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Tape 16-1
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talkin' about, how deep he went down with them cables, that's a long distance.
Because they are big long son of a guns. And he went down in there and didn't
get to the bottom yet. And then that runs all the way down to the Owl Hole.
and then way down below, at the Owl Hole where the mouth of the tunner come out,
there's coal runnin' up, 'cause that railroad comes down, the Third Spring is right
there and then down below it there's a little hollow up into
the mountin there and there's coal all the way down to Buck Mountain,
over that mountain. there's coal. And that wasn't worked in my time. But there's
coal there, because I seen it. See, the, the old water-way that the waters used
to go down to the Owl Hole before, it used to go down, well, the boss that worked
Number Ten, Paddy Gallagher, he's Irish, and he had to go down. I don't know
how it used to be, twice a week or how, and look, I don't know what, I didn't ask
him why did he go in to see there, and he used to take me with him, of course he
used to pay me, he used to pay me three hours every time I'd go down there with
him. When I go down this far, where there's a small hole, it wasn't too wide it was
about five feet wide, and just enough that you could go up under it and go up in there.
And he used to go up in there someplace,
And he'd tell me--and then he had to go through
water fallin' down. But just a short piece, you know, you could jump through--
couple of jumps and he's out from under it again then, it were dry back there.
He used to tell me, he says, he hass to make a report you know about, well I
didn't ask him what do you go to see there? I thought none of my business. So
finally he says to me, when we come there to this hole and you could see the
water falling down--and we were burnin' oil lamps at the time--so I used to take
and mix the oil lmp you know, all fixed up and wrap it in this here paper, this
dynamite paper that's all waxed, you know, heavy, and it's a heavy paper--wrap
it up good in that and some matches you know and a that holds a
pint of oil. When he passed the water then I would throw this up to him up
through the water, you know, and he would pick it up on the other side, because