The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1872-12-12
Letter From Illinois. Down in Coal
Mine
Correspondence OF the journal.

AZ - tf't pEphdptt tnat many OF the eader> OF
W journal have visited coal mine. or are
onav r~,,'if with the labor OF the miners or the
dangers 10 which they are exposed: >opcrhaps
my observation, in the shaft near thi, city may
d" oi Interest 10 them. The shaft i located at
lhr junction of three railroads, 50 that cheap
transportation is afforded to all parts of the
country. one OF the first things person OBJ
serves on approaching The shaft is large
"m"unt u Su!phurons smoke ascending from
thc ymInlty. Ii comes from waste matter which
is found among the coal, and consists Of sulphur,
iron md other minerals. and ignites as soon AS
1t comes to The sunshine. An enormous pile
hHs accumulated and is always burning slowly.
\ square tower like building is located directly
over the shaft; on one side OF it are the boiler
and engine houses. The shaft i an oblong
square. ten by sixteen feet. and has two eleva-
tor, one on each side of the shaft SO that when
one Is coming up loaded the other goes down
empty. In the top of the first building are two
puleNN over which the steel wire rope passes
from the elevators down into the engine room,
where one passes over and the other under the
large drum on the engine and as the machine
tulrS one is wound up and the other run out.
'rho engine is fitted with reversing eccenlrics.
th" same a. Il locomotive, so it will turn either
way and is of one hundred horsepower. Be
~tjc> this engine there is 4 smaller one which
drives an enormous fan blower. which drives
air down through large tube. around the
several rooms in the mine. and comes up loaded
with the impure gases through another tube. ,
ON making my wish TO decend the shaft known
t" the superintendent he very courteou>ly in
formed me h, would get some rubber coats and
miners caps and 90 down with me. While
V,trmg for him | went into the engine room,
md while chatting with the engineer he told
me that Two af the miners were severely burned
the night before from venuring into an unused
room where Il lot OF "a had accumulated which
iheir lamps sci on re, burning them badly.
That rather 90 He'd my ardor, but the superin-
'rudrnt coming with the equipments assured
me there was no danger if | followed him.
! pat ON thc coat which he assured me WIS
her'-sary. as the water was dripping down AL
lee lime. Lighting the curious little lamp IN
the cnp. We went TO the entrance Of the shaft.
Stepping INTO one Of the empty cars on the
elevator IN which the al i brought up. the
signal Wa, given and in an instant felt myself
sind> of ideas Went drought my mind. and
thuuaht Of all The coal-mine disasters had ever
upad of. What the rope should break (Which
~ uf frequent occurrence when londell or the
h'slvS tlmhers which the shaft j. walled up
ninl should he crushed in. or the pumps should
inoah or rive ont: I heartily wished ! had
fewer undertaken to acquire knowledge Of
'hnl mining, for il seemed ~ though we never
Should rcach the bottom. Just fancy Yourself
going down int" the earth Al the rate often feet
ur more in second. and a minute will seem Il
Ioug time. At length the speed began to slacken
inA we soon reached the bottom.
The Shaft de-ct.nl~ neally in the centre of a
urge room 4nove POO feet in diameter. and about
1--WE feet high on an average so that man is
constantly reminded that "he that humbeth
himself shall he exalted" The roof is com
posed OF soap->tone, and is soft that it i
necessary To Use q large number of strong posts
d. support it and Keep it from falling in, which
L 'iu"> II 4qnently. aud a large gang of men are
constantly employed clearing away the rubbish.
Li4ht rai!-rlcks branch off in every direction
10 The several rooms leading from The main
chamber, on which the cars run. They are
drawn by small mules, that are fed and stabbed
an the mines. They are healthy. and haven't
r:ught the horse disease vet
Stepping out of the ear. we walked along the
hard nv floor 10 where we heard the sound of
ii jck. Each miner has a room by himself
which he has dug and keeps charging. The
zeal vein is three feet and eight inches thick, 50
II J. ncro S>ary n break away the soaI-stone
overhead a~ he goe. along. The Company have
Aoont one hundred and fifty men mining and
each man digs about two and a half tons per
Aav Of ten hours. The work is very hard and
dirty: The men are ~ black IS a Congo. The
most If Them are foreigners. They mine by the
ton, and make about 1925 per day.
visited several of the rooms bur found them
.II alike, the men bent mp nearly double and
working hard with pick or shovel. The men
generally are contented with the work and
think Themselves fortunate to get so good pay.
asked one of them how he liked the work and
and his answer was ''tis not bad" and aside
from the danger they are much better off than
common labnrer on the street.
then looked at the pump, which is an enor-
NOUS one of fifty horse power, driven by steam
which is brought down in pipes from the boilers.
Ater seeing all there was to be seen was not
1t all anxious to stay any longer. 50 we stepped
al the elevator and went up AS quickly as we
came down. II was with feeling Of relief that
! stepped ont into the pure air and sunshine
a.ajn. On going to the office to leave our coats
and caps the secretary kindly furnished me
with table of the different stratas which they
went through in digging the shaft. Perhaps
-0mp of the readers of the journal may he
curious to know what tie world is made of. so
aive il in feet and inches. rs it was given
ia me surface soil and gravel 10 feet inches,
blue claN g.. sand and water 4, blue clay 1915,
-oap stone 81, lime rock !. blue eay 800. yellow
clay lj-lO. soft shelly rock +, soft gray sand
-lone IL. hard limestone 1876, soap stone 22-G.
darl, >hale SO soap stone g. fire clay 10, gray
Late ~ black slate J. coal "A, fire clay 10. slate
IS lire clay / g. sand rock 2O-G soap stone CD
black .alr -, fire clay ~, sulphurous rock IL
cray late III. ~hale -. hard lime rock 81
""tY slate IS, soap stone G-s, coal '-S Although
coal found before they got down low il
was IF IN inferior quality. 50 it did not pay TO
mine it. The vein which the company are
working is superior to the most fthe coal found
west of Pennsylvania. 1t is much softer and
burns ont quicker than the anthracite. and is
'vorth about one half as much for heating pur-
poses The manner of loading the coal on
freight cars and screening it is quite interest
.ng, bat hack of space forbids my describing
them. ID.
Vessel Sunk by a Swordfish.
dispatch from Levuka, the capital of
The FIJI Islands, announces the wreck Of
the schooner Trent, after having been at
tackled by a monster swordtsh 1t APP
pears that the Trent, left Levuka on the
18th OF December last, on a ''labourn
cruise, and called AT Rewa, which she
cleared on the 3Oth On the 9th of Febru-
airy something struck the vessel, and d.
rectly afterwards water rushed into the
cabin from a large hole in the quarter
On looking over the side it was discovered
that an immense swordsh had attacked
the vessel, and was hanging by its sword
10 the ships side. The fish vas caught,
"a, -