Vatican upholds excommunication of US deacon who resigned after son was molested by priest | Louisiana | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/19/catholic-church-excommunication-appeal-louisiana
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29 results for “uph”
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Swiss supreme court upholds Guatemala ex-police chief sentence
Switzerland’s supreme court announced Thursday it had rejected the appeal of former Guatemalan police chief Erwin Sperisen, jailed…
#Switzerland #CH #Europe #Europa #EU #Nachrichten #Nouvelles #schweiz #Suisse #switzerland
https://www.europesays.com/3325362/ -
Supreme Court upholds pause on Trump's anti-trans prison policy https://www.npr.org/2026/10/21/nx-s1-5993878/supreme-court-trump-trans-prison-policy?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon
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Bills safety CJ Gardner-Johnson’s suspension upheld for ‘inexcusable’ spitting incident, NFL announces
Buffalo Bills safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s one-game suspension for spitting at an opponent was upheld, the NFL announced Thursday.…
#NFL #BuffaloBills #Buffalo #Bills #Betting #Football #LasVegasRaiders #outkicksports
https://www.rawchili.com/nfl/1034621/ -
Bills safety CJ Gardner-Johnson’s suspension upheld for ‘inexcusable’ spitting incident, NFL announces https://www.rawchili.com/nfl/1034621/ #Betting #Bills #Buffalo #BuffaloBills #BuffaloBills #Football #LasVegasRaiders #NFL #OutkickSports
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Iran-based news site says Supreme Court upholds death sentence for political prisoner months after granting him reprieve
Editor’s note: this story was translated from the original VOA Persian article. An Iranian news site says the…
#EuropeSays #Headlines #News #Europe #Europa #EU #Iran #Deathsentence #ManouchehrFallah #VOAPersian
https://www.europesays.com/iran/338659/ -
Football regulator has ‘absolute power’ to force Manchester City sale if verdict upheld
By Press AssociationChair David Kogan insists regulator has power to act
#ManchesterCity #PremierLeague #Football #Sport #Footballpolitics #Business #TheGuardian #PressAssociation
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🇺🇲 Today, Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick introduced the Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Act of 2026 to uphold the federal prohibition on Russian energy imports and protect critical U.S. intelligence support for #Ukraine
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The European Parliament awards its 2026 Sakharov Prize to the International Criminal Court and its officials for their work in global justice and upholding international law.
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https://www.europesays.com/iran/338659/ Iran-based news site says Supreme Court upholds death sentence for political prisoner months after granting him reprieve #DeathSentence #Iran #ManouchehrFallah #VOAPersian
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International Criminal Court wins European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize
The award recognises the court’s work in upholding international law and justice at a time when the institution…
#Europe #EU #EuropeanParliament
https://www.europesays.com/europe/164595/ -
How Israel has redrawn the map since the October 7 terrorist attack
After years of war and widespread upheaval, one corner of the Middle East has fundamentally changed. Tens of…
#EuropeSays #Headlines #News #Europe #Europa #EU #Lebanon #AmichaiChikli #BenjaminNetanyahu #DaniellaWeiss #Gaza #GolanHeights #GreaterIsrael #IDF #IsraeliDefenseForces #Nachala #Syria #WestBank
https://www.europesays.com/iran/336885/ -
Thousands of students and teachers hit the streets across Greece as soaring living costs and housing shortages turn earning a degree into an uphill battle. With 10,000 marching in Athens, the massive mobilization sparked fierce debate in parliament over heavy-handed policing.
Read the full report on The Levant Files
https://www.thelevantfiles.org/2026/10/greeces-education-protest-brings.html
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Maybe it's personal: Europeans worry tRump just likes putin more than #Zelenskyy
🖊️ Tim Ross and Veronika Melkozerova
After 20 months of upheaval in transatlantic relations, EU officials fear the U.S. president dislikes Ukraine's leader too much to push for a fair peace.
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❝For much of my running life, I looked forward to the uphill. It is, as I’ve written often in many contexts, the direction of life.
—Sandy Stott
https://www.irunfar.com/down-is-up-musings-on-shifts-in-rhythm -
FWIW, eMudhra's complaint about "social media scrutiny" ends on a more promising note:
"When we signed up for the browser program trust, we also signed up for disclosure obligations to the community which we will uphold."
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Joaquín Lavín, born OTD in 1953, has served as Mayor of Santiago; he unsuccessfully ran for the office of President of #Chile in 1999 and 2005 https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/chile/valparaiso/uphill.html?s=mb #travel #history
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#usa #eu #israel #palestine : #internationallaw / #uno / #icc / #symbolicpolitics
»European Parliament chief Metsola said the Sakharov Prize ‘recognises the important work of the court in upholding international law and justice’«
(Please take a look at the following pages, too; thank you)
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Today I ran the last kilometers of the UTFS (Ultratrail Fränkische Schweiz). 🥰 Stunning views, beautiful nature and lovely uphill and downhill sections. The wonderful autumn-colored trees were slightly covered by fog.
#trailrunning #running #utfs #frankischeschweiz -
Bolivia and #Chile signed the Treaty of Peace and Friendship OTD in 1904, delimiting the border between the two countries https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/chile/valparaiso/uphill.html?s=mb #travel #history
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I'm showing the body cam video of Kohen Wiley's death because they refused to release it and people deserve to see what happened. Police were never in danger. They fired into a car that was already past them over alleged shoplifting of diapers. An innocent Black child is now dead at the hands of white cops. This isn't a broken system, it’s working the way it was intended to uphold white supremacy.
#PoliceAccountability #CivilRights #JusticeForKohenWiley #SystemicRacism
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Attorney General Todd Blanche says there's a "misperception that there's this separation and independence between the Department of Justice and the White House."
"I work for President Trump."
"The U.S. Attorney General works in the executive branch under the President, serving as a member of the President's Cabinet and the head of the Department of Justice. However, the Attorney General is not the President's personal lawyer and has a professional and legal duty to uphold the U.S. Constitution and federal law rather than personal or political interests.
As the head of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Attorney General advises the President and executive departments on legal matters. They oversee federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI and DEA, and they direct federal prosecutions. While the President appoints the Attorney General and has the power to dismiss them, Department of Justice traditions emphasize a degree of operational independence in criminal investigations so that the law is applied fairly without political interference.
Historically, the DOJ has operated with a degree of structural independence to prevent the presidency from weaponizing federal law enforcement. Blanche has publicly dismissed this concept, calling it a "misperception that there's this separation and independence between the Department of Justice and the White House". During a Meet the Press interview, he formally refused to pledge operational independence from the White House, arguing that no Attorney General should ever make such a commitment.
Before taking leadership of the Justice Department, Blanche was Donald Trump’s lead criminal defense attorney. Blanche's stance aligns with a strict "unitary executive theory. "
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Trump: I got Greenland. I got it… Denmark, They've only had it from 1592. That's not that old when because President Xi from China was here, I was showing him the White House. 1792, the White House, that's when it was built, and I was showing President Xi ----------------
Trump out there just making shit up....
Trump didnt "got" Greenland. Trump signed the exact same document that was signed with Greenland in 1951. The only changed stipulations being more details specified than the first agreement. There is no where in this agreement that states Trump GOT Greenland now.
Denmark officially retained full sovereignty over Greenland in 1814 after the Treaty of Kiel separated Denmark and Norway, a claim later upheld by international arbitration in 1933. --- NOT 1592
WHITE HOUSE NOT BUILT IN 1792---
• First Residents: President John Adams and First Lady Abigail Adams moved into the unfinished residence in November 1800.Major Historical Rebuilding and Changes
• War of 1812: British troops set fire to the building in August 1814, and James Hoban was later appointed to rebuild it by 1817.
• Porticos: The South Portico was added in 1824 under President James Monroe, and the North Portico was added in 1829–1830 under President Andrew Jackson.
• Renovations: The interior underwent a major structural reconstruction from 1949 to 1951 -
David Gilbert exposes how election deniers could seize control of future American votes. Several Republican attorney general nominees in swing states including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Kansas continue to question the certified results of the 2020 presidential election, raising concerns they might influence election oversight and administration ahead of 2028. Their roles demand upholding the rule of law and accepting verified outcomes rather than revisiting settled contests, yet persistent claims undermine public trust in the process. The insight is that state legal offices hold quiet but decisive power, making voter scrutiny essential to defending democratic norms against erosion. Read the full article to understand the candidates and stakes. David Gilbert deserves praise for this deeply reported and insightful article. https://www.wired.com/story/they-believe-2020-was-stolen-they-could-be-in-charge-of-elections-in-2028/ #ElectionIntegrity #RuleOfLaw #VotingRights #Democracy
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New at The Barbed Wire: A new plan from the Texas Department of State #Health Services (DSHS) calls for a 50 percent reduction in new HIV cases in #Texas by 2031, and for faster diagnosis and treatment of people living with the disease.
But the state and AIDS-services nonprofits face an uphill battle in an era of DOGE-inspired and authored cuts to federal funding, attacks on #LGBTQ+ rights, and an ever-increasing number of uninsured Texans.
The report’s authors write that this is due to people living longer from better medications (i.e. antiretroviral therapy) versus a true increase in the spread of HIV. The widespread availability of pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP medications, which prevent people from catching HIV, have also transformed efforts to end the epidemic. But the plan also shows that the epidemic is far from over, and reveals that some people are still slipping through the cracks.
Read more: https://www.thebarbedwire.com/can-texas-fight-hiv-in-the-trump-era/
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Once Bitten, Several Times Read: Revisiting Bram Stoker’s Dracula
October 22, 2026By my reckoning, this is probably my third or fourth reading of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (I have had different editions of this book, and I at present gratuitously have four different copies). I first encountered it as a teenager, during that awkward Gothic phase, when I had a particular fascination with everything morbid, macabre, Byronic, and vaguely supernatural. Naturally, vampires were part of the attraction. Yet here I am, considerably older, returning to the same novel, knowing practically every turn of the plot, and still enjoying it immensely. That is quite an achievement for a book whose capacity to surprise me has long since expired. Apparently, the Count and I have unfinished business.
Published in 1897, Dracula remains one of the most recognizable works of Gothic literature, although its actual narrative is probably less familiar than the creature it introduced to popular consciousness. Jonathan Harker, a young English solicitor, travels to Transylvania to assist an eccentric aristocrat with a property purchase in England. His host, Count Dracula, proves an exceptionally peculiar gentleman, possessing an alarming aversion to mirrors and an equally alarming appetite for blood. Harker gradually realizes that he is a prisoner in a castle inhabited by something profoundly unnatural. The Count eventually travels to England, where his predations claim the unfortunate Lucy Westenra and threaten Mina Murray, Harker’s fiancée and eventual wife. Enter Professor Abraham Van Helsing, that wonderfully eccentric Dutch polymath, whose knowledge of medicine and obscure folklore becomes indispensable in the pursuit of the vampire.
I have always considered the opening chapters among the finest in Gothic fiction: the journey through the Carpathians, the superstitious peasants, the Borgo Pass, the sinister hospitality of the castle. Stoker knows precisely how to manipulate atmosphere. His descriptions occasionally indulge in Victorian excess, but there is a delicious pleasure in that elaborate prose. The castle itself possesses an almost physical malevolence, its isolation intensifying Harker’s growing realization that the ordinary laws governing human existence have been suspended. Dracula, meanwhile, is terrifying precisely because he remains so courteous. There is something particularly offensive about a monster who observes impeccable manners while contemplating your destruction.
What distinguishes the novel structurally is its epistolary form. Stoker assembles the narrative from journals, correspondence, newspaper reports, telegrams, and even phonograph recordings. The result resembles an enormous dossier documenting an extraordinary criminal investigation. I particularly appreciate how this technique distributes knowledge among characters who possess only fragments of the truth. Mina’s painstaking transcription and organization of these documents becomes essential to reconstructing the Count’s movements. There is something rather amusing about an ancient supernatural predator being pursued through modern administrative efficiency. Dracula has survived centuries of wars and upheavals, only to encounter the formidable organizational abilities of an Englishwoman with a typewriter.
Stoker was remarkably industrious in researching his monster. His reading included Emily Gerard’s accounts of Transylvanian superstitions, which described beliefs surrounding the undead, the transmission of vampirism, and the gruesome methods of disposing of suspected vampires. From such traditions he constructed an elaborate supernatural mythology involving garlic, crucifixes, consecrated objects, burial earth, and the peculiar limitations governing a vampire’s movements. These beliefs originated in a complicated mixture of regional folklore and religious practices, which Stoker selectively appropriated and transformed into a remarkably coherent fictional system.
Then there is the inevitable association with Vlad III, or Vlad Țepeș, the fifteenth-century Prince of Wallachia, whose enthusiasm for impalement earned him a particularly unpleasant historical reputation. Stoker encountered the name Dracula through William Wilkinson’s account of Wallachia and Moldavia. The historical connection, however, is frequently exaggerated. Vlad was a Wallachian ruler, not the supernatural Transylvanian aristocrat of the novel, and the extent of Stoker’s knowledge of his atrocities remains uncertain. The association between the historical prince and the literary vampire has since acquired a mythology almost as extravagant as vampirism itself. History supplied a name and a suggestive reputation. Literature accomplished the resurrection.
Of course, Stoker did not invent the literary vampire. John Polidori’s The Vampyre (1819) had already established the aristocratic bloodsucker in the person of Lord Ruthven, a mysterious gentleman whose social sophistication conceals a predatory nature. Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla (1872), which I have read several times, further developed the genre through its intimate atmosphere of seduction, obsession, and feminine desire. I admire both works, particularly the disturbing psychological intimacy of Carmilla. Nevertheless, Dracula represents a considerable advancement in narrative ambition. Polidori established an archetype; Le Fanu explored its erotic possibilities. Stoker expanded the vampire story into a sustained confrontation between an ancient supernatural evil and the institutions of modern civilization. His creature possesses a history, an elaborate physiology, and an entire system of vulnerabilities. The mythology becomes more fully realized, the threat more expansive.
The Victorian anxieties embedded in the narrative are particularly interesting to revisit as an adult. Dracula is a foreign aristocrat penetrating respectable English society, purchasing property and contaminating the bodies of its inhabitants. His invasion carries unmistakable anxieties about immigration, disease, sexual corruption, and the fragility of civilization. Blood becomes an unusually versatile metaphor, suggesting inheritance, vitality, sexuality, and spiritual contamination. The Count’s appetite violates the boundaries separating individual bodies, while his victims become participants in their own destruction.
The treatment of women invites equally interesting scrutiny. Lucy, initially innocent and desirable, undergoes a grotesque erotic transformation after becoming a vampire. Her destruction restores an ideal of feminine purity through an act of extraordinary violence. Mina, meanwhile, demonstrates greater intellectual competence than several of the gentlemen attempting to protect her, yet is repeatedly subjected to their paternalistic assumptions. I find these contradictions fascinating. Stoker clearly admires feminine intelligence while remaining attached to Victorian conventions of womanhood. His novel exposes some of the very anxieties it attempts to contain.
There is also a philosophical tension between modern science and ancient belief. Van Helsing, ostensibly a man of scientific learning, succeeds because he recognizes the limitations of materialist explanations. The supernatural demands an intellectual humility that the strictly rational characters initially lack. Yet the vampire hunters employ modern technology with extraordinary enthusiasm. Stoker’s civilization requires both the laboratory and the crucifix. Perhaps that is among the novel’s more enduring insights: human knowledge becomes dangerously impoverished whenever intellectual certainty hardens into an inability to recognize its own limitations.
My principal irritation remains exactly what it was during my earlier readings: Stoker’s insistence on rendering certain characters’ speech phonetically. Christ. Those interminable passages of dialect, especially the Yorkshire speech, remain dreadful obstacles to my enjoyment. I understand the literary intention, the desire for authenticity and regional distinction, but must every peculiar vowel be reproduced on the page? I am perfectly willing to suspend disbelief concerning an undead aristocrat transforming into a bat. Asking me to decipher several paragraphs of aggressively phonetic English is another matter altogether. Even Van Helsing’s peculiar syntax occasionally tests my patience. The story is sufficiently compelling without turning conversation into an exercise in linguistic archaeology.
Still, these annoyances are ultimately minor beside the novel’s astonishing cultural longevity. The Dracula of popular imagination owes much to subsequent adaptations, particularly Bela Lugosi’s hypnotic elegance and Christopher Lee’s ferocious physicality. Stoker’s creation has become a cultural inheritance, endlessly reproduced in cinema, literature, theatre, and popular art. Countless vampires have followed, including Anne Rice’s beautifully tormented immortals, but they remain indebted to the imaginative architecture Stoker helped establish. Ironically, Dracula himself is less psychologically accessible than many of his descendants. His motives remain largely predatory, his interior life obscure. Perhaps that opacity preserves his monstrosity.
Rereading Dracula has also reminded me that my literary pleasures need not always depend upon novelty. I am more conscious now of its ideological assumptions, narrative contrivances, and occasional absurdities. Its conclusion feels rather hurried after so elaborate a pursuit, and certain characters possess more virtue than psychological complexity. Nevertheless, the novel continues to command my affection. I loved it as a teenager for its Gothic atmosphere and supernatural horrors. As an adult, I admire the extraordinary imaginative labor required to sustain them.
After more than a century, Stoker’s Count continues to inhabit the imagination with remarkable tenacity. And after three or four readings, I remain perfectly happy to invite him in again.
#bibliophilia #bookReview #books #BramStoker #classics #Dracula #fiction #GothicFiction #GothicLiterature #horror #literature #novels #reading #vampires -
1989: Prost & Senna Crash
#OnThisDay 22 October, Alain Prost secured the 1989 Drivers’ Championship on this day, but the Japanese Grand Prix became one of the sport’s most controversial moments. Prost arrived in Japan with a 16-point lead, not needing a win to claim his third world championship. However, his McLaren teammate, Ayrton Senna, needed victory to keep his hopes alive. Senna dominated qualifying, securing pole position by 1.7 seconds. During the race, both drivers distanced themselves from the pack. On lap 47 of 53, Senna attempted a bold move at the chicane, diving inside Prost. Prost refused to yield, and the two collided. Prost retired, while Senna was pushed back on track and pitted for a new nose, managing to finish first.
However, Senna was disqualified for getting a push start from the marshals to rejoin the circuit, and the Benetton of Alessandro Nannini was awarded the win.
Prost retained the title after an appeal upheld the disqualification five days later.
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Raimund Iron Ore Mines
The Raimund iron ore mines lie along Red Mountain, part of the vast Birmingham District that helped establish Birmingham, Alabama, as one of the South’s leading iron and steel centers. Situated west of Birmingham and north of Bessemer, the mines supplied the iron ore that fueled the region’s expanding industrial economy. Their development formed part of a broader wave of mining activity along Red Mountain, where rich deposits of hematite ore helped transform a once-rural landscape into the foundation of a major industrial powerhouse. Today, the Raimund mines remain a reminder of the people, infrastructure, and industrial enterprise that shaped Birmingham’s early history.
The Raimund mining operation began in 1896, when John Adams developed the property for the Thomas Pioneer Mining and Manufacturing Company. The company’s owner, Samuel Thomas, named the mines after one of his grandsons, Raimund. From the outset, the operation depended on reliable transportation to move iron ore from the mountain to the region’s furnaces. Pioneer contracted with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad’s Birmingham Mineral Division to construct a rail line serving the mines. The line provided a means of transporting ore to Republic Iron & Steel Company’s blast furnace in Thomas, then a developing industrial community within the Birmingham area. Local railroad contractors Dunn & Lallande Brothers, associated with Dunn Construction, built the line for the railroad.
The mines soon became part of the expanding industrial network that connected Red Mountain’s ore deposits with Birmingham’s iron-producing facilities. In 1899, Republic Iron & Steel Company purchased Pioneer Mining. Republic subsequently assumed direct control of the Raimund mines in 1907, following Pioneer’s dissolution. A major steel producer based in the North, Republic was expanding its presence in Birmingham’s rapidly growing iron and steel district, where access to local ore, coal, limestone, and railroad transportation offered significant industrial advantages.
Mining at Raimund took place underground along the iron-bearing formations of Red Mountain. Rather than extracting ore from an open pit, workers entered the deposits through sloping mine openings that followed the downward angle of the rock layers. The operation included extensive underground workings, surface facilities for handling and loading ore, and railroad connections that carried the mined material away from the mountain. The railroad was essential to the operation, linking the mines with the furnaces and industrial facilities that depended on their output. In places, later road alignments followed the former bed of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad’s Birmingham Mineral Division, leaving traces of the transportation network that once served the mines.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, Raimund No. 1 had developed into a substantial underground mining operation. A United States Geological Survey investigation conducted around 1908–1909 documented the mine’s layout and geological characteristics in considerable detail. Raimund No. 1 was classified as a slope mine, meaning that miners reached the ore body through an inclined passage driven into the mountain rather than through a conventional vertical shaft.
The ore bed at No. 1 averaged approximately 8¼ feet in thickness, while the surrounding strata dipped at an angle of about 34 degrees. By December 1908, the main slope extended approximately 1,257 feet into the mountain. Twenty-one headings branched off on each side of the main passage, creating a network of underground workings. Headings 10 through 21 were actively producing ore at the time of the survey. The mine worked the Big Seam, one of the principal red-iron ore beds in the Birmingham District.
These details illustrate the scale and organization of the Raimund operation during its early years. Mining required more than following a deposit underground. The company had to develop access passages, extend working areas, move ore through the mine, and maintain a transportation system capable of carrying the material to market. As production expanded, the underground workings became increasingly complex, reflecting both the richness of the deposit and the engineering demands of extracting ore from beneath Red Mountain.
A geological survey published in 1910 identified several Raimund workings: the No. 1 slope, an older abandoned No. 2 slope, a newer dual No. 2 slope, and a No. 3 slope. These separate workings demonstrate that Raimund was not a single mine entrance but a developing complex of underground operations. As earlier workings were abandoned or replaced, new slopes provided access to additional ore deposits and supported continued production.
By 1915, the Raimund mines had become significant producers within the Birmingham District and the wider American iron-ore industry. Raimund No. 1 produced approximately 222,000 tons of hematite ore that year, placing it among the larger iron-ore mines in the United States. Raimund No. 2 also appeared on the same federal production list, with an output of approximately 119,000 tons. Combined, the two mines produced roughly 341,000 tons of iron ore in 1915 alone.
Such production figures reveal the importance of Raimund to Republic’s operations and to Birmingham’s industrial economy. Iron ore from the mountain helped supply the furnaces that produced the iron needed for the nation’s expanding industrial infrastructure. Behind those figures stood the miners who worked underground, the crews who maintained the surface facilities, and the railroad workers who kept ore moving between the mines and the furnaces. Their labor sustained an operation that had become an integral part of the region’s industrial system.
During World War I, demand for iron and steel increased as American industry responded to wartime production needs. Republic operated three slope mines at Raimund during this period, reflecting the importance of the property to its iron-ore supply. The company continued to develop and reorganize its underground operations as mining conditions and production requirements changed.
By 1920, Republic had closed the No. 3 mine and upgraded its two remaining slope mines. This consolidation marked another stage in the evolution of the Raimund operation. The mines had grown from a property developed in the late nineteenth century into a substantial industrial complex, with multiple underground workings, extensive railroad connections, and a production record that placed it among the important iron-ore operations of its era.
Yet the story of Raimund was about more than geological deposits and production totals. The mines formed part of a larger industrial community whose fortunes depended on the demand for iron and steel. Their development created employment, connected the mountain to Birmingham’s industrial infrastructure, and established the foundations for the labor struggles and economic upheavals that would shape the decades ahead. As the twentieth century progressed, the Raimund mines would face new challenges arising from changing markets, labor relations, and the increasingly difficult economics of underground mining.
These historic postcards feature the Raimund No. 1 Slope of the Republic Iron and Steel Co. on Red Mountain.Described as the first steel tipple in the Birmingham District, the Raimund operation reportedly produced 20,000 tons of iron ore each month, highlighting the remarkable scale of the mining industry that helped fuel the city’s rise as an industrial powerhouse.A 1920 engineering report gives an excellent glimpse inside the mining operation. Both Raimund No. 1 and No. 2 had steam-powered surface plants. No. 1 had a steel headframe and used a 10-ton skip, although 8 tons were lifted in each load. The system was surprisingly similar to contemporary coal mines. Ore was loaded into wooden underground cars. The cars were moved along tracks, with mules used for haulage in portions of the workings. The ore was then moved through the underground slopes and eventually hoisted to the surface. Workers were mining an approximately eight-foot-thick ore bed using a room-and-pillar system. Rooms were driven parallel to the strike, 30 feet wide, with about 60 percent of the ore removed, and 40 percent left behind as pillars to support the roof. Miners used pneumatic drilling equipment including Leyner-Ingersoll, Dreadnaught and Turbo drills, while jackhammers were used for block holing and drifting. The engineers noted that faults made the Raimund workings particularly irregular. In some places the ore had been displaced from its normal position, forcing miners to work isolated sections of the ore body.
When the Great Depression began in 1929, Birmingham’s iron and steel industry suffered a severe collapse. Steel and pig iron production fell to levels not seen since the 1890s, and major companies, including Republic Steel, sharply curtailed operations. Workers faced layoffs, reduced wages, and constant uncertainty about whether they would have work from one week to the next. For families living in the Raimund-Muscoda mining district, the consequences extended far beyond the mine entrance. When a miner lost his job, his household could lose its primary source of income. In a company-dominated industrial community, unemployment could also mean losing company-provided housing. Many miners were paid according to the volume of iron ore they extracted rather than the hours they spent working, a compensation system that would later become central to a significant legal dispute.
In the early 1930s, approximately 5,000 iron ore miners worked in the Birmingham area, nearly 80 percent of whom were Black. They worked for major industrial companies, including Republic Steel, Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Company, Woodward Iron Company, and Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company (TCI), a subsidiary of United States Steel. One of the most significant developments in the history of the Raimund mines occurred in 1933, when workers established an independent union. On July 25, 1933, Republic Steel Raimund Local 121 received its charter under the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers, commonly known as Mine Mill.
Black miners joined Mine Mill in large numbers, seeking fairer treatment and a stronger voice in the workplace. Many white workers, meanwhile, faced pressure to remain with company-supported employee representation plans. Local 121 provided Black miners with an avenue to challenge unequal treatment in a deeply segregated industrial society. Union members faced harassment and intimidation on the job. Union leaders reported unjustified discharges, threats, verbal abuse by the mine superintendent and foremen, increased workloads for union members, layoffs for minor or questionable reasons, assignments to less desirable jobs, and Republic Steel’s refusal to bargain collectively. These grievances, among others, contributed to a strike in 1934. However, the strike failed to bring substantial improvements to working conditions or significantly improve the union’s relationship with the company.
By the beginning of World War II, Raimund No. 1 was the only mine still in operation. The No. 2 mine had been converted years earlier into an air shaft and a utility and maintenance slope. One historical account credits the Raimund operation with producing more than 12 million tons of iron ore by 1938. By 1943, the underground workings of the Raimund No. 1 slope extended for miles, reaching beneath portions of southwest Shades Creek and Shades Mountain at depths of approximately 3,000 feet.
Despite the wartime demand for steel, Republic Steel closed the Raimund mines in late 1943. The company cited the high cost of underground mining and the depletion of accessible ore reserves. The closure also came amid a bitter dispute between Republic Steel and the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers, whose local represented Raimund miners. The decision attracted considerable media attention and congressional scrutiny because it came at a time when the nation’s wartime industries urgently needed steel. Nevertheless, the company proceeded with the closure. Many of the displaced workers were transferred to Republic Steel’s Spaulding Mine at Graces Gap on Red Mountain.
In 1945, Jesse Edwards, a businessman from Bessemer, purchased the Raimund mines from Republic Steel. Several years later, he leased the mines back to the company. After years of inactivity, reopening the operation required months of repairs and modernization. Crews also had to pump millions of gallons of water from the underground workings, which had flooded after the pumps were shut down. The mine reopened in 1948 as the Edwards Mines, bringing hundreds of union miners back to work.
To make the operation profitable, Republic Steel needed to adopt modern underground mining equipment and more efficient ore-extraction methods. Following the example of TCI’s coal and iron ore operations, the company introduced trackless mining methods and modern 25-ton Jeffrey electric locomotives. These technologies allowed miners to work more efficiently and recover much of the iron ore left behind during earlier periods of mining.
The Edwards Mines continued operating successfully until 1960, when a sharp decline in steel prices, combined with competition from inexpensive imported Venezuelan ore, forced the operation to close. The mine remained idle as underground equipment and other valuable materials were removed. The Louisville & Nashville Railroad (L&N) dismantled its rails and abandoned the line that had served the mining operation.
By 1963, the former Raimund mines were permanently closed. With the underground water pumps shut down, the workings flooded rapidly. Mine portals and access passages were sealed or blasted shut with dynamite. Most of the surface structures were demolished, although a few remnants survived as evidence of the area’s industrial past.
Decades later, the former mining property became part of a broader effort to preserve Red Mountain’s industrial and natural heritage. In 2013, Red Mountain Park expanded its green space by 53 acres through a donation of the Raimund mines property from the Freshwater Land Trust, using land from the estate of J. K. Edwards. The donation helped preserve a site that had played an important role in Birmingham’s iron industry and in the lives of the miners and families who depended on it.
The history of the Raimund mines reflects the changing fortunes of Birmingham’s iron and steel industry, the struggles of Black workers for fair treatment and collective representation, and the technological changes that reshaped underground mining. From the economic hardships of the Great Depression to wartime controversy, postwar modernization, and eventual closure, Raimund’s story remains an important part of the region’s industrial and labor history.
Thank you for reading. Please share the blog with your friends. I appreciate your support. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. For more amazing abandoned places, check out my photography books.
#abandoned #abandonedPlaces #abandonedSoutheast #adventure #architecture #Decay #forgotten #hiking #history #nature #photography #travel #UrbanExploring #urbex