In the first semester of sixth grade In the second half of 1963, the production of copper mines showed a flourishing scene. The original method of drilling holes by people with sledgehammers was gradually replaced by advanced high-pressure wind drills. The number of blasts was also three times a day.(Morning, noon, evening) increased to five times (10:00 am and 3:00 pm respectively). The explosions became more and more intense, the blasting time became longer, the diameter of the cannon holes became larger, the amount of explosives increased, and the explosions became more and more muffled. With each muffled explosion, the ground under their feet would shake like an earthquake. The small railway used to transport the ore on the top of the mountain had also been widened, and new rails had been added. The container had also been replaced with a high-capacity one, and electric traction had replaced manual carts.
Explosives, coal, machinery, and other materials had to be transported into the mine, and the copper ore produced in the mine had to be transported out. More than a dozen new cars had been added to the mine, and more than half of the cars that had been driven on the Zhoutiankou highway had the words "Shanyun Copper Mine" printed on their doors. There were more and more young college students in the mines, and the mines were constantly adopting new technologies to eliminate backward, labour-intensive production methods. Therefore, the mining workers recruited from the fleeing farmers in the first two years were either diverted (to the mines that needed labor) or given subsidies and dismissed.
The basic construction of the mine was also in full swing. The construction of a new mining department building on the east side of the small courtyard of the mining department (about 100 meters) was started. On the other side of the road (south side) of the entrance of the mining department hall, a large area of staff dormitories was built. The mechanical and electrical workshop that his father worked in was not enough. A new workshop was built on the foundation of the original straw shed dormitory. His father's blacksmith furnace was also replaced by a blowing furnace. The fire was more intense. The steel that could burn large parts was no longer made by manual hammering (manual hammering could not make large steel parts). Instead, it was equipped with a compressed air impact hammer. In order to master the operation of the air hammer, his father was even sent to the provincial steel factory for training.
Looking at the great development of the mine, his father could hardly suppress his excitement. Although he was just an insignificant blacksmith in the mine and had suffered a lot in the past few years, he still hoped that the mine would become better and better. The development of the mine did not depend on whether his personal salary would increase, but on the hope that his sons could become mine workers. His Old Bull family's difficult situation would turn around. Father felt that his wish was about to come true, so he wanted to let his sons familiarize themselves with the situation in the mine in advance. He privately asked the guards for permission to take us brothers to visit the most important mineral processing plant in the copper mine. In the few years since we came to the copper mine, we have already walked around all the places we can see. Only the mineral processing plant is not allowed to approach. Without the permission of the guards, it is impossible to enter the mineral processing plant.
Father told us to stop at the small square halfway up the ore dressing plant. If we go any further, it will be the police cordon. The mineral processing plant was a vertical stair-type combined factory building 150 meters high from top to bottom according to the technological process. On the left side of the vertical stair-type factory building, there were hundreds of stairs connecting the top of the mountain to the small square on the mountainside. The workers of the mineral processing plant went to work by climbing the stairs to the door of their workshop (there were also stairs connecting the top and bottom of the workshop, and it was forbidden to pass through if it was not necessary to operate the equipment). Therefore, there were armed guards at the door of each workshop.
Father went up to greet the guards alone. I don't know what he said, but he waved at us and signaled us to go over. The guards wanted to check if we had any prohibited items on us and warned us to only walk along the steps outside the workshop. We were not allowed to enter any workshop and were not allowed to stay in front of the workshop window for too long. Father kept nodding to show that he would abide by it.
As we walked up the steps outside the workshop, we could clearly see the machines running in the workshop. The walls on the side of the workshop were basically made of glass windows. This was to increase the natural lighting factor of the workshop and reduce the weight of the workshop buildings. The technological process of mineral processing was to send the raw ore into a grading ball mill with different power and thickness to be crushed until it became fine powder. Then, it would enter the corresponding water sieve according to the different mesh size. The copper powder and the powder would be separated by the principle of different density. The stair-like factory building was a combination of graded screening equipment from top to bottom. Through the visit, he truly understood the importance of strict security for the mineral processing plant, because once it was destroyed, the entire operation of the mine would stop or even be destroyed. We walked up the steps. According to the mineral processing process, it was upside down, but it didn't matter. I already understood what mineral processing was about and understood why the mineral processing plant was recognized as the core of the copper mine.
After walking past the top of the mill, we arrived at the top of the mountain (it was the top of Dashan's Mount Qunshan). This place was not within the warning range of the mill, and we brothers often picked wild fruits nearby from the path. There was a reservoir for the mineral processing plant on the top of the mountain. In fact, it was the reservoir for the entire copper mine. In addition to providing water for the mineral processing plant, the tap water for the copper mine living area was provided by this reservoir. The pipeline under the reservoir led to the copper mine production area and living area. The reservoir had a diameter of 25 meters and a depth of 10 meters. For the small courtyard of the mining department, it was a water tower that was 200 meters high.(A few years later, this reservoir became the water supply station for the farm headquarters. We'll talk about it later.) The source of the water in the reservoir was a 5-kilometer long man-made stone channel winding from the top of the mountain to the mountain stream at the source of the Dayuan Bridge. The copper mine had built a reinforced concrete dam in the mountain stream to intercept the water in the stream so that the water could flow into the reservoir along the channel. The dammed mountain stream had a steep terrain. The dammed mountain stream had formed a pool. Above the pool was a waterfall that entered the pool. As they fell into the pool from a height of seven to eight meters, they created huge waves and made muffled booming sounds that covered all the sounds in the mountain stream. Standing in front of the pool, the two people only opened their mouths to talk, but they could not hear any sound from each other. It would make one think that the person who was talking was not making a sound at all.
It was unknown how deep the pool was, but the surface of the water was ink-black and did not reflect even light. Only the splashes of the water that rushed into the pool were like silver beads jumping on the black water surface. However, when one stared at the water surface, they would find that it was completely transparent. This kind of black transparent could allow one's eyes to go deep into the bottom of the water. However, one could not tell what the depth of the water was. Because the water in the pool was shaking under the impact of the waterfall and was also disturbed by the reflection of the dark green plants around the pool, the pool in one's eyes became an inexplicably terrifying world. It would make you gasp in horror when you wanted to see the bottom of the water. Although you were afraid and trembling, you desperately wanted to see what the shadows were. When I tightened my nerves and looked at the water, I would think that there must be some monster in the deep black water. Maybe there was a Jiao that was mentioned in the book (I didn't know what a Jiao was, it was just a wild guess) hiding under the water. Would it suddenly release water when I looked into the pool?
The water entered the canal from the bottom of the pool. According to the terrain of the mountain, the canal was connected to the open canal and the underground canal in sections. There was an observation port every 200 meters in the underground canal. Through this port, one could see the flow of water in the canal. One could also see poisonous snakes swimming in the water at any time. One spring, my third brother and I came to the canal to pick azalea. After walking for less than 200 meters along the open canal, we saw five or six snakes. I touched a viper with the bamboo in my hand. When the bamboo was about to touch it, its teeth bit the bamboo as fast as lightning.
Its speed and ferocity made one's heart tremble.
Strangely enough, the terrifying and mysterious feeling that the pool gave me made me want to go back to the pool to take a look. Every time I went to take a look, the fear of the pool would deepen. Finally, I saw a monster coming out of the pool in my dream. At night, I walked to the pool alone. It was misty all around. There was no loud sound of water. Everything was so quiet. However, the water in the pool was darker. I seemed to see a huge black snake writhing in the black water. I was scared. Before I figured out what was going on, the big black snake had already turned into a huge monster and rushed towards me. I turned around and ran back along the path of the canal. That monster kept chasing after me. I was so scared that I rolled to the bushes on the side of the road to hide. Listening to the monster coming closer and closer to me, I became more and more afraid. My heart almost jumped out. Suddenly, the monster appeared in front of me. Its whole body was black and shiny. Its head was like the water dragon king in Journey to the West. It was breathing at me with its mouth wide open. I was so scared that I fell down from the mountain and woke up with a shout. Cold sweat soaked my clothes and my whole body was cold.
Just as the copper mine was developing vigorously and showing a prosperous scene, just as his father felt that a good life was coming after surviving the difficulties of the past few years, one night, when his father came back from work, he said to the whole family," The copper mine is going to be demolished." We couldn't believe what Dad said. The copper mine had just been built for a few years and had just laid a good foundation. At first, it looked like a mine, but now it was so lively. How could he say that it was going to be demolished? Father said again," It was said in the workshop meeting." Thinking of our family, we had barely survived these few years of hardship. The copper mine we had pinned our hopes on was about to be dismantled. Where would our family go? Could it be that we haven't suffered enough yet, and they want us to suffer in another place? A shadow suddenly covered the hearts of the whole family. I was full of confusion and worry about where I would go later.
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