I Am a Rock Crusher
Mining silver ore at the Queen of the Hills mine
in the Little Belt Mountains near the Carpenter Creek drainage
in Neihart Canyon in the Montana mining district
just east of the Narrowgauge Gulch in 1885.
Don’t ask me to haul it, you’ll have to pack it
on horseback or ox-drawn wagons to Fort Benson
and from there by steamboat down the Missouri River
for transshipment to Swansea, Wales, for treatment
until they build the new railroad line
and construct a new smelter like the one at Barker/Hughesville
or we can take it to the Barker/Hughesville smelter
to Omaha, Nebraska, then to New Zealand.
I work with the brain children of Thomas Edison-
conveyor belts, giant roller-grinders, cranes for heavy lifting;
I’m a huge roller-crusher- operated by steam engines
with boilers fueled by coal
and the sweat of several workers.
Inner gear workings, tons of crushing weight-
Edison, Fischer, Blake, and Gates-
they all increased me in size with every new venture.
I crush Metamorphic rock. pre-Beltian gneisses and schists
overlain by quartzites and shales,
stratified and layered over earlier schists
found in veins in the sheeted fissures of the range
from the Proterozoic sea. Not too spicy, and a pleasant aftertaste.
Then the Panic of 1893 drove silver prices down-
now I’m just an Omaha Mining Company
lithograph for you to remember me by
from the Monasch Lithograph Company of Minneapolis,
with an ornate border adorning it.
One horrible accident occurred-
a workman, poor Phillip Dougherty,
had unwisely removed my safety gate
while greasing machinery near me.
He slipped on some grease, fell into my roller-crushers,
which, of course, were operating at full steam,
and was ground up so small that his remains had to be gathered in a bed sheet.
and I filed a lawsuit against foolish workers.
I lost.
My giant rollers, "rock-crackers," had to be seen and heard to be appreciated.
You could hear the thunderous roar for a mile around
accompanying the smashing and rending of massive rocks
as they disappeared from view into my gyrating jaws.
I did the work of a hundred men swinging 40 pound sledge hammers
at one fifth of the cost.
They found use for me in the construction of paved roads
where they say I changed the face of the earth.
I greatly increased production, but in some areas my sand and refuse
caused massive fish kills. Sorry, fish-
you'll be around for eons. I'm just a flash in the technological pan.
My modern cousins have
integrated programmable logic controller reversible linear material flow
spline input, reverse, 2nd, and cluster gears
and double toggle roller bearings.
Did I need those back in 1885? No. I had my gyratory crusher jaw.
I was born when mechanized mining was introduced in 1885,
but problems with spare parts and an unfamiliarity with my inner workings
made me unprofitable to all but the largest mining operations.
Once I was mired in the Mohave Desert for months
due to my weight, which was two to twelve tons, can't remember,
or don't want to admit it, my weight being too much for the wagon.
Several teams tried to rescue me. I was eventually rescued.
I even had a town named after me- Rock Crusher, TX.
It had 400 people in its heyday.
I was housed in a tall building and was the center of activity.
Sometime during the 1930's the company tore me down,
leaving a large hole in the ground.
In 1939 Rock Crusher had a population of 25,
one small business, and scattered dwellings.
By the early 1960's the site was deserted and the hole was silted over.
That is how I ended my days as Rock Crusher, circa 1885.
Now you can buy mementos of me on eBay.
Adding your comment:
From abstract to beautiful entrancing forms, to history! lol. You are a man to put up a fight this season!! Whenever we do freebie contest.... you may write what you please 
This is just a place for a bit of reward for harwork and dedication 
Bear always looks out for the challenge 
Though, your sensual and erotica are just as appealing to me. As I said, I am falling in love with your poetry! LOL!
