Mortymoose's Backyard!

[Shake&Bake]

Looking at the dates on those gravestones, life expectancy was rather short.

 

[Mortymoose]

I really enjoyed this now, really fascinating ! Thanks for sharing the pictures. I had an uncle that was living in Oranjemund very long ago when I was a child. Didn't they use to scan you and your car after you visited the town ?

Let's do a wee bit of history..

The entire region was off limits to the public since 1908, Colonial Germans put this in place.

1936 The CDM (The Consolidated Diamond Mines of South West Africa) , which was an amalgamation of all those old abandoned German mines that you have seen in my previous postings, moved the base of their operations to Oranjemund, just north of the mouth of the Orange River.

From 1936 until 1950, you could only get to Oranjemund by driving 270km down a dirt track from Luderitzbucht. You could also use a converted landing craft from World War 2 , that mine used to ferry it's people over from Alexander Bay in the Northern Cape.

In 1950, the first bridge was built by CDM, a single lane one at that. This was the longest privately owned bridge in the world. Also only to be used by the Company.

Back in the day, if you were lucky enough to get a job here, you got to drive your vehicle all the way to this bridge, where you then had to park your car in a garage after disconnecting the battery..... you then climbed on a mine bus, said goodbye to your car and headed 10km into Oranjemund, clearing a security checkpoint on the way.

On leaving Oranjemund, you and your family, with your luggage were taken to a Security X ray building, where everyone and everything was scanned , before leaving town....

In 1975, at the stroke of midnight in June, with only three people knowing it, the mined moved the diamond fence from the bridge to the western side of town, thus declaring the town "open" which only meant you could now bring your car in and not get x-rayed when leaving. To this day, you still need security clearance to enter Oranjemund.

Folk working in the mining area are still subjected to random X ray testing....

 

[Shake&Bake]

That's a helluva bridge and awesome pics from days gone by

 

[Mortymoose]

That's a helluva bridge and awesome pics from days gone by

That bridge only lasted for 12 years, floods took their toll and a higher bridge was built, still privately owned and operational today......

 

[MickeyD]

Thread of the year nomination!!

Epic

 

[Shake&Bake]

Awesome.

Something that just came to mind Morty - as its such an issue to get into Oranjemund: How much trouble is to get all of your stock delievered to your store?
Do the delivery drivers get X-rayed and cavity searches as well?

 

[Mortymoose]

Sorry, Here is a better photo of the bridge, Guys, that Is the Northern Cape On the Right hand side, with the Richterveld Mountains in the Background. A great desert National park in your own country if you are into camping and 4x4 vacations...

 

[Mortymoose]

Awesome.

Something that just came to mind Morty - as its such an issue to get into Oranjemund: How much trouble is to get all of your stock delievered to your store?
Do the delivery drivers get X-rayed and cavity searches as well?

I receive 3 trucks a week ex Cape Town, always the same two drivers who have one year clearances to enter. This allows them to enter the town, but not the mining area or the Sperrgebiedt!

You only get X rayed if you are leaving the mining areas these days.

No cavity searches, but a lot of okies have swallowed diamonds, which in turn show up on X rays, about five times a year , you get to see the Police, PRU (Protected Resources Unit ) and the Security all down at the local hospital, then you know some poor bastard has been forced to chow laxatives and is sitting in a room with a bunch of uniformed dudes staring at him, waiting to take a dump....

 

[Shake&Bake]

Hehe @ the poor dude. Poor cops rather lol.

Take it that those drivers don't get to take off sick when they're coming to you

 

[Dolby]

Do we have any ghost towns in South Africa?

 

[MickeyD]

Do we have any ghost towns in South Africa?

Eureka City, etc out Barberton way... also mining related.

 

[supersunbird]

Looking at the dates on those gravestones, life expectancy was rather short.

http://www.iol.co.za/business/perso...th-and-income-earnings-1.1607984#.UpHj6Z0aLYU

He says that statistics produced by research company IBIS World show that, on average, at 65 years of age:

* In 1800, you would have been dead for 27 years;

* In 1900, you would have been dead for 12 years;

* In 2000, you had 12 to 15 years to live; and

* In 2100, you will be only half way through your life.

According to the above most people around 1900 had a live expectancy of 53 and in the hostile environment where these guys were, it seems even less...

 

[Mortymoose]

Do we have any ghost towns in South Africa?

Kleinzee , on the Namakwaland coast, about 160km south of us, a sister town to ours was also emptying out at a rapid rate recently.... Across the river at Alexander Bay, a similar story is unfolding with the mine houses filling up with unemployed folk...

 

[SlowInternet]

Let's do a wee bit of history..

On leaving Oranjemund, you and your family, with your luggage were taken to a Security X ray building, where everyone and everything was scanned , before leaving town....

I remember something like this. We were very young and was so sh*t scared when we visited my uncle that when we left we made sure we had nothing on us that might look like a diamond because my uncle told us all these scary stories of what will happen to us if we are caught with any diamonds.

 

[SlowInternet]

Thread of the year nomination!!

Epic

I second this

 

[Mortymoose]

Alright! I have a minute or two spare, On this next post, are a couple of images showing a year plaque on a building at the abandoned German mine of Pomona and a few tools that were left behind.

The thread will now start to move South to my town of Oranjemund, situated a mere 6km north of the mouth of the Orange river.

I was lucky enough to go for a couple of flights with the chaps that ferry the workforce from our little airport to the DeBeers diamond vessels operating offshore from us. I was able to capture a few images, not the greatest quality, but shall at least give you an idea of the environment.....

Diamond mining on this part of the coast began around 1936, when a small camp was setup to extract diamonds. As the decades rolled on , the mine developed methods to push the sea back a few hundred metres by building huge sand seawalls, kind of like the Dutch did in Holland.

This formed Coffer dams, where the bedrock that had laid under the ocean could be exposed, revealing her rich diamond wealth....

On the below picture you can see the actual curve on the coast.... 100 years ago, this coast was fairly straight.... once the Coffer dams are mined, they are allowed to flood, thus leaving you with these dams.....

Remember, this is all happening in a highly restricted environment..... no Joe Public....

 

[Mortymoose]

After realising that there are more diamonds in the 300m surf zone, the mine has started to develop new technologies to mine these deposits. A tough ask, if one looks at the the pounding Atlantic surf ...

One of the machine's in development is the one below , know as a SEAWALKER..... this contraption actually walk off the beach and into the surf, where it proceeds to "drill" through the mud to get to the bedrock. Currently the machines are not used for mining , but rather sampling....



I had to stick the following photo in here. When I went for one of my helicopter flights last year, the flight crew pointed out their "new" chopper. It will be used to ferry the workers out to the DeBeers ships. Anyhow, on commenting about the distinctive colours of the aircraft, I was told that this specific helicopter was doing duty over NY city on the day of 911... "Wow!", I thought.... a piece of American history based at my home town. Unfortunately I flew in another chopper and not this one.....



Hidden away from prying eyes in the restricted mining area are/were large dumps..... for the last 80 years, any material that went into the mining area was never allowed to leave, thus large dumps are scattered all over the place.

The below snap, shows one of the huge tyre dumps in the mine..




The following photo's show the exposed bedrock and a view of the town on the Eastern side as we come into approach the airport.

 

[Necropolis]

Awesome thread

Keep up the good work Mortymoose!

 

[dualmeister]

Epic. Subscribed.

 

[Shake&Bake]

Wonderful aerial pics and what a story about that chopper too?!