to read - Jaltemba Bay Life

We continued our exploration with Manuelleading me to a precipitous ledge that had anoverhanging rope from a ledge above us. Hegrabbed the rope, tugged at it, and then handover-hand,scurried up to the next ledge. Ifollowed, somewhat apprehensive. One slip andit would be over. As we continued our climb weexplored several other shafts and remained onalert for opals among the broken rocks. Manuelcalled out to several miners at the top of themountain who seemed to be cooking theirafternoon meal. He explained that he had alsomined this area and that the miners above werehis friends. He said that the mine was mostlyplayed out and that now only small opals couldbe found. We continued to climb and finallyreached the top of the mountain. I felttransported in time as I looked at the scene—thevalley below, the mine around us, and theminers. They looked just like men from thepictures we see of early California miners. Theywere friendly, seemed happy, and had beenaged by hard work and the soil around them.They were men of the earth who were digging fortheir dreams.Top of Mine