Winzes in a mine are not uncommon, based on my experience. Most of them are flooded to the brim as well. What is new to me, however, are winzes that have large warning signs inside the mine itself, warning about the drop. Not that it was actually needed in this case, since this winze was also flooded to the top.

Not to say that the "Open Hole" signs were the only feature of the mine, but they certainly were notable in that I've never seen them before. It is unfortunate that the winze was flooded, though; from the little bit of information I can find, the majority of the workings in the Open Hole Mine are down that winze. Our exploration of the unflooded upper level basically confirms this idea, as all we found were drifts without notable stoped areas. The mine is known to have been a past producer so there has to be workings somewhere, and we certainly did not find any on the adit level.

The mine itself dates back over a century, and is still in good shape after withstanding the forces of time. There were a few areas where rock has come loose from the ceiling, but for the most part the adits and drifts and structurally sound. Even the stope around the top of the winze was in good shape, and the winze itself looked like it was sound. There wasn't even much sign of water intrusion through the walls, which surprised me given how mines in Ontario tend to be.

Unfortunately, there isn't much else I can say about the mine; the history on it is fairly sparse, and even local exhibits about the regions mining industry doesn't have anything regarding the Open Hole mine. Even searching online yields very little information, other than the fact that the heydey of the mine was 1895 to 1900. After that, it seems the property has changed hands numerous times, but as far as development goes, it doesn't appear that anything occurred on that front.

So that sums up the Open Hole mine. It was a fun explore, and I wish I could find more information on it, but it looks like this one will remain a mystery. I also doubt a return visit will happen, unless we find some way down the winze; given the state of flooding, I have my doubts we'll make it into the supposed production levels.