Whilst going into the mountains in south west Poland with my
cousin and his family, I could not pass up the opportunity to visit the Zloty
Stok mine, especially since Mike Moore had given me a free copy of a book about
it.
The trip was in two parts. Firstly we went into the Gertruda Level,
were we given details on the history of the mine, what mining were techniques
used, and how the ores of gold and arsenic were separated. The level was lined
with bricks and had a concrete slab roof. In places the bare rock could be
seen. As we went along the level various displays could be seen, plans of the
mine complex, old photographs of miners working, ore trucks and tools. In one
place an old ceramic gold smelter, with moulds and crucibles was also on
display. In one chamber a mock up of a gold strong room was on display, though
I'm not sure such a thing would have existed. Finally we climbed some stairs to
enter a higher level. This was all in solid rock and the mine took on a
'proper' feel. A walk along a long passage brought us to the exit adit, which
was different to the entrance one.
The second part of the trip after
exiting the Gertruda adit was a look at the Black Upper adit. We took a short
walk up the hillside following the 'Golden' stream. This took us to a large
quarry and the adit. The original entrance was via a shaft, now a newly dug
adit took us into the level. Just inside the entrance there was a bat roost,
they seemed to favour the environment of the tourist route than the deeper
quieter places in the mine. In this level the emphasis was on the structure of
the mine. Most of it was in solid rock, timbered sections or in steel arching.
Part of the trip took us down a shaft with a steel staircase. Some 23m from the
top we entered a small passage that brought us to an underground water fall, a
few more metres down and we were at the bottom of the shaft in the Black Lower
level. We proceeded along more passage way finally reaching a train. All aboard
and a couple of minutes of riding took us out of the Black Lower adit.
As far as show mines go I thought the trip was very good and the parts of the
mine shown to us interesting. With such enterprises it is always tricky to get
the general public interested and this reflected in how our guide conducted
himself. Key information was dished out coupled with lots of jokes and stories
to keep the non mine explorers entertained. At one point when he locked the
entrance gate to the Black Upper adit, he pulled a gun on us, asking for money
to let us out again. Not sure how that would go down in the UK? A refreshing
side to the way it was all conducted was that there wasn't an obsession with
health and safety, I told the guide I was keen on taking pictures and that I
may lag behind, no problem was the response, just don't get lost as I'm not
coming to get you out. The tour lasted 1½ hours, far too short for
me.
That's not the end of it. The show mine also runs 'Zwiedzanie
Ekstremalne', Extreme Visits, two trips 3 hours each, one 1km long and the
other 1.5km. You need to bring all your own gear. Another trip is definately in
order. |
