Name: Richardson Mine Location: Wilberforce, Ontario Status: Abandoned Accessibility: Easy Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ I friggin' love mines Bryan, Trains and I were driving toward Harcourt in search of a mine I had a read about online. We didn’t have a lot of details about the mine, only a vague description and an even vaguer whereabouts, this was a complete shot in the dark and a 130 km detour on our drive home. Upon arriving in the Harcourt area, we began to probe all the small trails and dirt roads for our mine. Each time, just off the road after a few hundred meters, the three of us would reach a dead end, or a building foundation, or a clearing, but never a mine. We decided if we were going to find the mine we would have to ask some locals, so we pulled off the highway to a convenience store, restaurant and art gallery. Before entering the convenience store Bryan announced that it was up to me to ask about the mine, as I was the UER moderator and it was my obligation, which is horse shit. Trains volunteered and asked about the mine rather bluntly. She looked at us like a deer in headlights, puzzled; she replied that she had no idea what we were talking about. Next we visited the art gallery, which Bryan once again insisted it was my duty to ask about the mines, we agreed on a quick game of rock-paper-scissors which determined it was now Bryan’s obligation to inquire about the mine. Inside the gallery we were greeted by a man who was happy to answer any of our questions, except he had no information about the mine we were looking for. However he did know about another mine, the Richardson Mine. And it would have to do! We headed east down the 648 after the three of us tried to make some sense of man’s directions and after a bit of u-turning and second guessing found our turn off. Bryan parked the car at the side of the road and the three of us started to hike through the woods, the old man said was only a few hundreds meters off the main road, but as we trudged further down the trail we realized this was infact a blatant lie. After a few kilometers of walking Trains noticed the adit first, pointing to a set of orange construction fence just off the trail. Bryan quickly rushed into the mouth of the mine and I soon followed, Trains decided to stand by the adit and wait for us. The mine was large enough that you could comfortably walk through and was partially flooded near the entrance; following Bryan’s example I carefully stepped across railroad ties and large stones to avoid getting my feet wet. Just ahead the ground was dry and the mine split into three paths, two of which had suffered collapses and the last heading to a bright light some distance away. Soon the three of us decided that we had better move on, we had already spent a few more hours than expected in Wilberforce and figured we should continue on the long journey home. October 26th, 2008 BACK