Fire in the Hole: The Untold Story of Hardrock Miners

Rating:
Summary: Fun Book...short on facts
Review: This is a great book for the pictures and the life of a miner as depicted by a miner. Enjoyable reading though a bit short on exact details, facts, or mining explanations. Great pictures though!

Rating:
Summary: Compelling Tale
Review: This was a good, readable book; and it told a compelling tale of a young hard-rock miner, from his stabs at different jobs to his eventual career as a miner. It takes one through his apprenticeship and various adventures in the silver mines of Idaho, until by the end of the book he is a competent silver miner. I would not call Mr. Dolph a great, or even a very good writer; in fact, I doubt if he would describe himself so. He writes with an honesty and a self-effacing wit that more than makes up for any stylistic shortcomings. This book delves into a lot of the minutiae in terms of tools and techniques that a miner needs to master, but I never found this to detract from the great tale he has to tell. And, in spite of, or perhaps because of, his slight shortcomings as a writer, this is a fascinating book. He writes like someone you might like to meet.