Unbeknownst to many of its residents, Putnam is home to a host of elaborate iron mines, which snake their way under the streets of towns, behind homes and through the mountains that surround the region. This vast subterranean world passes unseen and unheralded beneath the busy, bustling feet of the county, forgotten to everyone but a few. Many of these mines were excavated during the 19th century and were incredibly successful. The Croton Magnetic Mine, which runs along Magnetic Mine road in Croton Falls, produced over 100,000 tons of ore during its lifespan, while the Tilly Foster Mine, the area’s most prosperous mine, hauled out an average of 1,000 tons per month.
Mining in Putnam was a key industry. The ore hauled from the Sunk Mine, located in Fhanestock State Park, was reportedly used to make Civil War cannons at West Point. As the century drew to a close, many of the mines had outlived their usefulness and were closed off. In 1897, after the Middle Branch Reservoir began to flood the open pit, the Tilly Foster mine was closed and completely filled in with water. During World War II, the mine was actually used by soldiers who tested their diving equipment there.
Today, these mines lie forgotten and ignored, some remarkably intact, with many artifacts from the era of their heyday just waiting to be rediscovered. It’s here where Mike Hetman and his fellow researchers from IronMiners.com enter the story.
Hetman has been exploring mines for a number of years and documented them extensively on the website. He feels that documenting the mines will help bring history to life for residents who may be unaware of what happened right in their own backyards. “A lot of textbook history is just kind of, ‘this side won, this side lost,’” he said. “But when it’s that local and it happened right here, in some cases, this history happened right beneath the first floor of your house, it connects better. I’ve walked through environments where the miners would have heard the same echoes that I’ve heard. I’ve walked through mines using the same lighting on my head that the miners would have had, and that way you can connect with what that life might have been like.”
The mines of Putnam County have been largely ignored over the years, and as a result many are simply waiting for the developer’s axe to fall. For example, the Croton Magnetic Mine, a very intact mining site, was recently filled and sealed off, burying all of the history there and entombing the bats that had taken up residence there. “This was one of the most intact historical mining operations in the New York Highlands,” lamented Hetman. “The interior of the mine contained an immense tunnel with trackage, a few thousand feet in length that connected with side tunnels branching off to the left and right. The mine could have easily made an incredible educational tour mine had the right people known about it with the dedication capital to run it.”
Visiting a mine with the team from Iron Miners is like undergoing a military operation. Even before a mine site is visited, the team is researching maps and historical documents in order to better place the mine in a historical context. At the site itself, the explorers work quickly and efficiently, rappelling down into the tunnels and then setting up equipment to better document the site. Using everything from electric lamps to high-powered lights to illuminate the tunnels, the Iron Miners try and capture as much of the area as possible on film. As they explore, sometimes wading through water, skittering along steep inclines or navigating through centuries-old wreckage, amazing discoveries are revealed. Hetman recalled one adventure in Putnam inside a mine that had not been explored since before World War II. “Inside, the mine was left just as it had looked 70 or more years ago,” he said. “A miner’s axe was found just where a miner had likely last placed it.”
The fate of Putnam’s mines is still precarious, but Hetman hopes that by raising greater awareness, a turning point could be at hand. “These mines have stories untold, lost memories, and are a part of our industrial archeology,” he said. “They are not only a symbol of our heritage but are windows into understanding our past."
All photos courtesy of Mike Hetman and Ironminers.com
