Blasting officials as bureaucrats who just want to stop everyone from having fun and finding fabulous treasures in abandoned mines, an article in the Nov. 10 issue of Forbes magazine, extols the recreational benefits from exploring abandoned mine shafts. After all, they argue, the number of deaths and injuries in abandoned mines is small compared to those from all-terrain vehicles.
[right, 211 fatalities in abandoned mines, 2000-2006. Credit, Geology.com]
Forbes only points out how some mining enthusiasts are calling out the bureaucrats for erasing/burying history. Your own chart indicates most "mine" fatalities are quarry drownings, less that death by security guard shooting! Since most deaths occur in WI, OH and PA, why not send coal royalties to those states instead of using the funds to backfill hardrock mines throughout the West?
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