The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1863-05-20
miaiBg Under the Sea.

Mining can hardly be pleasant occupation
The absence o. sun and all natural light, th'
dripping sides Of the shaft, the danger Of explo
sion from the IRE damp, the fall Of jsi,ing rock.
and numerous other pcril-, invest "a With vague
terrors 70 active iuagnatiors. Bat when the
shafts ruaua5er he sea, sd the vel Of the
ocean Is distinctly audible Il must suggest many
fears TO the dig-ut miners. The folloEing
graphic description Is taken from al English pa
per
I'VE are now four hundred yards cat under
the bottom OF the sea and q feet below the SEA
level Coast trade vessels are ssiiing over our
heads Two hundred and forty feet beiow as
men are at work and there are galleries deeper
yet below that. The extraordinary position
down the face Of the cliff, of the -ng nes and
other works OF the surface, a, B9ralii~, i ao-
explained. The mine is not e1cayated Ike eth
mines under the earth, bat under the sea.
Having communicated these particulars. the nj
uer tells - TO keep strict silence aud listen. We
obey him, sitting speeches. If the reader
could only have behelc us now, dressed in our
copper coiored ga-melis, huddled close togeth
er 10 mere cleft Of the subteIrsnean rock with
fame burning on our heads AND darkness en-
Veloping our limbs, be must certainly have i'm
sgined, without any violent stretch Of fancy,
that he was looking on a eOnclave OF gnOmes.
"Aiter listening d fe~ minutes a distast and
unearthly noise becomes family audible-a long
low, mysterious moaning that never changes,
that is felt On the ear as sell a. heard by IT, a
sound that might proceed iron some incslcula-
Die disiance--from some far Invisible signt-a
sound unlike anything that is heard on tie up
per ground, IN the free air OF heavens sOund
20 su0hmely mOurnful, and suil so ghOstly and
impressive when listened 20 in the subterrsnean
recesses of the earth, that We continue instinct
lively TO hold our peace, as If enchanted By il,
and think not OF communicating 10 each other
the strange awe and astOnshmeut which il has
inspired in Us from the very first
Al last the miner speaks sgain and tells Us
that what we hear il the sound Of the surf lash
ing the rocks hundred aud twenty feet above
us, and Of the waves that are breaking on the
beach beyond The tide il nov az the flow,
and the sea Is in 10 eXraOfj uarv state f All
tation. so the sound is los aud distant just a.
this peiOd But when storms are 81 their h GIT
aud when the ocean hurls mountain after noun
tain of waller on the cliffs then The noise j. ter
rife the fOsf iBg heard down IN the mine IL so
ineI pressbly he.ce and awful that The b0iest
men a. work are afraid 10 continue their labor
AL ascend 70 the surface 10 breathe the upper
air aud stand on firm earth drezding though
no catastrophe has ever happened yet-that the
seas 90 break / on them II they remain ia the
cavern below.
Hearing this We get up to look at the rock
above We are able 10 stand upright IN the
position We no" occupy; aud hsriag our can
dies hither aud thither 10 the darkness, can see
the bright pure copper streaming through the
. alIafv in pvery rfrocfi0r Iuuus al OoZ- Of
the most lusirous green color, traversed by
natural network of thin red vsias OF iroa, ap-
pear heae and there in large irregular patches
over which the ~ater Is dripping slowly and in
cessantly in certain places. This IS the salt wa
ter percOlating through Invisible cranies in the
rock On stormy DAYS it rpurts out furiOusly in
THU continuous streams just over our heads
W observe a wooden plug. Of the thickness OF
mans leg; there IS hole there, and that plug
IS all that ne have 10 keep out the sea
Immense wealth Of metal i contained in
the root of this gallery throughout its entire
length, but will always remain untouched. The
miners dare not take it, for it il a part tsHd
great part Of the rock which forms their only
protection against the sea, and which has been
so far worked away here that its thickness il
limited to al average OF three feet only between
the water and the gallery in which we now stand.
No one knows what might be the consequence
OF another avs labor with the pickax en- any
part of it."-Seien inc American.