is huge!
It’s broken! One of the “Yutes” has a broken wheel. The tires on these huge machines can cost over $5,000.00 a piece!
Enter the “Rock Crusher” Again, another huge machine that crushed large rocks & shale into much smaller chunks that are then used for other applications. It was started up while I was standing here. It made one heck of a lot of noise! Created a lot of dust, also. I didn’t hang around very long!!
This is a deep trench that was dug out to install a Water Line. It will be a big one!
I know, your asking “What’s this?” I shot this Image of the Shale Layers that are all over this empty Land. It’s just full of it. There seem’s to be no good soil here. Just rock & shale. Wonder why that is? I’m sure that a Geologist would know.
Worn out tires! These kind of tires for the Yukes are used till they start falling apart.
You can never tell what you might run into when the back roads in the Coal Region are explored.
Thank you.
PHOTOJOURNAL OF CORKER2 
You had a really interesting exploration here, Les. Cheers!
Thank You, Sir. Like I stated before, you never really know what you’ll find up there in that total waste land. There is nothing but empty scrub land that once used be be a “Strippie Mine” from years ago. Somewhere around 1906 the Miners had a real bad habit of digging out the ground looking for Coal when Coal was King in the area. When no Coal was found, everything was packed up and moved on to another location leaving a big hole in the ground. Over the many passing years, people in the area used it for a dumping ground for most everything. I would not be surprised if a dead body might be found! Now, the land is being re-claimed for use on something else. The Coal Region area is full of long gone History, but you sometimes have to know where to look. If you don’t know, just ask the local residents. They will tell you. Cheers!