Nanomaterials and Nanoliquids Applications in Energy and Environment 1st Edition Dharmendra Tripathi Ravi Kumar Sharma Hakan F Oztop Rajamohan Natarajan Eds
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Preface
Uranium (U) is the heaviest naturally occurring actinide, existing almost entirely as the primordial isotope 238U (99.27%, half-life of 4.5 billion years), as 235U in minor quantities (0.72%), and as 234U in trace quantities (0.0055%). With an average concentration of 0.0003% (3 mgkg –1) in the Earth’s crust, uranium is present in all soils; in rocks such as volcanic rocks, granites, dark shales, sedimentary rocks that contain phosphate, and metamorphic rocks; and in seawater (3.3 ppb of U by weight (3.3 μgkg–1)). Uranium concentration in the Earth’s crust may range from 1 to 4 mgkg–1 in sedimentary rocks to tens or even hundreds of mg/kg in phosphate-rich deposits or in U ore deposits. In surface soils and sediments and in aqueous systems, U reacts with oxygen to form predominantly the hexavalent uranyl ion (UO22+) which is highly stable and soluble, which determines its mobility, bioavailability, uptake, and toxicity. Contamination of the biosphere by extensive release of uranium (or its progenies) poses serious threats to living organisms, due to chemical and radiological toxicity. Anthropogenic U contamination by mining and milling operations contributes to the degradation of the environment. Even before its formal discovery by the German chemist, Martin Klaproth, in 1789, U has been used for a wide variety of purposes for coloring glass and ceramics. Its actual use is dominated by the nuclear power industry, but also for military purposes.
Uranium has no essential biological function in the organisms, but a wide range of both terrestrial and aquatic organisms uptake U from the environment. For example, plants, bacteria, algae, and fungi were shown to accumulate U, and it has been reported that the biological action of bacteria, algae, fungi, and plants can affect U speciation and thus U bioavailability by adjusting the pH, extracellular binding, and transformation and formation of complexes or precipitates. These organisms can thus contribute in decreasing or increasing U entry into the food chain but could also be used to develop bioremediation tools to decontaminate uranium-polluted surroundings. In fresh water, numerous physico-/biochemical variables may affect U speciation, bioavailability, uptake, and toxicity, which include pH, hardness, natural organic matter, and microbial activity. In the case of soil, migration and mobility of radionuclide always depend on various factors including pH, texture, exchangeable
calcium/potassium, organic matter content, etc. and also weather conditions, plant species, and land-use practices.
Generally, plant roots are associated with microorganisms, and these links can have direct or indirect effects on the mobility, availability, and acquisition of elements by plants. The fast uptake of uranium by roots might result due to precipitation of U in the apoplasm as was shown for other heavy metals and also might be possible due to adsorption of U on the cell wall. Plant cell walls are made up of cellulose fibers, hemicellulose, pectin, and glycoproteins. It is well-known that the cell wall also works for root cation exchange capacity (CECR) basically for functional groups of polysaccharides, including carboxyl and galacturonic acid groups of roots, and, to a minor extent, for phenolic and amine groups. There are two ways for radionuclides to enter plants: either through the roots or through the stomata (direct deposition from the atmosphere). Stomatal entry is supposed to account only for a small fraction of total radionuclide uptake. When a radionuclide enters through the cuticle layer, it is dynamically transported inside the plant cells through a symplastic pathway and with an exchange mechanism between the phloem and the xylem.
The peculiarities of plant uptake and translocation of uranium are highly specific for different types of plants and soil. Soils high in phosphorous content may tend to suppress uranium uptake in plants. Mobility of U is reduced in finer-textured soils and those high in organic matter. Plants cannot differentiate isotopes of heavy elements and consequently take up isotopes in the ratios present in soil solution. The utmost forms of plant-available U in shallow groundwater are soluble carbonate complexes, with uranium dominantly present in the hexavalent oxidation state. Generally, the soil-to-plant relocation of elements is often parameterized by the transfer factor (TF). Basically, the TF is the activity concentration of the radionuclide per unit dry mass in the plants (Bqkg–1) divided by the one in the soil (also given in Bqkg–1).
During the past two to three decades, phytoremediation practices became a very attractive popular alternative to the conventional expensive and energy- and instrument-intensive, chemical-based restoration techniques of the vast polluted areas of land and water. Plants are usually resistant to moderate concentrations of radionuclides. Nevertheless, biosorption to cell walls, extracellular precipitation, reduced uptake, or amplified efflux are mutual tools from which plants check abiotic stress and also decrease the absorption of metal inflow in cells.
The most remarkable features of this book are interrelated to how U enters the ecosystem and its translocation from soil to plants and finally into the food chain of man. Chapters 1–3 deal with the beginning of the nuclear age till now, impact of U mining on human health, and soil-to-plant transfer of U and its distribution with a case study on Belarusian soil. Chapters 4 and 5 focus on biogeochemistry of U in tropical environment and mechanism of U accumulation in agricultural plants. Chapters 6–8 focus on what are the factors influencing soil-to-plant transfer, its translocation mechanism, its correlation with other metals, and uptake and phytoremediation approaches. Chapters 9–11 emphasize on the influence of U speciation on uptake mechanism, epidemiological studies with some modeling, legacy, and
risk assessment. The information collected in this volume will bring in profound knowledge of U uptake and translocation and its toxicity in plants and finally its effect on health.
Dr. Dharmendra K. Gupta and Prof. Clemens Walther individually thank all authors for contributing their valuable time, knowledge, and enthusiasm to bring this book into its present form.
Hannover, Germany
Dharmendra K. Gupta Clemens Walther
Uranium in the Beginning of the Nuclear Age: Reflections on the Historical Role of Jáchymov and an Overview of Early and Present Epidemiological Studies .
Jozef Sabol
Uranium and Its Distribution in Typical Belarusian Soils .
Galina A. Sokolik, Svetlana V. Ovsiannikova, and Maryna V. Papenia
Environmental and Health Impact Due to Uranium Mining
Rajiv Ranjan Srivastava, Pankaj Pathak, and Mosarrat Perween
Biogeochemistry of Uranium in Tropical Environments
Juliana A. Galhardi, Daniel M. Bonotto, Carlos E. Eismann, and Ygor Jacques A. B. Da Silva
The Behaviour of Uranium in Soils and the Mechanisms of Its Accumulation by Agricultural Plants
Aleksandr N. Ratnikov, Dmitry G. Sviridenko, Galina I. Popova, Natalia I. Sanzharova, and Rena A. Mikailova
Factors Influencing the Soil to Plant Transfer of Uranium
Javier Guillén and F. M. Gómez-Polo
Uranium and Plants: Elemental Translocation and Phytoremediation Approaches
Dharmendra K. Gupta, Soumya Chatterjee, Anindita Mitra, Anna Voronina, and Clemens Walther
Soil-to-Crop Transfer Factor: Consideration on Excess Uranium from Phosphate Fertilizer
Keiko Tagami and Shigeo Uchida
Influence of Uranium Speciation on Plant Uptake
Nan Hu, Hui Zhang, Dexin Ding, Yujian Tan, and Guangyue Li
Assessment Modelling and the Evaluation of Radiological and Chemical Impacts of Uranium on Humans and the Environment
M. C. Thorne
Biokinetic Modelling and Risk Assessment of Uranium in Humans . . . . .
Rohit Mehra and Sarabjot Kaur
Index
Contributors
Daniel M. Bonotto Department of Petrology and Metalogy, Institute of Geosciences and Exact Sciences, São Paulo State University, Rio Claro, Brazil
Soumya Chatterjee Defence Research Laboratory, DRDO, Tezpur, Assam, India
Dexin Ding Key Discipline Laboratory for National Defense for Biotechnology in Uranium Mining and Hydrometallurgy, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, P. R. China
Carlos E. Eismann Center for Environmental Studies, São Paulo State University, Rio Claro, Brazil
Juliana A. Galhardi Department of Chemistry, University of Montreal, Montréal, QC, Canada
F. M. Gómez-Polo LARUEX, Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain
Javier Guillén LARUEX, Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain
Dharmendra K. Gupta Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institut für Radioökologie und Strahlenschutz (IRS), Hannover, Germany
Nan Hu Key Discipline Laboratory for National Defense for Biotechnology in Uranium Mining and Hydrometallurgy, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, P. R. China
Sarabjot Kaur Environment Monitoring and Assessment Laboratory, Department of Physics, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab, India
Guangyue Li Key Discipline Laboratory for National Defense for Biotechnology in Uranium Mining and Hydrometallurgy, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, P. R. China
Rohit Mehra Environment Monitoring and Assessment Laboratory, Department of Physics, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab, India
Rena A. Mikailova Russian Institute of Radiology and Agroecology, Obninsk, Kaluga Region, Russia
Anindita Mitra Department of Zoology, Bankura Christian College, Bankura, West Bengal, India
Svetlana V. Ovsiannikova Laboratory of Radiochemistry, Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus
Maryna V. Papenia Laboratory of Radiochemistry, Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus
Pankaj Pathak Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Marwadi University, Marwadi Education Foundation, Rajkot, Gujarat, India
Mosarrat Perween Department of Chemistry, Dolat-Usha Institute of Applied Sciences and Dhiru-Sarla Institute of Management and Commerce, Valsad, Gujarat, India
Galina I. Popova Russian Institute of Radiology and Agroecology, Obninsk, Kaluga Region, Russia
Aleksandr N. Ratnikov Russian Institute of Radiology and Agroecology, Obninsk, Kaluga Region, Russia
Jozef Sabol Faculty of Security Management, Department of Crisis Management, PACR in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
Natalia I. Sanzharova Russian Institute of Radiology and Agroecology, Obninsk, Kaluga Region, Russia
Ygor Jacques A. B. Da Silva Department of Agronomy, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil
Galina A. Sokolik Laboratory of Radiochemistry, Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus
Rajiv Ranjan Srivastava Department of Environmental Technology Institute Research & Development Duy Tan University, Da Nang, Da Nang, Vietnam
Dmitry G. Sviridenko Russian Institute of Radiology and Agroecology, Obninsk, Kaluga Region, Russia
Keiko Tagami Biospheric Assessment for Waste Disposal Team, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Inage-ku, Chiba, Japan
Yujian Tan Key Discipline Laboratory for National Defense for Biotechnology in Uranium Mining and Hydrometallurgy, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, P. R. China
M. C. Thorne Quarry Cottage, Hamsterley, Bishop Auckland, County Durham, UK
Shigeo Uchida Biospheric Assessment for Waste Disposal Team, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Inage-ku, Chiba, Japan
Anna Voronina Radiochemistry and Applied Ecology Department, Physical Technology Institute, Ural Federal University, Ekaterinburg, Russia
Clemens Walther Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institut für Radioökologie und Strahlenschutz (IRS), Hannover, Germany
Hui Zhang Key Discipline Laboratory for National Defense for Biotechnology in Uranium Mining and Hydrometallurgy, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, P. R. China
About the Editors
Dharmendra K. Gupta is Senior Scientist of Environmental Biotechnology/ Radioecology and has already published more than 90 refereed research papers/ review articles in peer-reviewed journals and edited 13 books. His field of research includes abiotic stress by radionuclides/heavy metals and xenobiotics in plants, antioxidative system in plants, and environmental pollution (radionuclides/heavy metals) remediation through plants (phytoremediation).
Clemens Walther is Professor of Radioecology and Radiation Protection and Director of the Institute of Radioecology and Radiation Protection at the Leibniz Universität Hannover. He published more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals. His field of research is actinide chemistry with a focus on solution species and formation of colloids and ultra-trace detection and speciation of radionuclides in the environment by mass spectrometry and laser spectroscopy.
Uranium in the Beginning of the Nuclear Age: Reflections on the Historical Role of Jáchymov and an Overview of Early and Present Epidemiological Studies
Jozef Sabol
Abstract Following its discovery, more than 200 years ago, uranium found useful applications in a number of various areas especially those related to industry, research and also medicine. The uranium history has been closely associated with the discovery of radioactivity which opened the door to the separation and later to the production of many useful radionuclides. The importance of uranium was recognized particularly owing to its ability to undergo fission process leading to the release of much more energy than it is possible to acquire from chemical reactions. Namely, the fission has been widely utilized in nuclear reactors to generate electricity in nuclear power plants. Such reactors are also used to produce a great number of radionuclides and for fundamental and applied research. Unfortunately, the fission has also been used for military purpose that resulted later in the construction of weapons of mass destruction. The extensive demand for uranium led to the expansion of uranium mining, milling and processing which led to some problems including exposure of workers and the radioactive contamination of the environment. The health effects associated with uranium and its compounds were fully recognized only during the last 70 years. This resulted in worldwide adoption of the relevant strict measures for adequate protection of people and the environment in line with the latest international safety requirements. The data concerning these health effects were acquired from numerous epidemiological studies based on which relevant safety procedures have been developed and implemented. The chapter presents a short overview of the uranium’s early history, which began in Jáchymov, together with uranium mining, uses and the assessment of its biological effects based on epidemiological studies.
Keywords Uranium · Mining and milling · Radioactivity · Radium · Radon · Decay products · Fission · Use of uranium · Nuclear fuel cycle · Health effects · Epidemiological studies · Radiation protection
J. Sabol (*)
Faculty of Security Management, Department of Crisis Management, PACR in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
D. K. Gupta, C. Walther (eds.), Uranium in Plants and the Environment, Radionuclides and Heavy Metals in the Environment, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14961-1_1
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1 Introduction
Uranium belongs to the most important naturally occurring nuclides. It has a silvery-white colour and is about 70% heavier than lead. One of its isotopes, 235U (uranium-235), is the only fissile element found on earth. The use of uranium to produce nuclear energy, for peaceful, but also for military purposes, has contributed substantially to changes in the life of mankind over the last 70 years. The huge energy released by the fission of uranium is associated with the splitting of its nucleus into two smaller fragments after this nucleus is struck by a neutron. The creation of these fragments is accompanied by the release of 2–3 neutrons which can then split other uranium nuclei present in their vicinity.
Uranium is more common than other metals on earth. It can be found in very low concentration in soil, rocks and water everywhere. There are several places in the world that have uranium concentrations large enough to be cost-effective to mine.
There are three main isotopes of uranium, namely, 238U, 235U and 234U. The first two are considered primordial nuclides which existed on earth since the time it was formed. Their half-lives are sufficiently long so that they have survived to the present day. By far, the most abundant of uranium isotope is 238U (99.27%), while the other isotopes are found in the earth’s crust in much lower percentages, namely, 235U (0.720%) and 234U (0.005%). While 238U and 235U represent the parent isotopes of the respective uranium decay chains, the isotope 234U is formed as one of the decay products formed within the 238U series. This is illustrated in Fig. 1
Fig. 1 The decay chain of 238U illustrating the formation of all its essential elements which are finally decayed to form a stable nuclide of 210Po. The decay of 234Th, 234Pa, 226Ra, 214Pb, 214Bi, 210Pb and 210Bi results not only in the emission of charged particles (α or β ) but also in the release of the accompanying gamma photons
Uranium in the Beginning of the Nuclear Age: Reflections on the Historical Role…
Another uranium series, the 235U series, usually referred to as the actinium series, can be presented in a form like that in Fig. 1 or using a relevant table with some basic data (Table 1). In both series there are some prominent radionuclides, such as radium, polonium, radon and many others, which can be found in uranium ore and then extracted in a sufficiently pure form for suitable applications. One such example is radium which was widely used for the early treatment of cancer patients.
Up until now, science has recognized something like 21 different uranium isotopes, most of them artificially engineered using nuclear reactions and chemical processes. Most of them have marginal practical significance; some are characterized by extremely short half-lives or are found on the earth only in trace concentrations.
The history of uranium began more than 200 years ago, from its discovery in 1789 by Martin H. Klaproth to recent years when uranium became one of the most vital elements, alone or in the form of its decay products. One may formally distinguish between the uranium eras up to 1896, when its radioactivity was revealed, through the second period up to the 1940s, when it was used in research, medicine, glass and ceramic industries as well as in radon spas. During the third period, uranium fission began to be utilized in nuclear reactors and, regretfully, also in nuclear bombs.
It took some time before reliable information was acquired relevant to the deleterious biological effects associated with the internal and external exposure to uranium and its decay products. After intensive medical and epidemiological studies as
Table 1 Radionuclides in the 235U series which finally decay to the stable 207Pb (After, Martin 2013; Morss et al. 2006; L’Annunziata 2003)
Nuclide
3 s
well as experiments on animals, we learned about health effects of uranium on humans, and ionizing radiation exposure in general, more than we know about the impact of any other dangerous substances or agents.
The chapter characterizes in some detail the relevant important milestones in the history of uranium, including its importance and beneficial use in many areas as well as its potential health effects due to the internal and external exposure coming from uranium alone and also from its numerous decay products where, for miners and the population at large, radioactive radon gas plays a crucial role. The results and consequences of a number of epidemiological studies, especially those carried out in the former Czechoslovakia and recently in the Czech Republic, are also summarized and discussed.
2 History of Uranium and the Role of Jáchymov
2.1 Some Important Uranium Milestones
The following milestones (DOE 1994; CC 2018; WNA 2018a) indicate the significant role uranium has played historically:
• 1789: Martin Klaproth (1743–1817) discovered uranium in uraninite ore from the Ore Mountains and named it after the planet Uranus discovered shortly before. In fact, the discovery was related to uranium oxide rather than a pure element, which was isolated only later in 1841 by Eugen Péligot (1811–1890).
• 1896: Henri Becquerel (1852–1908) observed that the pitchblende (from the Jáchymov area) caused a photographic plate to darken. This experiment resulted in the discovery of alpha and beta particles; gamma radiation was discovered later in 1900 by Paul Villard (1860–1934).
• 1898: Marie Curie-Sklodowska (1867–1934) and her husband Pierre Curie (1859–1906) first introduced the words “radiation” and “radioactivity”. Their discoveries included polonium and radium.
• 1900: Friedrich Dorn (1848–1916), a German chemist, during his experiments with radium decay chain discovered radon.
• 1902: Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937) concluded that radioactive decay is related to a spontaneous event followed by the emission charged particles by the parent nucleus, creating a daughter element which may also undergo a similar decay.
• 1905: Albert Einstein (1879–1955) put forward a theory relating mass and energy by a famous equation E = mc2 .
• 1911: It was confirmed the existence of various isotopes (with the same chemistry) of the same element.
• 1913: The first use of radium for the treatment of patients.
• 1920s: Radioactive dyes from Jáchymov became profitable export items used for luminous wristwatches.
• 1932: James Chadwick (1891–1974) discovered the neutron.
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• 1934: Enrico Fermi (1901–1954) demonstrated the ability of neutrons to split atomic nuclei.
• 1938: Otto Hahn (1879–1968) and Fritz Strassman (1902–1980) discovered nuclear fission which verified the validity of the famous Einstein’s equation E = mc2 .
• 1939: Fréderic Joliot-Curie (1900–1958) with his team demonstrated that the fission of uranium
• 1941: Glenn Seaborg (1912–1999) and his research team discovered plutonium.
• 1942: Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard (1898–1964) demonstrated the first selfsustaining nuclear fission reaction (at the University of Chicago).
• 1942–1945: Under the Manhattan Project, the first nuclear bomb was built. In 1945, two bombs were used for bombarding Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The first of them used highly enriched 235U, while the second one was based on 239Pu extracted from uranium irradiated in a nuclear reactor.
• 1949: The Soviet Union tested the first two atomic bombs at a test site near Semipalatinsk (now in Kazakhstan).
• 1952: The inhalation of radioactive aerosols was found as the cause of “Jáchymov miner’s disease”.
• 1952: The UK tested its first atomic bomb.
• 1954: In Obninsk (near Moscow), the USSR began operation of the world’s first grid-connected nuclear power plant (5 MW).
• 1955: The first United Nations International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy took place in Geneva, Switzerland.
• 1957: The UN officially formed the International Atomic Agency (IAEA).
• 1960: France tested its first atomic bomb.
• 1964: China tested its first atomic bomb.
• 1968: The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was signed.
• 1970: Altogether 84 nuclear power reactors were operated in the world. Their combined electricity generation capacity was about 17,700 MW.
• 1974: India tested its first nuclear bomb.
• 1979: An accident happened at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA) resulting in a limited core meltdown.
• 1980: In the world 245 nuclear power reactors were producing electricity with the combined generation capacity amounted to 133,000 MW.
• 1986: An accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant with serious consequences of spreading radioactive material into the environment occurred.
• 1990: In the USA, 110 nuclear power plants generated electricity surpassing all fuel sources combined in 1956.
• 1990: There were altogether 416 nuclear power reactors in operation in the world; their combined electricity generation capacity was about 318,000 MW.
• 1998: Pakistan detonated its first nuclear weapon.
• 2000: Worldwide, 435 nuclear power reactors were in operation with a combined electricity generation capacity of 349,999 MW.
• 2010: On the whole, 441 nuclear power reactors were operated in the world; their combined electricity generation capacity was about 375,300 MW.
Fig. 2 Number of operable nuclear reactors as of June 2018, by country (based on (STATISTA 2018))
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• 2011: An accident, comparable to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan initiated by the tsunami wave reaching more than 10 m following the massive earthquake in the Pacific at the distance about 130 km from Fukushima. The tsunami put out of the operation backup electrical generators used for supplying power for the reactor’s cooling system.
• 2018: In February, the total number of nuclear reactors in all countries which are operating nuclear power plants reached 448 (Fig. 2). At present, there are altogether 58 nuclear reactors under the construction (most of them are in China with 18 reactors).
2.2 Early Mining Period
Jáchymov, before 1918 Sankt Joachimsthal or Joachimsthal (Saint Joachim’s Valley), is situated on the Czech slope of the Ore Mountains (Krušné hory in Czech, meaning cruel mountains). The town, near the present-day German-Czech border, was founded in 1516. Its location is shown on the map in Fig. 3. This was in the time when an ore rich in silver was found in its surroundings. The silver mines were extremely lucrative with ore concentrations being very high. This brought enormous prosperity to the town which in 1534, with a population of close to 20,000, became the second largest city in the Kingdom of Bohemia after Prague (then slightly above 50,000 inhabitants). At that time, more than 9000 miners lived and worked in over 900 mines in the Jáchymov area. The Jáchymov ore deposit was one of the largest deposits of silver within Europe in the sixteenth century.
Fig. 3 The location of Jáchymov in the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge) on the border between what is now the Czech Republic and Germany
Mining settlement known since 1517 as Jáchymov won in 1520 the status of a free royal mining town. After several years, the district became soon one of the most important producers of silver on the continent.
In 1520 a mint was set up in Jáchymov; the coins that were minted here were called by the German name “thaler”, later “tolar” (Fig. 4). Not many people are aware that the dollar, probably the most popular currency in the world, derived its name from an ancient silver coin from Jáchymov.
At the time of Jáchymov’s flourishing, the town attracted a number of then very important personalities, among whom was doctor Georg Bauer (1494–1555), better known by his Latin name Georgius Agricola (Fig. 5a). He was a reputable renaissance scholar from neighbouring Saxony. After studying at the University of Leipzig, he continued to study medicine in Bologna, Venice and Padua. Agricola was initially drawn to the mines of Jáchymov, intending to discover medical drugs from the ore. Later he abandoned the idea and fully devoted his time to visiting the town’s mines and smelters.
The mining in the Ore Mountains, separating Bohemia and Saxony, had been going on since the 1200s. Later, as of 1470 silver mining began very profitable and contributed to the wealth and prominence of the area. At the beginning of 1500,
some reports about increased frequency of unknown disease among miners appeared in Agricola’s writings. It took more than 350 years before this disease was diagnosed as lung cancer. At that time, however, it was not clear what caused this disease. It was only in 1925 when the so-called Schneeberg lung cancer was recognized as one of occupational diseases.
Agricola spent 4 years (1527–1531) in Jáchymov, where he worked as an urban doctor and pharmacist. Even after returning to Saxony, he quite often visited the town to collect and refine his knowledge of mining, metallurgy and mineralogy. Agricola’s famous book, reflecting his lifetime work, was De Re Metallica libri XII Twelve books on mining. The work presented 289 detailed woodcut illustrations; one of them depicting prospecting work is shown in Fig. 5b. For the
Fig. 4 The Joachimsthaler, minted in Jáchymov, at that time the Kingdom of Bohemia, had (a) a picture of St. Joachim on one side and (b) the Czech lion together with the name of King Ludovicus on the other side (Wikipedia 2018)
Fig. 5 Georgius Agricola (a) and one of many drawings from his famous book on mining showing prospecting work (b)
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next 200 or more years, this work was considered as the miner’s bible on metallurgy and mining. For centuries it was widely used as a sort of manual for mining ores and their metallurgical processing. He is considered the father of mineralogy (René 2018).
In the early seventeenth century, the silver ores were exhausted, and attention turned to nickel, cobalt, bismuth and arsenic. The mining interest gradually shifted later to uranium and radium. In the years that followed, some more compounds extracted from uranium ore were found to serve as a substance which could be used for painting on glassware or porcelain and some other materials, producing colourful, shining images. Ironically, it was from the “worthless” residues of the uranium extraction process that M. Curie-Sklodowska separated, at that time, a miraculous new element, she called radium. I radium is mixed with zinc sulphate; this compound could glow in the dark.
Moreover, uranium, when added to glass in conjunction, produces amazing yellow and green colours and fluorescence effects. Uranium paints attracted attention of many producers of glassware and pottery. Especially popular were articles such as vases and various decorative figurines (Fig. 6). The content of uranium varied from very tiny concentrations, well below 2% to around 25% of uranium. In the latter case, the external gamma radiation emitted by uranium decay products was likely not negligible. This was why the use of uranium paints is now extremely rare. Old items coloured by uranium are today considered antiques or retro-era collectibles.
This application of various uranium oxides helped Jáchymov to overcome the crisis after silver mining proved to be unprofitable. The business became so successful that several factories were built to satisfy the increasing demand for such commodities. Gradually, some other uranium colours for the glassmaking industry (orange yellow) and the “black uranium colour” for the porcelain industry were developed (Wikipedia 2018). Photos of two such factories in operation at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are shown in Fig. 7
While in 1853 about 85 kg of uranium colours were produced in Jáchymov, in 1886 it was already 12,776 kg. At this time, the local factories were famous, and the
Fig. 6 Some examples illustrating the use of uranium, usually in oxide diuranate form, added to a glass mix before melting for colouration
Fig. 7 A view of two uranium factories in Jáchymov (a) built towards the end of the nineteenth century and (b) erected at the beginning of the twentieth century
8 Jáchymov, (a) a view of the town (around 1895) with a prominent building being the church of St. Joachim and (b) the former mint restored to serve now as a museum
world press referred to them as a total sensation. They were the largest factories of their kind in the world specializing in such products. By 1898, a total of 108 tonnes of uranium paints had been produced, of which the clear majority went for export.
The areas of the Ore Mountains, which historically always formed a border between Saxony in Germany and Bohemia (the Czech Republic), were known to be rich in various ores. It started especially with silver and then with uranium mining. Central European uranium deposits were the first industrially mined deposits in the world. A panorama of Jáchymov as it looked towards the end of the nineteenth century is shown in Fig. 8a. It illustrates the most famous sights of the town and reflects its former glory. The Royal Mint (Fig. 8b), a renaissance structure, has been preserved in its entirety. The building serves now as a museum displaying the history of the town, geology, mineralogy, minting and the spa industry.
Fig.
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2.3 Radioactive Era
Although the use of uranium compounds in glass and porcelain products continued well into the first decades of the twentieth century, Jáchymov’s future was dramatically changed by the discovery of radioactivity by Henri Becquerel in 1896 and especially by the discovery of radium and polonium in 1898 by M.e CurieSklodowska and her husband, P. Curie. In fact, H. Becquerel was at one time the teacher of Marie Sklodowska when she came from her native Poland to Paris to study physics and mathematics. These three scientists made their discoveries when experimenting with unprocessed uranium ore (pitchblende) brought from Jáchymov.
Radium was considered to be a miracle substance able to cure cancer and to be used in many other medical applications, where it was believed to have magical curative effects. Since the extraction of radium from uranium ore was extremely complicated and hard work, its price skyrocketed up to US$ 120,000 for a single gramme (approximately US$ 2.2 million in today’s values) in the first two decades of the twentieth century. In the late 1930s, however, the price fell dramatically.
Figure 9 shows some uses of radium as ingredients added to various substances and even to water and foodstuffs. It was promoted as a cure for most diseases or conditions.
Fortunately, the concentration of radium or its amounts in these materials or water was relatively low, which in most cases resulted in exposures to persons below the threshold level for deterministic biological effects (tissue reactions). This was why, for some time, no deleterious consequences had been noticed. The doses received by users were rather low, but sufficiently high compared with the current radiation protection requirements and the limits set by regulatory authorities for the public in accordance with international standards. In general, such applications of radioactive sources would now be found unjustified and thus forbidden.
The Jáchymov radioactive spa was founded in 1906, when very small-scale private baths were put into operation. At that time there were only small baths. Miners had to bring radioactive water in wooden buckets. Radioactive water baths have been in use since 1906 in Jáchymov and, only later, from 1912 in Bad Brambach
Fig. 9 Examples of various applications of radium promising miraculous effects or cures
and from 1918 in Oberschlema, Saxony. The business increased from 30 patients in 1906 to 228 in 1908. Although the increase in numbers indicates that the treatments were considered successful, real improvements would be rather difficult to assess considering the present standards and knowledge.
In 1912 the construction of the splendid Radium Palace, specializing in various treatments including radon and using radon baths, was completed. The Palace was situated near the well-known uranium factory that produced the uranium yellow, widely used at that time for colouring glass and ceramics (Fig. 10) (Marshall and Marshall 2008). The Radium Palace Spa Hotel, its other name, was the very best Europe could offer for this specific treatment at that time. Therefore, it attracted many celebrities from political, industrial and cultural life. The radon spa became renowned throughout the world.
The present view of the Radium Palace is shown in Fig. 11. Even after closing the Jáchymov uranium mines in 1964, the spa tradition has continued to today. Several other modern spa facilities meeting the highest standards have been built.
The magnificent Radium Palace Spa Hotel, known also as the Radium Kurhaus or Radium Kurhotel, offered 350 rooms, 85 bathrooms and the latest in modern conveniences and radium treatments, including its own baths, drinking cures and an emanatorium (inhalation) room. With the quality of the accommodation and the thoroughness of the treatment, Jáchymov continued to grow as a spa town, increasing the number of patients it saw in a year by huge numbers. Soon other hotels were being built in the town and surrounding areas.
These two spa hotels bear the names of two distinguished persons who were closely associated with Jáchymov, namely, famous Marie Curie-Sklodowska and
Fig. 10 This photo taken in 1915 shows the Radium Palace and the nearby factory (Urangelbfabrik) famous for producing uranium yellow
J. Sabol
the well-known Czech scientist and educator, Professor František Běhounek (1898–1973). F. Běhounek, who spent 2 years at M. Curie’s Institut du Radium in Paris (1920–1922), and after returning home, studied radioactivity in the Jáchymov mines and became a pioneer in the use of radium. He was the director of the National Radiological Institute in Prague (1929–1946). In 1963 he founded the Department of Dosimetry and Applications of Ionizing Radiation at the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences of the Czech Technical University in Prague (by the way, the author of this chapter was one of the first graduates from this department, which he also later headed for some time). He also was the founder and the first director of the Institute of Dosimetry of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague.
F. Běhounek continued his close contacts with his Paris mentor. He accompanied M. Curie during her visit to Prague and Jáchymov in 1925 (Poledníček 2015). During her visit, Marie Curie was also received by the president of the republic, T. G. Masaryk. In Jáchymov she visited the Radium Palace and even went down into the pit of the Svornost (Concord) Mine.
In addition to the already mentioned use of uranium compounds in producing colourful glassware and ceramics, radium mixed with the zinc sulphide was another application of a newly discovered radioactive element (Braunbeck 1996; EPA 2016). Some of these items were made and sold without any restrictions since at that time the health effects of radiation were not fully recognized. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, people were fascinated by its mysterious glow. This paint containing radium was used in clock and watch faces and hands. Later, this glowin-the-dark paint was also applied to airplane dials and gauges (Fig. 12).
In the years 1909–1937, the Jáchymov factory was able to produce as much as 64.3 g of radium. It was thought that radium possessed special curative properties. As mentioned above, the items where radium was used as an ingredient to produce special luminescent effects were not so dangerous for users since external radiation
Fig. 11 The Radium Palace today after some renovation and modernization
Fig. 12 Uranium based colours, (a) an illustration of their uses on various types of watches and clocks and (b) an advertisement attracting attention to the “time at night”
emitted from such items was relatively low. However, later it was found that in some other similar factories, the workers engaged in the use of radium paints were in grave danger. Unfortunately, this was discovered only after some time when the consequences of internal exposure became visible and had produced terrible health effects. Radium, as an alpha emitter, is characterized by extremely high radiotoxicity since all energy of the radiation is absorbed in small volumes of tissues inside the body. This was the case of the so-called radium girls in the USA (Laurence 1979; Clark 1997; Abrams 2011).
The fine yellow powder which contained only a minuscule amount of radium was mixed with zinc sulphide, with which the radium reacted to give a brilliant glow. The effect was breathtaking. The demand at such factories showed no signs of slowing; more and more girls were recruited to paint dials. They used luminous radium paints to make the numbers on watches, clocks and aeronautical dials glow brightly in the dark.
It is estimated that more than 4000 workers worked in various factories in the USA and Canada to paint watch faces with paints containing radium. The brushes would lose shape after a few strokes, so some supervisors encouraged their workers to point the brushes with their lips (“lip, dip, paint”) or use their tongues to keep them sharp. Because the girls were not aware of any danger, they painted their nails, teeth and faces for fun with the deadly paint. After some time, many girls who painted dials began to fall ill with a mysterious disease. It was later concluded that the main reasons behind this illness was extensive internal contamination of the radium girls as a result of applying the recommended technique they adopted (Fig. 13). During these operations, they often swallowed some paint containing radium. A number of these workers suffered from bone cancer, which usually affected their jaws. It was only in the 1970s, when radium was no longer allowed to use on watch and clock dials.
J. Sabol
2.4 Nuclear Age
While the start of World War I began to shake the golden age of radium in Jáchymov, the beginning of World War II brought some new attraction to interest in the uranium business.
Towards the end of 1938, the Otto Hahn (1879–1968) together with Fritz Strassmann (1902–1980) succeeded in splitting uranium atoms in two. For the first time, it was confirmed that nuclear fission was taking place. This discovery laid the basis for nuclear energy use but also for nuclear weapons. The small picturesque town of Jáchymov in a deep forest valley came to be known as the “cradle of the nuclear (atomic) age”.
Since the beginning of World War II, further atomic research was characterized by the development of war-critical weapons. Some of the best scientists were hired to participate in the development of the atomic bomb in the years following 1939.
As of the end of World War II, uranium mining was intensified, both in Jáchymov and in other uranium mines in the former Czechoslovakia as well as on the German side of the Ore Mountains (at that time the German Democratic Republic).
Conventionally, uranium had been mined from open pits or underground mines Later, alternate methods, such as in situ leach mining, based on injection of a specific solution into underground deposits to dissolve uranium, began to be common. The simplified scheme of the whole fuel cycle is shown in Fig. 14 (Hecht 2006).
It was found long time ago that uranium mining presents serious health hazard resulted in development of lung cancer due to inhaling uranium decay products (IEER 2018). Uranium mill tailings contain radioactive materials, notably radium and heavy metals, such as manganese and molybdenum, which can leach into
Fig. 13 Radium girls’ dangerous job, (a) technique used in painting dials and (b) unfortunate consequences as illustrated in the contemporary press
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“They went away and never told me whether they’d be back to breakfast. Now, blast the luck! if I cook up a lot of grub for the whole party, and they ain’t here to eat it, the things’ll all spile, and then I’ll catch thunder for being extravagant and wasteful. And if I don’t cook for the lot, they’ll be sure to come back, and then there’ll be a fuss ’cause breakfast ain’t ready.”
“Oh, never mind the breakfast; there are other things more important than that, just now.”
The cook stared at him aghast.
“Other things more im-port-ant to look after! Oh, every hair of my head! Oh, my boot-heels! Oh, if I didn’t get breakfast to-morrow, what a swearing, red hot mess there’d be—every man a-cussing me. You never was a camp cook—you don’t know what it is.”
“It’s the softest job in the train.”
“Say that again and I’ll knock you down! Great Cæsar! if I wanted to have the sweetest revenge on an enemy, I’d condemn him to cook all his life for a camp. He’d go crazy—every hair in his head would turn gray in a few months. Heavens! what torments! Talk about your referees—talk about your President of the United States—your umpires—your settlers of disputes—there’s not so thankless a job in the world as that of a camp cook. It is always, cook, do this—cook, do that; cook, when’s dinner going to be ready? There ain’t enough biscuits, cook—why didn’t ye make more? You never make the coffee strong enough, cook—why don’t ye make it stronger? Cook, go fetch some drinking water! just as if I war a slave. No wonder I’m cross; who ever saw a camp cook that wasn’t? Nobody.
“And then if a meal ain’t ready to a second, how I’m sworn at and cursed. Cook, what makes you always behind? you are never on time. Then when it is ready, then comes the music—a regular dirge to me. One grumbling rascal says the meat ain’t cooked; another swears ’cause thar’s gnats in the coffee—just as if I could go round catching bugs like a boy with a butterfly net. And if a feller is in a civilized country and has butter, then it melts until you have to soak your bread in it to get any one. They cuss me for that too, and say
I’m lazy and stingy because I won’t tote an ice-chest round. These fellers are the worst I ever did see. Bimeby they’ll be wanting ice cream, jelly, chocolate, oranges, mattresses to sleep on, and a waiter for every one. They’ll be wanting linen shirts, kid gloves, and a boot black bimeby—I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they should beg for ottomans, easy-chairs and musketo-bars—not a bit. Oh, curse the day I was fool enough to join as camp cook! Oh, every hair of my head!”
The Canadian, seeing he was in a fever, no further aggravated him by continuing the conversation, but glancing over the plain, said:
“There are three horses yet—no, two, that are loose. Can you throw a lariat, cook?”
“No, I can’t—and what’s more, I ain’t a-going to. I’m up every morning before daylight, cooking while you lazy fellows are snoring; then I drive team and wash dishes at the same time—I ain’t crosseyed, and the result is I go slap into some hole, then get cussed. Then at noon you fellers roll on your lazy backs and see me cook, cook; and each one is always wanting me to cook a dish just the way some one else don’t want it done. Then it’s wash dishes and drive team again all the afternoon; a cross-eyed man could do it well enough, but I can’t. Then I’m washing dishes long after every one’s asleep at night, and am expected to turn out every morning a little after midnight and go to work, work again. No, sir; if you want the horses brought up, you can do it yourself, for I can’t and won’t.”
“All right, Duncan. You do have a hard time, that is a fact. Go in now, and get some sleep and I’ll try my hand at catching the horses.”
Duncan went inside and found Pedro and Mr. Wheeler both in a semi-stupor, from different causes, while Robidoux took a lariat and started away toward the black horse and the mustang, Dimple.
They were some two hundred yards distant, and both grazing, though differently. The moon shone brightly, and by its light he could see the black horse was quietly feeding, while the mustang was restless and kept moving away from him as if afraid of his superior size.
Silence reigned over the level plain as the Canadian walked rapidly toward them with his lariat in his hand. He looked carefully over the plain—nothing was in sight; he was alone on the plain in the Land of Silence.
He halted, as a thought struck him, hesitated a moment, then went on.
“What if I should see the ghost the guide was talking about?” he mused. “I begin to believe he did see one after the strange things that have happened to-night. That Pedro fellow they say is a brave man, but he’s scared to-night. I wonder if he saw it? I’d hate to have him ride up to me now.”
Once more he looked around on the moonlit silent plain—once more he moved on.
The black horse ceased his browsing as he drew near, and looked at him fixedly; something at that moment occurred to Robidoux.
“Pedro’s horse is in the cave,” he whispered to himself; “and all the others are gone except Dimple. It is strange—whose horse can it be?”
He went on and drew near. The mustang had moved away quite a distance, and stood snorting and tossing her mane; she was evidently affrighted—what was the matter?
She was gazing at something behind him—he turned. As he did so he uttered a sharp cry.
A form was coming toward him from the hillock—a colossal form walking rapidly. A tall hat surmounted his head, and in the band was a waving plume; a serape was over his shoulders, almost concealing his body; he was quite near, being in fact only a rod or so distant.
The Canadian knew it was not Pedro, and no man as enormous was of the party besides him except Cimarron Jack, and he was away He trembled; could it be the guide’s ghost?
The man was almost upon him, and was advancing rapidly Seized with sudden terror, nameless but vivid, he clasped his hands and
awaited his approach. His old superstitions were fully aroused, and he felt it was a thing to be dreaded.
In five seconds he stood face to face with the whitest, ghastliest face, the blackest, keenest eye, and the most terrifying form he had ever seen. He knew now who it was, from the guide’s description.
Horror! he was facing, on this moonlight night, on this bare, lonely plain, the ghost of the Trailer!
“You are late on the plain to-night.”
They were almost the very words he had spoken to the guide. With a wild cry, and moved by his great terror, he saw the figure stalk toward the black horse, which walked to meet him.
He stopped in the entrance and stared back, then again shrieking, he sprung in and tightly closed the trap; he had seen the mustang, seized with fear, scour away over the plain, and coming toward the hillock on the stalking black horse was the terrible, strange form—the Trailer’s spirit!
Still shined the moon quietly down. There is dire trouble in the Land of Silence to-night.
CHAPTER XI.
A REFUGE IN TIME.
Away rode the Apaches galloping south-east, leading the captured horses behind them. In the sudden surprise and retreat they had forgotten to retain those articles which they had fixed their eyes on, only a few diminutive and easily-carried articles being clung to. Their most precious prize had been abandoned—the caddy of “black Navy”—far more precious in their estimation than gold or ornaments. It had been pounded, hammered, dashed against wagon hubs, but in vain; and so, though reluctantly, they rode away minus two braves, with two more fatally wounded, with a paltry prize of twelve aged, heavy horses, whose best run was a mere rapid canter, and who were incumbered with heavy, impeding harness.
Not knowing the nature or number of their foes, they were riding away toward a part of the plain some twenty miles distant, which was traversed by numerous and deep arroyos (small chasms or deep ravines) which in their great number and devious windings afforded excellent shelter.
Looking back, though they could not see more than several miles in the hazy moonlight, they were certain that they were pursued, but by whom or how many they could not determine.
They had been plundering the abandoned wagons of their recent victorious foes—that they were aware of; but where they had been so effectually concealed, or how many they numbered were enigmas the shrewdest could not unravel.
Moonlight still hung over the Land of Silence, and the round full orb in the eastern zenith still shone clearly. Still rode the savages on.
Behind, but gaining, came five white men, or about one-fifth of the savages, riding faster and quite as directly toward the plain of the
arroyos The savages, as they rode over the ground, chattered noisily—these men, too, conversed, but gloomily.
“We can not distinguish the Apaches—perhaps we are straying from the trail,” remarked Louis Robidoux.
“Ain’t nuther!” This from the guide, surlily.
“How do you know?” asked Sam, spurring to the guide’s side.
“Bekase we air goin’ ter the eye-dentical place whar they’re goin’.”
“Where is that—to the ravines?”
“Gulches. Dead Man’s Gulches.”
“Why are they named so strangely?”
“Because a man that gits in thar stands a mighty poor show to git out again. You’ve seen them Chinese puzzles, haven’t you?—we boys used to have them at school. The only difference between the two is, that whar yer kin easy git ter the center of the Gulches, you kain’t in the puzzle; but both air mighty hard ter git out of. I’ve seen a man that said he traveled four days trying ter git out, and didn’t move a mile in the whole time. The creeks are parallel, criss-cross, angling— every which way; and they are deep and wide. God pity the greenhorn that gits inter them.”
“I heard a Mexican tell some whopping yarns about some Dead Man’s Gulches, but I didn’t believe him; but sence ye say so and back him, why I’ll hev ter give in, I reckon,” remarked Burt Scranton.
“Wait till yer git thar an’ then see fur yourself,” suggested the guide.
“Durn me ef I want any truck with ’em, you hear , gran’mother?”
“Then you are sure the red-skinned knaves will go to the Gulches?” interrogatively spoke Sam.
“Sartain. They’re skeered and don’t know who shot at ’em. Thar’s mighty peert shelter in the Gulches, an’ that’s whar every Apache fur miles ’round skedaddles ter when he’s hard pressed. I’ll bet my bottom dollar we’ll be sure ter find ’em thar.”
“You, too, Jack?” Cimarron Jack nodded.
“Very well; how far distant are they?”
“A matter of fifteen or twenty miles, p’r’aps. About two hours’ sharp spurring.”
“All right then. Spur up, boys, spur up! Here goes for the Gulches— hurrah!”
“Hurrah for Dead Man’s Gulches!” was the answer, as on they sped.
“Three and a tiger for the catamount-chewers; for the rattlesnakecharmers; for the scorpion-eaters; and for the cocks of the walk!” yelled Cimarron Jack, suiting the action (the former one) to the word.
They were given lustily, and the trampled herbage under the ringing hoofs slowly raised to find that the ruthless destroyers were passed on and were rapidly receding from sight.
Two hours later. Now the moon was in the zenith, round, white and gleaming, and the actors in the varying tragedy were passing over a different landscape. The plain, though still level, taken as a whole, was cut into many islands, capes, peninsulas—into all manner of curious shapes by the deceitful ravines and small creeks, called Dead Man’s Gulches.
Winding in and out, slipping, crawling, and at short times and long intervals, trotting, was a serpentine train of dusky forms, twisting and climbing deeper and deeper into the wild and sandy maze.
Ever and anon they looked back, and some grinned sardonically, while others frowned and fingered their tomahawks nervously. They were looking at a small party behind who were just entering the Gulches, a mile away, and who were coming boldly and rapidly on in pursuit.
Unlike the savages they were unincumbered with leading horses, and were able to move much more rapidly. They were also in Indian file and were headed by Simpson, the guide—now a guide in a useful and important sense, for he was acquainted with many (not
all, by any means) of the mazes into which they were involving themselves.
“Durn my hide!” he growled, as he mounted an eminence.
“Gee-whiz! what a pile of ’em thar is. Gee-whittaker! ef they’d turn and surround us in these durned gulches what a battue thar’d be. A serround—it’d be the last of every mother’s son of us.”
The guide was losing his taciturnity—a sure sign he was in earnest, and so he was.
“We’d better look sharp,” resumed Jack.
“Keep your eyes open all of you and see that no red rascal leaves the main pack. The moon shines clear and we can easily tell if any one drops into a hole.”
They obeyed his instructions, and leaving the guide to find the way, steadily watched the retreating band. Now they would be sharply outlined against the sky, winding out of view like a tread mill; now they would appear coursing over a level “reach;” and again they would disappear altogether.
“Cuss the place!” sharply exclaimed Burt, as his horse slipped down a low bank. “It’s jest like the old Adirondacks, on a small scale. I’ll bet them devils make two rods ter our one.”
“No, they don’t,” said Jack. “They are held back by our horses—durn ’em. We’ll soon catch ’em.”
“Then what will we do—they are five to our one, and all armed with good rifles the Government gave them?” queried Sam.
“Fight—we can do nothing else. The Government didn’t give ’em rifles—it’s the Ingun agents. They make a handsome profit on the rifles, trading ’em for furs and the like. The Inguns get guns and then turn round and kill whites with them.”
“But the Apaches have no agent.”
“What difference does that make? The northern tribes do—good breech-loading rifles are given them by the stand. There’s such a thing as trade, and swop, and steal—as much among Inguns as
whites. The reservation Inguns don’t have much use for rifles, so they trade ’em off to hostile tribes. You bet sometime I’m going to try for an Ingun agency, then—hurrah!”
“K’rect!” came from the guide.
“Hullo!” cried Burt, sharply. “The pack ain’t quite so big as it was.”
They ceased and looked ahead. Surely enough, the band had diminished one-half at least. The remainder still kept on, though with slackened speed. The guide stopped short.
“It’s not any use ter go much further—fust thing we know we’ll be inter a big ambuscade. Any thing but that, say I.”
“We can keep on for three or four hundred yards yet, Tim. They’ve stopped in some big gulch while the rest have gone on. They will lie there to pepper us when we come on and they won’t stir. We might get in a volley on them, too, by riding along.”
The guide cogitated for a moment. The plan seemed feasible, and accordingly he again bent his eyes to the ground, and the party glided in and out among the gulches.
“Now, fellows, and you ’specially, Robidoux, mind your eye. We ain’t on a bare plain, now, but in a devilish mean place. Keep close to Simpson and have your guns cocked and ready. Ride slow, Simpson!”
“Ay, ay!” and as the guide slackened his pace they clustered about him. Now the gulches grew narrower, deeper, and thicker. It became difficult to climb some of the sandy, yielding, and precipitous banks; the descents, too, became attended with danger. Sometimes they were forced to follow a ravine some little distance in order to find an emerging place; then again they were obliged to ride along a bank to find a safe descending spot. This irksome and dangerous task was rendered doubly dangerous by the fact that at some advanced point, they knew not where, nearly a score of bloodthirsty and cunning Apaches lay waiting for their scalps.
The foremost band still retreated, but slowly in order to stimulate them to greater haste, which would, of course, be attended with a
large degree of recklessness They were within half a mile, having lost ground, and were apparently beating the led horses to urge their lagging steps. But the sharp eyes of Scranton had given them timely warning, without which they would surely have run into a fatal trap.
They were now on a “reach” and had space for a fast trot of a hundred yards or more, when they would reach the brink of a yawning chasm, black and gloomy in its dark and serpentine shadow. Here the guide stopped, followed by the others.
“It’s no use ter go further,” he said. “Do yer see that big gulch ahead? Wal, yer may bet yer lives that in that black shadder more ’n a dozen dirty ’Patchies air watchin’ us. We’ll stop fur a change, right hyar.”
“Here’s a splendid place for a stand,” said Jack, pointing to a deep fissure adjacent.
“Le’s climb for that, and if there’s any ’Patchies in the gully, yender, ye’ll see how quick they’ll come skinning out, when they find out we’ve found ’em out.”
“And we’ll rout them out, right out,” said the Canadian, mimicking Jack’s speech. The latter turned upon him and grasped him by the throat.
“This ain’t the first time you’ve insulted me,” he cried; “but, by Judas, it’ll be the last.”
Huff! a stream of flame shot out from the shadow, a loud report sounded, and a bullet whistled past Jack’s head. His timely and sudden change of position had saved his life.
Letting loose the malicious Canadian, he spurred his horse toward the fissure.
“Come on!” he cried, “we are attacked! Yonder’s the other pack coming back to help; right down in this gully; now, lively!”
Pell-mell, helter-skelter, they dashed recklessly into the friendly fissure, while simultaneously a hideous, blood-curdling yell rung out from the black, shadowy gulch, and a harmless volley sped over their heads. They were discovered and perhaps entrapped—the fight
had arrived, and they were opposed to and harassed by, five times their number of wily, cruel, unrelenting foes.
In five minutes the “reach” was swarming with yelling, screeching and bloodthirsty Apaches, forming to pounce upon the devoted band below.
CHAPTER XII.
A MYSTERIOUS SHOT.
After the Canadian had trembled, shuddered and brooded awhile without being alarmed by a second visitation, he began to look into the why and the wherefore of it. To follow his vague and erratic mindwanderings would be a dull task, as he was too terrified and confused to shape his thoughts into any discernible matter.
An hour perhaps passed and it was now the early morning. In the cave the torch cast its flickering light over a dull, gloomy scene. Pedro and Mr. Wheeler lay motionless in a semi-stupor; Duncan muttered disjointedly in his sleep, bewailing and cursing his hard lot; the horse of the Mexican stood in his giant proportions quietly in a corner; and only the Canadian was at all conscious of passing sounds and events. These had not come—were yet to arrive; and arrive they did in no very merry manner.
All had been quiet, Duncan in his heavy sleep forgetting to snore, when the mustang, Dimple, nickered loudly; at the same moment Pedro turned uneasily and muttered:
“The Trailer—my precious, yellow gold.”
The Canadian started, and springing to his feet glanced round in the darkness as though momentarily expecting a second visitation of the man in the towering hat; but all was quiet, the torch flickered weirdly, and he again sat near the entrance.
“What does he mean?” he soliloquized.
“The Trailer—that means that horrible ghost. And yellow gold—what does that mean? He has seen the specter—that I am satisfied of; it accounts for his strange alarm and apathy; but the gold, the gold— what gold does he mean?”
Another shrill nicker from Dimple outside; in his abstraction he noted it not but went on with his soliloquy.
“I have hunted the moose on Moosehead Lake, and on the headwaters of the Penobscot; I’ve lumbered on the Kennebec and Androscoggin; I’ve fished in the Thousand Isles; I’ve hunted the bear in the Missouri Ozarks; but of all the ghastly moons that ever shone, this one to-night is the ghastliest. The very moon in the Land of Silence is different from other moons—or the same moon at other places. There it is white; here it is yellow, red, and sometimes even blood-red, like a ruby. What a quiet, ghastly place—this vast yellow wilderness; how still the air always is; how sultry and hazy the days and dreamy the nights; how— Halloa!”
Again the mustang nickered, shriller and wilder than before. He was about to resume, when a wild, unearthly yell broke upon the quiet night air—a yell as if Pandemonium had broken loose. Starting back with fear, he clasped his hands, then ran to the entrance and flung it open.
He closed it as quickly, if not sooner, as a rumbling sound came from behind the hillock, a sound of thundering hoofs, and the hideous yell pealed again; then, as he peeped through a chink, he saw the cause.
Riding like wild-fire, screaming and whooping, came a dozen Indians, charging on the wagons from behind the hill. Clustering together with tossing arms, they rode swoop down upon them. He started down, then ran quickly to Pedro.
“Pedro—Pedro Felipe—wake up—arise; we are charged by Apaches.”
At the word Apaches Pedro rose suddenly, from sheer habit, as his eye was vacant, and his air that of a somnambulist; his energy was short-lived, and he sunk down again.
“Pedro—for heaven’s sake get your gun; we are attacked.”
“Have you seen it?”
“Seen them? Yes; they are yelling outside—don’t you hear them? Come, hurry!”
“Have they got my gold?”
Robidoux was sharp enough to take advantage of this question, and he replied:
“Yes, yes; all of it. Come, hurry!”
Pedro needed no other incentive, but sprung from his couch and grasped his rifle. Springing toward the door, he hoarsely said:
“Senor, here we go—altogether; Caramba!”
Before Robidoux could stop him he had flung back the trap-door and was standing outside, aiming at a slender Apache just entering a wagon. The broad, dusky back of the savage, in contrast to the moonlit, white wagon-cover, offered a good mark; and quickly sighting, the Mexican drew the trigger. The Apache, with a wild yell, sunk back on the wagon-tongue and hung suspended across it, killed immediately. This was a decidedly favorable event; for, awakened by the sight of his habitual foe, aroused by his successful shot, Pedro was himself again.
The Canadian smiled as Pedro darted back into the cave, at seeing a once more natural expression on his features. Should he retain his equanimity they had but little to fear beyond the plundering of the train, and that might be prevented for the present, as the whole line of wagons was commanded by the entrance.
The utmost confusion prevailed among the dusky plunderers as the fatal bullet ended their companion’s career forever. Some darted behind wagons; some flew to their adjacent mustangs; two clambered into a wagon; while the rest scattered like rabbits, not knowing by whom the shot was fired, or where the precise marksman was stationed.
They were thoroughly alarmed, inasmuch as, not belonging to RedKnife’s band, they had accidentally fallen upon the train. They had been surprised at not finding a human being near the wagons; they were thunder-struck at the mysterious shot and its fatal effect.
Their alarm and surprise was somewhat dissipated very soon by Pedro’s firing from a chink in the trap-door. He had aimed at the prostrate form of a savage, lying on the ground behind a wagon; the bullet struck him fairly in the side, and, with a groan of mortal agony, he stretched himself prone, to speedily die.
Though by this shot Pedro had reduced his enemies’ number in some degree, still, upon the whole, the shot was disadvantageous, in this wise: when he fired, the chink being small, the force of the explosion had carried away a portion of the rotten planking, making the aperture distinctly visible from the wagons. The lynx-eyed savages instantly discovered this, and were instantly aware the hill was hollow—a mere shell.
A grunt of relief and gratification went around the line of skulking figures, speedily changed to one of alarm. A hole, black and wide, suddenly appeared in the hillside; a stream of flame shot out, a report sounded, and two savages yelled loudly, and, with their comrades, clambered upon the wheels in order to effectually conceal themselves, and protect their bodies from the murderous fire.
“Well done!” remarked Pedro to his companions, all of whom had taken part in the volley. “We killed none, but made them howl, nevertheless.”
Cool, deliberate, noble Pedro was himself again—the far-famed scout and feared Indian-fighter Now was his brain clear; now were his nerves steady; and the famous master of Indian strategy was rapidly running down his No. 1 buckshot, with eyes sparkling like a ferret’s.
“Senors—sirs, fire not hastily. It is a fault with you Americans—you are not sufficiently aware of the importance of keeping cool. See! they have quite concealed themselves; never mind, we are entirely safe, well ammunitioned, and able to prevent them from plundering the wagons. Keep cool, watch every point, and when you fire be sure and aim.”
“I hope they won’t hurt any of my tin cups,” anxiously muttered Duncan. “We haven’t got but five, and one of them leaks. It’ll be just
like ’em to go and eat all my brown sugar up—oh, my boot-heels! if they do how I’ll get cussed. If the President of the United States was struck by lightning you fellers ’d cuss me, and say I was to blame.”
“Less talking, senor, if you please,” gently admonished Pedro. “‘All tongue no sand,’ as Simpson says.”
A few minutes passed, and suddenly Duncan broke out again:
“Every hair of my head! Save it—oh, save it, for heaven’s sake!”
“Save what?” asked Robidoux.
“Don’t you see that small stream running down through the wagonbottom?”
“I see something dark, I think. What is it?”
“Flour! flour! Oh, save it! My boot-heels! won’t I get a cussing when I tell ’em they can’t have any more biscuit? Everybody ’ll swear at me: Cook, I never saw such a clumsy bunch of darned carelessness; cook, the next time you want buffler-chips or fire-wood you can get ’em yourself; never ask me to pack water for you again, cook, for I won’t do it, you careless, wasteful old cook; then Cimarron Jack, or whatever you call him, ’ll sure desert, ’cause I couldn’t help myself when the Injuns wasted the flour—he, a feller that don’t get bread of any kind once a year. Oh, every hair of my head! I’m the cussingpost for the world to swear at—me, the camp-cook, a low, thankless dog.”
“I will see they are informed of the true state of affairs, now,” said Pedro, consolingly.
Duncan burst out, in high dudgeon:
“Think that ’ll do any good? think ’ee, think ’ee? Sir, I solemnly swear it!—if you put your hand on the Bible afore an alcalde, or whatever you call him, and swear—yes, sir, swear upon your oath, they’d still cuss me and say I’m the one to blame. Oh, curse the unlucky, miserable day I learned to cook!
“If any young man should come to me and ask me for advice,” he resumed, after a brief pause, “perhaps I couldn’t tell him what to do,
but I could just naturally tell him what not to do. I’d say, young man, don’t let any fellow inveigle you into learning the pastry-cook’s trade —it ’ll be the ruin of you. Oh, look at my flour—going all the time.”
During the time in which he had been speaking, the moon had been steadily moving on its downward, westward course, making the wagon-shadows larger, perceptibly. Though but little longer, they were of sufficient length to form a black isthmus between the wagons and the most distant end of the hill. Duncan, on stopping, observed a change come o’er the face of the grand old strategist. From a cool, impassible calm it had changed to an expression of positive terror, which as quickly vanished, giving, in turn, place to a look of moderate anxiety.
Stepping to the torch, he extinguished it, gazing anxiously to the roof before so doing. Then in the darkness he whispered:
“Senor Wheeler, you will be of more use in guarding the door. Allow me to advise you to look well to it. Men, you two place yourselves by my side, in readiness to fire.”
They did so, and he continued:
“I saw, just now, the entire body of the Apaches scamper along that longest shadow to the right. They have discovered the hill is only a shell, and will endeavor to force their way into it before daybreak. There are now nine of them and they will at once go to work. There is nothing to be feared—the moon shines so brightly that we can see the slightest crevice they may make.”
No longer they watched the wagons in the bright moonlight; but with every confidence in their famous leader, with hands touching his garments, they waited, looking at the small chinks in the roof through which the white sky shone plainly.
Pedro was an infallible prophet when he prophesied, for this reason —he never prognosticated without mature deliberation, always ruled by existing circumstances. Men wondered and marveled, but, superficial themselves, considered it a marvelous power, when, like many other strange powers (?), it was only the legitimate offspring of two healthy parents—shrewdness and thought.
In this case he was right. Before five minutes had passed, a slight noise was heard on one side of the slanting roof, rather low down, a grating rasping noise.
“They are boring. God grant they haven’t got my butcher-knife!” excitedly whispered Duncan, in a fever. “Where do you think they are boring with their cussed knives and hatchets?”
Pedro chuckled.
“They are working too low to reach us. There is one part—a quarter —of the hill that is solid. They are boring at that place, ha! ha!”
The rasping continued, growing louder and harsher. The savages were strangely bold and reckless. No other noise was heard, only the same quick, grating sounds—grate, grate—as the metal weapons glanced from the flinty, pebbly soil.
“If they were boring on this side, now, they would be nearly through, I judge by their vigorous, rapid work,” observed Pedro. “But, as they are at work on a solid part of the hill, they will get through to us in about a week. Ha! ha! Apache!” and he laughed, tauntingly.
“I wonder where the others are,” interrogatively spoke the Canadian. “They might be in trouble for all we know.”
“Near the Dead-Man’s Gulch,” replied Pedro. “I believe they took that route in pursuit.”
“They stand a slim chance of recovering the horses.”
“I was not well at the time the attack was made,” and if it had been light a blush would have been seen on Pedro’s cheek. “How many did they number?
“About thirty, I believe,” Simpson said.
“Six to one—hum! Well, the odds are certainly against them. If we were only out of this hole now, we might ride to their assistance.”
“And leave the girl—the sweet, pretty lass?”
“Ah, that is a painful mystery—painful indeed. It quite astounds me.”
“Mr Wheeler and Carpenter are well nigh crazy over it. It is lucky in one way that these cussed Apaches have been pestering us—they have kept their thoughts somewhat away from her. Poor Miss Kissie! Where has she gone?”
“Hark!”
A loud report came to their ears, and at the same time, though unseen by them, the working Indians, with a loud whoop, fled from the hill. A shriek of agony at the same time resounded from the roof, and a body dropped heavily with a hollow sound.
“By every hair of my head!” cried Duncan, “hear them rascals skedaddle!”
“Who shot?” cried Pedro. “Senor, I say, who shot?”
“It came from inside the hill, I’ll take my oath to it!” declared Robidoux.
“I know it did, senor—I know it did;” and Pedro’s voice showed he was excited. “No one shot here, and some one shot from inside the hill and killed a savage. Who shot?”
They could not tell.
CHAPTER XIII.
A MIRACULOUS ESCAPE.
On the “reach” above the fissure in which Cimarron Jack’s band was concealed, danced and whooped the entire band of Apaches, eager for white blood, and, as prospects appeared, in good chances of getting it. Conspicuous among the painted pack stalked Red-Knife, the renegade, to and fro, cogitating and framing a feasible plan for extermination.
It needed not a very subtle brain or a very bold man to ferret out the whites from their present position, and well he knew it. While many plans, ideas and means gratuitously presented themselves to his scheming head, but one was accepted—at once the most feasible, the easiest executed, and the one attended with the least danger—a surround.
Conjectured, planned, advocated—done; so he thought, in his inordinate self-esteem. He did not for a moment consider that the noted “squaw from the bitter river” was thoroughly versed in savage warfare—that he had a vast store of experience to draw from—that he was crafty and brave as a lion. In his vast conceit, he entirely ignored the fact, and went directly on with putting his plan into execution.
The whites were in an isolated fissure about fifteen feet in depth by twenty wide and one hundred long, in the shape of a horse-shoe, the party being ensconced under the bank at the “caulk” in the concavity. Here they were safe for the present, but a small ravine opening from the fissure, rendered their situation precarious. This ravine played an important part in the tragedy, for whose acts the actors were now preparing earnestly.
Where it entered the “horse-shoe” fissure, it was narrow, being only about three feet in width, but in a hundred yards it ran under sandy
