Chapter 167 The Suppressed Mining Disaster
I didn’t want to pry into the private affairs of the Hinton family that were unknown to others, so I just touched upon the topic and left it at that. Frankly speaking, the matters of the Hinton family had nothing to do with me. Today was just a coincidence that I happened to encounter them.
Seeing me about to leave, Dale hurriedly stopped me, “Madam…” Seeing me stop and look at him, he sighed helplessly, looked around and said, “Let’s go downstairs and talk.”
I took the elevator and went downstairs with him.
In the rest area under the hospital building, Dale found a quiet place and sighed slightly, “In the 80s, all the policies were not as perfect as they are now, and the domestic economy was just starting. The old man of the Hinton family made a fortune as a carpenter and had some start-up capital. Later, he met friends from all over the world and opened a wood processing factory. After the factory made money, he opened several decoration companies, and then opened branches in several cities in the southeast. The company got bigger and bigger, and the money got more and more. The old man had a lot of money in his hands, so he thought about buying land and mountains all over the country. In that era, as long as you had money, there were idle mountains everywhere, especially in River City.”
Dale said a lot, I didn’t know what he was trying to say, so I just quietly listened to him speak.
He took a slight breath and continued, “Everyone knows now that there are many mountains in the state and county areas of River City, and they are all mines. Back then, buying and developing them was
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like finding gold everywhere. The old man almost bought all the mountains around River City and developed them. Thanks to these mines, the a*sets of the Hinton family have grown almost a
hundred fold. People are always greedy and will never think they have too much money. Ten years ago, the mountains that the old man bought were almost completely mined. At that time, the country also began to prohibit private mining. But the old man still wanted to make one last fortune. However, human greed is never satisfied, and in the end, something went wrong.”
Dale took a slight sip from his tea cup that he carried with him and said, “The mines that have been exploited for many years, those mountains were already empty. Just when the old man planned to make his last fortune and quit, one of the mountains collapsed due to over-mining. Thousands of acres of the mountain collapsed overnight. The incident caused a big stir back then, I suppose you must have heard something about it.”
I furrowed my brows and asked, “Is it about the Mount Snake collapse incident?” At that time, I was still in school. The incident was so big that it was almost universally known, even in an era when the internet. was not so developed.
He nodded, helplessly saying, “The impact of this incident was too great back then. Not only did the people of River City hear about it, but the common people in other provinces also heard about it.”
I was somewhat puzzled, “The incident did indeed cause a great stir back then, but it was merely due to a landslide. Many people thought it was just a fault phenomenon caused by crustal movement. Moreover, wasn’t there a Mayan prophecy at the time saying that there would be a great disaster on Earth that year? Many people a*sociated this incident with the prophecy. However, it didn’t have much impact afterwards. Could there be an unknown side to this incident?”
Dale nodded, his face somewhat somber, and said, “A ma*sive
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mountain collapse, the mountain is full of mines, madam, do you really think this is just a simple mountain collapse?”
I was stunned, but quickly regained my composure. Regardless of the impact on the villages nestled in the mountains, the crisscrossing mines within the mountain were of immediate concern. Those mines were not closed at the time, and the miners inside…
Thinking of this, I took a slight breath, looking at Dale and asked, “How many people died in that mine disaster at that time?”
Dale’s brows were furrowed, his eyes slightly red, and he slowly uttered two words, “Three hundred.”
A sinking feeling settled in my heart. I took a deep breath, and after a long pause, I said, “At that time, this incident was not reported, and hardly anyone knew about it.”
He nodded, saying, “It was the Hinton family who bribed Henry with box after box of gold to suppress this matter. Back then, all the journalists who got involved in this were secretly sent out of the country by the Hinton family.”
I pursed my l*ps, momentarily at a loss for words. Behind the lives of three hundred people, how many broken families were there? The Hinton family had suppressed it all with box after box of money.
Seeing that I didn’t speak, Dale took a deep breath and said, “Not long after this incident, Mr. Walter’s father also found out. Because of this, the old man and he began endless arguments. Later, Mr. Walter’s father left the Hinton family and disappeared. Within two years, the old man fell ill and pa*sed away. The vast Hinton family was left with only Carley to support it.”
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