Chapter 4 Chapter 4 The Dochart Coal Bunker

Harry.Ford was a tall lad of twenty-five, vigorous and well-built.His somewhat serious features, almost always in a pensive pose, made him easily recognizable from his boyhood companions in the mines.His features were regular, his eyes deep and gentle, his hair rather coarse, a blond with a hint of chestnut, and a natural charm which suited him perfectly to make him the perfect type of Rowland, Scotland on the Great Plains. A wonderful specimen of man.Working in the coal mines almost from a very early age made him a strong and kind companion.Guided by his father and driven by his own instincts, he went to work and cultivated himself early, at an age when others were mere apprentices, and had made himself the first of a kind in his position. One of the first class This is in a country where the ignorant is not valued because it goes out of its way to eradicate ignorance.If the pickaxe hadn't left Harry in the first few years of his teenage years.Ford's hand, but the young miner did not delay acquiring enough knowledge to advance himself in the coal mine hierarchy, and would have inherited his father's foreman had the mine not been abandoned.

James.Starr was still on his feet, but still had trouble keeping up with his guide, if he hadn't slowed down. The rain was not so strong then.Large raindrops shattered before they hit the ground.To be precise, it was a gust of humid wind that was swept up in the air by a gust of cool wind. Harry.Ford and James.Young Starr carried the engineer's light luggage along the left bank of the river for about a mile.After walking the winding river bank, they took a road leading to the fields, and the big trees on the road were dripping with water.Wide pastures stretched from one end to the other around the isolated countryside.Several herds of cattle were quietly eating the long green grass of the lower Scottish grasslands.There were cows without horns, or lambs with wool like silk, like the sheep in the children's sheepfolds.There was not a single shepherd boy in sight, who must have taken shelter in a hollow tree somewhere, but circling the pasture was a Scotch collie, a dog endemic to this part of the United Kingdom and known for its vigilance.

Yale Mine is about four miles from Callander.James.Starr restrained his emotions as he walked.He hadn't seen the place since the day Aberfoyle's last ton of coal was poured into the Glasgow railway carriages.Agricultural life now replaced the ever louder and more active industrial life.The winter field makes this contrast more intense because of the cessation of labor.But throughout the year, an army of miners energized the land above and below ground.The carts loaded with coal were running day and night.The rails, now abandoned on rotting sleepers, were then creaking under the weight of the carriages.At present, gravel roads and mud roads have gradually replaced the railways in the former mining areas.James.Starr thought he was walking through a desert.

The engineer looked around sadly.He paused briefly to catch his breath.He listens.There were no distant whistles and the panting roar of machines in the air now.On the horizon there was no cloud of blackish vapor mingled with great clouds that the industrialists liked to see.Not a tall cylindrical or prismatic chimney belching smoke after eating the bed itself, not a single exhaust pipe blowing out its white vapor at the top of its lungs.The land that was once stained with soot now has a clean appearance, James.Starr's eyes felt unaccustomed. When the engineer stopped, Harry.Ford stopped too.The young miner waited silently.He felt exactly what was going on in his companion's mind, and he felt strongly with him, a boy in the coal mines who had spent his life in the depths of the earth.

Yes, Harry, all that has changed, James.However, due to the mining here, the precious coal must one day be exhausted, says Starr!You are regretting that time! I'm sorry, Mr Starr, replied Harry, the work was hard but interesting, like a battle. That's right, boy!There are battles at every moment, dangers of landslides, fires, floods, gas explosions like lightning strikes!These dangers must then be avoided!You speak well!This is fighting, and because of this, life is exciting! Those miners in Alloah are luckier than those in Aberfoyle, Mr. Starr? Yes, Harry, replied the engineer.

In fact, exclaimed the young man, it is a pity that the whole underground world is not composed of coal alone!Otherwise, it can be mined for hundreds of millions of years! Undoubtedly, Harry, but it must be admitted that in the meantime, nature has shown her foresight, and in forming our spheroid, used more sandstone, limestone, granite, and fire could not destroy them. burn! You want to say, Mr. Starr, that the human race will eventually be destroyed by burning their planet? Yes!Quite completely, my boy, replied the engineer, the earth will throw its last piece into locomotives, mobile internal combustion engines, steam turbines, boilers in gas works, and, necessarily, this is how our world will one day be destroyed!

There is no need to worry, Mr. Stahl, besides, the coal mines will undoubtedly be exhausted more quickly than the statistics show! There will be a day, Harry, and it seems to me a mistake for England to exchange its own fuel for another nation's gold! Indeed, Harry replied. I know, added the engineer, that neither the water power nor the electric power has yet run out, and that the day will come when men will make the most of both powers.But what's the use!The use of coal is extremely convenient, and it can meet the different needs of industries at any time!Unfortunately, man cannot produce coal of his own will!If the above-ground forests can continuously re-grow under the action of heat and water, the underground forests, they, cannot re-grow, and the earth will never be able to re-create them under the necessary conditions!

James.Talking with his guide, Starr resumed his brisk walk.An hour after leaving Callander, they arrived at the Dochart coal bunker. Even to an unconcerned person, the bleakness of an abandoned facility is shocking.It was like a skeleton left over from a man who had been so alive before. A few gaunt trees surrounded a wide field, and the soil was covered with a layer of black dust of combustible ore, but there were no more unburned coal chips, large lumps, or fragments of a single coal.Everything has long been taken away, used up. On a small hill, there is a reflection of a huge structure slowly eroded by sunlight and rain.On the top of the frame is a wide outrigger or a cast iron wheel, and slightly below, there are those thick and bulging rollers. In the past, the cables that lifted the cages to the ground were wound around these rollers.

On the floor below, dilapidated machine rooms could be discerned, with mechanical components cast in steel or copper as gleaming as they used to be.The framing of several walls had fallen to the ground, and the center of the grating had cracked and turned green from the damp.A few pieces of the pendulum spliced ​​to the drainage pump rod, some broken or oily bearings, some gears with broken teeth, some hoisting machinery that was knocked down to the ground, and some steps nailed to the brackets. The past was like the spine of an ichthyosaur, a few sections of rail on broken sleepers still supported by two or three rickety piles, some streetcars that could no longer pull the weight of an empty dump truck. The desolate scene of Dochart's coal bunker.

The stone shafts of the well-worn mine shafts were covered under thick moss.Here the remnants of a certain cage can be found, there recognizable remnants of a coal store where the coal was sorted by quality and volume.In short, this fragment of a large wooden barrel with a chain hanging from it, this fragment of a huge support, this punctured plate of a cauldron, this twisted piston, this long pendulum leaning over the head of the pump well, this swaying in the wind The gangway, this single-span bridge trembling underfoot, this cracked wall, this half-collapsed roof overlooking the partitioned brick chimneys like modern modern The cannon, all this gave a strong sense of abandonment, of misery, of desolation, which even the ruins of old stone castles and the remnants of demolished fortresses could not have.

It's a catastrophe, James.Starr said, looking at the young man, who didn't answer. So the two went out under the lean-to roof that sheltered the Yale Mine shaft whose steps still lead down to the gangways below the coal bunkers. The engineer leaned over the mouth of the well. In the past, there was a strong airflow drawn by the ventilator gushing out there, but now it is a quiet abyss.It was as if we had come to some blocked crater. James.Starr and Harry.Ford stepped onto the first landing. In the days of mining, some of the shafts of Aberfoyle were interconnected by dexterous machinery, highly mechanized; cages with automatic fall arresters, hooked to wooden chutes, called robotic swinging ladders.With a simple swinging motion, the miner can come down without danger or go up without much effort. But since the end of the project, all these perfect machinery have been taken away.All that remains of the Yale Mine is a long string of ladders separated by narrow landings of fifty feet square.There are thirty of these ladders attached end to end, allowing the miners to descend to the sills of the lower drifts.This is the only passage between the bottom of Dochart's coal bunker and the ground.As for ventilation, the Yale Mine's sideways are connected to another mine with a higher wellhead, and the hot air is naturally released through this reverse breathing. I'll follow you, boy, said the engineer, gesturing to the young man to go first. At your command, Mr. Starr. do you have lights Yes, if only it were the same safelight we used to have! Indeed, James.Starr replied, now there is no need to be afraid of gas explosions! Harry had only brought an ordinary oil lamp, and he lit the wick.In a coal mine that has been depleted of coal, primary hydrocarbon gas leakage does not occur.So there's no need to worry about any explosions, no need for that kind of wire gauze between the flame and the surrounding air to keep the fire from igniting the gas outside.The David Lamp, which was so perfect back then, is no longer used here.But if there is no danger, it is because the flammable factor which gave rise to it, which had made the fortune of the Dochart coal bunkers in the past, has disappeared. Harry descended the first few rungs of the ladder above.James.Starr followed him.After a while, the two of them reached the depths of darkness where only the light of the lamp was on.The young man raised the lamp above his head so that his companions could see better. The engineer and his guide completed the twelve steps with the cautious step customary to a miner.The steps are still solid. James.Starr looked curiously at the dark inner walls of the mine shaft that the dim light allowed him to see, where a half-rotted wooden shaft fitting still covered it. At the fifteenth landing, halfway through, they rested. Obviously, my legs are not as good as yours, boy, the engineer gasped for a long time, but I can still walk anyway. You're very good, Mr Starr, replied Harry, and it's because, you know, you've lived a long time in the mines. You are right, Harry.Before, when I was twenty, I could go down in one breath.Let's go, hit the road! However, just as the two were about to leave the platform, a voice came from far away in the depths of the mine.The sound became clearer and clearer like a gradually expanding sound wave. ah!who is thereThe engineer asked Harry, holding him back. I don't know, replied the young miner. Could it be your old father? he!Mr. Starr, no. Which neighbor is it, huh? We have no neighbors down the coal bunker, Harry replied, just us, just us. Well!Let the trespasser pass, James.Starr said that those who go down should let those who go up. The two waited. At this time, the voice resounded loudly, as if it was coming through a huge megaphone, and after a while, a few words of a Scottish song clearly entered the ears of the young miner. Song of the Lake, cried Harry, ah!If not from Jack.I'd be surprised if Ryan sang it from someone else. Who is he, this Jack.Ryan, singing so well?James.Starr asked. A former partner in the coal mines, Harry replied. Then, crouch onto the landing: Hi!Jack!he shouted. is that you harryHe replied, wait for me, I will be there. The singing sounded again and more beautifully. After a while, a tall young man of twenty-five appeared in the depths of the cone of light from the lamp he was carrying, with a happy face, smiling eyes, a cheerful mouth, and fiery red hair. He put his foot on the landing of the fifteenth ladder. His first movement was to squeeze the hand Harry had just extended to him. Nice to meet you, he cried, but Saint Mongo bless me!If I'd known you'd be back today, I'd have saved me from going down Yale Mine. James.Mr. Starr, Harry said now, turning the light on to the engineer who was still standing in the shadows. Mr Starr!Jack.Ryan replied, ah!Mr. Engineer!I don't recognize you.Since I left the coal bunker, my eyes are no longer used to seeing in the dark as before. And me, I now think of a little rascal who always sings.It's been ten years, boy!It's you, right? It's me, Mr. Stahl, with a changed occupation and the same temperament, you see?ah!I think laughing and singing are always more worthwhile than crying and moaning. Without a doubt, Jack.Ryan, what have you been doing since you left the mine? I work at Mellows Farm, near Irwyn, in Renfrewshire, forty miles from here.ah!No comparison to our coal mines at Aberfoyle!A pick is much better in my hand than a shovel or a goad for poking cattle!Besides, there are corners in the old coal bunker that ring, happy echoes gladly send your song back, and there it is!But you're visiting old Simon, Mr Stahl? Yes, Jack, replied the engineer. then i won't delay you Tell me, Jack, asked Harry, how did you come to the cottage today? Want to see you, man, Jack.Ryan replied, and invited you to Irwin's clan festival.You know, I'm the local piper [note]!There will be singing and dancing! Thanks, Jack, but I can't go. 【Note】Piper is a person who plays bagpipes in Scotland. Can't go? Yes, Mr. Starr's tour may be extended, and I must accompany him to Callander. Hi!Harry, Irwin's Clan Feast is in eight days' time, and by then I think Mr Starr's tour will be over and there will be nothing left to keep you at the Cottage. Indeed, Harry, James.Starr replied, don't give up your partner Jack's invitation to you! Well, I take it, Jack, said Harry, and I'll see you at Irving's festival in eight days. Eight days later, it was settled, Jack.Ryan replied, goodbye, Harry!Salute to you, Mr. Starr!I'm so happy to see you back!I will tell my friends about your news.No one has forgotten you, Mr. Engineer. I haven't forgotten anyone, James.Starr said. Thank you for everyone, sir, Jack.Ryan replied. Goodbye, Jack!said Harry, shaking his partner's hand for the last time. Jack.Ryan was singing again, and soon disappeared high up in the mine, dimly lit by his light. A quarter of an hour later, James.Starr and Harry descended the last ladder to the floor of the lowest level of the coal bunker. The circular clearing below the Yale Mine radiates the various drifts used to mine the last phosphorous veins in the mine.Some of these alleys inserted into the schist and sandstone rocks are supported by the steps of thick beams that are roughly squared, and others are protected by a thick stone protection layer.Waste rock used to fill hollowed out seams is everywhere.Artificial pit logs, made of stone from an adjacent quarry, are now supporting the double floor, the third and fourth floors that formerly rested on the ore bed.The alley is now completely dark. In the past, either miner's lamps or electric lamps were used for lighting. In the last few years, the use of electric lamps was introduced into the coal bunkers.But the dark tunnels are now free of the creak of dump trucks on the track, the slamming of ventilation doors, the laughter of mine cart pushers, and the caving mining method. The loud sound of blasting rocks. Would you like to take a break, Mr. Starr?asked the young man. No, boy, replied the engineer, because I want to get to Old Simon's cottage quickly. Come with me, Mr. Starr, and I will show you the way, but I am sure you will know your way in this dark labyrinth of the alley. Yes, for sure!I still have the whole traffic map of the old coal bunker in my head. Harry held up the lamp to illuminate it brighter, and guided the engineer down a high alley that resembled a cathedral's transept.The feet of the two still hit the sleepers used to support the railway tracks during the mining period. But before he had gone fifty steps, a boulder fell on James.Starr's feet. Watch out, Mr. Starr!cried Harry, grabbing the engineer's arm. One rock, Harry!ah!These old vaults are no longer reliable, no doubt Mr. Starr, Harry.Ford replied, I think the stone was thrown by a hand! Throw it over!James.Starr exclaimed, what are you trying to say, child? Nothing, nothing Mr. Starr, replied Harry falteringly, his eyes hardening, trying to penetrate those thick rock walls, and go on, please take my arm, I beg you, don't worry about stepping on it. Wrong step. OK, Harry! The two walked forward, and Harry looked behind him, using his miner's lamp to illuminate the depths of the alley. Are we almost there?asked the engineer. Ten minutes at most. good. But, whispered Harry, it wasn't that simple.This is the first time I have encountered such a thing.That rock must have fallen just as we were walking by! Harry, that was just a coincidence! Coincidence The young man shook his head and replied, yes, a coincidence Harry stopped and listened. what's the matter, harry?asked the engineer. I thought I heard someone walking behind us, and the young miner pricked up his ears more intently as he answered. then: No!I may be mistaken, he said, just lean on my arm, Mr. Starr, and you'll use me as a crutch A strong cane, Harry, James.Starr replied, there is no better brave boy than you! The two continued in silence through the shadowy outer hall. Harry obviously had something on his mind, and he often turned around, hoping to suddenly find a sound in the distance, or a few rays of light in the distance. But before and behind him was silence and darkness.