Coal Mine Memorial Forest Park (Former Mitsubishi Bibai Coal Mining Facility)

As you head towards the mountains from the Bibai intersection, you will see something like a red steel tower flickering from the top of the trees.
This place, surrounded by nature, is called "Coal Mine Memorial Forest Park"
The red steel tower is a coal mining heritage pit winding tower, and there are two towers about 20 meters high.
In fact, the logo of our association is also based on the B of BIBAI and this pit turret.

There are many towns in Sorachi that flourished from coal mining. The Coal Mine Memorial Forest Park is a park that utilizes the heritage of the former Mitsubishi Bibai coal mining facility. Today, the pit tower, the switching station that managed the power supply, and the raw coal pocket remain.
A 170-meter-deep pit was built at this site in the 12th year of the Taisho era, and at that time it had a reputation as a modern model pit in Japan. In the early Showa period, the amount of coal produced exceeded 1 million tons per year, making it the largest coal mine in the entire coal mine of Mitsubishi Mining. After that, it continued to develop after World War II, but due to a change in energy policy from the Showa 30s, the Mitsubishi Bibai Coal Mine was closed in July of Showa 47, and with the closure of the mine, the Bibai Railway, which ran from Bibai Station to Tokiwadai, also closed the curtain of its 60-year history.
The pit turret and raw coal pocket were selected as a modernization industrial heritage designated by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in November 2019.

At the request of the Yasuda Tsuyoshi Sculpture Museum Arte Piazza Bibai and the world-renowned sculptor "Yasuda Tsukura", three new sculptures have been installed in the park since July 30.
The works on display were "Myōmu" in front of the pit tower, "Ishinki" in the pit opening and closing station, and "Fubuki" in front of the raw coal pocket
The collaboration between coal mining heritage and art further enhances the atmosphere.

It can be a day when red shines in the blue sky, a cloudy day, a starry sky, or a snowy location with a pure white location.
Why don't you visit once?