New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-09-13
c1ELTX EQR MINERS.

Tho MINING interests of the United States
ore greater. if measured by the value OF actual
nroduction. than those of any other country III
the world. The delivery from our coal mines
is obout one-fourth that of the British Islands,
but twice as much as that OF france OF Del
cium. In the precious metals we nave eA-
ceeded all rivals; for although Australia mas
sometimes equaled US i'll gold, she seems 10
have no silver. We are among the foremost
in lead, copper, and iron. Yet, with all this'
40 far as the protection of human lie Is con-
cerned orr mining system is the worst In the
world. We may say that for the safety OF our
minors we have no laws whatever. Elsewhere
Governments give these matters special atten-
ton. Men of the highest order OF intellect
for instance, Emanuel Swedenborg-have been
honored by positions in the mining bureaus OF
European countries. Here, the construction
and management of mines is left to the cupid
ity of owners. Official supervision Is unknown.
Consequently we have mines that are man
trans; houses built underground, each one
with only a wooden chimney for doorway.
The people are let down into the trap, and the
chimney takes fire from the bottom.
The miners themselves are always Indifferent
TO their own risks. A newspaper paragraph
recently described how Faraday, when exam
lining mine, was once provided with a cuSl-
toned seat. The philosopher asked some ques-
tons about the gunpowder used for blasting
and in reply received the astounding intorma-
ton that the cushion he was sitting on was
merely bag of the powder. When Dir hum-
phrey Davy invented the Safety Lamp 1t was
hoped that the day of cOlliery fires was past.
The explanation of the next great explosion OF
| fire damp showed that a miner had unscrewed
his lamp and exposed the flame, to light ms
nine. Thereafter lamps were locked by an
| inspector as the workmcn entered the mines,
and an interval of security followed. But 1t
was found that, by means of the Davy, cuttings
| could be worked where the fre-damp was
constantly Issuing. 1t may be supposed that
the owners of mines favored this extension oil
their working territory. The gas, entering
through the meshes of the wires, took IRE
within them, and blazed around the WICK oi
the lamps 1t would have warned, II II
did not Brighten, anybody but miners. They
rather liked the phenomenon; 1t gave such q
! splendid light. The wires of the lamps be-
came red hot; perhaps they were burnt to
| pieces; the exact particulars are IN doubt; but
! the result was another horrible explosion. Sub
sttutcs for the Dayy lamp have not yet
| proved successful Two French savants made
"cold Light" a sort of Aurora Borealis
sealed up in a glass tube, worked by an
| electric battery. 1t weighed ~ pounds pei
! lamp; and besides, the miners said they could
| not see by it. Two other Frenchmen made a
| lamp which was air-tight, and burned its own
oxygen condensed by pressure. That was
heavier and bulkier than the other. Now let
some ingenious American invent lamp that
can be Theoretically sealed, using oxygen
backed in the solid shape of some of its
| chemical combinations and producing in COM
buston no gas that requires an outlet; and he
may be enrolled among philanthropists
But even that would be no security against
wooden chimneys They must be prevented
by legislation If wood must be used in our
mines, let it be rendered absolutely re-proof.
| Soak it in soluble slicates, cover it with
stone paint, plaster it over with cement.
was the woodwork nothing else, that fed the
! flames in the Nevada silver mines for weeks
together. There miner left candle stuck
| against post but the system which fills the
mines with wooden supports and framework
was the real cause of that catastrophe, as 1t
was of the AvOndale disaster