Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1914-02-19
Rains Drown Out Principal Towns and Flood Los Angeles
Belmont Mine Buries a Mule
On 12OOLevel With Great Risk

Woodworking and with the assist
ance of two score brave muckers.
Taylor afterwards said he knows
all about timbering and powder, but
he would prefer to spend the rest OF
his days juggling timbers rather than
escort another mule to the under
world The job was done without
loss of life and the mule was con
signed to perpetual solitude for the |
rest of her life. The Punishment |
was not without its consolation, for |
down on the 1900 level there had |
been equipped a perfectly lovely |
stable with manger filled with oats |
and barley regulated by automatic
feed and a pipe of running water and
an ample supply Of fresh air from
the compressor on the surface.
Details of the job have to be left
to the Imagination. The chief fea-
lures we're special skip in place
of the regular cage, for lowering the
brute. The skip was adjusted and
all was ready to take the 1000pound
mule to her new life of monastic
seclusion, but the main question was
/ how to inveige Maud into the skip.
She was coaxed in with block and
tackle and then couple OF pulleys
| we're attached to the four legs and
hauled taut by a crew OF huskies
standing at a safe distance. This
simple device worked to charm un-
I'll the animal was hauled inside the
skip. The skip was narrow and
high. The depth Of the skip was
not equal TO the length OF the mule
and the question was reduced to a
mathematical proposition Of how to
get a mule seven feet long down a
six-foot shaft. To enlarge the shaft
to accommodate the mule would have
cost at least $4,000 and then there
would have been no use for the ex-
r ira space in the shaft after the mule
was lowered The gang was up
, against a sore problem when a bul'
let-proof Montenegrin who had sur
viyed the horrors of the Balkan war
mildly suggested that they might up
Z end the mule to fit the skip. The
mule was lying prone on the deck
+ | OF the cage but he had his ears oper
for all suggestions, and, at the
j. thought of such unladylike treat
ment, she gave convulsive shake
" of her right fore hoof, and, presto
she was loose and charging at th'
! crowd of tormentors with teeth an'
heels. One of the boys skinned ul
the head frame and by a deXterou
/. toss of a rope caught the brut
around the neck and choked he
into submission. The shaft remaine'
II obdurate. II was not an elastic crea
ton and the problem of fitting
p seyen-foot mule into a six-foot shat
was still there Finally, for wan
" of something better, the suggestio
of the Montegrn to up-end tn
mule. was taken under solemn az
yisement. AS an upshot it was n
solved to try that eXpedient. IN
mule was lashed to the floor and
block and tackle were attached
the shoulders, the donkey engine wa
started and the mule swung aiof
The skip doors we're closed and Dol
r ed. the hoisting tackle was lowere
| aud the mule was allowed to squat G
] the floor of the cage. The cow
was clamped down and with wi
hnrrah the word was given to lo'
A. er away. Down she shot to the bo'
els of the earth and what happen'
on the 1900 when another crew .
tempted to release Maud had bett
I'M be left unsaid,
'p- Nevertheless Maud Is an histoI
TX character, as she has the distincti'
ng of being the only mule honored vi
re- job underground in either Goldfie
or Tonopah This particular mt
~ will have a day shift II there Is q
ys difference at that depth between
ig' day and night shift 1t has be
NJ assigned - hauling train Of
ny ears between the Desert Queen shi
m and the Belmont shaft, distance
m 2l00 feet
Rack IN the early days when q
'en dclarla gleurishcd two mules kno
- as "uouncr" and +crotty work
- ln the Northern uelle. afterwal
~ called the Holmes mines. and u
:" ~ right roud work 700 They ~
~ sewnd ue lu canvas aad lowered i
- the 500 foot letei eherv they
~ maiard apparvnge - eenlept
sa' thoasb hey we're on Top Hn q
~ arre burrps. wblie the nsimaal g
muls a tuiiuetgra mrmhef nf
lone cared tribe - ibs uflmeHt
tae antimetioU 81 nlrodHClns ms
ina 49,. nnAaranrId II nsaf4f mi