Yesterday I had to deliver a simple, homemade Christmas gift which the local UPS refused to accept. Barb agreed to come with me and found a hike we could go on which was fairly close to our gift delivery route. It was Franklin Ghost Town. It was short enough that we could delivery the gift and complete the hike before the heavy rain forecast for the afternoon hit. It didn’t include any stunning views but it was interesting enough and had excellent trail conditions.
First a clue about the simple homemade gift:
And on to the trail and the ghost town:
The area used to be the site of a coal mine and small town. At the peak the town population was 1,100 people.Over the course of over 100 years the mine produced over 4 million tons of coal.
The number 2 shaft was over 1,300 feet deep and went 500 feet below sea level:
You could see as deep into the mine as you had enough light for:
I found it odd that there was an obvious “vein” of coal left in plain sight. I have never seen coal in nature before but close examination convinced me the dark patch just above and to the right of center in this picture is the real thing:
We didn’t really see anything we could imagine was part of the town. We found this which I image to be a filled in mine shaft:
It was a pleasant, short, hike for a somewhat dreary December day.