Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1874-04-17
A Blazing Coal Mine.

4
able sleeps, and after he has proceeded a:
far as horse can carry him ne is obliged
to wade through mud, mire and coal dust
mixed to that stiff consistency which i.
likely to pull off shoe at every step
After leaving the carriage and passing
through little village of miners, despite
the mud, one soon arrives at the opening
There is nothing ON the outside, save {
mass of smoking ashes, to indicate tht
immense fire raging within. The de
scent is not made by means of a shaft, bu
] HI h~0ad Roadway which descends
| gradually underground to the depth o
nearly 800 feet At the mouth of the
cavern there is an immense fan which
| supplies air to those who are compelled
to work in the sulphurous and deadly
poisonous gases below. Should that far
pause for one moment in it's revolutions
all the miners underneath would expire
almost instantly. Once inhale that deadly
| air, unmixed with the pure air outside
and human life could do naught but sue
cumb. On the side of the ascent there is
nothing of interest; the eye falls upon
naught but dead vegetation, heaps of un
broken coal and masses of indescribable
rubbish. There is railway running UP
from the Empire breaker below, but nc
cars are passing over its track now, and
the breaker itself is silent
| The still breaker is the first evidence
that something about the mine is wrong
| Under ordinary circumstances the ma
chinery, now motiOnless, would be turn
| ing into the market hundreds of tons OF
coal per day.
The distance is between 200 and BOG
! feet underground. The fire extends over
| this immense area of 1900 yards, dread
| awful and appalling, but indescribably
beautiful nevertheless. 1t looks like an
| immense sea of glittering gold, across the
| heaving breast of which pass and repass
the sOftest and richest combinations of
colors. Blue, green, purple, crimson,
mingling and intermingling, passing and
repassing, disappearing here and sudden
ly flashing up again there, torture the
senses. confuse the vision and leave one
doubtful of the place whereon he stands.
Such is the fire which your correspondent
gazed upon, such the almighty king of
these dreadful subterranean realms. 1t
Kisses, it roars, it flashes up and smokes,
driving back the men and befOuling the
air.
There are persons down there, human
beings like ourselves, who spent many
months of the past in fighting this fire,
and who will spend many months of
their lives yet to come. They are terri
Bile looking creatures when thus engaged
| in their work, whose besmeared faces and
rough, blackened foImsgive them the ap-
pearance of devils rathe: than of men.
They spend but few hours here, for so
intense is the heat that new men must
come very frequently to their relief. AS
it is, scarcely day passes during which
some poor fellow does not yield to these
underground elements and is carried out
insensible. 1t must be an awful life to
lead, and awful, indeed, the circum-
stances which compel so many to endure
it,
From the outside Of the mine run down
to these dreary depths large iron pipes
filled with volumes of water. When they
reach certain point below they divide
into other pipes of smaller capacity, to
each OF which are connected large pieces
of hose. With these hose the men attack
the fire at the edges with the hope that
they may extinguish it inch by inch. 1t
is slow and painful work, and process
that to the observer appears hopeless of
any future success. Contemplate it, A
fire larger than any you have ever seen,
not formed of timber or of loose combusti-
BILE material, but of solid rock. 1t extends
over 1900 yards, and represents millions
of dollars worth of coal. The arches
above it, the avenues leading from it,
fraught with poisonous gases, sitting to
the senses and ruinous to the health
mighty conhagration, to be fought with
water inch by inch for years to come !;
for, while its edges may be cooled, its
roaring center is gradually finding its
way downward, no one knows to what
unheard-of depths.
To accurately describe the full extent
or to express in detail the disastrous eff
fects of this burning coal mine, one must
needs spend many an hour thus under
ground, which, to one who is not used to
it, is impossible. One can only hurry
down for moment, because, even in
summer apparel, he would be obliged to
quickly return to get breath of air. The
following figures represent the extent of
the fire, the number of men required to
fight it, the loss to the company (the Le-
high & Wilkesbarre Coal and Iron Com
pany). and the amount of coal which,
were the men at work in the mines, they
could give to the market:
There are at present engaged in battling
the flames two large companies of men,
each of which is made up of four differ
ent and distinct gangs. These gangs, or
shafts, as the miners call them, relieve
each other at different periods of the day
and night, at least two gangs always
being at work and approaching each
other from various points. Four shafts
comprehend eighty men each, and four
others fifty-two men EACH SO. that in the
first company there are 800 individuals,
and in the second 208, making in all
total of 528 persons. These men are en-
ployed upon salaries which vary from
two to three dollars per day. Two dol
lars and half is about the average rate.
Hence, to contend with the flames it
costs the company 81 800 daily. In one
week it costs $9,240; in one month,
$50, $780, while in one year, and from the
present condition of affairs / am safe in
assuming that the fire will last three times
that long, the company will have spent
$443, $50 as the lowest possible estimate.
The capital stock of the company is
generally conceded to be $4,000, 900, but
it would only require few years. fight
ing of the fires in this Empire mine to
these 528 men, instead of plying the hose,
engaged in mining coal, they would each
turn out three tons per day, or total per
diem of 1854 tons.
/ understand that every ton of coal is
here valued at So, SO that in contending
with their misfortune the company not
only pays 81 ,320 per day, but also leaves
S4,752 worth of black diamonds slumber-
ing in the mines. Hence in one week the
company, through the fire, loses in coal
alone. which were If not for the fire might
be exhumed, $33, ,264: in one month,
S132, ,956; in one year, the immense sum
of 81 ,595, ,472.