{"id":22135,"date":"2022-09-07T12:20:59","date_gmt":"2022-09-07T16:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=22135"},"modified":"2022-09-07T12:55:20","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T16:55:20","slug":"episode-637-barney-dwan-3-mysterious-balls-of-copper-wire-dotted-irish-pasture-fields-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=22135","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 637 BARNEY DWAN 3: MYSTERIOUS BALLS OF COPPER WIRE DOTTED IRISH PASTURE FIELDS"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 637   BARNEY DWAN 3:  MYSTERIOUS  BALLS OF COPPER WIRE DOTTED IRISH PASTURE FIELDS<\/p>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
sept. 3,,2022<\/div>\n

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THIS  is our 6,000 foot base line about to be put on Barney Dwan\u2019s back by Willy.<\/div>\n
Our story is centred on the surprising disappearance of sections of this base line<\/div>\n
which was a mystery until cattle spit out round baseball like balls of our base line.<\/div>\n

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TROUBLE  \u2014 BASE LINE <\/div>\n

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Our base line was over one mile long, often longer.   This base line consisted of a single strange of yellow sheathed coper wire.  In the Canadian or <\/div>\n
Alaskan wilderness there were occasional breaks in the base line caused by wile animals most often\u2026.deer, moose, raccoons.  When the base line was<\/div>\n
broken no signal was sent so the break had to be mended immediately which meant the base line had to be patrolled and spliced.  Time wasted as a<\/div>\n
result.  But the breaks were few in number normally<\/div>\n

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Except in zieland the base line breaks were often and a lo of time was wasted.  Why so often?  Most breaks were caused by cows actually eating our <\/div>\n
base line\u2026.eating dozens of metres of base line.   The first bite gave the cow an electric jolt.   Some farmers said their cows were knocked out cold<\/div>\n
by the electricity.  I never saw a cos flattened by our base line although it may have happened.  What happened regularly owner was cattle actually\\<\/div>\n
eating the base line.  Gest long lengths of copper wire.  Initially we wondered why so much wire disappeared.  The reason was soon evident when <\/div>\n
the cows began regurgitating baseball sized balls of our copper wire.  Cows have four stomachs needed to digest course food.  Each day they take<\/div>\n
a break from eating to chew their cud  Foreign material is rgujrguatated.  Everywhere we crossed a pasture field we would begin to find these balls<\/div>\n
of chewed copper wire.  Somewhere I have pictures of these balls of copper but they have not been found yet.    Most complaints by farmers<\/div>\n
wee received by Barney Dwan.  I only receive a few directly.<\/div>\n

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Once we realized the cattle problem we kept a close eye on the herds but there were<\/div>\n
lots of cattle and it was difficult to stop them from munching our base line.<\/div>\n
That\u2019s Barney Dwan on the right as our survey crew had to stop work to find<\/div>\n
where the wire was severed.  We found the guilty parties\u2026.cattle (above)<\/div>\n

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The cattle, sheep and swine along with the people of Bunmahon were often watching us.<\/div>\n

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COMPLAINTS<\/div>\n

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We did get complaints from farmers, usually filtered by Barney Dwan.  In the course of the job<\/div>\n
I may have faced two or three irate farmers.  If Iwas a farmer and<\/div>\n
someone was doing a Turam survey in my pasture fields I would have been irate.  Why?<\/div>\n
Copper balls regurgitated as cows chewed and spewed their cud. Copper can be poisonous.<\/div>\n

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Seemed there were more animals than people on the roads and in the fields.<\/div>\n

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We hired this young lad to protect our grounding rods from<\/div>\n
cattle.   He loved the job and made out sites into personal <\/div>\n
camp grounds.  He had been hurt as a child and was handicapped.<\/div>\n
Barney recommended him.  He took the job very seriously .<\/div>\n

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Sometimes most of our working day was spent repairing the baseline.  Initially<\/div>\n
these repairs were made by Barney and I.   <\/div>\n

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\u201cWe need to hire a man just to patrol the base line.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u2019Another new employee that the executives back in Canada might questions but never did<\/div>\n
although they might have raised their eyebrows a bit.  How could a cow be worse than a moose?\u201d<\/div>\n

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Barney was fastest at repairing our cable and I also think he helped deflect the complaints<\/div>\n
 about coper poisoning of cattle.   Someone may have paid damages but I never<\/div>\n
heard about it.  Farmers had legitimate complaints.  Perhaps the prospect of reopening<\/div>\n
the ancient Knockmahon copper mind trumped complaints about copper wire in the guts of cattle.<\/div>\n

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I believe the whole community of Bunmahon hoped and prayed that our survey<\/div>\n
would revitalize the community.  Jobs, in other words.   That may have been the<\/div>\n
reason there were so few complaints from farmers.  Everyone wanted us to succeed.  Unfortunately<\/div>\n
success was not to be.   Dr. John Stam was a professional geophysicist.  He interpreted the raw data<\/div>\n
and determined, I think, that any mineralization was too badly faulted to be economically viable.<\/div>\n
This is speculation on my part.  All I did was get the raw data,..to find anomalies, not to interpret <\/div>\n
the results.  Dr. Stam did authorize us to excavate trenches where he thought our dots indicated<\/div>\n
a promising site.  <\/div>\n

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The trenches were deep with no support framing and as a result were dangerous.<\/div>\n
I think that is Barney Dwan deep down.  Perhaps not though as our trenching<\/div>\n
crew was separate from our survey crew.<\/div>\n

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I wish we had been successful.<\/div>\n
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alan skeoch<\/h1>\n
sept. 2022 <\/div>\n
reflecting on the 1960 survey<\/div>\n


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Post script:<\/div>\n

Outbreak of copper poisoning in cattle fed poultry litter<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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