Chapter 8

Kate and I were nowhere near settled into our apartment. I had been spending most every day in the mine and getting acquainted with both management and those who burrowed under the surface. Will, my CEO and technically my boss, said he wanted to create an expanded position in mine safety. I was the only person available to take on these duties without hiring someone specifically. I was, of course, familiar with mine safety having grown up in the mining business. Will had several ideas that would address any worst case scenarios and he wanted them instituted as soon as possible.

Government regulations have had coal mines jump through hoops after the mine disasters that have occurred in the last few years. No one doubted that it was for the best, but some mines had been dragging their feet; i.e., doing the paperwork, but not putting the safety measures in place. I toured the mine every day and felt we were in full compliance. Will's idea was to double the warning systems and back them up adequately. This mine produced anthracite coal with three levels working simultaneously.

I enjoyed being down below ground--always have! However, I noticed that I was uncomfortable when I was down to the third level near the face of the vein. Will said that this was the smallest vein of coal that we were following and it probably would pinch out to nothing soon. By nothing, he meant not profitable, as there would still be some coal there. As I say, I was uneasy and checked with the crew captain every day when the shift was over.

Will was observing me, because he thought I was obsessing over safety down there on the third level. I was new and he felt I didn't have the experience to determine what was safe and what was not. I backed off, not saying too much for the next couple of days, but I was still feeling impending disaster. That night I had another one of my infrequent visions.

It was of miners running down a mine passageway which I recognized as the one at the third level. I could see and feel their palpable fear. Behind them I could see water rushing along the shaft floor. I then saw them turning into a nearby stope and climbing to an abandoned drift at the second level. I did not see where any were trapped, but it was a possibility. I awoke covered with sweat.

I couldn't go back to sleep, so I got up and drove over to the mine. Going into the office, I pulled a map of the mine shafts, drifts and stopes. The third level did have three stopes branching off from it. The nearest was only about two hundred feet back from where the machine was grinding the face of the vein. Tracing with my finger on the map, I followed the stope upwards until it reached an abandoned drift near where the second level crew was working.

I was concerned enough that I called Will at home. The previous year I had a vision in his office, so I knew he would give some credence to this one. I told him my fears over the phone.

"When is this supposed to happen?"

"I haven't the slightest idea. Soon I would think. I just don't want to have it happen without warning the miners that something might occur."

Will was silent and then said, "I think I will come down to the mine, and we will discuss this."

My first question was, "How often does a mine run into trouble with water?"

"Not often in this area. We have never had any at this mine. It is mostly small veins of water that we easily control by putting in sumps and pumping it to the surface. You say this was a huge amount of water?"

"Yes, the men were in water up to their knees and it was climbing fast by the time they reached the stope."

"Christ, this could flood the whole mine!" Will sat there thinking. "But I can't stop work because of a vision, not when we have a mining engineer. I have confidence in him, but I know how powerful your vision was the last time." Will had a decision to make.

"You're sure that this is the shaft that you saw? We have three other shafts on that level."

"Yes, I recognized the stope and that is the only one I have uneasy feelings about."

Will took the map and poured over it some more. "Okay, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to hold the shift here in the morning and send Manny down to take a look at the face of the vein. Do you want to go down with him?"

"Of course."

Then Will exclaimed, "That drift on the second level is filled with rubble. Damn! We were going to bring it to the surface sometime when work slacked off."

"How much time will it take to punch a hole in the rubble large enough to get a man through?"

"Two-three days, maybe. You have no idea whether this is imminent or down the road a spell?"

"No I don't, but I think sooner rather than later."

Will sat there pondering his options. "Jim, I'm going to put this up to the men. After all they own this mine. I think I will tell it like it is. That you are uneasy about the work in this shaft. That you don't have these feelings on the other work faces, just this one. Our own mining engineer, Manny, has inspected the area closely and can't see anything wrong. However, I'll say that you have been around mines all of your life and although you have heard of men having these feelings, this is the first time for you.

"You know, if nothing happens, you're going to be thought a little off. Are you willing to take that chance? Of course if you are correct, God forbid, and no one gets hurt, you are going to look pretty damned good."

"Will, lay it out anyway you want, I'd rather be labeled a fool than have anyone injured." Having said this, I was beginning to have doubts in myself.

I went home and got some breakfast, returning to the mine before the first miners arrived. I was confident now. I had debated phoning Gram, but as I passed the computer to reach the phone a message said, "You've got mail."

It was from Maria to Kate, short and terse and it said: Kate, tell Jim I dreamed about Father Juan last night. He didn't say anything but he was smiling. I felt that Jim should know. Love to all, Maria

Will motioned to me from the office as I drove in. Manny and the crew chief were seated with Will and he had already repeated our earlier discussion. "You three go down and inspect that work-face and area with a fine-tooth comb. Imagine a worst case scenario and see what you can set up for a reasonable escape plan. I'm going to put the rest of the crew making another exit through that drift that the stope connects to on the second level.

Going down in the lift, neither Manny nor the other worker said anything. I could read their minds, though, and it wasn't pleasant. I couldn't blame them, my being on sight and on the job only days. I'm sure I would feel the same if the roles were reversed. We were at the work-site and looking at the machine that tore the coal off the face of the vein. Everything seemed to be stable and harmless. Moving this giant machine away from where it sat ready to start ripping at the vein, Manny inspected every inch of the face. The crew chief did the same with the ceiling and walls.

"We've come nearly a half mile from the lift through rock and coal just like what you see here. We can probably go another half mile forward and it still would be the same. It's solid! The only difference is that the coal vein is pinching out. We most likely will be shutting down here in a month or so if the vein narrows at the same rate, but there is a lot of coal still that we can get out. There is nothing here to worry about. I'd stake my reputation on it."

"Okay, you know your job, I'll give you that. It's just that I feel something is wrong here. Question--Is there any indication of a large amount of water anywhere? That seems to be the only thing that I can think of. We have no indication of a volatile gas and the shaft is solid so we can rule out a cave-in. What happens if we should bore into a river or something like that?"

"Unlikely. We have never run into any underground streams in this section of the mine. We do have a few seeps in various places, but nothing to worry about."

"I guess that you can tell Will that the miners can resume their work here. I'll back you up. Let's inspect that stope that is back of us while we are here. If an accident should happen, that would be the best way to evacuate the miners."

Manny was pleased that I came around to his assurance that it was perfectly safe to put the miners back to work. We back-tracked to the entrance of the chamber to the upper level via the stope. We moved along the drift until we were within a few hundred feet of the lift to the surface. Rubble blocked the shaft from floor to ceiling. Manny spoke, "At one time we were going to take all of this rubble to the surface, but that ties up a lot of manpower. We decided that when we closed off this portion of the mine when the coal played out, we could just dump it down one of the stopes."

I could see the sense of the thinking behind that. We returned the way we had come and went down to the third level and headed for the lift. Manny had called to the surface having the mining crew sent down to go to work.

The crew chief that had been with Manny and me, left us when we met the men. I had a short conversation with the crew chief as he joined the other workers. "If anything looks unusual down here, don't wait around, head for the lift. If you don't think you can make it, start climbing the nearest stope and we'll get you out from above." I know he thought I was crazy for harping on there still being a danger. I didn't know what else to say so I left him and the other fifteen men while I returned to the surface.

Will and I got together when I reached the surface. "Everything looked okay, I take it?" Will questioned.

"Yes. I may be wrong but I don't think so. Let's go on the assumption that I am right. How about putting a small crew to punching a hole through the rubble? Just large enough to get the men out if we have to. I think we ought to have a standard policy that none of the shafts and drifts are to be filled solid." I wasn't suggesting this as the new kid on the block wanting to throw my weight around, but as a bona fide safety measure.

"Okay, I'll go with that. I can sell this to all the men as a safety measure. I'll use overtime and give the miners two hours after their respective shifts are over to work in these areas. I will start clearing the blockage on this particular drift immediately."

I went home fatigued more than I had ever been. Kate was up and I had a question for her. "How often have you exchanged e-mails with Maria?"

"Oh, quite often. Every two or three days. After all we have one thing in common."

I knew she was referring to the fact that both Kate and Maria were pregnant by me. "Has she ever mentioned Father Juan before?"

"No and she never mentions having dreams, either. Is there something you aren't telling me that I should know about?"

I didn't want to alarm her, but I didn't want to keep her in the dark about this either. "Well, I had another vision last night. It was about a disaster in one of the mine shafts. There is one place I have been very uneasy about when I toured that section for safety. I've just come from there and have taken all the precautions that both me and the mining engineer could think of. Will is on board with me on this. He knows firsthand that occasionally I have visions.

"The e-mail from Maria about Father Juan seems to reinforce that I am on top of the problem." I was tired beyond belief, so I went to lie down. It was eleven a.m. when I glanced at my watch.

I was brought upright by the klaxon at the mine sounding off. It had come! The sound that everyone feared at every mine-site in existence meaning a disaster at the mine! I was up and out the door and on my way. When I reached the mine, miners were being raised from the bowels of the earth as fast as the lift could travel up, deposit its burden and go back for another complement of miners.

Will was at the mine head and I circled towards him, making my way through the miners and the families who were arriving by the carload. Will acknowledged my presence by saying, "It happened just as you said it might, with the machine breaking through all of a sudden and water everywhere. The men dropped their tools and ran for their lives. We have all the crews up from the third level, other than those that were working where the problem occurred. We are still in contact with the crew and should continue to be for awhile at least. Your directive to head for the nearest mine stope was right on. The crew has made it to the second level drift by now.

"No one has been injured yet and it is going to take a long time for water to fill all of the cavities that have been excavated on the third level. I am keeping rescue crews at work trying to reach those trapped behind the rubble on level two. I warn you, it is going to take time though."

I had never been on-site when miners had been trapped before. It was a sickening feeling. You could see fear and anxiety on the faces of everyone. Then hope took a downturn. We lost contact with the trapped miners! The water had risen and shorted out our line of communication. I traveled down to where the crews were working feverishly to gain access. I couldn't really help and soon saw that I was in the way.

Instead of going back up to the surface, I went down in the lift to see how fast the lower level was filling with water. I was surprised that the chamber, although it had four or five feet on the floor, wasn't rising too fast. It still had several feet to go to reach the average eleven foot ceiling. One other thing I discovered, the water smelled stagnant. To me, this was good, meaning we had not tapped into an underground stream. Time was on our side to effect the rescue.

Again returning to where the rescue crew was operating, I asked how things were progressing. The foreman said he was advancing toward the trapped men at the rate of twelve to twenty feet an hour through the rubble. He also told me that most likely the trapped men were not sitting still and were digging themselves toward us as well. Still he thought that it would take thirty hours more to get the men out. This meant that another day would go by before the miners could rejoin their families on the surface.

I took Will aside and filled him in on my conjectures about the water coming into the mine. We came to the conclusion that maybe, hopefully, the mine could be pumped out, especially if the water didn't rise above the third level. We put all thought of that behind us until we had everyone above ground and safe.

Work progressed slowly. The media soon started arriving, wanting interviews from anybody that would talk to them. Will made a short, abrupt statement and then said that he was too busy for more questions. The reporters started badgering some of the families whose loved ones were still trapped below with questions. I phoned the local police and asked for crowd control. They segregated the media away from the mine head. We let it be known that they were welcome to talk to anyone, but it had to be voluntary. There are always some who wanted their moment on camera so the media didn't lack for interviewees.

The first night wore on. Will was a master of organization, rotating the rescue crew with new members as soon as those below started to tire. So far we weren't too awfully concerned about the trapped men running out of oxygen, starving or becoming overly dehydrated. It was just that we had to provide an exit for the miners. The worst mine disasters were usually caused by explosive gas and/or cave-ins. So far there were no indications that this could happen in this situation.

The job at hand presented its own problems. There was no way that a tunnel could be driven through the rubble, as it was too loosely compacted and would cave in on itself. The crew was working along the top near the ceiling of the drift. The rubble consisted of chunks of rock that were all sizes and irregular shapes. Where the stone was small in character, it could be hauled back and disposed of easily. Every once in a while, a large piece of several hundred pounds would be encountered and had to be worked out of the way.

The work did go forward at a healthy pace--even faster than Will had predicted. There was one rescue crew member who was injured. He was excavating a bed to roll a large stone into and out of the way, when it moved before he was ready and pinned his leg, breaking it we feared. He was more concerned about holding up the forward progress than the injury to his limb. "Pry the damned thing off of me and get me out of here."

The men working with him were afraid of causing more damage to his leg and said so. "I don't care. Get me out and get on with it!" That's what they did and another miner took his place immediately.

Twenty-seven hours and nineteen minutes after the klaxon sounded, the crowd cheered as the first of the trapped miners stepped off the lift at the mine head. They all were tired, hungry and thirsty, but in excellent health otherwise. Ambulances were there to transport them all to the hospital for evaluation. Mine safety officials were on hand--both State and Federal. News bulletins went out to the various news organizations.

Most of the media put it on their wires and started leaving for some disaster somewhere else in the world. No deaths and the suspense was over. Why hang around?

The men all slept in the arms of their loved ones that night. Me, did I have anything to be thankful for? Maybe! At least I had given the crew chief a course of action to take immediately if something happened. He was competent so more than likely would have done it anyway. If nothing else, I realized that Father Juan was still in my life.

The mine was shut down for two days while we assessed what damage the flood had caused. We pretty much figured, and all the experts agreed, that we had broken into an underground water bubble trapped there eons ago. We couldn't tell for sure. We would find out when we had pumped the lower levels dry. We ended up with about eight feet of water, more or less, in all of the third level. It had flowed into all of the drifts and everyone of the working sites was flooded out on that section. However, when the water reached a certain level it stopped rising.

We had a few small pumps owned by the mine, but knew this wouldn't make a dent in reducing the capacity of water involved. A lot depended on whether we had fully drained the bubble, or whether there was more that would wash in as we pumped the mine. We even discussed shutting down the lower section of the mine. A full forty percent of our known reserves were at that level. We had to at least make an effort that would still keep the mine an economic proposition. A lot of miners would lose their jobs if we couldn't.

Another problem that we were fully aware of was how the water we pumped would be taken care of. We had the state resources board looking over our shoulder and we wouldn't want to dump this water back into the environment without treatment. We just didn't know if the facility we had was large enough to handle it. Back in the time when Gram had owned this mine she had a treatment plant installed with lagoons constructed to what she thought would take care of any contingency. It wouldn't be enough. The machinery was in place and large enough. It was the lagoon capacity we were short on.

The rumors started, as they are bound to, that the mine was going to be shut down because it had flooded. Will and the rest of the mine management became aware of this when the town fathers showed up asking questions. We explained our situation and promised we would keep the mine open if at all possible. They promised assistance if and when needed.

The engineers we hired were able to figure out approximately how many million gallons of water we had in the mine. They concluded that we would need at least two more lagoons of the size we had.

Permitting processes are usually slow but with the town, the county and the state not wanting the mine closed, emergency meetings were held at every juncture. Almost before our leased pumps arrived, we had our construction permits for two more lagoons in hand. We were able to use all of our idled miners on the construction. Of course the work never stopped on both level one and level two, as they weren't affected in any way. Busy place! We never really figured out the finances of all this. We just knew that it would be bad for everyone if the mine closed.

We watched the water level closely as the huge pumps started sucking water from the lowest level. It took several hours of pumping before there was any indication that the level would lower at all. When the indicator showed that the water was down the first eighth inch, we knew we were going to save the mine.

The treatment plant was well constructed and worked to perfection. It was just a matter of keeping the solids in the water suspended until it went through the machinery that injected the alum as it passed into the lagoon. There the solids would bind together and settle to the bottom as they became heavier.