The Kevin review., 1923-03-22
CAETAMI, ITALIAN
AMBASSADOR TO UNITED
STATES, WORKED lRa BUTTE

had to vary as the cube of the depth
2 of over-burden. An error of 10 per
t cent would have meant failure. Sur
5 veying through loopholes was diff
ficult job. Fortunately, / had with
| me the Brunton compass which had
followed me in my wanderings from
: the Taku inlet in Alaska to the des-
erts of Arizona. l owe a great debt
of gratitude to our former president,
D. w. Brunton. I don't know how
l would have done my work without
his little instrument.
Tunneled Toward Center
1--WE started tunneling toward the
center of the peak for about $50 feet,
and we thereby got very deep UNDER
ground because the surface above
rose rapidly.
From the end of the tunnel we
drove 42-degree raise with the in
tention of getting close to the sur
face right under the enemy's first
| line trench. / wanted to get in con-
tact again with the outside world
and be sure of our depth below the
surface. I wanted to check the Brun-
ton compass.
Upon the suggestion of two of
our miners we had an 18-foot long
sectional wood auger forged. The
rock was soft and decompOsed. From
the roof of the raise we drilled al
most vertically until we broke out
to the surface. My fear was that the
auger bit might drill some Austrian
sentry. Our calculations were right:
at 16 feet we struck ice.
"By that time the Austrian SEN
tries were feeling our blasts under
their feet. They notified headquar-
ters that we were mining the Aus
trian position. Headquarters answer
ed not to get uselessly excited, that
the Italians were probably only min
ing for shelter.
They lost three days phoning up
and down, and we owed our success
to this delay.
Toward the middle of March the
enemy started counter-mining. We
had started again drifting horizon
tally, and were gaining depth. On
the seventh of April the enemy blast
ed its first counter mine, but the
shot had been placed too high and
was somewhat off the line. The
shock, however, was very heavy and
part of the ceiling of our tunnel
caved, burying Bonfioli and four SOL
diers. We got them out alive and
started again. Not one of the miners
shirked before danger.
Enemy Fails to Locate Them
"The enemy then sank three shafts
trying to locate us, but we had gain
ed further depth and passed under
their drifts at not more than three
feet distance. We could hear them
walking and dragging the sand bags
full of earth. The prisoners told US
afterward that they heard US talk
ing, but / don't believe it, because
we did not talk very loud, l can
assure youi
THE 18th of April we loaded five
tons of 95 per cent gelatine in two
chambers about 80 feet apart and
tamped the galleries.
AT 10 p. m. of April II I went
up for the last time in the raise and
connected the electric wires. / was
alone and in the silence of the un-
derground world could hear some one
picking hard and hastily above my
head. That same night prisoner
told me that they would have fired
"At IL D. m. all our garrison was
into the several galleries.
The last sentries were retired shortly
Our trenches remained
for a moment completely deserted in
the ice-cold night. The air was calm
and from the clear sky the full moon
illuminated the whitecapped peak
with it's cold blush light.
"Bonfioli, Grimaldi and / and an
other officer we're seated at the en-
trance of gallery 900 feet from the
center of the mine. At 1895 we re-
eeived orders and pulled the strings
Of the detonators.
"There was dull noise, slight
tremor. I thought the mine had fail
ed. I crawled out of the half-ob-
5tructed entrance. The snow cap of
Col di Lana had become black. The
whole topography had changed.
Everything was silent, deserted, dead.
Captured at Last
"At that moment all our guns on
he surrounding mountains opened
recklessly quick fire upon the Aus
rian rearway. The mountains were
sparkling with flashes and after
ew seconds the storm of shells and
arrived, bowling over our
leads, and the sky became illumin-
tied by the flashes of the bursting
hells.
"Our soldiers crawled out of the
,alleries, walked quietly up to the
'eak and occupied the huge crater.
,ol di Lana was ours at last
"The next day the Austrians found
nut what had happened and concen-
rated the fire of all their guns on
he crater of the mine. He'll never
ame nearer heaven than that day on
he summit of Col di Lana, and true
ell 1t was.
Let us drink to the prosperity of
ur profession that forges hardy men.
let us drink to the health OF our abb
ent friends and to the ever-growing
Of our two Countries
tally and the United States"
Prince Caetani enjoys a wide ac-
uaintance among the mining men
the west and holds the friendship
many mine kings" not to men
on the numerous underground toll