{"id":753,"date":"2018-03-06T13:48:36","date_gmt":"2018-03-06T18:48:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=753"},"modified":"2018-03-23T13:55:11","modified_gmt":"2018-03-23T17:55:11","slug":"ireland-1960-cow-in-the-mine-or-so-i-was-told-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=753","title":{"rendered":"IRELAND 1960: “COW IN THE MINE,…OR SO I WAS TOLD.”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Note: \u00a0Only sending this to a few friends\u2026sounds too self-obsessed\u2026too much about me\u2026too silly\u2026but true hence the pictures. \u00a0I cannot believe\u00a0that Barney and I took such risks \u00a0but we did. \u00a0Sense of immortality reserved for risk taking males when they are 22years old. \u00a0Article is too long\u00a0<\/span><\/span>for casual reading so I know some of you will press delete. \u00a0Good. \u00a0Do it. Why did I write this? \u00a0Because my former boss, Dr. Paterson \u00a0is writing a book about\u00a0geophysical prospecting in the 1950\u2019s and \u00a0he wanted \u00a0some material that gives a little twist on the job. \u00a0I sent him one short article. \u00a0Then I wrote this whopper.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span>IRELAND, 1960: \u00a0\u201cCOW IN MINE,\u2026OR SO I WAS TOLD.”<\/span><\/p>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
March \u00a02018<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Science says there are no ghosts. \u00a0 So would you believe folK stories told with no evidence? \u00a0Ireland… IN the summer of 1960 \u00a0a lot of stories were told.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cProtestants? \u00a0We bricked them up in that old church.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cThe pigs got a Nun\u2026tangled up in her habit… all<\/div>\n
that was found was her shoes with feet inside.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cIRA men hid out in these old mine adits\u2026lived here.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cSome think little people live in the old \u00a0mine.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u201cA cow wandered \u00a0into the mine, so the entrance was \u00a0filled with rubble.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re having a \u00a0wake for him, he\u2019ll be standing there.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u201cAn IRA killer lives being that locked door in Kerwin\u2019s pub, been there since Time of the Trouble.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u201cGerman bomber ditched in that field, the captain came back to see us last summer.”<\/div>\n
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These \u00a0are just some of the folk tales told to me in that summer of 1960. \u00a0They are the stories I remember. \u00a0There were a \u00a0lot more that<\/div>\n
I forgot. \u00a0Read them again. \u00a0How many would you believe? \u00a0None? \u00a0Well, one story turned \u00a0out to be true and linked directly to our<\/div>\n
geophysical exploration of the ancient Knockmahon Mine.<\/div>\n
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The Knockmahon Mine closed in 1879. It was not \u00a0a nice place to work\u2026dangerous. \u00a0Miners had to climb down a series of wooden ladders in the dark to<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

reach the stopes far below..stopes that eventually extended out beneath the ocean. \u00a0Even so, by 1840 the mine was said to be in \u2018the most important mining district in the British Empire.\u201d \u00a0The cliffs of Knockmahon drew miners as far back at the 18th century and even deeper in the past. \u00a0Lead, silver and especially copper drew mining entrepreneurs big time in 1824, and by 1834 profits rolled in for a decade. Mining costs got higher and higher the deeper they went until the Knockmaon mine was \u00a0abandoned. \u00a0 Where did \u00a0all the miners go? \u00a0They moved, all of them to North America. \u00a0Were they Irish? \u00a0No, Cornish families from abandoned Cornwall mines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What remains? \u00a0This chimney and the ruins of the power house. \u00a0Both stand as \u00a0stone ghosts above the tiny Irish village of Bunmaon, County Warterford. What did they leave behind? \u00a0Our company in 1960 hoped they left lots of residual copper. \u00a0The local Irish hoped the mine would reopen and the region become prosperous once again but that was not to be. \u00a0There were anomalies\u2026blips on our Turam receiving console. \u00a0But the whole area is so badly faulted that no mining company \u00a0had any prospect of profit. \u00a0So the ghost remains.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0 PICTURE: \u00a0Yes, parts of Ireland looks \u00a0like this. \u00a0Small whitewashed cottages \u00a0and ancient graveyards with stones askew.<\/div>\n
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What story was \u00a0true? \u00a0 THE COW IN THE MINE:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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PICTURE: \u00a0Some of our crew on the Irish job. \u00a0John Hogan (left) and \u00a0Dr. Joh Stam (far right), Barney Dwan (4th from left)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

We hired several others not in picture. \u00a0One handicapped teen ager just guarded the motor generator all day, not worried \u00a0about thieves but very worried about cows.<\/p>\n

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PICTURE: \u00a0Payday \u2026 includes pack \u00a0of cigarettes for each man<\/div>\n
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PICTURE: \u00a0John Hogan and i sharing a glass or Guinness in Kirwin\u2019s pub.<\/div>\n
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The Irish job was unusual. \u00a0We were subcontracted by Dennison Mining Corporation to see if<\/div>\n
the ancient Knockmahon copper mine had \u00a0any \u00a0residual copper. \u00a0The mine \u00a0closed \u00a0in 1879,had not been profitable<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

since the 1850\u2019s but Knockmaon,in the 1840\u2019s, \u00a0had been one of the great mines of the British Empire. \u00a0We arrived<\/p>\n

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more than a century later. \u00a0 We? \u00a0Three of \u00a0us, John Hogan, a geologist employed by Dennison Mines, Dr. \u00a0John Stam, a Dutch\/Canadian<\/div>\n
geophysicist, and me, a University of Toronto student whose \u00a0job was \u00a0to climb through the brier, push aside<\/div>\n
the semi wild hogs \u00a0with those lethal \u00a0jaws, climb the stone fences,.. Avoid the ticks that covered the cows noses\u2026and \u00a0GET THE NUMBERS.<\/div>\n
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For many \u00a0moments \u00a0I felt like John Wayne, as in ” The Quiet Man \u201c which was running \u00a0forever in a Dublin movie theatre. That movie was my introduction to old Ireland. \u00a0Could the County Waterford<\/div>\n
be anything like that? \u00a0No! \u00a0Impossible! \u00a0 Wrong. \u00a0It was exactly like the Quiet Man including the Catholic priest\u2019s concern for his \u00a0flock and \u00a0red headed colleens living<\/div>\n
in turf covered cottages \u00a0up the boreens.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Community life was centred \u00a0around \u00a0Kerwin\u2019s pub during the week and the local Catholic church on Sundays. \u00a0We got to know both places but spent more<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

time in Kerwin\u2019s than at Mass. \u00a0Plenty of black beer with brown foam spilling down the pint glasses. \u00a0Guinness stout was new to me then but I got to know it well. \u00a0Liked it.<\/p>\n

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It was \u00a0in Kerwin\u2019s one night that I first heard \u00a0about the lost cow and \u00a0the hidden mine entrance.<\/div>\n
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\u201cDid you lads get that machine to give you lots of pings up above Bunmahon?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe call them anomalies\u2026odd readings\u2026I guess \u00a0pings \u00a0says it all.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnything happen\u2026anything go bump or whatever that tin box does?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe got something up there, yes \u201c Was I betraying some kind of \u00a0secrecy by saying that?<\/div>\n
\u201cI \u00a0know there\u2019s \u00a0something there\u2026all of us know.\u201d<\/div>\n
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We had \u00a012 or more employees and paid \u00a0them less than<\/div>\n
\u00a0$2 a \u00a0day \u00a0plus \u00a0a pack of Wild \u00a0Woobine Cigarettes as a bit of a bonus. \u00a0 Later I added chocolate bars.<\/div>\n
Big man. \u00a0Egomaniac. \u00a0 My boss back in Toronto, Dr. Norman Paterson, wondered \u00a0why \u00a0I needed so \u00a0many men. \u00a0 I had \u00a0an answer but it was \u00a0not quite \u00a0true.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

We really waned \u00a0to give some employment to the community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cDr. Paterson, I need \u00a0four men to cut our lines, 2 men to guard \u00a0the grounding rods from cattle and \u00a0pigs, particularly the pigs, 1 man \u00a0with the front coil,<\/div>\n
1 record \u00a0keeper, 1 \u00a0watching the motor generator, 2 men \u00a0patrolling the base line to keep the dairy cows \u00a0from eating the copper cable, 2 or 3 men to dig<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

trenches where Dr. Stam thinks bedrock might be interesting, and \u00a01 man<\/p>\n

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to lift me over the stone fences \u00a0and through the thorny briar parches. \u00a0Pay all of them a total of around $ 24 a \u00a0day plus bonus\u2026cheaper than \u00a0cost of \u00a0one man in \u00a0Canada.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDid you say \u00a0bonus?\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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\u201cYes, every \u00a0pay day\u2026every week\u2026I give each man a \u00a0pack of Wild Woodbine cigarettes \u00a0or a chocolate bar..\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIs this \u00a0a joke?”<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhy do \u00a0you need<\/div>\n
a man to lift you \u00a0over the fences?\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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\u00a0\u201cTiny fields here in \u00a0Ireland\u2026stone \u00a0walled \u00a0fences \u00a0surrounded with dense brier hedges\u2026impossible to get through without help\u2026and keeps the<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

cattle at a distance\u2026ticks are ugly.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cAre ticks really a problem?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cCattle have their noses full of ticks\u2026strip every night and check my body for ticks.\u201d<\/div>\n
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PICTURE: \u00a0DR. Stam autorized a crew to dig several deep trenches down to bed rock when a promising anomaly was found by our survey equipment.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That attracted pigs as can be seen here. \u00a0Free running pigs could be dangerous if a bore was present.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cAnd Dr. Paterson, sometimes \u00a0I \u00a0buy a round of beer for the lads in the evening.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201care you running some kind \u00a0of popularity contest, Alan?\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cSuppose so\u2026influenced by John Wayne..”<\/p>\n

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\u201cHave you seen \u00a0the movie The Quiet Man? \u00a0Great movie. Has had an effect on me. \u00a0And it is very important to be on good terms<\/div>\n
with the community\u2026public relaitons.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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I \u00a0am not sure I said \u00a0all this to Dr. Paterson but I was ready to do \u00a0so. \u00a0Years \u00a0later when he asked \u00a0me to tell his \u00a0men\u2019s club about<\/div>\n
the Irish \u00a0job he described \u00a0me \u00a0as being \u00a0 \u201cprecocious\u201d whatever that means.<\/div>\n
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Getting the trust of the community paid \u00a0several dividends. One such was the \u2018legend of \u00a0the lost cow and the mine\u2019<\/div>\n
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PICTURE: \u00a0This may be the boreen where the mystery adit was located.<\/div>\n
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PICTURES: \u00a0Adits \u00a0to the old mine are located many place along this cliff face.<\/div>\n
John Hogan and Jon Stam went along with our adventures. \u00a0See them above.<\/div>\n
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Those hole are ADITS\u2026horizontal mine ecavations used for air or as entrances<\/div>\n
SHAFTS \u2026 are vertical excavations \u2026 to get deeper. \u00a0We used the old adits and one venture into a shaft which we regretted.<\/div>\n
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Barney Dwan was my \u00a0Irish sidekick on the job. \u00a0We were about the same age and had \u00a0a \u00a0similar devil may care love of life. \u00a0At his suggestion we<\/div>\n
spent many evenings crawling in the old \u00a0mine adits \u00a0from the copper stained \u00a0cliff faces that hung over the ocean. \u00a0Dangerous beond \u00a0belief really<\/div>\n
for sometimes we were flat on stomachs wedging our bodies (then thin) across \u00a0a four collapse \u00a0or leaping over a narrow \u00a0shaft filled \u00a0with crystal \u00a0clear water<\/div>\n
that had inched \u00a0up from the ocean filled workings far below. \u00a0The Knockmahon mine had been worked \u00a0under the ocean some time between 1833 and the closing in 1870.<\/div>\n
Men had \u00a0climbed \u00a0down \u00a0these shafts \u00a0on long wooden ladders in the dark. In 1960 mine exploration any deeper than the adits would require scuba gear.<\/div>\n
Was there any justification for our risk taking? \u00a0Not much. \u00a0Although the walls \u00a0of the adits \u00a0were bright blue and green with copper staining and occasionally pink<\/div>\n
with what I thought might be cobalt. \u00a0One of these water filled shafts even had \u00a0an old \u00a0ladder spanning its mouth. \u00a0Was the ladder 90years old or was \u00a0it left here<\/div>\n
by Barney and \u00a0his \u00a0palls? \u00a0 I preferred the \u00a0latter but crawled across \u00a0it anyway. \u00a0At the time I thought The worst that could \u00a0happen was a \u00a0cold swim. \u00a0No danger of falling \u00a0down hundreds feet or so to the old mine working below. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Because about 20 or so feet down was water. \u00a0The old mine had been reclaimed by the sea. \u00a0So if the ladder broke, I would fall a short distance and have a cold swim. \u00a0My second thought was not so optimistic. \u00a0How could I climb back up to the adit? \u00a0Barney would have<\/div>\n
\u00a0to get a rope. \u00a0And if we both fell? \u00a0I put that thought aside. \u00a0We were across the chasm.. \u00a0Now and then we would stop and light a \u00a0candle just to be sure \u00a0there was \u00a0enough oxygen to continue.<\/div>\n
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PICTURE:A simple decision needed here. \u00a0Should we cross this shaft on the ladder provided? \u00a0Second question. \u00a0How old is the ladder? \u00a0Third question. How deep is the shaft\u2026the old<\/div>\n
mine working are supposed to be a hundred or more feet down. \u00a0Fifth question. \u00a0Do I see water about 20 feet down\u2026think so. \u00a0Then the mind must be filled with water.<\/div>\n
Sixth question. \u00a0If the ladder is rotten and I fall down there, how long will it take Barney to get a rope and haul me out? \u00a0Seventh question. \u00a0Suppose we both fall down<\/div>\n
into that water, who knows we are in here and who would launch a rescue? \u00a0 These questions seemed important at the time.<\/div>\n
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On another of these explorations \u00a0we got ourselves in serious trouble. \u00a0We were slowly crossing a large open space with piles of football sized rubble. \u00a0The space was \u00a0angled \u00a0down at about 30 degrees<\/div>\n
and may have been a \u00a0deliberate slope that ore and rubble were sorted by hand by the miners \u00a0wives and children. \u00a0Our flashlight, however, did reveal \u00a0some kind of \u00a0iron contraption below where the cpen cavern like room narrowed down. \u00a0We entered \u00a0the slope from the adit about the mid point and were crossing it carefully to the \u00a0other side where the adit continued. \u00a0Big \u00a0mistake! \u00a0We loosened \u00a0the boulder \u00a0strewn incline and \u00a0the whole face started \u00a0to slowly slide to the hole below. \u00a0We froze. \u00a0Thoughts of death intruded. \u00a0Should \u00a0we make a \u00a0broken field run for the \u00a0adit? \u00a0Should \u00a0we wait and \u00a0hope the sliding talus \u00a0slope would \u00a0hang up on some intrusion. \u00a0Panic. \u00a0Turn around? \u00a0No time for that. \u00a0We were riding \u00a0a stony sea. \u00a0Then the movement stopped \u00a0and \u00a0we got across to the other side. \u00a0That even<\/div>\n
shook Barney who seemed to have spent his teen age years crawling in and out of these old mine adits. \u201cNo wonder the IRA felt safe hiding in here.\u201d \u00a0 Was Barney putting me on again or was he speaking the truth? \u00a0Got so I never really knew.<\/div>\n
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PIICTURE: \u00a0Not exactly stable<\/div>\n
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\u201cIn \u00a0the \u00a0Time \u00a0of the Trouble, people \u00a0hid \u00a0out in here,\u201d Barney said<\/div>\n
\u201cTime of the Trouble?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201c1920\u2019s when \u00a0the Black \u00a0and \u00a0Tans were around.\u201d<\/div>\n
“\u2018Black \u00a0and \u00a0Tans?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThe British.\u201d<\/div>\n
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The dark politics of \u00a0Irish history took \u00a0on a \u00a0life of \u00a0its own suddenly. \u00a0The Time of the Trouble were years of killing by both sides. Irish \u00a0nationalists \u00a0versus British \u00a0imperialists to oversimplify. \u00a0 When Barney spoke of those years he always had a \u00a0lopsided \u00a0grin\u2026knowing with that grin that I was likely on the other side of the Union question.<\/div>\n
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\u201cSee \u00a0that old bricked \u00a0up church?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAbandoned?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cFilled with Protestants in the Time of the Trouble. \u00a0They\u2019re still in there.\u201d \u00a0And \u00a0Barney grinned.<\/div>\n
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Sick Humour between two \u00a022 \u00a0year olds \u00a0who were not<\/div>\n
part of those years of death and hate. \u00a0My \u00a0wise \u00a0decision to attend \u00a0weekly mass \u00a0bridged that \u00a0ideological chasm. fortunately. \u00a0Everyone \u00a0relaxed and \u00a0told funny stories about those past years. \u00a0Like the story about Kirwin\u2019s pub. \u00a0There was the main \u00a0bar room \u2026a low ceilinged tiny space filled \u00a0with tankards and long \u00a0black beer pulls. \u00a0Then \u00a0there was the locked room. \u00a0\u201cWhat\u2019s behind the door, Barney?\u201d \u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t go \u00a0there.\u201d \u00a0\u201cI saw shadows moving \u00a0across the gap below the door..\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cOne of the killers lives there\u2026old man now\u2026touched \u00a0in the head.\u201d \u00a0 Killer? \u00a0Barney inferred \u00a0that a \u00a0hatchet man for the IRA was \u00a0firmly closeted \u00a0behind \u00a0that door.\u00a0 Was this \u00a0true? \u00a0I have no \u00a0idea. \u00a0Likely not for Barney had that \u00a0lob side grin when he spoke. \u00a0The village \u00a0of \u00a0Bunhahon was rife with stories like \u00a0that. \u00a0 Twentieth century legends. \u00a0Perhaps \u00a0containing a \u00a0kernel of truth. \u00a0 I know readers will have a hard time accepting these potentially hate filled stories. \u00a0But they are part of the folk traditions.<\/div>\n
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Which gets to the points of this article.<\/div>\n
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Barney seemed serious one day\u2026trying not to grin.<\/div>\n
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\u00a0\u201cMaster Skeoch\u201d he called me that for some strange reason, \u201cremember that story about the boreen we worked across today.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSomething about little green men, Barney\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo, although those stories are told as well.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u2018Is that why few people crawl into the old mine adits?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSuppose so. \u00a0But I have a different story today\u2026a real story\u2026not that those other stories are not real.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat story, Barney.?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cA long time ago\u2026long before I was born\u2026maybe back before the Time of the Trouble\u2026after the mine had closed down \u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAfter 1870?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSometime after.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cthe story about the farmer that lost a cow in one of the mine openings\u2026It happened \u00a0here in this boreen,\u201d (this valley)<\/div>\n
\u201cNo openings here now.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThe farmer filled in the opening with piles of wild and rocks…still here.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBut where?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cright here beneath this patch of brier\u2026story has been told again and again.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDo you think we could open it up?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe could\u2026maybe find out if the pings in the tin box mean something.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGood idea, if Dr. Stam agrees, we\u2019ll hire one of the men to dig here for a couple of days\u2026give him a pick and shovel<\/div>\n
and just let him work at it alone\u2026worth a try.\u201d<\/div>\n
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So we put a man on the job and continued marching along our grid pattern checking for anomalies. \u00a0Might have been two or\u00a0three days later that we got word about the hole. \u00a0Our pick and shovel man hit the old mine entrance dead on target. \u00a0The adit … mine entrance… had filled up with water over the past century\u2026tons and tons of water. \u00a0At some point his pick or his shovel released the pressure and a wall of muddy water exploded forth. \u00a0Scared the shit out of him. \u00a0As it would anyone working alone and sceptical. \u00a0He ran.<\/div>\n
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By the next day the adit had drained enough for us to enter. \u00a0This was not a small ventilation adit like those on the cliff face. It was a major opening. \u00a0 \u00a0Perhaps seven or eight \u00a0feet high and four or more feet wide. \u00a0Once the draining got down to a trickle all of us walked in with<\/div>\n
flashlights and candles. \u00a0The walls were slick with dirty brown chemical staining. \u00a0No bright blues or greens or pinks. \u00a0Perhaps under the slime there were traces of copper but I don\u2019t remember any. \u00a0Of \u00a0course our attention was riveted on something else. \u00a0She was there\u2026in place\u2026exactly as the legend said. \u00a0About 100 feet into the opening there was the cow.\u00a0 Her body was wedged into a narrow point. \u00a0Hips must have got caught and she died there. \u00a0Her skull was facing into the mine, her arse facing out. \u00a0Just bones.of course.<\/div>\n
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Sceptics on our crew said that she was dumped here long ago. \u00a0She died in a field or stable and then was buried here. \u00a0Possible. \u00a0But doubtful. \u00a0The skeletons of animals along with broken furniture and piles of old bottles were dumped in the mine shafts not in the adits. \u00a0Easier to do that. \u00a0The main shaft where the old buildings still stood had a wide shaft totally plugged with garbage and dead animals. \u00a0This was different. \u00a0It had the cow exactlhyin place.<\/div>\n
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John Hogan checked the geology and did not notice anything remarkable. \u00a0 I too ka few pictures of the brown slime walls the bones of the cow and a perfect collection of crystal stalactites that must have taken 90 years to form in the stillness and utter blackness \u00a0of this place.<\/div>\n
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Note: \u00a0Only sending this to a few friends\u2026sounds too self-obsessed\u2026too much about me\u2026too silly\u2026but true hence the pictures. \u00a0I cannot believe\u00a0that Barney and I took such risks \u00a0but we did. \u00a0Sense of immortality reserved for risk taking males when they are 22years old. \u00a0Article is too long\u00a0for casual reading so I know some of you […]<\/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-753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753","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=753"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":779,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753\/revisions\/779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}