On Saturday we ventured across Conception Bay to Bell Island and had a chance to explore an abandoned iron ore mine, amongst other things!
After waiting almost an hour for the ferry in Portugal Cove (it seems to be load-and-go at this time of year), we made our way over to Bell Island.
The main attraction of the island is the iron ore mines, so that's what we went to see first. Iron ore mining began on Bell Island in the 1890s and in its heyday it was one of the largest producers of iron ore in north-eastern North America. It's pretty impressive considering the island is only 9 km long and 3 km wide.
There were six mines on the island - four of them extended miles under the sea floor and the other two were underground, breaking out at the shoreline. Unfortunately, all mining in Bell Island ceased in 1966 because it was no longer profitable. Although, according to our tour guide, there are almost 4 billion tons of iron ore remaining on the island, but it is not economically feasible to extract.
We went to the No. 2 mine, which is the only one open to the public. The No. 2 mine extends under the sea floor and it was open from 1902 until 1949. Our tour took us 650 ft down into the mine, but that's as far down as you can go because groundwater has seeped in up to that point, and it hasn't been pumped out since 1966. The mine is sloped downwards at a 10 degree angle and 40% of the iron ore and rock in the mine was not extracted as it is used to hold up the mine itself - there are no other supports. When the mine go under the sea floor, 60% is left for support.
Walking around the mines, you can't really see how red the iron ore actually is and it just looks kind of grey, like in the first picture. But this is what it looks like when you put on the camera flash. Note the colour difference between the gravel path and the walls.
The second picture is of the horse stalls in the mine.
There were six mines on the island - four of them extended miles under the sea floor and the other two were underground, breaking out at the shoreline. Unfortunately, all mining in Bell Island ceased in 1966 because it was no longer profitable. Although, according to our tour guide, there are almost 4 billion tons of iron ore remaining on the island, but it is not economically feasible to extract.
We went to the No. 2 mine, which is the only one open to the public. The No. 2 mine extends under the sea floor and it was open from 1902 until 1949. Our tour took us 650 ft down into the mine, but that's as far down as you can go because groundwater has seeped in up to that point, and it hasn't been pumped out since 1966. The mine is sloped downwards at a 10 degree angle and 40% of the iron ore and rock in the mine was not extracted as it is used to hold up the mine itself - there are no other supports. When the mine go under the sea floor, 60% is left for support.
Walking around the mines, you can't really see how red the iron ore actually is and it just looks kind of grey, like in the first picture. But this is what it looks like when you put on the camera flash. Note the colour difference between the gravel path and the walls.
The second picture is of the horse stalls in the mine.
After the tour we had some fun with the cut-out of a miner. Luke's a natural.
After the mine tour and museum, we spent a couple of hours driving around the island, and stopped to see the main sights. This is a useful map if you ever go to Bell Island. It may be a small island, but if you have things in mind that you want to see, it is good to know in what direction you should be looking.
We went to the lighthouse but it seems to be operational, so the only thing you can do is look at it. It is a nice view though.
Then we went to the Seamen's Memorial in Lance Cove, which commemorates those killed in the the U-boat attacks around Bell Island during World War II. Bell Island is one of the few locations in North America that was directly attacked by enemy forces during the war. It was raided by U-boats twice in 1942, sinking four iron ore carriers and killing more than 60 men in the process. We spent some time there and hung out at the beach nearby for a bit.
We continued our drive, and on our way around the island we came across the classic Bell Island Miner's mural:
After that we grabbed some hot beverages and took the ferry home. Later on in the evening we went to a few pubs in St. John's with some friends and had a mini pub crawl: from Christian's, to Trinity, to the Duke. We're going to have to test out the famous fish and chips at the Duke in the coming weeks!
That concluded our Something Saturday, and here are a few more pictures from our time on Bell Island:
That concluded our Something Saturday, and here are a few more pictures from our time on Bell Island:
