TUNNELS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23221, 19 June 1937, Page 10

TUNNELS

A GOLD MINE EXPERIENCE By Jane Bruton “ Opening up the country’s natural resources! ” How often we heard that phrase during the years of depression; and now, the tragedies at the Homer Tunnel have brought forcibly to mind the hazardous nature of this work. Equally dangerous, although taken so much for granted, is that which is carried or in the various coal and gold mines throughout the country. I had not seen either a coal or gold mine, so that when I chanced to be spending some weeks in the centre of what had once been a flourishing mining district, 1 decided to gain some first hand knowledge on matters mineral. Two of those whom I met were gold miners; true, one was a Dalmatian and the other an Austrian, but when has the mere barrier of language thwarted feminine curiosity? Anyway, Franz’s English proved very understandable, and before many days a party of us had set out for the mine. When I viewed the black hole at the foot of the hill, and realised that that was the mouth of the mine, I thought of the island volcano of Stromboli, which is believed by the islanders to communicate directly with Hell, and to be in fact one of the chimneys of that establishment. That we were venturing down a sistei chimney, I was convinced. This mine boasted no cage, as the shaft ran at an angle of about 45deg. into the bowels of the earth, and the descent had therefore to be made on foot. We were all equipped with candles, and our guide, wearing his miner’s lamp, led the way into the tunnel. After the first few yards, it became very apoarent that we were travelling downwards. We had to go carefully, avoiding the centre of the tunnel, where the iron reels were placed to carry the small trucks that went down empty but came up full of the gold-bearing rock. We soon left daylight quite behind, and the peculiar smell of the air, which at the entrance I had noticed slightly, was now very pronounced. After a time one became used to it, but at first that heavy, gassy, smell made breathing most unpleasant. The way was very difficult, every step we took being weighted with grey cement-like muck. Here, there was a hole to be watched, there a sudden drop, and always the reels to avoid. When the strain of holding one’s body upright under these conditions caused legs to shake weakly, a halt was suggested. We held our candles high, and looked up. Brush wood and planks were supporting the ceiling of the tunnel. Franz explained that the ceiling had here shown signs of falling, and had for safety been temporarily reinforced. He threw the light of his lamp bn a shining pool to show a buried tin, full of the water that was continually seeping through the earth. The gleam then flashed over the tunnel sides, revealing earth, torn and hacked by drill and shovel, and heavy with moisture. We shivered and moved on. Our footing grew more precarious, as our shoes collected more “ mud.” The air pipe was grasped fervently and often to support our lurching bodies. Behind me, panted the heavy-weight of the party. I put up a prayer that her footsteps might be kept on the straight and narrow way. I had a horrible vision of what would happen should her 15 stone be precipitated on my more slender form. By this time we were just slithering down the incline, the greasy nature of the way making any semblance of dignified descent impossible. I admit that under the next spot where the ceiling had been reinforced I increased my rate of progress slightly: but our heavyweight accelerated to an alarming degree! I was about to remonstrate when a terrific clatter in the rear caused me to stiffen in my tracks. There was a grunt, a groan, much scraping of tin, then silence. Fearfully, I turned my head. Yes, the avalanche was stayed! By the light of my candle, I saw the cause of the commotion asprawl in the mud, clutching grimly to her saviour—the air pipe. On her knees, she was lovingly embracing the pipe, her hat tilted to the side, and her one visible orb glaring malediction on the smiling faces within range. When she had been set on her feet she elected, in no uncertain terms, to return whither she had come, her appetite for underground exploration quite satisfied. We continued our way, but the laughter died in us. Those grim walls did not breed merriment. They had too long lived alone. Joy of life did not become them. At last we were at the foot of the tunnel, and found ourselves in a small cavern. Franz placed his miner’s light in a contraption which hung fiom the roof, and proceeded to show us what was being done there in the depths of the earth. With dismay I glanced around. Alas for the gold mine of my dreams! The dim light showed no glitter of the precious metal; not a colour of the glamorous stuff " : d it reveal—nothing but jagged rock, grey, and 'forbidding. Here and there drops of water gleamed, then fell into the squelching mud. The air was oppressive with the smell of stagnant water. That men worked here for eight hours a day seemed unthinkable. I shivered, and followed the others to the far end of the cavern. In one part the ceiling had sagged to such an extent that we had to bend double. This intensified the eerie sensation of pressure which these close walls created I had the feeling that the whole place was slowly but inexorably pressing in upon me. When I reached the others, Franz was displaying his working place He had to climb up a small ladder into an offshoot of the main cavern. Here, kneeling crouched on a plank, he worked in company with a fellow contortionist

" What, if the roof caved in? ” someone hazarded

“ That would be the end of me! ” Franz grinned. “ but I assure you there is no danger.” We looked our disbelief as we re-traced our steps to the other end. where a pool of water showed dangerously still in the candle light. This ominous circle was the mouth of a shaft, a relic of an earlier attempt to win payable gold. “Of course, you understand this is not regular mining.” Franz said. “ No. we are but developing, finding out. to see if the cold will pay If there is good gold in this mine everything will be improved—made more safe.” “ Where is the gold? ” someone asked “ Wait, i show you.” He borrowed a candle end and searched (he walls With his linger he flaked off a piece of the soft grey stone Eagerly we gathered round. “ You see those shining dots on this: look when I move it in the light—you see? That is gold.” Such a disappointed silence. Those specs, cold! Someone voiced my thoughtts. “ I always thought gold was found

in lumps You know, nuggets.” Our gct-rich-quick visions dashed, we started our earthward climb. Up and up, and up: the ascent seemed endless My legs stretched painfully at each step, and fervently I hoped that each would be the last; but there was always another. When we reached the tunnel mouth we welcomed the sunlight, with no extravagant shouts. We simply collapsed on a bank and gazed mutely at each other.