The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1869-09-30
t.r1t From, the New York independent q,
THE e,t PENNSYLVANIA COAL
80" MINE DISASTER. '@ ~, =
ny ALBERT d. RICHARDSON.

L
l. i. - ~ 4 g,,ss.*is'r a., - 30 L.
On the west banks OF the Sus1uehan-
na, seven miles, below Wilkes Barre,
| and three below the long, struggling
! village Of Plymouth, is the Avondale
Mine, worked by the Delaware, Lacka-
wanna, and Western Company. The
rich, grassy valley Of the river here
dotted with brick and frame farmllouses,
long, low, dingy barns, tall haystacks,
and spreading shade trees-is two miles
wide, aud enclosed on either side by abb
rupt hills, covered with oak forests, and
| rising six or scvsa hundrsd feet. Near
the foot OF these hills, some half . mile
| apart along the valley, are the collieries.
Right over the shaft Of eacll mine rises
an, enormous building, called the
breaker" At the top Of it the coal,
hoisted from the bottom of the shaft. in
pieces often as large as u tlour-b barrel, is
broken into fragments by machinery,
| and then allowed to fall--through u
series Of wire screams, which assort it
into five or six. different sizes for mark Ut
into cars at the foot of the hill. The
Avondale breaker WAS a wooden struct-
ure, a hundred feet long, with roof slop-
ing down the hill The highest part of
the building was directly over the shaft
Immediately adjoining was room,
| with stone walls, in which ran thee
steam-enyines for hoisting aud pump
ing. Thus heavy iron machinery and
All enormous dry frame building stood
immediately over the only channel Of
egrcss from the mine. Nearly all of the
neighboring collieries are upon the same
plan.
On Thursday Of last wcek--for the
first time during the suspension-a body
of men resumed work in the Avondale.
For three days they labored As usual.
On Sunday they rested. On Monday
morning TREY descended again. Sever
al Irish miners, however, staid out to
attend Il funeral. Two others reached
the ground a few minutes after seven;
and, 10y rule of the mine, adopted to
insure punctuality, they were not al
lowed to enter that day. at first they
were angry; but their dilatoriness
saved their lives. The workmen down
the shaft were familiar with all the or
dinary dangers of their calling; but Il
doom pended over them unparalleled
within the knowledge OF men who have
been in tho mining business for forty
years in this country aud in Europe.
TIE AvoNBALE SHAFT.
Width of fshaft-from North to South - feet.
Thickness of shaft-fron East to IVES. 10 I"
Length-up ana down 237 -
Top Of breaker above mouth of shaft 90 I"
Old Tunnel. below mouth Of shaft ~ -
l.-Section, feet wide, for hoistlng coal and
letting down men.
2-5ection,s feet wide for same purposes,
partitioned OF from No. l with hemlock
timber and boards.
3.-Section, o feet wide, for ventilation, parti-
toned of from No. 2 with timbers and
double hemock boards, ART tight.
Old Tunnci.-.An abandoned horizontal pas
sage, tapping the shaft and passing it sew
erai hundred feet further into the hill
side, and half filled with rubbish.
At the bottom of the shaft is COM
pick system of "yanyways" and cham
bers, some extending back for several
hundred yards, aud amounting in the
aggregate to i mile Of passages, twenty
feet wide aud ten feet high. Mines are
ventilated either by fans or furnaces. Il
fan, standing at the top of the shaft, is
run by steam and, constantly exhaust
ing the air from the venlilating section,
makes tllerean upward draft of foul air.
This sends through the hosting sections
q downward draft Of pure air, which is
carried through the mine by u series of
separate passages keeping up Il circula-
ton in all the chambers. Miners call
the ventiiating section Of the shaft the
"up cast' and the Aoisting sections the
'down cast"
Where a furnace is used, it stands ut
the bottom Of the mine aud connects
with the veutilating section Of the shaft.
Through this the heat rushes up, carry
ing the noXious air with it, aud causing
rush of pure air down the hoisting
sections TO fill the vacuum. The effect
is Identical with that of the fan
The Avondale was ventilated By an
iron furnace, some eight feet by twelve,
and ten feet high, which consumed four
OF five tons of coal Il day. 1t stood l5O
feet back from the bottom Of the shaft,
anil was connected with the ventilating
section by IA tlue cut through the solid
coal. Before sparks or flame from it
could reach the wood work of the shaft
they must be carried l50 feet along this
due.
For nearly three hours on Monday
morning all was going on we'll and the
huge engines were hosting car loads of
coal at their usual rate Of five hundred
tons per day. At half past nine o'clock
Il man named Steele, who had been
down the shaft "for 4 job," came UP,
leaving everything in order. Fifteen
minutes later n stable-man went down
with :Gbundle Of hay for the noon feed
of the mules. He reached the bottom
in safety, As three loads Of coal were at-
terward hoisted. Then the engineer