stoneisland

Has Anybody ever read the book of this does one exist ?

Steve Crook

Yes, it certainly exists as a book. It was a book before it was a TV play. And a damned fine book it is too.

Like most of Barry Hines' writing [e.g. A Kestrel for a Knave (Kes), The Gamekeeper etc.] it's a well written novel with wonderfully drawn characters and some very realistic drama.

Steve

Keechelus

Folks with an appreciation for hard-fought coal might like some other views.

HARLAN COUNTY, USA (Barbara Kopple 1976) is a dead-accurate documentary that has grown in respect for its courage these past 30 years.

PROUD VALLEY (Pen Tennyson 1940) is a bit too happy, but it is a dam' fine drama with Welsh singing and all. Streets better than HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY ... Paul Robeson qualified as the missing bass in the colliery choir. When he reported to the pit to work, some objected. The leader said, "We're all black down the mine, what's the problem, boys?"

Pardon my long lead-in to a story that hasn't been filmed: The Springhill, Nova Scotia tragedy of 1958. Some of you know the Peggy Seeger/Ewan McColl song.

We had the privilege to visit Springhill last year. Where's the mine, where's the memorial to Canada's worst working-men's tragedy?

Umm ... (a kid said) "I think it's past the Anne Murray Centre ... umm, turn left and ask again. You'll find it."

We found it. A modest above-ground museum in a couple of ex-DOSCO (Dominion Steel And Collieries) buildings. And there the vagueness ended.

Our host, Vern, was an ex-DOSCO miner - about my age, just a kid when DOSCO #2 "bumped" in 1958, killing 74 workers.

He led us on a personal tour above ground, explaining the geology of western Nova Scotia and the long history of mining in Cumberland County.

Then we suited up to go down the pit. DOSCO 2 and DOSCO 4's deep levels have been closed for 50 years - extending thousands of feet below sea level, they've been flooded for decades. We ventured down just 300 feet.

Wow. From comfy May temperature at the pithead, we walked down a steep drift to the face - where it was sweltering. In the cramped darkness, Vern handed us a pick and shovel. "Hew some coal!"

Jeannie took a mighty swing. *Clang* A tiny dribble of chips. She hewed harder, and in 5 minutes had enough coal for a campfire.

My turn. *Clang*clang*clang*

Not enough coal to start a fireplace. Vern reminded us: "Miners worked in easy seams like this 5-footer with air-drills. Down in the 3-foot seams they hewed by hand, and still produced a ton an hour."

A ton an hour? I couldn't hew a ton a month on my knees in the oppressive heat. What an education.

The price of coal is sweat and unceasing hard work, even without gas pockets, rockfalls and the dreaded seismic "bumps".

Friends of coal miners, I do recommend the book "Last Man Out" by Melissa Fay Green. It is a detailed account of Springhill Nova Scotia's 1958 trial.

Steve Crook

5 foot seams? 3 foot seams? They had it easy!

There was a documentary on here the other day that mentioned miners working in 18 inch seams.

Spread out both your hands as wide as they'll go. Touch the thumbs together and that's about 18 inches. It's not much is it?

Steve