Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1860-05-11

OUBTERRANEAN w ONDERS. II ne AaEaW-
ha Republican thus discourses this theme
The subterranean wonders of the great
Western Alleganiau slope continue, from
time to time, to be developed to the aston
ished gaze Of the intelligent jewellers upon
the surface. There can be no doubt of that.
N .ture has had for centuries, and still has,
b n workshops, or great laboratories, here
and there, underneath the surface of the
great region of country, embracing a large
part of Western Pennsylvania, TransAlle-
ganian Virginia, and parts ofOhio and Ken
tncky, in which she employs all her most
potent chemical agencies and af6nities.
The extent of her mandatory of gas down
in the lower region, near Maiden, on the
Kanawha river, may be estimated, by the
fact that when, in the Spring of 1914, bo-
ring salt we'll, at the depth Of l 200 feet,
the auger struck the reservoir of gas, the
stream Of gas that rose to the upper surface
was SO powerful as to shoot the whole boria G
apparatus consisting Of one thousand feet
Of poles and a sinker weighing five hundred
pounds, into the air, like an arrow. The
stream Of gas is three inches in diameter,
and has been blowing up With unabated
force, day aud night, for sixteen years.
When our railroad is completed, this gas
may be turned to some account. Pipes may
be laid along the road, sd as to light up by
night the whole road East to Richmond and
West to Cincinnati. and then enough to
spare to light up three cities.
That in the same region there ID an ex-
tensive subterranean mandatory of oil ad.
mits of no doubt. The oil makes It's ap-
pearance on the water of our river, aud in
places comes up to the Surface of the earth
Barrels Of it have been gathered. Thus
nature invites the search for the great res
ervoir that is doubtless way down below.
THE MANUFACTURES OF MosA1cs. A let
ter from Rome. Id tie Rochester Democrat
gives the following account oe the manufac
ture of mosaics at the Vatican factory
| ''The mosaic copies of celebrated pictures
which are now almost the only ones which
adorn the Interior Of st. Peters, are th,
product Of this mandatory, and are far SUI
perior to the ancient N osaics. The ancient
besides their inferiority id painting, shov
no such delicacy of shading. or such varietl
of coloring as has been obtained in moder1
times The material used for these mosa
les is artificial stone; Of which 10000 df
fefent shades are used No one but a rea
artist: however one might at first imagine
can excel in such work. 1t was interestin.
enotgh to see a workman with picture o
enormous size before him, working for hour.
in the selection and fitting of one little piece
Of stone into the mosaic which is to be it
copy: The large mosaics, eighteen feet ii
height, which adorn St. Peters, have SON,
Of them twenty-five years Of the labor d
several artists. It seems to me th at, rathe
than undertake so endless and unproductiv,
task, L would be the slave of a silver mine
and yet the perfection Of the work is won
derful. At a little distance, it is impossi
BILE to tell it from an oil painting, and it il
next to indestructible. The mosaics of tn,
Roman churches still last, while the church
es themselves have been changed in almos
everything else except the solid walls"