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To: Victor Lazlo who wrote (107083)	8/12/2000 11:11:52 AM
From: re3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

harder than working in a mine ? A WALK DOWN BELL ISLAND HISTORY Published Aug. 10 BY TRACY BARRON The Telegram - Bell Island As a child growing up on Bell Island, Don Squires can remember using the wheels of old ore carts from the underground mines as weights. He walks through the No. 2 mine with a flashlight and light-equipped helmet, telling stories about the mine and the miners as if rattling off his family history. In a way, he is. His father was a time keeper on the No. 3 mine, keeping track of which miners were underground. He was given $1,500 to relocate to Cambridge, Ont. when the mine closed. Squires himself grew up next the No. 6 mine. His uncle was killed in No. 4 by a falling rock - one of 101 people to lose their lives in 71 years of mining. The six mines were - and, in a way, still are - a way of life on Bell Island. They were Bell Island's reason for being from 1894 to 1966. Some people got rich, while the miners got a kick in the pants, said Squires, one of three interpreters who give guided tours of the No. 2 mine, which was reopened by the Bell Island Heritage Society three years ago. When heritage society members first entered the mine four years ago, it looked much the same as it did when it closed, Squires said. The iron ore vein is clearly visible. But unlike in 1902, when the mine opened, lights now line the ceiling of the main track, which would once have brought the carts of ore to the surface. "It's a vein that ran downwards on an eight-degree angle, roughly 2.5 miles out underneath the ocean," Squires tells visitors. The mine - a maze of rooms and support pillars - runs as deep as 540 metres beneath the ocean floor. To the left, the stables of the underground horse barn have been rebuilt. To the right is a make-shift lunch room, to which miners would retreat to escape the dampness. Water drips from the ceiling and down the walls. The temperature dips with the descent down the levels. The water was pumped out when the mine was operating, but now the lower levels - those which run beneath the ocean floor - are flooded. It's an eerie, damp place drenched in the history of Bell Islanders. The community of Bell Island was built upon the vein of iron ore that slopes from the surface and into Conception Bay. Since 1894, miners on Bell Island followed the ore vein, first by candlelight, then with seal-oil lamps and eventually using battery-charged lights. In June 1966, the Dominion Steel Corporation (DOSCO) closed the last of the six mines, leaving three billion tonnes of unmined ore under the ocean floor and another 50 million in the support pillars. In all, 78 million tonnes had been shipped throughout the world, but Bell Island could no longer compete with less expensive mining operations. Once the second-largest centre in Newfoundland, Bell Island's population has dropped from 12,000 in the 1950s to only 3,800. Now the heritage society is trying to breathe new life into the abandoned mine in an attempt to breathe new life into the island. Clayton King, a member of the heritage society board, jokes that tour guide Bernadette Hammond is the first woman to ever work in the Bell Island mines. But recognizing Bell Island's historical significance is serious business for the heritage society. Ferry traffic for June was up seven per cent over last year, with 19,600 vehicles and 47,000 people traveling to the island. This year the heritage society opened an interpretation centre at the entrance to the No. 2 mine. It depicts life underground and includes an exhibition of black-and-white photographs of the mine and miners taken in 1954 by international photographer Yousuf Karsh. The heritage society is trying to get Bell Island designated a National Historic Site because of its role as an European ore supplier and German target in the Second World War. The designation would bring funding and attention to the Conception Bay island whose people are trying hard to stay afloat. On Nov. 2, 1942, Bell Island became the only land-mass in North America to be hit during the Second World War when a German U-boat torpedoed the Scotia loading pier. In the same attack, 70 seamen were killed when the Germans sunk four large ore boats off Bell Island. Telegram reporter The Telegram, Box 5970, St. John's, Nfld. A1C 5X7 (709) 748-0858