Down a Mine, Part 1

The wind softly ruffled the trees that arched over the mountainside path.  Birds chirped, insects buzzed, and an occasional hoot from a daytime owl sounded nearby.  Occasionally, the path neared a stream, and gurgling water could be heard.

Jack Barnes, Kurt Morris, and Robbie Ransom were all out on a hike.  The Cascade Mountains, not far from Tacoma, provided several nice hiking spots.  Each bearing backpacks, the three boys trooped up the winding mountain path.

“Good weather,” said Jack.  “A little chilly, but not bad.”

“Just don’t go swimming,” quipped Kurt.

“I don’t think we were planning to, Kurt.  Anyway, this path doesn’t have many bridges, so there are very few places for us to fall in.”

“Right,” said Kurt.  “I know that. We’ve hiked this route many times.  In fact, why do we have to stay on this path today?  Let’s try a new one.”

“What new one?” asked Robbie.

“The next one we—hey, there’s a path.  On the right!”

The path the boys were on was a fairly well-traveled path, wide enough for people to walk side-by-side if they wanted.  However, the path branching off from it also looked in good shape, albeit narrower.

“Why, so there is,” said Jack.  “I don’t remember noticing it before.”

“Well, it’s a real path,” said Kurt, “so let’s go.”

Shrugging, Jack consented, and he and Robbie followed Kurt down the path.  For one that had escaped their attention for so long, it was in good condition.  They didn’t have to push tree branches aside at all to get over it.  Since it was narrower, the trees grew even closer together, and less light came down from above.

“Neat,” said Kurt.  “I don’t think this would show up on a satellite map.”

“A lot of these don’t,” said Robbie.  “I’ve checked.  Even railroads can be hard to see, unless they’re labeled.”

“There are tracks somewhere in these mountains,” said Kurt.  “We should go find an abandoned tunnel sometime.”

The boys had walked for about thirty minutes down the windy path when suddenly they became aware of a clearing up ahead.  The path was leveling off, as well.  “Cool!” said Kurt.  “I’ll bet we’re about to emerge onto a nice scenic vista.”

What actually greeted the boys when they reached the clearing was a steep rock wall.  It was evident from the surface that lots of rock had been cut away to make the clearing, a gravelly area.  The rock wall was not solid, though.  There were three holes in it, each of which was shored up with timbers on the outside.  Rusty, narrow tracks led out of each of the holes, and a couple of old ore cars lay on them.

“A mine!” said Jack.  “Fascinating!  I’m glad we came this way!”

“There are a lot of mines around here,” said Robbie.  “I’ve never actually been to one, before.”

“Well, here we are,” said Kurt.  “What are we waiting for?  Let’s explore!”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Jack.  “There’s such a thing as cave-ins, Kurt.  We don’t want to get trapped in an abandoned mine.”

Kurt laughed.  “For your information, Jack, I know what cave-ins are.  We’ll just have someone stay at the surface while we go down.  That’s what I was planning, anyway.  In fact, I volunteer to stay up here if you and Robbie want to look around.”

“No thanks,” said Robbie.  He had a slight fear of caves.  Actually, it wasn’t so slight.  You couldn’t pay him a million dollars to go in that cave, a fact which Kurt knew very well.

“Then I’ll go,” said Kurt.  “You can come too, Jack, if you want.”

Jack wasn’t quite sure.  At first, he thought of saying no.  Then, he realized that he hadn’t heard any news of mine accidents lately.  In other words, they didn’t happen every day.  There was a good chance, he decided, that he and Kurt would explore the mine without any issue whatsoever.  Robbie would be on guard, anyway.

“Alright,” he said.  “I’m game if you are.”

“Of course,” said Kurt.  “We’ll go down the center one, as long as you don’t mind being left alone, Robbie.”

“I’ll be fine,” said Robbie.

“Good, come on,” said Kurt.

“Wait!” said Jack.  “We’ll need flashlights!”

“Well, I hope you remembered to put one in your backpack,” said Kurt, temporarily removing his to extract the flashlight from it.”

“Oh, right!” said Jack.  He had brought one as well, along with lots of other survival material.  The boys weren’t as into hiking as some people, but they knew what they needed to do to take care of themselves.

“Now, let’s go,” said Kurt.  Flicking on his light, he led the way into the empty shaft, followed closely by Jack.

Once they got deeper into the shaft, the light from the outside began to vanish.  The flashlights cast weird shadows over the walls.  Timbers outlined the roof every few feet, and a couple of old picks lay next to the rusty tracks.

“I wonder when this place was abandoned,” whispered Kurt, his echo bouncing eerily off the walls.

“No clue,” said Jack.  “Do you think this was a gold mine?”

“It’s possible,” said Kurt, “but if there were still any gold in here, they wouldn’t have abandoned it.”

All at once, they heard a shout from somewhere above.  Jack whirled around.  “Robbie?” he said.

There was no answer, but there was a rumbling noise.  Not the rumbling of an avalanche, or a cave-in, but a rumbling, nonetheless.  Squeaks were mixed in, too.  Jack shined his light back up the tunnel.  “I wonder what that could be.”

Suddenly, one of the old ore cars rounded a corner.  It was headed straight towards the boys!

[Read part 2 next week!]