The last group of trapped miners was reached after midnight.
The rescue team worked through another unstable section using careful support and ventilation checks. Several workers were exhausted and required assistance, but the men guiding the effort refused to rush procedures that could cause another collapse.
When Thomas Rusk finally emerged, the crowd near the entrance erupted.
He was pale.
His clothes were dusty.
And he had a bandage around one arm.
But he was alive.
His wife ran toward him.
He caught her with his uninjured arm.
For several seconds, they simply held each other.
Then Daniel Mercer emerged with two other men.
Anna began crying.
Ruth broke free from her mother's hand and ran toward him.
"Daddy!"
Daniel knelt carefully.
He embraced her.
Then looked toward Anna.
His eyes filled.
For a long time, nobody spoke.
The miners had survived.
The rescue wasn't without injuries or consequences, and the damaged section of the mine would remain closed until it could be properly examined.
But the families who had spent the day waiting in fear could finally begin going home.
Elias arrived at the Copper Pot shortly afterward with the news.
Loretta was sitting beside the stove, exhausted.
When she saw his expression, she knew before he spoke.
"They're out?"
He nodded.
"All accounted for."
She covered her mouth.
Then began crying.
Elias moved closer.
He knelt beside her bench.
For a moment, he looked toward her face.
Then he whispered, "You kept them warm while we tried to bring them home."
Loretta shook her head.
"I only cooked."
Elias smiled gently.
"No."
He looked around the room.
At the empty mugs.
The blankets.
The exhausted women.
The dishes stacked beside the basin.
Then he turned back toward her.
"You kept their families together."
Loretta's eyes filled again.
He held out his hand.
She took it.
And in the quiet after the longest day Red Dog had known in years, she finally allowed herself to believe that her work mattered beyond the meals she served.
The mine collapse changed the camp.
It also exposed questions that Pritchard and Bram desperately wanted to avoid.
Arthur Finch had warned the company about weakened supports in the northern gallery two weeks earlier. He had submitted a written report recommending that work in the affected section stop until repairs were completed.
The recommendation wasn't followed.
Bram had continued assigning men to the gallery.
Pritchard had delayed approving the required timber purchases.