Show Moab Miner Relates Ordeal PM Trapped B Under Ground By Dy MAXINE NEWELL Eslick sat on the arm of a couch In the living room of ot his suburban home homeI I Friday and welcomed well wells wishing friends who vho came to toay I fay ay hello To one who brought I him a fancy lancy wrapped bottle with a red rose on top he quipped quipped lm Im glad this is Four Roses and not a bouquet bou And well be might be for fot just the night before Grant Eslick was one of the last five men to be rescued from the Texas Gulf Cult Sulphur mine explosion over 2000 feet below below be low the ground A tragic explosion explosion ex that left in its Us wake 18 dead 7 alive Black Dlack only dead only i lo le and six companions But Dut for a stroke of fato fate Grant Eslick would not have been one of the seven Just that day he as mine Inspector in the 40 40 dollar installation lation had been given a n new w duty which kept him at the place In the mine not shattered by the blast So it happened that he was sitting on a loader at the far end of the south drift waiting to tomake tomake tomake make a temperature check when the blast occurred I didn't hear the explosion slon sion said musing over his 50 hour 50 hour nightmare Any miner wo would ld understand under under- stand you stand you dont don't hear these things You feel the concus concus- sion slon I thought my ear drums had met in the middle of my head I Instinctively Blackie said he looked at his watch part I of his job to check the time of any unusual occurrence Inthe in inthe inthe the mine It was pm p.m. And whatever had happened was ind indeed ed d unusual Others came running from the back of the drift and they headed for the shaft When theres there's only one way out of trap you try that first Eslick Es lick said That elevator bucket buck buck- et at the bottom of the shaft was our goal Just 1800 feet from the shaft the men were met by bya a thick fog of smoke that stopped them In their tracks and sent they scurrying back the way they had come There was no heat Eslick remembered just smoke When they neared the end of 01 the drift they stopped to erect a barricade barricade-a a safety measure every miner learns in specialized d job training WREN WHEN IN TROUBLE BUILD A BARRICADE AND W WATT WAIT Arr FOR HELP There were seven men men men-Eslick Eslick Blake Hanna Paul McKinney Tom Trueman Trueman True True- man Charles Clark Charles Byrge and Bob Dob June JUIre The first safety curtain went up in a hurry The men used In ingenuity m. m ty 2 by 4 collapsible canvas vent tubes copper copper wire and dirt The mine was made to order for building the barricade They simply tied the Improvised shield to the link chain fencing fencing fencing fenc fenc- ing which covered the roof of the mine with copper wire which is part of a miners miner's equipment The dirt was thrown on the bottom to hold it down The completed barricade was about 7 by 18 feet Then the men slowed down their pace and leisurely built two more The sense nse of urgency was not so pressing with that first curtain up The second was feet from the first the third back in the drift anether anether anether an an- ether 20 feet The barricades didn't didn t stop the air circulation Eslick explained but slowed 11 tt down With these safety precautions precautions completed the too trapped miners walked on back in the drift looking for lor a spot to wait walt it out oat They camped about feet from the last las barricade near the water line Water was their nex next concern Feverishly they tapped the theater water ater lIn line which flowed Wd in from the muddy Colorado River above them There was water They broke the line Une below a n shut off valve anc and soon had a water faucet a at their disposal It netted them an ample supply of 98 degree muddy water On this they could survive Then came the wait walt They turned their mine lights of off to conserve the batteries anc and sat in the black black of the tunnel to await the help they knew must come Now and then someone would turn on a a light to refill re refill row re- fill flU the water can There was shuffling sounds in the massive massive mas mas- i sive fox hole as men rose to I get a drink of water Then silence sl- sl lence again again again-a a silence to quiet it had the the- ringing sound of noise All through the night the trapped men waited wafted They dozed some talked little Mostly they talked about how their waiting families must must feel thought of his wife Vivian and knew by now she must be alarmed He had in n his long mining career career ca ca- reer been involved in other mine Incidents but always made a point of seeing that she was notified at once By Dy Dynow now she must know he was In big trouble And Blackie thought of his children Trudy Trudy 20 an and anda 1 a natural born born horsewoman Ifer Iter favorite possession was wasa a big sorrel stallion named Senator Tom And he thought of ot his son Bill a senior in high school who rode and skied and soon would need to go to college And Blackie pictured their cozy living room with its red white and blue dr pes pesto to match the wall of red white and blue trophy ribbons the kids had won ot of horse shows A man never sees his as good as he does Inthe in inthe inthe the velvet blackness of a one one- way cave By Dy morning Hanna lIanna and McKinney Mc Mc- Kinney had made up their minds to go for help The others others oth oth- ers discouraged d them feeling the odds were against the two men getting through the mine alive But Dut as said in a case like Uke that a mans man's life is in his own hands The two left First they used some some- more precious light and attempted attempted at at- tempted to repair the broken air line a job which probably saved the lives of all the trapped trapped trap trap- ped miners As Hanna and McKinney disappeared behind the barricade barricade barricade bar bar- Blackie said he felt sure he would never see them alive again During the remainder remainder re re- re of the day they listened listened lis for footsteps of th tM 5 men returning Finally they knew they would not return they return they and made it through or else Hour after alter endless hour went by The five remaining men talked less and less dozed dozed doz doz- i ed more and more The air wasn't too good the water was worse One sort of gulped gulp gulp- ed real quick to take the sand down with the liquid Blackie Black ie le explained After the bucket buck et would set a while the Water water water wa wa- ter cleared a bit on top But it was hotter hotter than the dirty water in the bottom of the bucket and they waited until it was pretty thick before dumping it for a refill Then they began to fe fear r their water supply was running running running run run- ning out They drank less and it began to taste a little bet bet- ter Then afraid the they were using up the oxygen in their camp area they moved down a way In the drift Some of the men were get gets getting getting ting the jitters and talking about walking out when suddenly suddenly sud sud- denly aft after r a long 30 hour 30 hour wait walt a noise came through the broken air hose The air was coming through That meant rescue was on its way This was vas the morale booster they needed Spirits rose and they improvised personal air hoses from a water header that had once b been n used to service five machines By Dy hooking it to the air hose each rach man could He lie on the ground with the fresh air hose to his nose There was was no air pressure Just pressure Just air said the air In tn the hose was saturated with the stench of oil He Ile tot tol the men hed he'd rather breathe what was In the tunnel But in the end he was lying on the ground breathing through his tube just like the other four lour None of us thought we slept very sound Blackie said But Dut when the rescue squad found us they woke me up when they yelled Here they are arel I tried to yell yell yell-my my throat was dry So I just put my fingers in my mouth and as loud as I could could could- four times After Alter that Eslick said It was hard to tell who shouted the loudest the loudest the rescue team or the five trapped miners But Dut it wasn's hard to know who was saying saying lets lets let's get out of here As we walked out of that mine I realized we had been in a damn safe place From there we had rib Ira Idea of the damage done Eslick said Someone mentioned the fan pipe was blown out It sure was a was a pound fan was 1 d dt t z i ir a. a t t. t r k f fat at i r. r f I y T P J r. r i I I 1 E RELIEF AFTER RESCUE Relief is etched on the faces of Grant Blackie Eslick and his wife Vivian shortly after Mr Eslick was returned to his home Thursday Thursday Thurs Thurs- day following his two and one half days trapped in the mine e aa aai t I i 1 I i n e J Si I I 2 41 4 1 t I iY c 4 t I r s i f v i tx t I II I x e s DON BLAKE HANNA Here shown atthe atthe at the he Allen n Memorial hospital being comforted comforted comforted com com- forted by his Ms wife Myrna shortly after rescue Wednesday Mr Hannas Hanna's efforts and those hose of his companion Paul McKinney moved feet leet from where it Used to sit Huge pieces of or machinery were twisted and snarled I didn't see how anyone anyone any any- one got out alive 1 As we walked along I remembered remembered re what I 1 had wished I could do all during that long hot wait walt in that tunnel Get Under a hot shower and scrub with soap then turn It on cold and stay until I was good and ready to get out That's exactly what I did when we reached the hospital hospi tal But Dut Im I'm still brushing my teeth to try to get that sand and muddy water taste out of my mouth Even the beau beau- ham Vivian had waiting at home tasted like that mud mud- ay water The hot-cakes hot were better this morning though She is Improving What are my plans Eslick Eslick Es Es- lick asked in a a. surprised tone Why Ill I'll go right back to to- that mine to work as soon as they open up I want to spend the rest of my life in Moab and that's as long a a mining job as I can see Besides mined since I was a kid kid kid- over 30 years down under My father mined before me and his father before him Were We're a mining family Once a miner always a miner first two men out of the blasted mine repaired reo re re repaired paired as best they could an air line Une into the area where the five others were barricaded bar and have been credited by the five with saving their lives through this thi act |