The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-03-09


mated value of these lands in fee simple. In
the present undeveloped condition of onr man
Hfacturing interests, the intrinsic value of our
immense deposits of mineral fuel is but poorly
understood or appreciated.
A little more than ten years ago the
amOuns of coal mined and consumed in
this State was estimated at about SOC, 600
tons per year. At that rate of consump-
tiOn the coal supply laid up for us by the
Almighty in this State would not be ex-
hausted in l, 200, 900 of years, and our in
dividual interests in this coal supply, it is
safe to say, will probably have lapsed long
before the expiration Of that period of
time.
1t may be interesting, however, to find
out what that interest is now
So long as the coal remains in the sun
less vaults of the earth, it may be said to
have speculative value, perhaps, but it
has no real value until the doors of these
vaults have been attacked and forced open,
and the priceless treasures stored therein
have been dragged from thence by the
strengA, skill and daring of the intrepid
miner When the coal has been drawn TO
the surface, if it has an average Of about
81 80 per ton, that would give, as the ag-
500, 900, 900, which is a sum very much more
than two thousand times the present equal
lied value Of all the lands and town and
city lots in the State. With all that pre-
sent and prospective wealth within our
reach, can we not afford some little meas
ure of protection for that class by whose
dangerous occupation that wealth can alone
be made available ] think we can.
But the demands of consumers upon the
coal supply Of this, the first railroad State
in the Union. the second in point of wealth,
and the fourth in point Of population, is
constantly increasing at a rate of progress
sion that is truly wonderful. / have ascer-
tanned that there has been furnished from
the mines of the mother of counties
"Old St. Clair" during the year just past,
for transportation over the roads leading
to the st. Louis market alone, nearly three
quarters Of a million Of tons of that article,
which is more, by nearly fifty per cent,
than the accredited coal supply of the en-
tire State some twelve years ago. The
scale Of our mining operations is, Of course,
keeping pace with the consumption Of coal,
the increase Of population, and the multi
phcation of railroads and manufactures on
every hand.
Our coal. once hOisted by hand-work and
then by horsepower, is now generally
hoisted by steam generated by the liberia
tion of the fire principle from the earthly
particles of the very coal thus hoisted by its
own agency.
Stephenson. the inventor Of the locomo-
tive, once asked friend, who, with himself
was witnessing train in motion, " What
drives that train r The answer was
"Well. is it not one Of your big engines Il
d" Aye, said he, ''but what drives the en-
gine :" "Oh r was the reply, very like
ly canny Newcastle driver" What
say you TO the light Of the sun z Howl
asked the friend. ''It is nothing else, =
said the engineer Z. it is light bottled "
i'll the earth for tens of thousands of year:
light absorbed by plants and vegetables
being necessary for the condensation 81
carbon during the process of their growth
and now, after being buried in the earth
for long ages. i'll fields Of coal, that latent
! light is again brought forth, and liberated
|. by fire to work, as in that locomotive, foi
great human purposes.
1 At first coal was only taken from the
"out-crop," as it is called then from
"adits, OF drifts and slopes then, in obe-
dience to the demands of the market fol
more and better coal, pits or shafts were
sunk, and more extensive underground Op'
4 erations commenced and these under
ground operations are constantly being ex.
/ tended in every direction, until, in some
places, the miner has to walk through miles
Of narrow, subterranean avenues and tram
ways, dripping with moisture and fetid
with the rank exhalations Of mules and
men. Here he prosecutes his dreary, pre-
carious daily toll, amid darkness and dan.
gers unknown to any but the class to which
he belongs, in an atmosphere thick witt
the smoke Of burnt powder and poisonous
gases, accommodating himself to the mos
constrained positions sometimes kneeling
and then STOPPING or lying on his side. In
these painfully tiring postures, the young
miners work with great activity, rapidly
and frequently changing position to get The
better at the coal with their picks, under
the powerful stimulus Of desire to make
living wages And this they can generally
do while young, but when their limbs be
come prematurely stifened with age, d
with the consequences of exposure to any o.
the multitudinous vicissitudes of mining
life, then their daily earnings are very much
reduced.
An overman" testifying before tht
British Commission on Mines and Mining
said +" A mine is at one moment full o.
life, and cheerfulness, and animation. The
clink of the miners tools resounds through
the vaults. The carriages on the railroads
are passing to and fro, and the workmeI
are enlivening the scenes of the dark recess
es with mirth and song. For the time be
ing this happiness and activity makes
pleasing contrast with the surrounding
gloom, but the next moment may bring
death and desolation to all. The hre-damI
accumulated in some part of the mine is Sc
in motion 1t mingles with the slow cur
rent of fresh air until it reaches the poin
of an explosive mixture /; then the unsus
pecting miner bringing his lighted candl,
or lamp in contact with it, the whole inte
rior Of the mine is in blaze of burnin,
gas The ignl. ion is instantaneous.
Immediately sufFocates and scourges t.
death every living creature within its reach
Those beyond the plane in which the explo
sion takes place are dashed to the grount
by its force The burning gas rolls irresis
tably along the winding galleries. Tn
mouths Of the pits and air passages ar
converted into the flaming throats Of vol
cano, casting forth indiscriminately dus
and stones, and cars and men, and hurlin,
heavy wagons high into the air And tn
earth, for acres around, trembles at tn
force Of this gigantic power.
An able writer in the Quarterly Re
view" for June, l842, speaking Of the ework
ing miners Of that day, says: "The com
mon accidents of daily life are LITERAL,