Remember, this story is serial style, so if you want to read it from the beginning make sure and click on the earlier segments.
Mine Shafts and Ore Trains
Now one of the things that makes mines so difficult to navigate is not only that every tunnel branches and there are no left or right turns, but in addition, the mine is on multiple levels. You never stay on the same level, you are always going up or down to other levels. And the way you get from level to level is to climb up through a trap door in the top of the tunnel. This trapdoor takes you into a shaft that goes up to the next level. It turns out that this ladder is not really a high-quality ladder. It is actually just made out of two by fours nailed together. And for that matter, the trapdoor is not a high-quality trapdoor either. It is made out of plywood and you have to push it open with one hand when you get up to it, and hold it open with one hand while you are trying to climb through it. Then when you pass through it, you let it go and it just slams shut again. It is supposed to be a safety feature. It prevents you from falling through the shaft back into the tunnel. But it did not actually feel to me like a very safe procedure trying to go through the blasted trapdoor. When we started going up through one of these connecting shafts, I thought, “This is a pretty hard climb”. You see you are trying to climb in really thick, muddy boots, and the steps of the ladder themselves are all wet with mud from the boots from everybody else who has been climbing through the trapdoor before you. And it looked like people were constantly doing this because every step was soaking wet and covered with mud. So keeping your footing was a problem. When I first started climbing up through this shaft with my tour guide down below me coming through the trapdoor after me, I noticed immediately how hard it was to hold on to the slimy ladder and shove the trapdoor open, and then hold it open while I climbed through it. I held it open as my guide came through, and then I look up and saw another trapdoor 40 feet above me.
So I thought to myself, “Okay, no problem, I can do this, 40 feet of slimy mud. I just have to hang on pretty tight.” And I start climbing up, again with my guide below me, and I was being very careful with my footing and holding with my hands pretty tight so that I did not slip off and fall 40 feet to the trapdoor below me. And finally I got up to the trapdoor above me and push it open thinking, “Okay that wasn’t so bad,” only to look up and see the shaft continue another 40 feet above me with another trapdoor above that! And as I look at it I thinking to myself, “That is pretty high”. Now I’m not much afraid of heights, but it did not warm my heart to think that I had to climb another 40 feet in the air on a ladder covered with slippery mud. My big, chunky rubber boots were slipping and sliding around enough on the ladder during the last 40 feet that I had already climbed. But I did not say anything, and I started climbing again, and when I got up to the top of this area, again with my guide below me, I leaned way out into the shaft and managed to push this trapdoor open above me with one hand. I was a little tired, and it was getting harder to hold on, but I finally got the trapdoor open without falling off the slimy ladder and falling 40 feet, and when we climb through it and I look up, there was another 40 feet with another trapdoor about me. And at this point a little bit of disappointment and realization starts to come over me, and I said trying to sound casual, “How high do we have to climb to get to the next level?” And he replies “Oh, only 200 feet.” And I thought to myself, “200 feet! I’ve got to do this over and over and over again?!” And my mind started racing trying to figure out the math. And I realize that I still had 120 feet to go! I was not even halfway done; I had to do this three more times! So I thought to myself, “Okay, relax, I can do this. I just have to be really careful to hold on tight towards the end.”
So we started out climbing and climbing and climbing and I was getting kind of tired. My arms were tired and my hands were sore from gripping the two by fours so hard which were still just as muddy as ever. And my legs were tired, and my hands were cold, and I keep thinking, “Don’t slip! Pay attention! Don’t slip! Don’t slip!” And we finally got to the last trapdoor and push it open and at last we were up in the next level. And without hesitation, he leaves this little trapdoor entrance area with me following close behind (because remember, I was lost, so I was sticking really close to this guy) and we go out into the main tunnel and onto the track again. And by this time I was starting to think, “I have about had it with this ‘golden opportunity’! I can’t imagine doing this for 14 hours a day! Racing as fast as I can across the track and up those ladders and trying to focus on every step and grip so I don’t fall 40 feet to my death when I’m pushing open the trapdoor. And for what! I wouldn’t even be doing Geology; I’d be doing tech work – for years! This is a wet paper bag full of monkey barf masquerading as a ‘golden opportunity’!” But I did not say anything, and I slog on following my guide as he walked down the track.
Now up above us there were lights every so often that were dimly illuminating the tunnel, and beside those there is a second set of lights that are all red, and suddenly they go on and the whole tunnel turns red. So now all the way across the top of the curving tunnel as far as I can see behind me and in front of me the red lights are on, and immediately thought, “Wow, red lights, that doesn’t look too good.” And so I tried to keep a really casual voice and I said to the guide up in front of me, “What do the red lights mean?” And he replied, “Oh, that means there’s an ore train somewhere on the track. We have to get off the track.” And my immediate thought was, “Ah, where do we get off?”
Next week—segment No. 4
“Ore Train”