Hard rock mining was hard, dangerous work where death was a constant companion. Before caged elevators came into use miners were lowered hundreds of feet into the murky depths in a big steel bucket powered, by a “burro engine” which lowered the bucket on a long cable. A broken cable could send helpless miners tumbling hundreds of feet to their death. Cave-ins trapped them causing a slow death. The poisonous gasses that drifted through the tunnels were a silent killer. Since canaries couldn
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