This Ole Mine - Ruffner No. 2

Mining was done at Ruffner No. 2 as early as 1886, and work on this slope mine began in 1908. This mine fed the Sloss blast furnaces, and helped to shape Birmingham into the city it is today. Activity onsite ceased in 1952, and the mine portal was blocked with dirt and stone. A large explosion at an above ground storage building, presumably from abandoned explosives, occurred onsite in 1971.

Today it sits much the same as it was then. The only break in the dark, eerie silence of this black hole are a few sporadic water drops, and a tiny underground stream.

For the first time known : Ruffner - Illuminated.

DANGER : Do not enter unless you are prepared to risk bad air and cave ins.







This passageway ended suddenly into a wall. Ruffner No.2 was once connected with another mine that sat just to the east, and this wall is the sealed portal that once allowed mine carts to travel across the valley to the next mine. A closer picture can be seen in my March 2014 Ruffner No.2 on Film post.















Above ground structure



Three story tall ore crusher