"So, what really happened?" asked Doug's father.
"It was nothing like what the newspaper said. We never even went in the mine at all," explained Doug.
Doug and his friends had been out riding their ORVs early Saturday morning when they stopped by a mine site about two miles outside of the town they lived in. They noticed two small trucks parked near the opening of the large vertical shaft of the Ophir Mine and decided to stop to see what was going on. When they parked their ORVs and walked over to the edge of the vertical shaft, they heard voices calling for help. One of the boys yelled down to the people stuck in the shaft, "What happened?"
"Our rope busted and one of us has a broken leg. Go get help!" said one of the people stuck in the mine.
"Okay, we're going," said Patrick, one of Doug's friends.
So, the boys jumped on their ORVs and rode back to town as fast as they could. They rode straight to Sawyer's house since it was the quickest to get to. From there they called 911 and explained the situation. They were instructed to wait at Sawyer's house for a sheriff, who arrived about ten minutes later. The boys then led the sheriff to the shaft and the sheriff assessed the situation. He called for a helicopter and asked the boys to leave the area. The boys rode on up the road and parked on top of a hill from which they could watch the rescue. It was about twenty minutes before the helicopter showed up.
"Finally," said Patrick.
"I'd hate to be the guy with the broken leg," said Sawyer.
"No kidding," said Doug.
The boys watched as the helicopter hovered right above the shaft and lowered a rescuer into the shaft. A few moments later, the two uninjured mine explorers were extracted from the shaft. Next, a stretcher was lowered into the shaft and after a few minutes the rescuer and the injured mine explorer were pulled into the helicopter and then they flew off, presumably to a hospital. About the same time that the first helicopter flew away, a second helicopter arrived on the scene.
"Hey, that's a news helicopter," said James.
"Yeah, they got here just a little too late," said Doug.
"I wonder if they're going to put us on the news," said Patrick. He started jumping up and down and waving his arms in the air.
The other boys did the same as Patrick in hopes of attracting the attention of the news crew.
"I think he's trying to land," said Sawyer.
The helicopter hovered around the area of the shaft where the sheriff had parked for a few minutes.
"Hey, it looks like the sheriff is writing those guys a ticket or something," said Doug. The sheriff had written something on a pad and handed it to the two guys who had been pulled out of the mine. Their reactions indicated that they weren't happy although they didn't protest too much either.
"There goes the helicopter," said James.
The news crew never even noticed the boys. They were a little too far away and the crew had focused all its attention on the immediate area of the shaft. Besides, the boys were only eleven and twelve years old and none of them was very big and so from a distance of a half mile they were hardly even noticable.
The boys watched until the mine explorers got in their trucks and drove off. Then they got on their ORVs and raced down to talk to the sheriff. They made it down to the shaft just as the sheriff was about to get into his vehicle.
"Did you give those guys a ticket?" asked Patrick.
"Yeah, I had to. It's against the law to enter an abandoned mine in this county," said the sheriff.
"Really? People do it all the time," said Sawyer.
"I know. I know. But when something like what you just saw happens we have to write them up," said the sheriff.
"How much do they have to pay?" asked Patrick.
"The tickets were no big deal, its the helicopter rescue fee that's going to really hurt," said the sheriff.
"How much?" asked James.
"It varies, but it will be plenty," said the sheriff before thanking the boys and getting into his vehicle to drive back to town.
Doug went home and wanted to tell his parents about the rescue he had witnessed, but they were too busy to listen to him. It wasn't until the next morning, after his father had read the article in the newspaper, that Doug got a chance to explain what had happened. Doug's father realized right away that there was something wrong with the brief newspaper article about the mine rescue.
The article, which appeared on the front page of the newspaper, went like this:
Three young boys were rescued from an abandoned
mine shaft near the town of Liberty early Saturday
afternoon. One of the boys suffered a broken leg and was flown
by helicopter to Elkshorn Regional Hospital for medical
treatment.
The other two boys were uninjured, but were cited for
trespassing and received a warning not to entered abandoned
mines. There is no word on whether their parents were
contacted concerning this event.
"The abandoned mines in this area are a hazard and people
should realize how dangerous they are," said
Sheriff Don Grayson.
After reading the article, Doug's father recalled that his son had told him
something about a mine rescue. He waited until Doug woke up and as Doug sat
down at the kitchen table, his father placed the newspaper on the table in
front of him and said, "Read this," while pointing at the headline of the
article. Doug gave his father a quizzical look and then started reading the
article. Almost immediately, Doug said, "That's wrong! They were older guys
like in their twenties or thirties or maybe even forties. We never got that
close of a look at them." Doug finished reading the article and that's when
his father asked him what really happened.
"It was nothing like what the newspaper said. We never even went in the mine at all," explained Doug. "We were the ones who found the guys who were stuck in the mine," added Doug.
"Which mine?" asked Doug's father.
"The Ophir," said Doug.
"Where's that?" asked Doug's father.
Doug was surprised that his father didn't know where the Ophir mine was located and so he explained that it was a couple miles to the north of town and then added, "It's the one that goes straight down and is big enough to drive a truck into."
"Oh, that one," said Doug's father getting more interested.
"Well, we were the ones who got the sheriff to go out and then he called the helicopter," explained Doug.
After hearing the entire story, Doug's father said, "Well, don't feel too bad, son, newspapers get stories wrong all the time. They're not always as careful as they should be to get the facts straight."
"Well, that's stupid!" said Doug.
"Yeah, you'd think after they go to college to study journalism that they could do their jobs right, but a lot of them mess it all up," said Doug's father.
"Then what good are newspapers?" asked Doug.
"Good question. Sometimes I wonder why I bother reading this rag," said Doug's father picking up and tossing the newspaper back on the table.
"Doesn't it cost a lot of money?" asked Doug.
"Not all that much," said Doug's father, "but still, sometimes I think it's a waste of money."
Soon after that, Sawyer showed up at Doug's house. He was really mad about the newspaper article.
"How stupid can a reporter be?" asked Sawyer. It was unusual for Sawyer to get excited or upset about this sort of thing, but, then again, he wasn't usually involved in something like this.
"It's not that big of a deal," said Doug.
"Yeah, it is! It sounds like us kids were the stupid ones when it was really a bunch of old guys," said Sawyer.
"It didn't have any names and no one knows that you guys were up there and so no one's going to think it was you guys," said Doug's father.
"But still, we know the real story and they got it all wrong!" said Sawyer.
"You could always write a letter to the newspaper telling them what really happened," said Doug's father.
"Yeah, that would be a good idea," said Doug.
"And we could have the sheriff write a note saying that our story is the true story," said Sawyer feeling a strong need to see the correct story printed in the newspaper.
"There must be a sheriff report on the incident. Maybe you can just send the newspaper a copy of the report," said Doug's father.
After Doug finished his breakfast, he and Sawyer rode their ORVs over to Sheriff Grayson's house and told him about the newspaper article. "I haven't had a chance to read the paper yet this morning, boys. I had to work late last night. Maybe you guys can come by the station after noon, around one or so, and I'll talk to you about it then."
Sawyer and Doug were a little disappointed by the sheriff's lack of urgency, but they realized that they didn't have any choice but to wait until after lunch. In the meantime, they found James and Patrick and rode back out to the Ophir mine to look over the site of the rescue again.
"I wonder what's down there," said Patrick as they stood by the vertical shaft.
"Maybe they were looking for something really valuable," said James.
"Probably they just wanted to see what was down there," said Doug.
"I wonder if there's another way down there," said Sawyer.
"Probably not," said Patrick.
"Maybe we should look around," said Doug.
The boys walked around the area. There were ruins of a mill right next to the shaft and the ruins were actually pretty extensive, but there was no sign of any other entrance to the mine. After about twenty minutes of scouting around the foundations and rubble piles, Doug had an idea.
"Hey, weren't there some tunnels up by the hill," said Doug pointing to the hill they had stood on the previous day as they watched the helicopter rescue the mine explorers.
"Yeah, so?" asked James.
"So, maybe those tunnels connect with this shaft," said Doug.
"You're crazy!" said James.
"It's possible," said Sawyer.
"Yeah, my uncle says that some of these mines around here have miles and miles of tunnels going all over the place," said Patrick.
"Let's go check it out," said Doug.
"One problem, we don't have any flashlights," said Sawyer.
"No, you don't have a flashlight" said Patrick whipping out a small penlight from one of his pockets.
"I think we're going to need more than just that little thing," said Doug.
The boys drove back to town and they stopped by Sawyer's house and Patrick's house for some flashlights. They managed to grab the flashlights and extra batteries without attracting the attention of Sawyer's parents or Patrick's uncle and so they were able to drive back out to the Ophir Mine without losing much time. Once at the entrance to the tunnels by the hill, Doug said, "Didn't the sheriff say it was illegal to enter abandoned mines?"
"Yeah, so?" asked Patrick.
"Yeah, it was your idea," said James to Doug.
"Besides, he said it was only a problem if someone gets hurt," said Sawyer.
"And we're not going to be stupid like those guys yesterday," said Patrick.
"But what if someone makes a mistake?" asked Doug.
"No one's going to make a mistake," said Patrick reassuringly.
The boys entered the tunnel. After the first fifty feet there was a three-way intersection. A tunnel went off to the right, and two went to the left. The most middle of the three tunnels dropped steeply, deeper into the Earth. The boys took this one since it also seemed to head in the direction of the vertical shaft. After about four hundred feet the boys came to another intersection. They explored several tunnels, encountered several places where the roof of the tunnels had collapsed, and walked by a few vertical shafts. They backtracked many times, but kept trying to work their way in the direction they believed the main vertical shaft to be. After over an hour of walking around the mine, they finally noticed some light coming from above. They walked toward this light, and they realized that they had reached their goal.
An entire rusty, smashed up car lay at the bottom of the shaft. They crawled around the car and inspected the area carefully. They found the rope the mine explorers had used and some climbing gear. There were also shredded clothes which suggested that the two uninjured mine explorerers had tried to help their injured companion. The boys looked around for some time, hoping to find something of some special interest.
"What were they looking for?" asked Doug.
"Maybe they were just exploring," said Sawyer.
"No, there had to be something that they were trying to find," said James.
"You mean like hidden money or something?" asked Patrick.
"Yeah, or weapons or something," said James.
"Or dynamite," said Sawyer.
"But there could be stuff like that anywhere in any of these tunnels," said Doug referring to all the tunnels they had wondered through on their way to the bottom of the vertical shaft.
"Maybe they had a map or something," said Sawyer.
The boys looked around a little more and then decided that it was time to find their way back to the entrance where they had parked their ORVs. The way back was more confusing than the way to the shaft. They wound up in several deadend tunnels and after an hour or so only two flashlights still worked and they had used all their spare batteries.
"We'd better find our way out of here pretty fast or else we might not make it out alive," said Doug.
"Well if Patrick wouldn't keep telling us to go the wrong way, we'd probably have made it out by now," said James.
"No one's making you follow me," said Patrick.
"Well, only you and Sawyer have flashlights that still work," said James.
Suddenly Patrick's flashlight became noticeably dimmer.
"I think it's this way," said Sawyer.
The other three boys followed Sawyer down the tunnel. They went by an old mine cart which they all remembered. At the next intersection Sawyer selected a tunnel without any discussion with the others. They just followed Sawyer without objection. Sawyer led the way through several more intersections and finally they saw light at the end of the tunnel ahead of them. The boys walked toward the light and after a long two minutes, they emerged from the mine and found themselves at the mouth of a tunnel about two hundred feet from the tunnel through which they had entered the mine.
"How weird? How'd we get way over here?" asked Doug.
"Who cares? As long as we're out!" said James.
"I got a ditto for you on that," said Patrick.
The boys hopped on their ORVs and rode straight back to town. It was a little after one o'clock when they arrived at the sheriff station. They went inside and found Sheriff Grayson sitting at a desk eating a sandwich and working on some paper work. When he saw the boys he said, "Oh, boys, Your timing is perfect. I just finished the report about what happened yesterday." When he looked at the boys more carefully, he noticed that they were kind of dirty. "What happened to you guys? I hope you haven't been exploring any old abandoned mines!"
"Oh, no, we wouldn't do anything like that," said Patrick.
"No, never," said James.
"I'm glad to hear that," said Sheriff Grayson. Then he added, "Well, I read the newspaper article and I must say that it was full of inaccuracies. I think they have a new rookie reporter and he doesn't listen very well. I told him exactly what happened and he seems to have confused you guys with the idiots who got stuck in the mine shaft!"
The boys laughed and then Doug said, "I think we should write a letter to the newspaper and tell them to get their facts straight!"
"Why? What good would that do? They might put it in, but it wouldn't be on the front page. They'd just bury it somewhere inside the paper where no one would notice," said Sheriff Grayson.
"But don't they care about telling the truth in their paper?" asked Doug.
"It's not all that important to them. It makes them look bad to admit that they got their story wrong and so why should they?" asked Sheriff Grayson.
"That doesn't seem right," said Doug.
"There's no use worrying about it. It's just the way it is," said Sheriff Grayson.
"Uh, big deal, most people hardly read the paper anyways," said Patrick.
"Yeah, my aunt just uses the newspaper to line the bottom of her bird cage," said James.
"That's about all it's good for," said Patrick.
"And it's good when you're trying to start fires," said Sawyer.
"Or for padding when you have to pack breakable things into boxes," said Sheriff Grayson joking along with the boys.
Doug didn't find this joking around very funny and he decided to try one more time to remedy the situation. "Well, could we send a copy of the sheriff report to the newspaper?" he asked.
"Yeah, I suppose I could run off a copy of the report for you," said Sheriff Grayson. He went over to his desk and picked up the report and took it over to the photo copier machine. "I can even give you the address and phone number for the paper," said Sheriff Grayson as he fiddled with the controls on the machine. A moment later the copy of the report came out and Sheriff Grayson went back to his desk and jotted down the address and phone number of the newspaper on a scrap of paper and handed it and the report to Doug. "Good luck," he said.
"Thanks," said Doug.
The boys left the sheriff station. After they were out, Patrick said, "You might as well make a paper airplane out of that report, because that's all it's good for."
"No way, I'm going to make sure the newspaper knows the real story," said Doug.
"Well, I'm going to my house and I'm playing video games," said Patrick.
"Me too," said James.
"We'll come along too and we'll get your uncle to help us with our letter to the paper," said Sawyer to Patrick. Patrick lived with his uncle and his uncle was a teacher at the school which the boys attended.
"Fine. He may help you, but I'm not wasting my time!" said Patrick.