This cache is located south west of Hotchkiss, CO. From the cache site, you will see a very strange looking entry way at the driveway to a ranch. Most people don’t know what these giant, odd items are so I decided to place a cache here.
The monolith structure is actually made up of two mining ‘shields’ that are used in underground longwall mining. The North Fork area has two operating coal mines (as of the posting of this cache: August 2015) that supply super-clean, high-BTU coal that is used for power generation; however, the area has a strong mining past that dates back over 100 years! The shields that you can see from the cache site are part of modern mining that has been recycled into something functional and beautiful.
The shields are hydraulic and are used to support the roof as the shear (cutting head) carves out the coal. As the shear makes passes cutting out coal, the shields advance behind it to support the roof. The shields are set side by side oriented the same direction when used for mining, but this property owner placed them facing each other to form the entryway. To see how the longwall and shields actually work, please watch this short YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXORrVmxwbM. You can see the shields in action at about the 2:00 minute mark.
There is no need to cross onto private property to access the cache. Also, please respect the property owner’s privacy and admire the entryway from the cache site and paved road only.
Happy Hunting!
Congrats to beth1957 and Linecacher for the FTF!
That's A Shield?!?!
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