New-York tribune., 1868-08-12
THE COAL COUNTRY.
THE STRIKE IN THE sCHUYLKILL DISTRICT
POTTSVILLE-THE MOUNT LAFFEE MINES
HOW COAL IS PROCURED.
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT


! hum and hustle of prosperous mining town, and
the sides and clefts of whose beautiful hills com.
| monty wreathed in the white clouds puifed FROM
scores Of colery engines is almost like decays
ing CITY, There is little traffic i'll the streets. The
shop-keepers lounge idly at their doors; the minf
operators and their clerks gather in knots before On(
anothers Offices, and spend the day in gossip; the hos
| tells are deserted the canal is crowded with empty
Darges tied TO the banks; and it is only at long inter-
walls that You see coal train winding through th(
valleys toward Reading or Philadelphia If yod
leave the town and visit the miners villages in tha
suburbs-long rows of whitewashed plank shanticf
along the roads which lead through the narrow gapf
of the hills toward the colleries-you find listess
and dscontented kicking their heels in the door.
ways, or, may be. doing something with a hoe in
their little potato patches, more probably, scods
| ing their wives and children The strike
which has thus Frustrated business all
through the Schuylkill region has lasted month,
On tho 1st of July the Eight-Hour law passed bI
the Legislature of Pennsylvania went into effect
| and Immediately afterward the hands employed al
the coal mines of this neighborhOOd struck to com
pei the operators to pay the old tenhour prices fort
day Of eight hours work. The stories of violence
which reached some of the New-York and Philadcb
phia papers seem to have been grossly exaggerated
The men who first struck went about from mine h
and fife, but oftener sending committee to speak
| in the name of the BODY and wherever they APP
peared all hands threw down their to0ls IL any
| were not prompt to join the strikers they weU
| warned of " the consequence What those cons
sequences would be nobody seemed to know per.
| haps the threat was all the more terrible for ts
vagueness and if the first warning proved insufi'
cient rude figure of coffin, accompanied with an
lspelled inscription of dire import, put up nj
1 L. IL. II, Lie
lence there was very little indeed-there was none
in fact worth mention, for there was occasion fol
any, 1t is supposed that half or two-thirds of tho
men-perhaps even larger proportion-wond havt
kept on. and would resume now at the old rates. but
as usually happens in strikes, the noisy minority
rule and the quiet and industrious laborers dare MOI
face social tyranny and possible ll-treatment bI
holding aloof from the workingmen's cause'
Eight hours work." say the leaders, for ter
hours pay; that's tie IaW Of the land and it's got to bt
Obeyed."
The operators are unanimous in declaring thai
compliance with these terms was for most of then
entirely impossible in the present state of the trade
The price of coal in the Schuylk region now barely
cOyers-in some cases does not cOver-the cost OF
mining To raise wages 20 per cent would, of course
involve loss but this is not ALL the operators could
not afford to work their mines on the eighthOur sys-
even IL wages were TtUHCtQ 10
reduction in time because there certain expenses
which run on steadily without regard TO the amount
of work done. such the subsistence of the large
number Of mules employed under ground to drag tht
cars the running of the pumping engines, which
must work night and day, and the wages OF watch
men, salaried employees, &c. The coal trade all the
season has been in a very depressed state Iht
markets were overstOcked; prices have been tending
downward, and at the time of the strike were still
falling most of the operators were losing money and
there was great apprehension of general collapse 10
the business, and the suspension OF number OF es
Establishments before the close of the strike
under such circumstances positive relief. Pro.
ducton being checked the marketwill lave an OppOr
tunty to its tone and the threatened Disaster
may be averted. Hence although there is little nc
concert of action among the operators nearly every
one positively refuses either compliance or compro
mise with the strikers demands. The exceptions ara
principally those who had contracts for the supply OF
the large iron mills of this neighborh0Od. So far al
learn, there are not more than five or six mnei
working in the whole county, and only two or three
of these are large ones. The iron mills all IN
operation, some of them paying an advanced prIct
for coal to enable the colliers who supply them t
meet the demands of the strikers and others drawing
their coal from remOter districts.
The only large cOery near Pottsvile, now a
WORK. Is tnat OF McSSTS. IOllS N SlIlIlcu NJ MOHh
Laffec, about three miles north of the town. TheI
have complied with the requirements of the handf
in order to carry out their contracts with iron manu-
facturers and are now taking out about 5000 tuns
month OF a little 800 aday, of n superior quality
of white ash. The mine is an old one, having been
worked, l believe, twenty odd years. The
present prOpuetOrs purchased the lease of BostoI
company year or two ago. The workings lie al
most wholly in the Mammoth vein the greatest coal
bed of the anthracite field and the most magnificent
! IN the world from which comes than two-thirdi
of all the anthracite now mined The vein is stTucf
on the southern slope of the mountain, and is fol
lowed down the hill and under the valley to another
ridge about an eighth or quarter of mile distant
Under the friendly instructions of the outside boss
a good natured Englishman, prepared for descent
into these dark regions by donning dirty blue over
as and a Jacket to match, borrowing old hat, ane
taking in my hand of the little oil lamps which
the miners fasten TO their caps when at work. Then
when coal-car having discharged its load. bach
TO be lowered into the mine the boss and got into it
In many collieries the entrance is by perpendicular
shaft but here the vein crops out so near the sur
! face that you go down by subteTanean inclined
plane dug out of the ITSELF the roof and sides
| sheared up with thick tmbers, and the floor laid
with double track for the ascending and descend
ing cars. The motive power Is stationary steam
engine at the top. which at the same time works the
pumps and the yentilating fans. Two ears coupled
together are drawn up and two at the time are
| lowered by means of wire ropes passing around
great drum or windass the head of the slope The
pitch of the descent is about 45 degrees and the cart
are therefore covered to prevent the coal from drop
ping out. We got in by little opening at tnt
upper end and stretched ourselves out WIFE