November 27, 2015 | No Comments
When I was first introduced to the Silver Bell mine in Northern Washington by it’s owners, John and Kay Sherman, I was amazed by the difficulty of the terrain. Climbing the slope for the first couple of times, I was thankful that I had brought a 6’2″ associate boasting 270 lbs of mostly muscled flesh, and wondering why I hadn’t spent some years building my 5’8″ frame of mostly under-exercised muscles to a finer degree. This was surely madness, as although we had given ourselves a goal to get 10 tons off of the hill before winter froze our bones, I was so challenged by my first pair of buckets, at about 65 lbs for each arm, that I knew I could not become tough enough in the time required to lift much more than a ton or two the entire period.
It wasn’t simply lifting the buckets, but carrying them down a dramatic slope, only as wide from the vegetation as a goat path. With the incline of the mountain ranging between 60-70°, it was the 3/4 mile journey for each bucket and hard carry that worried me.
Eddie Zermeno, my friend and associate, was able to carry 8 buckets to my 2, but was almost dead in less than 4 hours. I literally couldn’t take the risk of a second trip. “We need to find a better way Eddie, as I will probably hurt myself in less than a day, and even if you are tough enough to carry them, you’ll be 5′ 8″ by Tuesday.” Laughing, Eddie agreed, and asked, “What do you have in mind?” There are so many wonderful inventions in the world, and while Zip lines and mining are certainly not new, I knew this was the only way the two of us could tame a virtually unworkable slope in a couple of days.
Our zip line concept became two, and there was still a portage, a hand-carry, of almost 400 yards, which would beat our bodies second by second. That afternoon, on my assurance that we could get the ziplines built within 48 hours, we headed immediately to the local Home Depot, about 50 miles away, and procured the cable, initial pulleys, and some old tire inner tubes to protect the trees from damage. We used a special two-finger hanger for the pulley, figuring it would help preserve the life of our 5 gallon buckets, which really worked like a charm.
In this way, two very determined men brought just under 50 tons of ore off of the hill in 34 days. We do not think we are big shots, rather we were determined not to fall short, and used what was for me superhuman strength to accomplish our goals. Virtually every day, the buckets felt they would separate the bones from our fingers. Seven days a week of portaging 90 to 100 65-pound buckets a day for just those 400 yards, was truly a unique challenge, not to mention the raising and lowering of the buckets off of the zip lines.
I feel the accomplishment still, and was quite proud to have come through for those who were depending on us. I am also thankful to the core of my being to my friend, Eduardo Zermeno, for his confidence that we could string something functional together, and to my higher power, for allowing me the strength to keep up, somewhat, with one of the strongest humans I have ever known.
The zip line worked, and we pulled almost 5 times what the owners had hoped for! Although I am still a bit chubby, it was after all only 34 days, I was stronger than I have ever been, even back in high school. Though I may still have the keg exterior, I have six-pack abs, underneath!
For fun’s sake, I am posting some inside of the Silver Bell Mine footage shot by my friend, and long time associate, Mr. Guy Morell. Guy joined us for almost a week of this excursion, and took place in some of the merriment. In this installment, he views a small part of the inner mine, where we will be commencing operations as soon as the snow clears.
