DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Reuben Gaines' memoir, undated

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Page 49

PAGE 49 Buxton.
In 1899 When I was nine years old my father took me down in No. 8 mine from Muchakinock, Iowa. This was a fairly common practice in the early days of mining in Iowa. The young buys generally did not do the hard work; but rather help their fathers by running errands and "Holding Turn". A "Turn" was the numb of cars a miner was alloted each day for removal of coal from his workroom. A miner generally could load more coal than he had cars; for a good miner alway had a surplus; therefore the extra cars he received for my "turn" would double his earnings for the day. Miners were paid by the ton for each car load of coal that was forwarded to the bottom; hoisted by the cage; checked in my the weigh boss and then dumped into the flat railway cars. Father did the work of two men because I had a "Turn." Legally I had no business there because the age limit was 14; but I also worked in No. 10 mine when I was eleven years old to hold "Turn".If the turn for that day was eight cars and my being there with an extra "Turn" raised the number to sixteen. All I had to do was pack tools and machinery from the tool box which was always placed at the beginning of a room all the way to the face of the room. Even though I was quite young when I was actively working in the mines, I remembered many things about the work from those experiences, and from later visits to mines in the area, I remember that work began about 7:00 AM and the first thing the men did in the morning was wait for the "cage" or elevator like conveyance to take the miners to the bottom of the shaft. As an Elevator, however, A cage was a pretty primitive contraption. It took about thirty or forty minutes to lower 600 men down into the mine. There was only space enough for eight or ten men on the cage and it was unlike elevators in Department stores. It was outstanding for its asset was speed for when it was loaded to capacity the bell signaled all clear and the engineer dropped the cage all the way to the bottom except the last ten or twelve feet for a safe landing but one morning as the sun came over the horizon the rays obstructed the vision of William Lee (who was the engineer at that time) was unable to read the indicator and the cage was not checked in time so two or three men were hurt but not seriously. To have been dropped four hundres feet with no check at all, they may all have been listed as casualties. The mules were also lowered down into the shaft on the cage and while the mules were a little nervous there was no panic for there was no sound of Hee Haw. From My experience and what I have been told is that mules are never known to be panicky from any frightening experience such as running through a barb wire fence or into a ravine or ditch where they may be injured. A horse though more easily trained when frightened will run through a barb wire fence or any other object that gets into his way. I do not believe the mules were as frightened as much as I was when I was lowered for the first time,and what troubled me more than anything else was the peculiar feeling that originated in the body for it seemed as if 
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PAGE 49 Buxton. In 1899 When I was nine years old my father took me down in No. 8 mine from Muchakinock, Iowa. This was a fairly common practice in the early days of mining in Iowa. The young buys generally did not do the hard work; but rather help their fathers by running errands and "Holding Turn". A "Turn" was the numb of cars a miner was alloted each day for removal of coal from his workroom. A miner generally could load more coal than he had cars; for a good miner alway had a surplus; therefore the extra cars he received for my "turn" would double his earnings for the day. Miners were paid by the ton for each car load of coal that was forwarded to the bottom; hoisted by the cage; checked in my the weigh boss and then dumped into the flat railway cars. Father did the work of two men because I had a "Turn." Legally I had no business there because the age limit was 14; but I also worked in No. 10 mine when I was eleven years old to hold "Turn".If the turn for that day was eight cars and my being there with an extra "Turn" raised the number to sixteen. All I had to do was pack tools and machinery from the tool box which was always placed at the beginning of a room all the way to the face of the room. Even though I was quite young when I was actively working in the mines, I remembered many things about the work from those experiences, and from later visits to mines in the area, I remember that work began about 7:00 AM and the first thing the men did in the morning was wait for the "cage" or elevator like conveyance to take the miners to the bottom of the shaft. As an Elevator, however, A cage was a pretty primitive contraption. It took about thirty or forty minutes to lower 600 men down into the mine. There was only space enough for eight or ten men on the cage and it was unlike elevators in Department stores. It was outstanding for its asset was speed for when it was loaded to capacity the bell signaled all clear and the engineer dropped the cage all the way to the bottom except the last ten or twelve feet for a safe landing but one morning as the sun came over the horizon the rays obstructed the vision of William Lee (who was the engineer at that time) was unable to read the indicator and the cage was not checked in time so two or three men were hurt but not seriously. To have been dropped four hundres feet with no check at all, they may all have been listed as casualties. The mules were also lowered down into the shaft on the cage and while the mules were a little nervous there was no panic for there was no sound of Hee Haw. From My experience and what I have been told is that mules are never known to be panicky from any frightening experience such as running through a barb wire fence or into a ravine or ditch where they may be injured. A horse though more easily trained when frightened will run through a barb wire fence or any other object that gets into his way. I do not believe the mules were as frightened as much as I was when I was lowered for the first time,and what troubled me more than anything else was the peculiar feeling that originated in the body for it seemed as if the