Reply #47: see also:

[blayne]

Robert D. Geach Sr. wrote on Feb 14, 2008 9:32 AM:

" I started my career as a miner in the Butte mines in 1947....Where I learned how to "tap her light."..The term refers to loading a hole with dynamite paper cartridges, which were slit lengthwise, and the first one in, the primer, fitted with a fused cap...When all the dynamite sticks were in, they were squashed gently and packed tightly by using a long wooden rod, like a broom handle, as a ram...Using a wooden stick was ideal since it wouldn't cause sparks to set off the dynamite, and you didn't want hard ramming that could set off the primer, like a percussion cap, at the bottom of the hole and you into "kingdom come"...hence, the term "tap her light." "

http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2008/02/13/opinion_top/20080213_opinion_top.txt