ODDS ‘N’ SODS — Not so sure-footed

Back in the early 1960s, I was working as a sample man at the Copper Rand mine in Quebec’s Chibougamau mining camp. The sample man’s job involved shift work, and on this particular day I was working during the night.

Having collected all the production and development ore samples required for the beat I was working, I wound up on the 500 level of the mine. It was about midnight, nearly lunch time for me, and I called the cage-tender for a ride to the surface.

The cage-tender was not particularly busy when I called him, and he said he would be right up. He signaled the five-level call sign and the cage began its upward climb.

When the cage reached the five-level station, there was no reaction from the cage-tender. I could see the light from his cap lamp through the cage door, so I called out and asked what the problem was. There was no response, and I pulled the bell cord three times to signal the hoist man that all was well on the five level. The hoist man replied immediately.

I opened the main shaft gate and approached the cage, the door to which was open seven or eight inches. I could see the cage-tender’s lamp illuminating the interior, but there was still no response from the cage-tender.

When I opened the door, he was leaning against the back of the cage. He was white as a sheet and unable to utter a sound. I asked him what the problem was, but all I got in return was a blank stare. That was when I looked down and saw the cage-tender’s left boot. It was the standard double-ribbed boot, but it was broken clean between the two ribs. His sock had been torn off and his bloody toes were sticking out of the boot.

Without another word, I closed the station door and rang the two-two signal for surface. On the way to the surface, he came out of his stupor and was able to tell me what had happened.

He said that as he was coming up to get me on the five level, he noticed that he had not completely closed the cage door and that it was rattling. He tried to kick the door shut, but his foot went through the opening and his boot was struck by a wall plate. His heel was still on the cage floor, but the toe of his boot was snapped open, resulting in the injury to his toes.

To this day, I get goosebumps whenever I think of what might have happened if the cage-tender’s foot had cleared the cage floor and his heel had been outside the cage when his boot struck the wall plate.

The author, a mining consultant, resides in Beloeil, Que.