In 1975 a close friend directed my attention to an add in the local paper, "Wanted underground miners, no experience necessary..." with a starting hourly rate three times higher than my current wage. Arrangements were made to make the trip of 360 miles from Rapid City, SD to Jeffrey City, WY for an interview that included a trip underground. As we descended a long timbered access into the darkness childhood dreams of being an explorer, "mountain man" came to life. The intense light beam from the cap lamps mounted just above our eyes on a distinct "miners" hard hat illuminated a new world seen by few. My mind rocketed into the future with anticipation of being the first to gaze on never-before-seen rocks, compliments of the mining process. One that used dynamite. Not too mention being very well paid to do it!
Thus my mining career began. In the process of being trained it became apparent to my superiors that I had a desire to learn and experience new things. Consequently my duties encompassed a variety of different tasks with increasing demand for "creative thinking" of my own. Paul (my close friend) and I had entered the mining world at a time when new diesel powered equipment was introduced as a means of increasing production while still utilizing traditional equipment and methods. In a sense I believe we were exposed to the bet of both old and new with an opportunity to operate within the "cutting edge" of mining.
As things became routine and reports of higher wages filtered down through the ranks I embraced a career identity promoted as a "tramp miner". This is a term that can have different meanings dependent upon which side of the "management" fence one is on. I applied myself to learn everything possible about the mining process; past, present and future. I found the underground world of the miner existed in a with a different set of actions and reactions. In a sense the rocks came alive for me. More than one "old timer" advised me on how to listen to the rock with a clear warning not to ignore it. There would be no mercy for those who did not pay attention.
Any number of excuses could be used to pack up and "tramp out", but the unspoken reason for me was the call to find something new. Each mine had it's own set way of doing things with some overlap depending upon where the work force originated. So when things were a little too much alike the working session would be much shorter.
I worked in a variety of underground mines that varied from uranium deposits that chased log jams in old sand stone stream bed turns hundreds of feet below the surface to dropping up to eight thousand feet through a series of shafts and tunnels (called drifts in hard rock mining terms) to work our way toward the surface in a perpendicular vein of gold bearing quartz. From 1975 to 1995 I limited my realm of education to mines in what I would call the west-northwest portions of the United States, including South Dakota, Wyoming, Nevada and Idaho. After a nearly fatal fall in 1981 in a deep silver mine a search for a less physical occupation opened the doors to attend Montana Tech in Butte and complete a Bachelor of Science degree in Mining Engineering in 2001 at age 47.
A whole new world opened up. My first job out of college found me at the Stillwater Mine out of Big Timber, Montana working for Peter Kiewit (sp?). The transition from miner to management did not go well and I soon found another job in Vernal Utah as a surveyor. This was a very bad move as the phosphate mine was a strip mine, not underground. I was out of my league and totally unprepared for their needs. So I quit.
It took ten months of moving from campground to campground in a thirty foot camper trailer and doing voluntary work in a Bible Camp and what seemed like thousands of resume submittals that an opportunity in New Jersey presented me with my first tunnel job as a field engineer. The Weehawken Tunnel became the launching point for my career as an Engineer/surveyor, Project Engineer, Project Manager and General Manager in multiple states and Canada.
