Time goes on.

Return to the mine portal.

As Linc stepped out of the portal, he could see that he had been gone
less than a minute. He picked up the lantern and examined the wall of
the tunnel where the crack was. He could see that it went from the
top of the tunnel to the very bottom. He looked closely at the rusty
water seeping out of the crack from about a foot up from the floor of
the tunnel. He wondered what kind of iron it was that was making the
water so very rusty. There was very little signs of iron here in the
tunnel. He took up a pick that was leaning against the side of the
tunnel and was about to swing it into the area of the crack, then
changed his mind. He didn't like the fact that the water was seeping
through the crack so high off the floor of the tunnel. What was on
the other side of the crack? An underground river? He hoped not.
He figured he better let Lucas in on this bit of info, now that he had
scoped it out.

As he was preparing to leave the tunnel, he stopped to think what he
had learned about iron in his classes. Iron was an abundant mineral
and had been in use for a very long time. He thought what he had
learned about the mineral and the metal it made.

Iron is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from Latin: ferrum) and
atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition
series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is by mass the most
common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core.
It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust.

In its metallic state, iron is rare in the Earth's crust, limited to
deposition by meteorites. Iron ores, by contrast, are among the most
abundant in the Earth's crust, although extracting usable metal from
them requires kilns or furnaces capable of reaching 1,500 °C (2,730
°F) or higher, about 500 °C (900 °F) higher than what is enough to
smelt copper. Humans started to master that process in Eurasia only
about 2000 BCE , and the use of iron tools and weapons began to
displace copper alloys, in some regions, only around 1200 BCE. That
event is considered the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron
Age. In the modern world, iron alloys, such as steel, inox, cast iron
and special steels are by far the most common industrial metals,
because of their high mechanical properties and low cost.

Pristine and smooth pure iron surfaces are mirror-like silvery-gray.
However, iron reacts readily with oxygen and water to give brown to
black hydrated iron oxides, commonly known as rust. Unlike the oxides
of some other metals, that form layers, rust occupies more volume
than the metal and thus flakes off, exposing fresh surfaces for
corrosion.

Been a long time since the iron age began. Sure they had copper and
bronze, but iron was a great deal harder and more suitable for a lot
of things the other metals were too soft for. He thought about what
he had learned about one of the first uses for iron. The people back
in the seventh century found that wagon wheels with an iron rim and
six spokes was much stronger than just plain wood with three spokes.
That must have made their war chariots a formidable force to be
reckoned with.
As he reached down to get the lantern, another blue glow appeared
along the side of the tunnel. Linc looked at his watch, then
thought…What the hell. Might as well see what the time masters had in
store for him now. He put down the lantern, put on his pack and
stepped into the new portal.

As the light from the portal began to fade out, Linc could see he was
in a narrow tunnel of sorts and it was very dark. He got the
flashlight from his pack before it was completely dark. He followed
the tunnel, and come out in what looked like an open air foundry.
There was a crude kiln, and a forge . There was a couple guys working
around the kiln. One was sprinkling pulverized iron bearing ore into
the top of the kiln, and the other was stepping up and down on a pair
of foot operated bellows attached to the kiln. The forced air fanned
up the heat from the charcoal in the bottom of the kiln. As the ore
filtered down onto the super heated charcoal, it melted into a blob ,
that was drawn out later, then refined. Linc watched, fascinated. He
had read about how this was done, and now he was seeing it for
himself. There was another guy who took a blob of the crude iron out
of the forge coals and placed it onto a glowing hearthstone over one
end of the forge. He then rolled it back and forth on the stone, with
a wooden paddle, making it into a long sausage shape. Then placed it
back into the coals.
A man, who now days would be called a blacksmith , took the rolls from
the coals and with a huge bronze hammer, forged them into a complete
circle.
The iron ring then went to a different bunch of men who made wooden
wheels to fit inside the rims. Even after college, Linc found this
very educational.
Linc wandered around and found another group of men making chariots.
A lot of them had small wooden wheels and there were some being built
that had much larger wooden wheels that were rimmed with iron.
Linc wandered down a lane and saw where a group of men were gathered
around a table where a man sat. It looked like he was taking bets, as
money was exchanged for slips of paper. Must be some kind of gambling
going on Linc thought.
The lane widened out as he went on down it. As he walked farther, he
came upon a crown gathered on each side of the lane so he went behind
the people and on down along side the lane and the people. Here he
found a huge crowd gathered around three chariots that were drawn up
along side each other at what appeared to be a line of sorts. Then it
finally dawned on Linc, that this must be the start of a race, and the
men were betting on the outcome of the race, back there.
As Linc watched the chariot drivers, he recognized two of the men
talking to one driver. It was two of the time masters. They looked
right at him, but showed no sign of recognition. It must be because
they were back in time and they had never met him yet. The driver must
be a time master too because he wore a broach just like the other two.
That was what made Linc recognize them in the first place, because all
the time masters wore the same broach with a blue stone in it. He
didn't know the driver, because he had never met him. Hmm! This was
strange. Who was this guy? Linc thought. He heard one of the time
masters call him Roland.
The horses were beginning to dance a bit, so the people moved away
from the chariots. Linc moved back away then someone grabbed at his
pack. He twisted around and saw that it was a kid who accosted him.
The kid pulled at him, motioning to him to follow him. Linc wondered
, what now, but he went after the kid who started running. Linc
stepped up the pace, but when the kid ran in between two buildings,
Linc stopped. Now that was a strange thing to do to someone who you
wanted to follow you. Hmm! Now what? Linc slowly approached the
corner of one building. Just as he was about to enter, a man appeared
out of the ally and swung a piece of a board at him. Linc grabbed
the board and wrenched it from the mans hands, and hit him on the back
of the head with it. Down he went, out like a light. The kid jumped
on him like a wild cat. Linc had to swat him and knock him away. He
started to leave the man on the ground and the bawling kid when the
kid tugged at his pack. Seems like they were just thieves trying to
rob people.
Linc hurried on back to the crowd just as the race started. The
chariots raced down the lane, around a large statue and raced back to
where they started from. Looks like Roland was declared the winner.
As the cheering crowd milled around, Linc looked more closely at
the chariots. He could see that the time master's wheels had a larger
hub. He could see where the hub on his wheels had a bronze bushing
between the hub and the forged iron piece that was placed on the
end of the wooden axel. With grease of some kind, no wonder his
chariot was faster. Linc wondered if this was an idea of the chariot
maker or did the time master bring the idea to him back from the
future. Hmm! He thought. Strange, but since the two time masters
were back in his real time, this couldn't be where they lost the power
to time travel.

The crowd started dispersing, but Linc wandered around looking at the
chariots a little closer. He could hear Roland and a big burly man
talking heatedly about some thing. Linc didn't understand Italian, but
knew from the red face and bulging eyes of the burly man, that he was
very angry. Linc then saw the two other time masters walk over to
Roland and he heard them tell him to ignore the burly man. That man
was a champion jouster, and Roland wouldn't have a chance in a
jousting match with him. Roland explained that he had accepted the
challenge to a match the next day over at the arena. He had to go
now, or lose face. Even though he was a chariot racing champ, his fans
and admirers would think him a coward, like the burly man had called
out very loudly before he left.
The time masters clapped Roland on the back, then they all walked off
with Roland leading the team of horses.
Linc decided to go back to the area where all the manufacturing was
taking place.. He was curious to see how they constructed the armor
and helmets.
He walked on past the plaza where the statue was, and marveled at all
the quaint markets and displays there was scattered all around. There
were buildings, but there was a lot of open air market about this
town.
It was beginning to get late as Linc wandered up yet another street.
He wondered just why the time masters wanted with him in this town. So
far there was nothing but maybe the other time masters in this time
period.
He looked around and saw he was near a big arena. This must be where
the jousting matches were being held. Well tomorrow he would find
out. He wanted to see just how the time master did in the match.
It was getting dark and he was tired. He remembered walking past a
stable, so he went back to it . He went inside and climbed up into the
loft where hay was stored and pulled the sleeping mat from his pack
and sat down on it, took an energy bar from the pack and ate it.
Again he wondered why he was here. He then took a drink from his water
bottle and lay down to sleep.



.

Utah Memory

A nother Utah memory

When we were kids, during the war and a bit after, there was a couple
from Ogden that had a big movie projector. They would come out to
the church in Uintah and bring movies to show. We would find enough
pop and beer bottles so that we had the 10 cents each to go to the
movies. They came out twice a month bringing the latest movies, news
reels and cliff hangers. We had to walk down town to the church and
it was dark when the show was over and we had to walk home in the
dark. Weldon was always trying to think of ways to try and scare the
rest of us. Brat

Civil war.

Back to the mine.

While Lucas was entertaining the old ladies, Linc got out the old
backpack he had left here at the farm and checked it out. In it was a
hatchet, fold up saw, first aid kit, emergency fire starter kit, a
thin rolled up rubber sleep mat, pack of tissues, sanitary hand
wipes, and dry soup mix, along with several energy bars. He added a
flashlight and extra batteries. Then decided to add a roll of duct
tape. Never know, it may come in handy.
After looking around, he went to the gun cabinet and took out a
semi-auto pistol and two clips and put them in the pack along with a
couple of bottles of water. He took the backpack, his belt with the
leather-man tool and water bottle and put them in the truck. He then
went to the kitchen, grabbed a handful of cookies and told Trudy he
was going up in the hills to take a hike.

Up in the canyon, he didn't stop at the cabin, but drove on past it up
toward the mine. When he was up here last time with Lucas, he
thought he saw a trickle of rusty water coming down the hill from the
mine shaft. The mine had always been dry, so Linc naturally wondered
where the rusty water was coming from. He walked on up to the adit and
saw that instead of caving in the whole shaft, there was only rocks
and debris that fell down from the hill above the shaft. He tossed
all the rocks he could clear out and got a shovel from the truck and
cleared the door of dirt so he could open it. He opened the door and
found a puddle of rusty water just inside. Took the shovel, and put in
the water to make sure there was still ground under the water and not
a hole that had opened up..
Ok.. He went in and reached up and took the gas lantern off the shelf
and lit it. The trickle of rusty water was running down the floor of
the tunnel. As Linc went in farther, he could see a very faint blue
light. Oh, oh! He thought. What now, the light grew brighter as he
walked deeper into the tunnel. Oh no! Not this time with out any kind
of equipment with me. He turned and went back to the truck and got
his belt and back pack and put them on.. Back in the mine, he set the
lamp down and stepped through the portal.

Linc emerged into what looked like a bramble patch. He wondered just
where in the world he was now. Sun was about mid sky and it was hot
weather where ever he was. Something grabbed at his leg and tried to
bite him. He looked down and saw a cat clinging to his jeans, He
swatted at it, then saw it had a nest with four tiny kittens. Their
eyes not even open yet. He told the cat to scram, he wasn't going to
touch the kittens.

Linc could hear sound of a battle or something like that. What had he
gotten himself into now?

All at once he heard a gruff voice call, "Halt! Who goes there" Oh
hell Linc thought. He called back, "Lincoln Hanks".
"Step forward and be recognized" the voice said. Linc stepped out of
the brush and into a dirt lane. A Man in a blue civil war uniform
came out from behind an old shed.
Well now Linc new he was back in the civil war area. Just where and
when he didn't know yet.
Soldier said, "where is your uniform"? "I'm a civilian." Linc replied,
" Then what the hell are you doing here. You don't sound like you
are from around here."? Questioned the soldier. "No", said Linc
" I see you have on a pack, are you a medic" The soldier asked. " No,
but I will do what I can" Linc replied. " Get over here out of the
open or you might get shot.
Another Hanks huh? Old John Hanks over there with the wagon claims he
is a cousin of Abe Lincoln. Are you a cousin too? Jeered the soldier.
"It's possible" sad Linc.
Linc remembered his history. Abe had a cousin that split rails with
him. The cousin went on to be a teamster in the civil war. Well this
must be the cousin then.
They must be back a ways from the front line , as the roar of battle
is not as loud.
Linc had to stop for a bit and think. He tried to remember his
seventh grade history class, and what went on in the Civil War at
Atlanta. At best, this was what he could recall how the war went at
this point in time.

At the Battle of Jonsboro Union General William T. Sherman hoped to
destroy the Army of Tennessee and seize Atlanta, Georgia. By late
August 1864,the situation of the Confederate Army of Tennessee in
Atlanta had become extremely grim. Its new commander, General John
Bell Hood, had counterattacked the superior forces of red-bearded Maj.
Gen. William T. "Cump" Sherman's forces in their positions north,
east, and west of Atlanta with no success. Each loss added to the list
of Confederate casualties that numbered in the thousands. Sherman had
devised an effective plan of cutting the railroads into Atlanta, and
the last order of business was to sever the Macon & Western Railroad.
For long months Union and Confederate forces in northern Georgia had
ground away at each other, leaving the landscape on the
Chattanooga-Atlanta corridor dotted with the graves of fallen Johnny
Rebs and Billy Yanks. Sherman, who had replaced General Ulysses S.
Grant on March 18, 1864, as the commander of the Military Division of
the Mississippi, had departed Chattanooga and crossed into Georgia in
May 1864 with his three Union armies.

Sherman was acutely aware that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln needed a
decisive Union victory to increase his chances for reelection in
November. As commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi,
Sherman had 100,000 men under his command. Although Sherman had
substantially more men than Johnston had in the Confederate Army of
Tennessee, the Confederates had strong fortifications surrounding
Atlanta. A headlong attack against those fortifications was sure to be
bloody, and it was by no means certain of victory.

Linc shook his head, then walked on over to where John Hanks stood by
his team. He held out his hand and said, " Lincoln Hanks here. The
guard tells me you are John Hanks, cousin to Abe Lincoln".
Astonished, John held out his own hand and said, " That's me. Are you
a cousin of mine too?. I don't recall any Lincoln Hanks in the next
of kin". "Just distant cousins" Linc replied as he shook John's
hand. "I'm from out west. What can I do to help you?" Linc asked. "
Well right now I'm waiting for the command to move these supplies up
to the front. They just took up a couple of cannons to rout the rebs
out of the train station and capture the train cars loaded with
supplies. Been a whole lot of shooting going on but the rebs are
holed up in those buildings by the Train depot." Just then the
sargent came galloping back and yelled, " All right Hanks, get those
supplies up there pronto." Then galloped back to where he came from.
While John un-tethered the horses, Linc took the back pack off,
swung up into the wagon seat and laid it by he feet. John climbed up
beside him and they raced on down the road. They stopped by the
cannons and the men unloaded the supplies. Linc climbed off the wagon
to help when a shot hit the wagon just above where he had been
sitting. Linc reached in the wagon seat and grabbed the pistol from
his pack, took aim and shot two quick shots and got a reb that was on
top of the train depot. Then another now that he had their range.
That's two rebs to his credit. Wagon unloaded, and five wounded men
loaded in, Linc climbed aboard and just as they started to move out,
John got shot in the arm and almost dropped the reins. Linc grabbed
them and wheeled the wagon out of range as fast as he could.
Back at the rear line infirmary, the help unloaded the wounded.
Linc took a look at the bullet wound on John's arm. Looked to be a
clean shot through the forearm just nicking the bone. He pulled the
first aid kit from the pack and cleaned and disinfected it the best he
could. Just as he was about to bandage it, the medic came and looked
at it. Said the bone might be broken He put a bandage on it but
said he had no casting material to immobilize it with. Linc told him
he would take care of that and grabbed up a couple of small slats he
found. He put them along John's arm and wrapped it with duct tape.
"Wow" said the medic. "What is that stuff?". "Stuff we use out
west. Good for a lot of things." said Linc. " Darn, I'm going to have
to get some of that". he said. Linc gave him the rest of the roll,
saying, " Keep this, it's going to be too hard for you to get some
now."
With John's arm in a sling, the commander told him to take a load of
fresh troops and escort the mess wagon back to the front line.

It was getting quite late by the time they got back up front. After a
lot of cannon shells being shot, things had quieted down a whole lot.
Fresh troops replaced the tired and dirty ones so they might grab a
bite to eat. It was dark by the time they got back to the rear guard
with the tired troops and the rear guard got a bite as well. Linc was
tired too. The troops lay down and tried to rest as best they could.


That night the troops slept on their arms, and were startled during
the night by what appeared to be terrific artillery firing in the
direction of Atlanta….
About this time Linc heard a terrible roar, at first he could not
imagine what it was but after a time he ascertained that it was shells
exploding. What he heard was the explosion of rail cars loaded with
ammunition being destroyed to prevent their contents from falling into
enemy hands.
Linc could see for a long distance by the light of the shells and the
burning cars. The sound became deafening, and the fragments of shells
hurtled through the midnight darkness over his head with an ominous
rushing sound.
Then he remembered more of his history.


They learned next day that the noise proceeded from the explosion of
ammunition, the rear guard of the enemy having destroyed his abandoned
ordnance stores as his army retreated from the city.
On the morning of September 2, the Union Army looked out on the wreck
of a defeated enemy, who had retreated during the night, leaving his
dead unburied and his wounded uncared for. Union and Confederate
soldiers alike heard deafening explosions inside Confederate lines.
What they heard was the death knell of the western Confederacy.
With no need to hold Atlanta, Sherman destroyed the city. On November
15 Sherman led his 62,000 men on devastating march of destruction to
Savannah, arriving on December 10. Meanwhile, Thomas and Schofield
successfully defended middle Tennessee against Hood. Schofield
defeated Hood at Franklin on November 30, and Thomas won a decisive
victory over Hood at Nashville in mid-December. At that point, the
once great Confederate Army of Tennessee ceased to exist as an
effective field army.
The war ground on for another seven months but, after the Battle of
Jonesboro and the fall of Atlanta, there was no question that the
North would prevail, and little doubt that Lincoln would win the 1864
presidential election.

This was certainly an experience for Linc. He could see that the time
masters didn't lose their powers here, and he had found a distant
cousin here in the middle of a war. With this in mind, he thought it
was time to go home.
Linc said good by to John and told him he was going to leave as he had
things to do. He crossed over the lane, into the brambles, then back
through the portal.

A Nevada memory.

When we were living at Reipetown,  Nevada, we lived in a tent house right in town.  Dad worked in a mine just outside of town. There was no school or churches in this town either.  In fact the open pit mine where Dad worked, was slowly spreading the tailings so much, the town was in danger of being covered up with them. Us kids got to see and talk to a lot of miners. There was not a whole lot of kids in this town. We had a friend name Sonny, who was a couple years older than me and 2 Mexican kids is all I can remember.  Some of the miners would tease us kids.  One day a couple of the miners who were out on the boardwalk sitting on a bench drinking beer, told Weldon, Fred, Me and Sonny that the  Chinese  mine cook was thinking of making chop suey for supper but he needed a couple of cats for it.  They said the cook would give.us a quarter for every cat we took him.  Well knowing us, like dummies we got a gunny sack and we finally did catch a couple of cats.  We took them up to the mine and to the cook.  Needless to say he was very pissed.  Not at us kids mind you but the guys who told us to bring him cats. He gave us each a piece of cherry pie.

Utah memory.

Utah


My Grandmother had a big white enamel wash-basin she used for a
bread pan. She would make what was to be 6 loaves of bread in it,
then she would cover it with an old white flour sack, like the ones
she used for dish towels. Pinned on with clothes pin around the rim,
she would set it somewhere it was warm to raise. One day after it was
made she set it on top of the roof of the truck to keep it out of the
reach of dogs and such to raise. My Uncle Phillip decided to run into
town, so he set the pan on an old orange crate my grandma had beside
the door to place things on that she had in her hands so she could
open the screen and then the door when her hands were full. Well the
chickens that were running around the yard found the bread pan and
proceded to eat the partly raised bread. Grandma had a fit, and us
kids were called to catch the darn chickens so Grandma could massage
their crops that were expanding to dangerous size. We had to do that
several times that day before the chickens finally passed the bread
throught their crops. Got my butt switched when I kaughed at the
chickens fat breasts. Grandma said it was not a laughing matter.
Maybe not then but it is now when I remember it.