Tilly Foster Mine

{{Short description|Mine in New York, United States of America}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}

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The Tilly Foster Mine was an iron mine in the Town of Southeast in Putnam County, New York, USA, two miles west of the village of Brewster along Route 6.

The Tilly Foster Mine was named for Tilly Foster, who bought the land that the mine was on from George Beale. After Foster's death in 1842,Farnsworth, Cheri. (2010). Haunted Hudson Valley: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of New York's Sleepy Hollow Country. Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books. the property passed through several hands before it came into the possession of Harvey Iron and Steel Company. The mine opened in 1853 and employed large numbers of Irish and Italian immigrants. The jobs available at the mine played a large part in bringing immigrants to the town of Southeast. Workers were known by numbers rather than names, because the names of immigrants were considered too difficult to pronounce.

The mine reached its peak of production in the 1870s. It was {{convert|600|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} deep. There were 300 miners employed and they were producing 7,000 tons (14,000,000 pounds) of ore per month. The main minerals were magnetite and chondrodite.Cook, R.B. 2007. "Chondrodite, Tilly Foster mine, Brewster area, Putnam County, New York". Rocks & Minerals 82 (6): 484-88 The iron ore was loaded onto a train to New York City. Large quantities of Bessemer oreDana, E. S. 1874. "On serpentine pseudomorphs and other kinds from the Tilly Foster iron mine, Putnam County, New York". American Journal of Science, ser. 3, 8: 371-81 were shipped to Scranton, Pennsylvania, and used to make steel rails for the Lackawanna Steel Company.White, James T. (1895). The National Cyclopædia of American Biography, Vol. IV, p. 216. New York: James T. White & Company.

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From 1887 to 1889, the mine was made into an open pit.{{cite journal |title=The Tilly Foster Mine |journal=Scientific American |date=15 June 1889 |url=http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/tillyfos.Html |access-date=18 June 2021}} At one time, it was the largest open-pit operation in the world.{{cite web |last1=Revheim |first1=Olav |title=Chondrodite from Tilly Foster, New York |url=https://www.mindat.org/article.php/4128/Chondrodite+from+Tilly+Foster%2C+New+York |website=mindat.org |access-date=18 June 2021}} In 1895, there was a major collapse that killed 13 miners.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1895/12/01/106074609.pdf "Thirteen were killed"], New York Times, December 1, 1895. After the collapse it was flooded by a reservoir nearby. It was used by soldiers in World War II to test their diving equipment. A collection of minerals and artifacts from the mine is at the Southeast Museum in Brewster.

On November 19, 2017, Robert Thomas, 48, went scuba diving at Tilly Foster Mine. He went down without a "buddy" to a depth of 171 feet, became entangled in wires and cables, and never resurfaced.{{Cite web|url=http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/putnam/southeast/2017/11/20/scuba-diver-goes-missing-old-putnam-mine/880703001/|title=Missing scuba diver's body recovered in old Putnam mine}}{{Cite web|url=http://putnam.dailyvoice.com/news/experienced-scuba-diver-goes-missing-in-southeasts-tilly-foster-mine/727310/|title = Experienced Scuba Diver Goes Missing in Southeast's Tilly Foster Mine|date = 20 November 2017}} His body was recovered at about 1:00 p.m. the day after he went missing.{{Cite web|url=http://putnam.dailyvoice.com/news/body-of-missing-diver-found-in-putnam/727321/|title = Body of Missing Diver Found in Putnam|date = 20 November 2017}} He and other divers had an agreement with owners of the property to dive at the mine.