New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-06-29

moved. ku, The mass NAV still be seen, crushed aud
orunp!.d Cd Ike squee zed handkerchief by toe ire
men6ous force which uplfted Il, and here doubled 1t
over in a .bsrp ridge, q. one would bend piece Of
pa:teboard On the right !. plupges down beneath
the covering rocky strata with q dip steep a. the
moun.an-sde. into the Panther Creek Valley. In this
hollow are now the chief workii gs-the tunnels being
driven into the hills at their bases until they reach
the coal then worked upward along the scans OF coai
which thus comes down bill easily to the openings Oh
the mines. Here il comes into the altomston hands
Of mechr cry, which handle it almO-t without the
Intervention Of human labor until il snds st the yards
in Philadelphia. Machinery raises Il into the upper
part Of the buildings steampower cracks 1t between
rontoothed cylinders, and ss and sorts it in coarse
screens and s weight drop. it into open cars be-
low. These rum by descending grades, to CONNER
center of all the tracks, at the foo. Of al inclined
plane Up which s;ean-power hauls them to the sum-
nit Their gravity takes them in charge again, and
away they run nine miles devn an even grade to
Msuch Chunk on the Lehigb where, pin being
knocked out, the carbottom drops, and the coal is
discharged into a barge or car, which deposits ia
cargo of solid heat in the Philadelphia yards.
The heavy iron chains and hooks by which the cars
are attached to the wire pe which draws them upthe
inclined plane, ra'urued to the base OF the plane
is curious cortrvance. Beside the track Is built
railing Ike fence but leaning or inclinng foot or
two from the perpendicular, away from the track
On its top i. nailed light iron rail- and on this raj is
get grooved pulley. with stout iron hook attached.
The heavy chains are hung on this hook, dangling on
the lower or back aide Of the railing and let CO. The
whole weighing 80 or 100 pounds, gides down with
velocity increasing until. in it. lower course it flies
past Ike ball, and strikes against back or
It'll l,,t.t e. 9TH
common obstacle could Withstand. This continuance,
at first chri.ened telegraph" called BY some
vorkmen the flicker" and this terse and descriptive
name il still retains 1t 10 dangerous affair, And
several lives have been lost by persons ineautioasy
getting into it's way.
Accidents not unfrequenty happen by the breaking
of the wire ropes by which the loaded are drawn
n the planes and the rails therefore made with
breaks AZ short intervals which do not check an
ascending wheel but throw of any car descending
90 that the mischief is limited to the upset and wreck
of two or three cars before their downward speed has
become great and trains at the foot Of the plane are
not exposed to be smsh,ed by others coming down
with the impetus gained in 800 feet of descent.
Aningenious arrangement, called " switch back
railroad returns the empty to TIE bottom OF the
valley and the mines. They are pushed of, and ran
by their own weight, checked by brakes, down
grade Of 900 feet per mile along the mountsin-side,
until they reach point where is desirable to change
the direction and run backward to place. Here
their velocity is checked by coming to steep upward
inclination, up which they run for perhaps hundred
Yards then stop and begin to run backward. A
they come to the point where they began to ascend,
,eacting switch turns them of upon another track,
On which they run for perhaps half mile, when they
| meet another check aud reversed movement and
succession of such zgzags carries them safely to the
bottom, where they reiled and started on new
journey up the planes.
To follow the COAL in its prcgre. from the bop Of
Summit Hill to the Lehigh Canal, we mounted an
open truck with an Irishman for driver and brake
man, and SET off down the gravitation railroad for
Mauch Chunk nine miles distant and 900 feet below
| us. We fifteen or twenty miles an hour along
steep mou..-ln side with deep valley partly cleared
ard cultivated below; the road quite crooked,
ard as We ratified and bounced along on our board
seat We had decided feeling of insecurity. At one
point COW stood just on the track before rs, and,
rot being q.te certain of the power OF our brake to
check our speed we were confdont of catastrophe,
| but she stepped lesurely off just came up to
her. We raced on until roofs and chimneys began to
apI ear below, and soon stopped at about 200 feet
above the Lehgh and village of Hauch Chunk, which
| names is IIdisn for - Bear Hollow" The town 10
crowded between the Lehgh and the hills, and built
partly along the shore, and partly up tributary val
| ley, its ground plat resembling the letter T. The
mountains rice sharply and steeply all around covered
with forest to hight of eight or ten hundred feet
the town as if set in a crack in the earth,
through which the river, black, brawng stream,
| winds and twists like serpent. No coal Is found
within the hsuch Chunk Valley, but it is merely a
point Of shipment. The coal railroad terminaes a.
have said 100 feet above the river, whence the csrs
are let down g steep inclined plane to the bank.
In returning to Mauch Chupk the same ingenious
application of the power of steam aud gravitstion,
inclined planes and long descens, is made. The cars
are hauled up steep grade of 300 feet in length
and ebou coo in perpendicular hight to projecting
hill called Mount Pisgah, from which We looked down
upon town liver, railro al and canal lying in their
deep gorge, aud surrounded by crooked wilderness
Of mountains. We could trace the course of the val
ley through the ridges, soutlw ard till it passed into
more open country where yellow grain fields cleaned
in the sun; beyond this the ssaght ridge of the
Blue Mountains, with one deep gap cut down through
them, where the Lebgh finds its way through 10 join
the Delaware.
From this pinnacle our ear this time a very neat
one cushioned and covered ran, by its weight, per
haps twelve miles hour along slightly descending
grade following the mountain side by which We
came, through these woods Of oak and chestnut. II
was tile very perfection Of locomotionourc running
a. if by the exerion Of our will, winding in long
curves among trees and underwood, with occasionally
glimp,e of the deep valley below, while any unie-
.rable rate of speed checked by eight applcs
ton Of the brake. When within mile Of Summit Hill
we bad descended to level go far below il that
lrnihtt inclined nlana WAS nere.nrx "a fAa d. un