Wisconsin tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1847-1854, 1851-06-05

The efoilowing descri ption of visit to Bot
ailaCk COPPER mine, in England, is from
wcrk published, entitled = Rambles beyond
Railroads." In complete mining eqnipmen,
with candles stuck by lamps of clay to their
hats. the travellers have painfully descended
by perpendicular ladders and along dripping
wet rock passages, fathoms down into pitchv
darkness; the miner who guides them calls
a halt, and their exact position with reference
to the surface Of the "terraqneous globe
is tus described
- We are now four hundred Yards out, IN
der he bottom q the sea. and w eriy fa,h-
oms. or hundred and twenty feet below the
sea level. Ccast trade vessels are sailing
ever our heads. Two hundred and forty Zee,
beneath IS men are ~ work, and there are gal-
leEies deeper yer, even below that The ex-
;raordinary position down the face of the
cliff, Of the engines and other works on ,hs
surface, at Botallack, is now explained. The
mine Is not excavated like other mines under
the land, bat under the sea
Having communicated these particulars, tho
miner tell Us TO keep strict silence and listen.
We obey him, sitting speechle<s and notion
less. If the rcadercouId oaIy ha, { beheld is
nov, dressed in our copper color,d garments.
huddled close together in a mere cleft of sub
teranean rock, with fame burning on our
heads, and darkness envelopeing our limbs
he must certainly have imagined, without any
violent stretch Of fancy, that he was looking
down upon couclave Of gnomeS.
After listening for few moments, dis
taut unearihiy noise becomes family audible
"a long, low. mysterious moaning. that new
er changes-thati is felt on the ear as well a.
heard by it-a sound that might proceed from
some iucalcuiab!e disJauce-from some far
invisible heighth--a sound that is unlike any
thing that is heard on upper ground, in tie
free air Of heayen-a sound so sublimely
Hournful and still, 50 ghostly and impressive
when listened to in the subterranean recess Of
the earth, that We continue instinctively to
mold our peace, as if enchanted by it, and
tlink not Of communicating to each other tie
TRANCE ss'onishment which il has inspi-
I'd N Us both from the first.
AT last the miner speaks again, and tells u
hat hat we hear Is the sound uf the
lshing the racss d hundred and twenty feet
boye Us, and Of the waves that are breaking
IN the beach beyond. The tide is now al lhs
4 ", and the sea is in no extraordinary state
Of agitation; SO the sound is low and distant
'usl at this period. But, when storms are a,
their height. when the ocean hurls mountain
lfter mountain, Of water on the cliffs. then
the noise is terrific; the roaring heard down
here in the mine is 50 inexp~essibly fierce and
nv ful, that the boldesl men at work are afraid
70 continue at their labor-all ascend to she
surface - breathe the upper air and stand Oh.
the firm earth dTeading, though no cat4siro~
phe has ever happened get, that the sea Will
break in on them, If they remain in The cav
eru below.
Hearing this, We got up to look o, the rock
above Us. We are able TO stand Upright in
the position we now occupy and Aaring orr
candles hither and thiiher in the darkness.
can see the bright. pure copper stFeaking the
gallery in every direction. Lunps Of osxe
Of the most lustrous green color, traversed by
a natural net work or thin red veins Of iron,
appear here and there in large irregular patch
IS, over which water is dripping slowly and
necessarily in certain places. This is the
salt water percolating through invisible eran-
MES in the rock. On stormy days ii spirits
out flriousiy in thin, continuous stroatns.--
Just over our heads. We observe wooden
plug, OF the thickness of mans leg; ,here
as hole here, and the plug is e.! that We
have 70 keen out the sea.