The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1877-03-22
CRUSHED TO DEATH BENEATH TT.

CRUSHED TO DEATH 1T.
while If the break were clotc to the cage
the reel above would continue to give of
Its hundreds of feet to rattle down upon
our devoted heads. we're it not that n
gentle pressure on a spring at our side will
ring a bell In the building overhead and the
engineer will stop his engine in a second.
So you see we shall choose to have the
cable break close to the cage il it is going
to break at oil, and we can have our say in
the matter. But as the cable doesn't break.
down, down we &c until we reach the bot
tom. How hot 1t is! Well you may make
that exclamation. An old miner died of
the heat in the Imperial mine two weeks
ngo The water which runs out of the
rock all around would scald you If you
were to fall into it. The men wear o. water
proof hat and coat and good shoes, to pro-
tect them from the water, in some cases.
In others, a. in the Imperial, where there
is less water or 1t IL not so hot, q pair of
o%veralls and a pair of shoes, or a pair of
shoes and q shirt constitute full working
dress. There are gigantic alr-pumps at
work blowing currents of fresh air into the
mine and the men step from the drifts into
these cooling places, 10 get
A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
every few minutes. Do you wonder that
the miners union will not allow anybody
to work under ground for less than 81 per
day. If any approach to a discovery of
the internal regions has been made by man
in this life, l think the Nevada miner is the
man. There are hot sulphur springs If
teen miles away, at Steamboat Springs sta
ton, on the V. and f. railroad, and l sup
pose the water is heated by the same fur
mace that warns these mines 80 successful
ly and excessively.
When we go above We expect our friends
will ask us what we saw. And we shall
have to answer that we saw nothing. Our
lamps showed in each others faces, il we
stood near enough together; here aud
there lights were moving about ; as we
were led about we could see men at work
in the drifts, cross-cuts, slopes, etc., and
every where we could see massive timbers.
These timbers, as large as grandfather
barn sill or the posts OF the old Vermont
saw-mill, bull a hundred years ago, are
framed together like the posts, stills and
plates of a thousand barns, one above the
other as far as we could throw the dim
light from our lanterns, and stretching
sway to the right and left, front and rear,
wherever rock and earth have been taken
out. l have seen the figures that show thai
the timber which has gone into the minei
beneath Virginia City is sufficient to have
built
SEVEN CITIES LIKE VIRGINIA
and have timber to spare. Perhaps TIE
reader has an idea that nothing but rtct
that will pay expenses is taken from these
mines, after the shaft is sunk. You coult
not make a bigger mistake. There is bu'
one mine on the Comstuck paying dividend
now 0he Consolidated Virginia LAWN,
temporarily s~uspended) cbcause the rocl
they a out does not pay expenses
Shafts are sunk thousands of feet and mile
of drifts and crossccts run in the hope O
finding ore, when not q ton that is taker
gu. will pay for milling. Rock that yield
$12 per ton will just pay for milling. Tn,
rock, however. must be taken out in pros
pecting for ore. If it will pay for milling
"a 10 'nouhhe tnot Will, IL ID WOrkeu, !
not it goes upon the waste-dump. But t
pay the cost of extracting and working
rock must yield $25 or $50 per ton. TIL,
orc from the Bonanza nine, yields S10(
more than this, 90 that there Is about $40,
profit en- every ton-or would be ii Thu
mines were properly conducted. But ca,
of the tricks of the trade is for the man
ager of a mine to W a mill aud Their pa,
himself $l2 per ton from tina mine FL
working all the ore and a good many lou
of waste rock, which are purposely mike,
with it..