Chapter 49:"Blast and Avalanche at Mother Lode," Pt 2

Junction at the Mother Lode incline and the 1500 ML to Jumbo Cross cut  --Curvin Metzler "This is your mother lode, Frank?" "It's my excuse to blast, Eldon.  Set up for it." Eldon sent the crew off for the tools and the dynamite. "It's cramped up here and messy with all this ice and melt.  It must be a torrent when the overhead snows are melting." "No doubt about that, Frank.  Look at the markings along these walls." Frank felt water creeping into his laced leather boots.  All the miners wore rubber boots due to the water problems encountered in some of these tunnels, but the engineers tended to use their expensive leather ones.  Now Frank realized he might have made a mistake.  His boots were becoming saturated.  The water had puddled in the low spots of  this upper tunnel, and some water was still dripping through the overlying rock, although it was below freezing outside. To hell with the boots.  Can't do anything about that now.  I need to find the orientation in here.  Let's see what the compass says. "I see that we're looking almost straight north.  We should be approaching the very top of this ridge.  I'd say we're less than 40 feet from the north cliff face just above the camp.  This vein probably has a surface showing, if we could just find the surface.  If it's like the other veins it'll dip sharply to the northeast.   I want your crew to blast out a larger working area here so we can have a good look at this showing."  He put his compass back in his pocket and turned to leave. "Where do you want to blast from, Eldon?" Water in the mine --Curvin Metzler "That last wide point we walked through is an old drilling station.  It's only about 100 feet back, bt that should be far enough away for the crew to take cover." "I'd rather have them blast this one remotely, Eldon.  Run them back down to the far end of the 100 level near the raise. It's just a longer walk.." "Good enough, if you think so, Frank.  Now that I think of it, you're probably right.  We've got to be really close to the surface here.  Who knows what might happen." "Well, boys, there isn't much more I can do here, except take samples for the preliminary analysis." Frank took his rock hammer, and chipped off some pieces of the greenish-colored rock.  It was a carbonite, not chalcocite, so it was most likely to be just a coloring that would end up leading nowhere. But it was worth some blasting to find out.  No other way to do it except to run diamond drills up here.   There was no time for that. "If we had time, I would go for the drilling, but it shouldn't hurt to blast this part out.  You know what to look for, Eldon.  If you don't see anything after the first round of blasts, bring the crew home." "Where are you headed, Frank?" "I'm headed down to the main workings to consult with Melvin and maybe get some lunch." A raise in the Mother Lode mine system   --Curvin Metzler  It would be a long way, working back down to the Pittsburg tunnel, but Frank was through for now.  He encountered the Indians at the 200 level where the dynamite was stashed.           “You guys have quite a job ahead of you.  I’m no longer needed here, so I’ll get back to my reports.  My boots have started to get wet, so I can’t stick around here for long now anyway.”           “I see that, Frank.  Why didn’t you wear rubber ones like us working guys?”           “Because, Johnny, I’m an engineer.  I’m sure all of you joke about how we are.  Well, this is how we are.  Leather is what we wear.  Not rubber.”           Johnny looked at the boots, which were soaked to the point where they could be a real problem if Frank could not replace them with dry ones soon.           “You owe me another chance to beat you at billiards.  This time I’ll get Jim Tanaka off the hook so he can be on your team.  I’ll take Cap.  Then we’ll annihilate you. If that doesn’t work, there’s always poker.”            Cap gave Frank a rare smile, shook hand with Frank, then picked up his load of caps and began working his way up the raise.  Johnny extended his hand.           “You don’t stand a chance against me, even with Cap on your side, but I guess I can humor you.  I’ll take the Japanese kid and still beat you. Have him ready. You're on.”           Frank continued down the winze.  From somewhere way up the narrow tunnel he could hear Johnny’s voice reverberate down the vertical shaft:           “Good bye, Frank.  Glad you could take the time to come up and visit. You’re a real friend, you know.”           The words echoed down the long, narrow shaft until they were indistinct. Frank smiled, then descended down another winze until he finally reached the tracked Pittsburg level.   New lights had been installed there to facilitate moving the ore over to the 1257 crosscut by means of one of the grizzlies which dropped to that level.    He followed the tracks to the vertical shaft.  No one was around, but the area  was well lit.  He pushed the motor activation button which also rang the bell to signal his descent.  Then he waited for the elevator cage which would deliver him down to 1257.   The 1257 crosscut ended near the vertical shaft which was near the western boundary with Bonanza .   The landing was near the dead center of the Bonanza-Mother Lode vein--the very heart of the mining activities.   The top of the Mother Lode incline was just over the 1250 level. This was because the ore skips would rise over the 1250 level, then dump below into large ore cars waiting in the 1257 cross-cut to receive the load.            Frank headed to the nearby mine phone and rung the signal assigned to Melvin.  No one answered. He tried another signal.  No answer.            Mel must not be in the mine, or else he’s just not near the phone.  Maybe he’s left Bonanza  for the main camp. No one else is answering, either. How odd. The flooded 1250 Cross Cut tunnel     --Curvin Metzler Continue