{"id":22147,"date":"2022-09-07T20:20:04","date_gmt":"2022-09-08T00:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=22147"},"modified":"2022-09-07T20:24:03","modified_gmt":"2022-09-08T00:24:03","slug":"episode-638-barney-dwan-4-legend-of-the-lost-irish-cow-rediscovered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=22147","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 638 BARNEY DWAN 4 LEGEND OF THE LOST IRISH COW — REDISCOVERED"},"content":{"rendered":"
EPISODE 538  BARNEY DWAN 4   LEGEND OF THE LOST IRISH COW \u2014 REDISCOVERED<\/p>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Sept. 7, 2022<\/div>\n

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\u201cAlan, there is a legend about a Dead Cow and a Mine Adit \u2026.”<\/div>\n
(Sort of casual comments that Barney often made\u2026fascinating comments.)<\/div>\n

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One night John Hogan and I debated the ‘Dead Cow Legend’ while consuming a pint of Guinness<\/div>\n
in Kirwin\u2019s rustic pub in Bunmahon.  Should we excavate or ignore the legend.?  Dr. John Stam<\/div>\n
voted yes.  And Barney Dwan led us to the site.<\/div>\n

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We  discovered a large anomaly A short distance up the Mahon River<\/div>\n
in a dry valley, I think called a \u2018boreen\u2019.   <\/div>\n
Barney told me in his casual offhand way as we slogged from station to station.<\/div>\n

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\u201cAlan, there is an old story about a cow that was lost in this place.  Seems there once was<\/div>\n
a mine entrance on the slope and a cow wandered in the opening, got stuck and died<\/div>\n
there.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDo you know the exact spot.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI do\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSee the patch of Gorse on the east side of the valley.  That\u2019s where the farmer sealed up<\/div>\n
the adit so no other cow would die.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow can you be sure?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThe story of the lost cow has been told snd retold many times\u2026.long before I was born <\/div>\n
it seems to have happened\u2026.around 1900.\u201d<\/div>\n

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Picture was taken NE of Bunmahon, not too far from the Dead Cow Legend\u2019s location<\/div>\n
as I remember.<\/div>\n

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Now this venture was a bit of a stretch.   Reaching into legends that may or may not be true was hardly<\/div>\n
an activity for our very modern search for mineral laden anomalies.  That night Dr. Stam<\/div>\n
John Hogan and I decided to see if the legend told by Barney Dwan was true or not.  If <\/div>\n
true then we would have uncovered an adit that would give access to the old workings the<\/div>\n
walls of which would be meaningful.  If our actions were foolish then it was best to keep<\/div>\n
quiet about the plan for a \u2018dig\u201d.<\/div>\n

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We hired one man who with pick, shovel, axe and wheelbarrow was told to clear the gorse<\/div>\n
and see if there was any sign of a mine opening underneath.   I am not sure if we told<\/div>\n
Dr. Paterson back in Toronto.  Think not at the beginning.<\/div>\n

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Well, the rest was surprising.  The biggest surprise happened to the lone digger whose name<\/div>\n
I have forgotten.  He spent several days excavating.  There was a lot of earth to be<\/div>\n
moved once the gorse was gone.<\/div>\n

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None of us expected an explosion.  Explosion!   Yes.  The ancient workings had filled with water<\/div>\n
over the decades  (160 years\u20261900 to 1960.   The adit was a giant reservoir and when the<\/div>\n
digger punctured the underground pool, tons of water whooshed out and he fled.  He Did not<\/div>\n
come for his money immediately.<\/div>\n

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We waited a couple of days for the mine to drain and then all four of us entered with flashlights.\u2019Four of us!<\/div>\n
Dr. Stam, JOhn Hogan, Alan Skeoch led by Barney Dwan as you can see in the picture below.<\/div>\n

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That\u2019s Barney Dwan heading into the Dead Cow Adit.  Seems he led the way..<\/div>\n

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Some other creature died here.<\/div>\n

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I am not sure about this picture.   I think it was the dead cow adit in Ireland but<\/div>\n
it could also be a mine adit in theYukon where the stillness of a century allowed perfect<\/div>\n
crystals to form.   Very delicate.  Same colours as the Dead Cow Adit.  So could be.<\/div>\n

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This is certainly the Dead Cow Adit.   The walls were covered<\/div>\n
in slime and odd colours.  The adit was big enough for us to walk upright.<\/div>\n
At some distance we should have found water filled shaft but our exploration ended<\/div>\n
when we found the dead cow.  Yes, there was a dead cow\u2026hips must<\/div>\n
have got wedged so she could not back out.  And there she died.  Or <\/div>\n
maybe the legend was exaggerated and the old adit was used as a <\/div>\n
grave for the cow who died of other problems.  The kernel of the<\/div>\n
legend turned out to be true which pleased all of our Irish employees<\/div>\n
even the digger who showed ump for his money eventually.<\/div>\n

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The Dead Cow.  Evidence that legends can be true.<\/div>\n

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John Hogan and Barney Dwan in the Dead Cow Adit.<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Sept. 7, 2022
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EPISODE 538  BARNEY DWAN 4   LEGEND OF THE LOST IRISH COW \u2014 REDISCOVERED alan skeoch Sept. 7, 2022 \u201cAlan, there is a legend about a Dead Cow and a Mine Adit \u2026.” (Sort of casual comments that Barney often made\u2026fascinating comments.) One night John Hogan and I debated the ‘Dead Cow Legend’ while consuming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22147\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}