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

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Page 50

PAGE 50 BUXTON
More than anything else was the peculiar feeling originated in the body for it seem as if the stomach was trying to turn up side down which is not unlike a ship in a rough sea when a big wave strikes the prow.It goes up like a forty five degree angle and the stern settles down in the trough and your stomach goes down with it. perhaps these sudden drops have something to do with one's blood pressure. Some of these mules that are lowered into the mine may never see daylight again unless they became too old or disable to function properly or whether suspended work was "called" and ofcourse this usually was for a period of several weeks and at such time the mules were brought to the "top" as a "Suspension" which was a period in which the owners or operators; with their miners and their union could get together and work out their differences by some kind of agreement. through several decades I have never witnessed a strike, until 1926. Without mules the mines could not function properly for they were used to haul the coal, [?] to main entries or directly to some form of pit-to-surface transport. The mule drivers, the men who conducted the mules and their cargoes, were men possessing special talents. They would collect enough cars to form a "trip", Generally twelve or more cars, riding between the mule and the coal cars, with one foot on the front of the first car and one foot on the tail chain, and deliver the cars to their destination.
The mule drivers were professionals but so were the trained mules in this transporation system, and very much so for the mules life and perhaps the drivers life depended on the [insertion] mule [/insertion] obeying the right command at the right time in the matter of a split second. The mule never heard of grade school and his vocabulary was limited. - no long meaningless words and no double talk; but he did know that "Gee" meant go to the right and that "Haw" meant go to the left and at any time if he were in error fifteen or twenty tons of coal the cars could go crashing upon him. The terrain in a mine is not level and has grades and hills as on the earth surface but not as steep and with less hills so on these hills in the mine they employ young boys twelve to fourteen years of age which were known as " spragers"and their job was to place big wooden pins in the car wheels while they were in motion in order to slow them down on the hill in order to prevent a pile up at the bottom.
Now came the "Trapper" who made his advent into the Transportation system whose obligation was to open and close the door and at times to signal by whistling to direct traffic. The doors were used to direct air to certain parts of the mine, and to let the approaching driver through if the tracks were clear. Before I digress to another subject I think it would be well to mention the tail chain and its use: This chain is four or five feet long and one end of it is fastened permantely to a circular piece of wood which is

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PAGE 50 BUXTON More than anything else was the peculiar feeling originated in the body for it seem as if the stomach was trying to turn up side down which is not unlike a ship in a rough sea when a big wave strikes the prow.It goes up like a forty five degree angle and the stern settles down in the trough and your stomach goes down with it. perhaps these sudden drops have something to do with one's blood pressure. Some of these mules that are lowered into the mine may never see daylight again unless they became too old or disable to function properly or whether suspended work was "called" and ofcourse this usually was for a period of several weeks and at such time the mules were brought to the "top" as a "Suspension" which was a period in which the owners or operators; with their miners and their union could get together and work out their differences by some kind of agreement. through several decades I have never witnessed a strike, until 1926. Without mules the mines could not function properly for they were used to haul the coal, [?] to main entries or directly to some form of pit-to-surface transport. The mule drivers, the men who conducted the mules and their cargoes, were men possessing special talents. They would collect enough cars to form a "trip", Generally twelve or more cars, riding between the mule and the coal cars, with one foot on the front of the first car and one foot on the tail chain, and deliver the cars to their destination. The mule drivers were professionals but so were the trained mules in this transporation system, and very much so for the mules life and perhaps the drivers life depended on the [insertion] mule [/insertion] obeying the right command at the right time in the matter of a split second. The mule never heard of grade school and his vocabulary was limited. - no long meaningless words and no double talk; but he did know that "Gee" meant go to the right and that "Haw" meant go to the left and at any time if he were in error fifteen or twenty tons of coal the cars could go crashing upon him. The terrain in a mine is not level and has grades and hills as on the earth surface but not as steep and with less hills so on these hills in the mine they employ young boys twelve to fourteen years of age which were known as " spragers"and their job was to place big wooden pins in the car wheels while they were in motion in order to slow them down on the hill in order to prevent a pile up at the bottom. Now came the "Trapper" who made his advent into the Transportation system whose obligation was to open and close the door and at times to signal by whistling to direct traffic. The doors were used to direct air to certain parts of the mine, and to let the approaching driver through if the tracks were clear. Before I digress to another subject I think it would be well to mention the tail chain and its use: This chain is four or five feet long and one end of it is fastened permantely to a circular piece of wood which is