Page 45 - Fragment from Mining at Gold Brook

ISSUE : Issue 30

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1981/12/1

when the shift would be done, I'd go and dig that gold out again, and then bring it to the house where the old man, the boss, used to put that in a box. Roddy MacLeod: They had a mill on this brook, what they called a "stamp mill," where they crushed the quartz. They ran the mill by hardwood. (Dan E. MacQuarrie: It cost them a lot for fuel, you know. It was wood they burned, and it took 8 cords a shift. They had men cutting wood all the time. And they cleared one side of a moun- tain--holy, boy, they cleared her--just to run the stamp mill.) I and two fellows cut the hardwood up on the mountain across the river about a half mile from the mill. They hauled this wood to the mill with horse and sleigh--one horse--from way up the river. (Did they use horses in the mines?) Oh no, not at all. And then I was taken out of the woods, where we were cut? ting the cordwood, and I was put helping in the mines. I, and another fellow by the name of Wil? lie MacRae from Middle River--he and I were drilling. I used to be striking with the hammer, striking this drill. He used to twist the drill--I was striking it and he'd twist it--all by hand. Probably would drill the hole 2 to 2% feet into hard rock--quartz. Drill above the quartz so it'd break the quartz down. And we used dy- namite--put probably a stick or two sticks or a stick-and-a-half of dynamite in this hole, and tamp it in. And they had the fuse and the cap. They put this in the stick of dynamite. Then they'd light the fuse, and it'd blow the dynamite. I would get out of the way somewhere, down the tun? nel. There was a tunnel there at that time. It was a real mine--different walls, dif? ferent tunnels, different rooms. They had roof props, but once you got in probably 200 yards or so, it was stone--all stone-- lots of quite quartz. It went in seams. I never saw too much gold. I remember one time this MacRae and I put in a shot up near the turntable, and we got out of the way. After the shot went off, we had to wait a little while till the smoke would clear away. And we could pick the quartz up by the gold--the gold sticking up out of the quartz--we'd struck a pocket or something. He and I worked at the face till noon. Then we worked at what they called "the turntable"--a big 4-wheeled car. They put the quartz in this car and they wheeled it out to the mill--probably 5 or 6 hundred feet from the turntable out to the mill. (Was the turntable a thing to turn the car around?) That's right--at the corner where Speedy Propane SPEEDY FILLING STATIONS Speedy Propane Bulk Plant Kings Road, Sydney J.E.Benoit, Arichat -Inlet Campground, Baddeck H. Cormier Service Station, Petit Etang Fraser's Campground, Baddeck Bob Wilson's Fina. Reserve Dave's R V Centre, Bras d'Or fn44''t'mt' Sea THE HOME OF FINE SEAFOOD, we have a pickup booth at the SYDNEY AIRPORT. Call us. Coast To Cdast Air Shipping • Ask For Our Price LiSt- Phone: Plant (902) 849-5505, Night (902) 849-2705 Write: R O. Box 160, Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, B1A 5V2 Telex: 019-35241 CHARGEX - MUSTER CHARGE - VISA (45)

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