Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1863-08-29

flag soon float over united people, from the
Aroostook to the Rio Grande, rejoicing in
the blessings Of free institutions-psospercus
in peacs--triumphant in war! faali
~~>-------- t4 81 . Fisg
Mining Under the See. usn-i
Mining can hardly be pleasant occupation.
The absence of sun and all natural light tho
dripping sides of the shaft, the danger of ex-
plosion from the fire damp, Of jutting rocks
and numerous other perils, invest it with vague
terrors to active imaginations But when tho
shafts run under the sea, and the swell Of the
ocean is distinctly audible, it must suggeat
many fears to the diigent miners. The fol,
lowing graphic description is taken from an
English paper:
We ara now four hundred yards out under
the bottom of the sea, and twenty feet below
the sea level. Considerable vessels are sailing
over our heads. Two hundred and forty feet
below us men arc at work, and there are gel
lcries yet below that. The extraordinary po-
sition down the face of the cliff, of the engines
and other works on the surface, at Bottallie in
now explained. The mine is not excavated
like other mines under the earth, but under
the sea. Having communicated these partic.
ulars the miner tells US to keep silent and lis
ten. We obey him. sitting there speechless
and motionless. If the reader could only
have behed us now, dressed in our copper
colored garments, huddled close together in
mere cleft of subtprranean rock, with fame
burning on our heads and darkness snveloping
our limbs. he must certainly have imagined,
without any violent stretch Of fancy that hs
was looking down upon conclave Of gnomes.
o. 1,k., C,,xy JsuAm mnA
sound becomes family audible-a long. low,
mysterious moaning that never changes,
sound that might proceed from incalculable
distance-from some far, invisible height-a
sound unlike anything that is heard on upper
ground, in the free air Of heavcn-a sound so
sublimely mournful aud still. so ghostly and
impressive when listened to in the su6terra-
mean reccsses of the earth, that we continue
instinctively to hold our peace as if enchanted
by it, and think not of communicating to each
other the strange awe and astonishment
which it has inspired in us from the very first.
At last the miner speaks again. and tells ua
that what We hear is the sound Of the surf
lashing the rocks hundred and twenty feet
above US and of the waves that arc breaking
on the beach beyond. The tide is now at the
flow. and the sea is in no extraordinary state
of agitation. so the sound is low and distant
Just at this period. But when storms are at
their height, when the ocean hurls mountain
after mountain of water ON the cliffs. then the
noise is terrific the roaring heard down hers
in the mine is so inexpressible fierce and aw.
full that the boldest men at work arc afraid to
continue their labor; all ascend to the surface
to breathe the upper air, and stand on firm
earth. dreading-though no catastrophe has
happened yet-that the sea will break in
upon them if they remain in the cavern b..
low. ~rt.-,-. ...,a ,.,.. }.
Hearing this, we get up to look at the rock
above us. We are able to stano upright in
the position we now occupy; and faring our
candles hither and thither in the darkness.
can see the bright, pure copper stresming
through the gallery in every direction. Lamps
of ooze, Of the most lustrous green color. tyav.
ersed by natural network Of thin, red veins
of iron, appear here and there in large irrsgu-
lar patches. over which water i dripping.
slowly and necessarily in certain places. This
is the salt water percolating through invisible
crannies in the rock. On stormy days Il
spirits out furiously in continuous streams.
Just over our heads we observed wooden
plug of the thickness Of mans leg :, thsrv i
a hole there. aud that plug IL all Ne have 70,
keep out the sea. ael .Rrg tsa i4igs stJa
Immense wealth of metal 10 icoutainwd in
the roofs Of this gallery throughout its eqtirs
length. but it will always remain untcucheds
the miners dare not take It. for it 10 part
(and great part) of the rock which is their
only protection against the sea, and which has
been SO far worked away here that il thick
ness il limited ia an averaQ9 of three fiset onlv
between the water and the gallery in which
we now stand. No one knows what might b
the consequence Of another days labor with
the pickaxe on any part Of it. .ss.oss4