There is Gold in those hills

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While on holiday in a small westcoast town some 43 years ago, my cousin who lives in the town told me that he and his friend had found gold in a small mine in the hill.

They were both locals who's fathers were miners. One of the boys was my cousin. We all planned to bike up to the mine the next morning to put some props up at the mine. My cousin knew where to get the keys for the drum where the miners stored the explosives. His friend would bring the plunger to detonate the explosives.

The next morning we set off early with our lunches and equipment. We cycled up into the hills, picked up the explosives which were in a locked drum, buried into the hillsideand then continued on past some old remains of coal carts and rail tracks to where our mine was located. We made a small camp fire and Barry sat to sort out the spare fuse wire. However while he sat there he did not realsie he put mistakenly put a detonator into the fire with the spare fuse wire. There was an almight bang.

The force of the explosion knocked my cousin down the hill. Barry who sat next to the fire was covered in blood down his legs and me, well I just couldn't hear for some time.

We had no medical kit so we packed up and cycled down the hill to the old coal carts and a small river. There we bathed Barry's leg and picked out bits of shrapnel from his leg. I had a couple of pieces in my abdomen.

We stayed there most of the day, playing with the old coal carts and miners hats that we had found. Barry was feeling much better, so we all set off on our long journey home. Up until recently I never told my parents. The other boys parents never knew.

We thought the little gold specs we found in our mine were going to make us rich. Not so. However it was an exciting and dangerous adventure.

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