Well, something interesting happened in my recent session of Minecraft. Deciding to dig deeper in Starter Mines in one of the path branches in Level 2, I seemed to have merged my Starter Mines quarry with a point in the Sandy Sinkhole Mines which takes a bit of time to reach from outside. So now I have a shortcut. With a bit of exploratory mining and digging more gravel and dirt, I came across yet another cave system that goes even deeper in Sandy Sinkhole, it it has some rather decent resources. First thing I came across as well was a deposit of 5 gold ores.
On the surface, I decided to expand the storage facility to store more and separate materials (they were getting rather cramped), even my processing chests (pre- and post-) are getting a little cramped as well, thanks to all this freaking coal I've been finding. My tree farms are doing surprisingly well. I pruned off the small trees that weren't growing as tall, and have been counting those that grew giant. my farm is almost a thicket now. Not bad for starting with a few saplings when I first started the region. Provided I farm more saplings and such, I can make the Great Plains a very dangerous area by making it have trees. Oh, and I added another branch to bypass the farms in my little hall that connects the bedroom to outside safely. Of course, I kinda forgot I also excavated a small area in there and covered it up. Kinda got stuck for a moment there.
Overall, Starter Mines are now a rather decent establishment. More a home mine. Considering if I have enough materials, I can either start crafting the great lighthouse, or a nice above-ground home nearby the mines (connected through the basement). But all things considered, I want to go over-the-top. The nice above-ground house will be on a nearby artificial cliff, and access to it is by door, of course, but to go from Starter Mines to the home will use a minecart track. I can spare the iron now. I currently have in store 202 iron bars, and 18 gold bars (Div/9 for blocks). I can spare some and make a pretty snazzy house with a nice spot to snipe creepers and such from. I have more than enough flint to craft arrows as well, my only setback are feathers.
For what it's worth, however, I'm going to backup my save while it stands, and maybe come up with a blueprint in the cheat-copy.