SPECIAL REPORT | FULL COVERAGE

Gov. Schweiker: 'I had reasons to be confident'

Pennsylvania Gov. Mark Schweiker announces late Saturday that all nine miners are alive.

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(CNN) -- Pennsylvania Gov. Mark Schweiker emerged as the point man during the rescue effort for nine men trapped in the Quecreek mine.

Exhausted and elated from the operation's success early Sunday morning, the governor spoke to CNN's Jeff Flock.

FLOCK: Governor, you look tremendously well. You got a shave. You're looking wonderful. ... Did you actually get some sleep?

SCHWEIKER: I just said to the troopers on the way up here I think I fell asleep.

CNN NewsPass Video    •  CNN's Jeff Flock visits an abandoned Pa. mine   •  Surveyor used GPS to locate miners   •  Rescued miners go home   •  Miners express appreciation  MORE STORIES   •  Pennsylvania panel to explore mining accident   •  Flooded mine could be idle for months   •  Pa. governor: Mine's operator 'owes answers'   •  A turning point in the rescue effort   •  Miners braved harrowing conditions   •  Previous mining accidents were minor » Story archive  RESOURCES   •  Jeff Goodell: Despair turns to joy   •  Gov. Schweiker: Mine probe to seek answers   •  Rescued miner: 'It was a team effort'   •  Why we burn coal  EXTRA INFORMATION   •  Gallery: The rescued miners   •  Gallery: Rescue quotes   •  Graphic: Diagram of the Quecreek Mine   •  Map: Mining accident   •  Timeline: What happened, and when

FLOCK: How are you feeling about what you accomplished out here?

SCHWEIKER: Oh, I feel it's going to take a little bit, but the thrill of our success and bringing up those nine guys far outweighs the shortcomings that relate to physical energy of myself.

FLOCK: We were just chatting, those of us in Atlanta, about us cynical reporters, and you know you heard it from a lot of circles -- "You know, this isn't really going to fly. You know you're making a good effort, and you're letting the families know that you gave it the best shot. But you know what? There's very little chance these guys are -- we haven't heard from them since the middle of the day Thursday."

What made you have what we kind of -- us know-it-all-reporters -- called foolish optimism on your part?

SCHWEIKER: Sure, I had reasons to be confident.

FLOCK: Did you know something we didn't know?

SCHWEIKER: No, no, not at all. We tried to impart very quickly and dependably to media and to family all that we knew. But I would tell you that I saw this growing assembly of the right equipment, the right insights and the right people in order to pull off the rescue. ... There was always a chance there was some danger. But seeing that left me confident.

FLOCK: Everything you did was right. Everything that you did -- I mean you wrote a textbook out here.

SCHWEIKER: Well, I don't know if it will amount to a textbook, but I do feel that the decision to sink that 6-foot pipe accomplished a couple of things -- one to allow the miners to be in a position to tap on the pipe to say, "We're here; come get us."

FLOCK: That gave you some extra juice, too. ... It was like, we know you're here.

SCHWEIKER: That's right. It left us encouraged and certainly left them encouraged.

FLOCK: Now we're looking at the pictures that we watched, and you know the families watched these pictures. People across America watched these pictures. People across the world watched them as we simulcast them on our international networks. ...

When you look at this, what had to be going through your mind?

SCHWEIKER: Nine for nine, and it's coming true. A motto of sorts among the rescuers, especially the deep mine rescue team who may well had been facing the prospect of going ...

FLOCK: Going down there. ... You had guys ready to go into that hole.

SCHWEIKER: That's right, and we had a lot of things at the ready, but you know their commitment; there are volunteers to go and do this and a host of others believe that it could be done, and so with that proper confidence that I mentioned a moment ago, the outlook was nine for nine. We're going down to bring up nine, and so as we bring them up, it's just a wonderful exemplar of and proof positive that we made good on the commitment, the nine for nine.

FLOCK: Did you ever not think about saying, you know, "We almost need to think about what we do if we shift to a recovery mission." I mean you were asked at one point, "What if you go down in that hole, and there's nobody there?" You said, "I'm not going to go there."

SCHWEIKER: Well, I thought it important as the lead dog, so to speak, to lay it down. This was going to be a rescue mission and every remark and every choice, and every expectation and every action was about being consistent with the rescue effort. ... Admittedly, in confidential ways with the right people, we did contemplate what had to be done if it had shifted over to a recovery.

FLOCK: Right, and if you'd gotten to the bottom of that hole, and there hadn't been anybody there?

SCHWEIKER: Well, it didn't project that far, but it, you know, we'd still be here lamenting likely the loss of nine good Pennsylvania miners, and that would hurt us all.