Litchfield enquirer., 1865-02-23
For the Enquirer. NOTES BY THE WAY.

the great western. but now is the great central valley of our country. A few miles from this i. Chesson. where there is giGd hotel. and where I would advise travellers from the east to stop if night is approaching and they nave any taste for the enjoyment of such scenes as the Tunnel and the Horse Shoe Bend. Our stop at the station. of course, gave us only an abstract view but it was well recommended and if it's internal arrange ents equal it's ex ternai nppaarance, the traveller must find it a place of comfort. S
 r Passing on. we soon find ourselves in ,ie region of litnminous coal. We are reminded of this both by the sooty complexion of things which rapidly increasps as We approach Pitts hureh. and by the frequent oven like openings in Il e riodntaia sides. from which was seen issuing ucrasinnilly a ear rloaled with coal and desrendingun an inclined plane. drawing up in it's deseebt an empty cdr upon parallel tack. zss .# u
 v Of Pittsbrrg We have no very pleasant re- collections except af the aunouncement at the doors of the cars, as .soon. as they stepped :" Free dinner f,r ull soldiers !" There was considerable number on board, and It was paasan, to know that they wer. thus Pror r.',ed . for. though by what agency this wac done dil not learn. AS the time was up for the de- pirturp of the train wh ch was to take from
 1..f., fft the restaurant araf1unc-d that there would be time for alinii,.r A kefrrred to secure our pas. sage ratlsf NBT @DAtisfy our appetite. Ac. rordins<9e- e f"unl0our way t., 'h" cars of the P,tshuI&I@Fnrt Wayne & Chcag" Railroar' w hirh were ia nn enclosure too tight {" admit of any circulatidGAf air. Here. for some cause to ussnaknown, We were detained for n hal. hour or III pre-. in the heat of one Of our warn"st days. We had ample time to form conjactures as to our own personal appearance. ty seeing the snotJ streaks on the faces of our l fellow travellers.
 Here it will be convenient to give some re- mniScenees of several years standing. in regard to coal mines, or ,' coal hanks as they were then called. How extensive are iha excav tions at the presei,t time. or how !he coal T. ! brought from remote points iG tue mines, l cannot say. There ondnnbtedly is great ad Vance and great impr orement since little personal Knowledge which I hal some thirty years ago. Then it was my fortune 10 play the pe,lagngna fnr ihn sensun. in Wheeling the pnSeht capital of the new State of Western virsinia md .in ,l,e islitiing ~i.ieirf am isA formed new accommodates the sessiniss of tlle State Legislature. It was then a town of a! out 5000 ;nhaliants ov.rhnng by cloud | nt smoke. the sight of which was the first in | timation thnt We were approaching the pl C. | as WE near4tl it by the river. To one that wHs nn,,-ini,i,tptl. it was sno'y. smoky place. yet I u ,hs respect it Was much cleaner than Pitts , hnry-so much sr that it used to be playful'y said that the ladies of Pittsburgh occasionally visited it for ,he purpose of getting their faces i cl-an.. As to my experience. iecome SO ac- customed to soutv faces of children in ,h. sch o-rnom that tue sight of clean fac g in the Orphan Asylum in Phia 'elpha which had an opportunity to visit ". strange in its appearance. had almost forgotten that chi
 ,lrens faces could be expected [" br clean. A many of yunr readers may not know the l character of liu.ninons coal i., this rpsr pct. will here state that in burning. it forms a large quantity of matter res mbling lampblack - This not only lodges i, chimneys and sove- p pes, requiring them to be often cleared but from it's liehtness much is carried through them, lodging everywhere. leaving it's marks upon buildings and everything not of it's own color, ladies faces not excepted, as we often had Imaginable instances where we wer. ac- qnantrd. ...... .......... ...s..
 Tut was speaking of "coal bnEks.'- Though the market WIS then confined mostly 10 home cui,sumhti"n. the excavations had be- come, in some instances quite extensive. The stratum of coal in those that visited was ahiut of such thickness as to allow 8 man to walk upright in the excavation. They were narrow at the entrance. and as the bank was penetrated they were extended in different 'Ii recions, leaving pillars anu walls of coal stuff cien,ly frequent te support inc superincum
 bent rock and earth. One of the mnrrs who was sp kind as to pilot me, on one occasion
 through portion of one of the banks. told me that he cnuli show me on. where the excava- tinn was more than mile. The coal at that time was transported to the mouth of the mine in wheelbarrows and ii the mouth was inacces. sill+. to d team. it was amptiel into a trough or slide ih which it descended by tn. force of gravity to an accessible point. recollect. wis iting an extensive rolling mill near the bank of the river whcu the coal was conveyed in this way fro n the mine directly to the works So much for bitunlinons coal. Allow another Aggression 10 an anthracite mine.-. l Having occasion, a few years since. to visi, i Whksbafre. Pennsylvania. embraced ia vnrabe opportunity to th. mines of the Bal ti'nora Coal Company. Entering it horizon- ] tai y on about the level of the plain through
 which the Susqnehanna river runs. we followed
 a narrower railway track through various
 windings. The same care that have Before
 noticed was observed here in leaving pillars