Jake Seiter
March 5th, 2014
The Making of a Hardrock Miner
The Making of a Hardrock Miner written by Stephen M. Voynick, describes his own personal experiences as a hardrock miner in four different underground mines in the western United States, the Climax molybdenum mine in Colorado, Hecla Lakeshore Project a copper mine in Arizona, and two uranium mines in Wyoming. Rather than a book telling of the fortunes gained and lost, this book was about the relationships gained, but then also lost through mining. Stephen M. Voynick’s direct words and simple writing style provided a book that was an easy read and educational about mine work and safety.
Throughout the book Voynick expresses his respect for being underground but also allows a glimpses of the stress and risk every miner takes on when climbing into the cage or riding down the decline. He talked multiple times about if his paycheck was enough to balance the scale against the risk associated with the job. A job in which the cheerful conversation around the lunch room balanced by the sobering lows of rock falls and entrapments causing crushing injuries and death.
The prevailing theme of Voynick’s book was on the safety, or lack thereof in underground hardrock mining. He told of a few significant stories pertaining to safety incidents and near misses. Voynick said “One thing about mining, I learned, was that things could go wrong instantly, ruining what was to have been a good shift.” This can be seen in the incident involving Voynick and his partner Black who set off a chain reaction when they were bringing their motor up the incline for maintenance at the Climax mine.
Voynick and his partner came across an accumulation of water nearly two feet deep covering the rail trac...
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...feet underground. It reads, “The resulting shortness of breath, where even the deepest inhalation fails to satisfy the demands of the lungs, coupled with the visual confines of the surrounding rock, may induce in some an acute claustrophobia. Voynick continues, “It surfaces as a discomfort most often felt when taking a break after exertion, when the mind is idle. One might lie back on a piece of lagging and look up, imagining that the tightness in his chest and lungs is caused by an invisible, but distinctly tangible, force, a vice, always squeezing, constraining just enough to prevent that last bit of needed air from getting into the lungs.” These sentences can truly be understood by any who have experienced the underground. I feel that Voynick’s book pronounced through direct words and simple writing that hardrock mining is both risky but nevertheless rewarding.
Although each character delivers their powerful and moving account, I would like to focus on one individual and his struggle to organize the miners. Rondal Lloyd struggled most of his life, he knew the coal mines first hand when he had to leave school to help his dad work in the mines to pay off debt to the company store. Unfortunately, this was common back in the times that this story is based upon. In West Virginia as far back as 1901 there are archives that have tried to set some sort of standards for child labor, but we must remember that these children grew up hard and fast. (West Virginia Mine War...
...ing the conditions faced by coal miners and their families in addition to events leading up to the uprising. However, some additional research should be done in regards to the West Virginia Coal Wars and the Battle of Blair Mountain.
These two passages “There’s Still Gold in These Hills” and “Letter From a Gold Miner” help the reader understand the history and process of gold mining in the US. Both passages give detailed information, specific instructions, and an interesting background about gold mining. These passages use different strategies to help the reader perceive the history and process. These strategies may include using specific dates of when the gold rush took place, information to help the reader picture the setting of where to find gold, and also teaches the process step by step.
Eller, Ronald D. Miners, Millhands, and Mountaineers: Industrialization of the Appalachian South, 1880-1930. Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 1982. Print.
The poem describes workers to be “Killing the overtime ‘cause the dream is your life, / Refusing to take holidays or go home to your spouse, / But for many the overtime comes, ‘cause the work is not done. / Deadlines to be met. So you continue to dream like a war vet, / Having flashbacks to make you shiver and scream” (Jones, stanza 7, lines 2-6). Jones reinforces that overworking for an incentive of money does not give one a sense of gratification, and it also distracts them from the values that should matter more to them than anything else. Both Kohn and Jones have a similar approach to showing the reader the effect that overworking can have on a person, and how it will change their values in life, causing unhappiness. Many students go through school dispirited and do not join various clubs and activities for their own enjoyment. A friend of Kohn’s who was also a high school guidance counsellor had a student with ‘…amazing grade and board scores. It remained only to knock out a dazzling essay on his college applications that would clinch the sale. “Why don’t we start with some books that
The chat wasn’t the only lasting result of the mining; left in this corner of Oklahoma was also 300 miles of mining tunnels (5). These tunnels were created by a method known as room-and-pillar (1). Large rooms were mined to get access to ...
...you can read in the quotes above, Wald has selected exciting information, rather than dangerous information, to talk about in this essay. This is her selection of details. Last, Wald has arranged her detail chronologically. She begins by expressing, “I can’t find enough handholds and footholds to keep climbing,” and ends with, “After catching my breath, I start moving again, and the rest of the climb flows upward like a vertical dance” (488).
Poirier, Richard. "Embattled Underground." New York Times on the Web 1 May 1966. 22 September 2000.
Although he regrets it, the Underground Man’s inability to commit to one action, to save Liza or to repulse her, to seek revenge or attempt fit in, is what ultimately keeps him from connecting with others, it is what keeps him in the underground. Travis’ commitment to action ultimately leads him above ground. Works Cited Dostoevsky, Fyodor. A. Notes from Underground: A New Translation, Backgrounds and Sources, Responses, Criticism. Norton Critical Edition.
..., his physical inertia thwarts his aggressive desires and he has compulsive talk of himself but has no firm discussion (Frank 50). Moreover, the underground man is full of contempt for readers but is desperate that the reader understands, he reads very widely but writes shallowly, he depicts the social thinkers as superficial and he desires to collide with reality but has no ability to do this. Therefore the underground man is completely emotional, babbly with no real form.
... workers come into contact with. This novel will make the reader question his financial choices as well as imagine himself in the shoes of a minimum-wage worker. It also points to the complications many have just with paying for housing accommodations and food in this country, while making only minimum wage. Ehrenreich discovers that that even the "lowliest" occupations require exhausting mental and physical efforts and imparts the reader with this fact. Nickel and Dimed reveals low-wage America in all its persistence and apprehension, as well as liberality.
There were many miners from the start of 1851 and many that had died from tragic things. 15 Miners had died from stone and coal from working in the mines and forty nine from explosions. Many miners died in the hospitals, mines, explosions, and sundries. Nineteen died from sundries and five from shaft.There were a small number of deaths from shafts though.”There are not many accidents in the shafts considering how deep they are and the speed at which the cages travel up and down”. This means Also all these deaths they were miners, miners that had families that loved them and did a lot of mourning over
Exploration."" "Stan Grist's Resources for Gold Prospecting, Metal Detecting, Treasure Hunting and Exploration." N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2014
Though it has had many negative impacts on the environment in the past, mining is a vital industry completely necessary to our economy and lives. Nearly every item we use or encounter in our day to day lives is mined or contains mined products. Without the excavation of such materials things like computers, televisions, large building structures, electricity, and cars would not be possible. Virtually every technological and medical advance uses minded materials, without which millions would suffer. Some examples of minerals in the home include the telephone which is made from as many as 42 different minerals, including aluminum, beryllium, coal, copper, gold, iron, silver, and talc. A television requires over 35 different minerals, and more than 30 minerals are needed to make a single personal computer. Without boron, copper, gold and quartz, your digital alarm clock would not work. Every American uses an average 47,000 pounds of newly mined materials each year, which is higher than all other countries with the exception of Japan, which is a staggering figure representative of our dependence and need for mined minerals. Coal makes up more than half of nation’s electricity, and will continue to be the largest electrical supplier into 2020 & accounting for some 95 percent of the nation's fossil energy reserves – nine of every ten short-tons of coal mined in the United States is used for electricity generation. As the population of the world grows more mineral resources must be exploited through mining in order to support the rising demand for such products. Though it may present a hazard to the environment and those physically located nears the mines, the materials extracted from mines...
Coil, D., McKittrick, E., and Higman, B. (2010, December 16). Acid Mine Drainage. Ground Truth Trekking. Retrieved February 12, 2011, from http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/Issues/MetalsMining/AcidMineDrainage.html