Cape Breton's Magazine

were down below. And they were down the Number 23 or 24 landing where the colli? sion had occurred. What really happened is that two trains, two coal trains collided on the haulage deep, the coal transporta? tion deep. And this set off a fire on that deep. But the miners had to come up from the deep below, and all the air was going down three deeps, it was going down on top of them. So the smoke was getting to be very bad and they wanted to get out. I went down and I met the general manager and I talked to him for a few minutes and he says, "What are we going to do with this?" That's the way he said it. "I don't know what the hell we can do right here." I said, "You can't do anything here be? cause there's too many places to try to seal off." Seal off means to cut off the oxygen so that the fire can't burn. So I talked to him for a couple of minutes and then he left and he went down and met two other fellows that were with him, two engineers, and then I heard him calling to me to come.... He died. He fell on the track and he died with a heart attack. That doesn't make things very good when you're down to a mess like that. So I went back up to the engine house and...I told the manager before, "What we'll do--or should do--we'11 get the men up that's there and then we'll let that train go down itself with nobody onto it." And there was one fellow missing, we didn't know that at the time until every? body came up and then there was a rush around to find out where that guy is at. Is he down the pit or did he run away from work and went home early? All these possi? bilities. So, call his house and he wasn't home, call his brother...so we assumed that he was down there. So when all the miners came up first, they were safe and up there, this one guy was a way down at the bottom of the mine. So I suggested that we run the rig down empty. There was a chain-runner, the guy who's in charge of that trip that hauls the men up and down the deep. He's in charge of it like a conductor on a train. So he and I got on the rakes and we went down to Number 15, the engineer stopped the rakes there and he let (the rake) go down there and he let (it) stand there for a few minutes. If there was anybody there they would get in the rake anyway, you know, or if it would start moving away slowly, jump into it. But when the rake came back up again, the first train going down into to? wards that smoke was all burnt, it was scorched. So, you know, the probability of anybody being there is gone.... We stayed there all day, we tried to fight the fire. We tried to mostly get this guy out. I sat down...as far as the fire was concerned I didn't give a damn. Number 12 pit was a lost cause anyway. All it was doing was costing the taxpayers a lot of money. It was providing jobs, all right, that was true, for a bunch of men. But those men were at risk every day they ever went down and they didn't realize it. Didn't realize it. They were only kept Money is flat and meant to be piled up. Scottish Proverb. I A simple message that in reahty, can sometimes I be very difficult to follow. That's where we can help. I We '11 build a comprehensive financial plan that's I right for you. From reducing your taxes, to wealtli I building investments, to retirement planning, a I financial plan to help build you wealth is key. I Why? Because you're worth more. Investors Group YoifRE Worth More. Brad Drover, BSc, RFP Chartered Financial Planner - 562-5000 WE BUY AND WE SELL AND WE'RE AS NEAR AS YOUR TELEPHONE Sid's Used Furniture Phone 564-6123 436 Charlotte Street, Sydney "We're people you can talk to" CELEBRAXmC 10 i IM usic-FiMed Years! I Dealers for: Electronic Keyboards Guitars • Violins Music Books & Accessories Piano & Guitar Instruction Boutiliers' IVIusic Shops OPEN MONDAY through SATURDAY Music Keyboards Guitars Reeds Strings Horns Violins Bagpipes Chanters Amplifiers PA Systems All Supplies Cape Breton Shopping Centre 39 Keltic Drive "562-0018 'i"""i"'i"""i"i'"i"i"'i"i"'i"i'" ' Cape Breton's Finest Locally-Owned Musical Outlet >- 73