Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1877-04-05
MINING.
Difficulties encountered on the Com.
stock Deep Shafts.

The Gold Hill (Nevada) Ne1cs, in long
article on the subject, says the great difficult
ties met with and overcome by the miners in
the development of the lower levels of the
Comstock, can never be fully understood or
appreciated by the outside public. For in
stance, how many are there who understand
the force exerted by swelling ground, that
will crush timbers sixteen inches square to
splinters in single night, and close drift
us etfectually during the absence of single
Shift as before its excavation? Yet such is
often the case, and the men are compelled to
work continually for weeks to keep the drift
open sufficiently for use or to conduct air. In
other places the miners are often compelled
to labor in sutfocating atmosphere of super
heated steam, ranging from 40 to 40 de-
grees, Fahrenheit. In such places there is
always more or less water hot enough to
scald the flesh, seeping from the roof, sides
and face of the drift, which creates a vapor
SO dense that the lights used by the men can
be distinguished at distance of only very
few feet. Yet men must dig, blast and bur-
row their way through it all without ever
thought of turning back. In many places the
miners are obliged to sink shafts for weeks
at time without ever seeing the bottom OF
the shaft-the drilling, blasting and excava-
ton of the rock all being done below the
surface of the water. There are many places
on the lower levels where the heat is so in
tense that the miners take turns of from five
to ten minutes in the face of the drift, and
then dropping their tools seek cooling room,
made tight enough to contain the fresh air
sent from the surface, where they rest the
same length of time, and then return to take
the place of their exhausted comrades. Thus
they labor during shift of six and some-
times eight hours Men at work on the lower
levels in these hot places never wear more
than a short pair of drawers made Of some
light material and a pair of shoes to protect
their feet. The rest of the body is left per-
fectly nude. Blowers of immense power are
employed to drive the air from the surface
down through long pipes into the mines.
This volume of air when started is a perfect
whirlwind, which gradually dies out as it
traverses the heated pipes and looses its force
until when it reaches its destination it hardly
has cooling property left Many tons of
ice are used daily in our mines, winter and
summer, in order to furnish palatable drink
for the miners. 1t is necessary to use engines
and pumps of power and capacity that as
tonishes engineers from other parts of the
world. In large proportion of our mines it
is necessary after extending the heavy pump
ing machinery to the bottom of a perpendicu-
lar shaft ], 200 and sometimes 1900 feet, to
then carry it on down an incline shaft of 45
degrees 1000 or 1900 feet further. The
hosting machinery in use for raising and
lowering the wOrkmen has been strength
ened, improved, and made as secure and safe
as the mind of man can cOntrive, but is often
run at a rate of speed in hosting and lower
ing that to persons unused to such swiftnees
of motion, creates when descending into
mine, the impression and feeling of an actual
fall-the check sufficient being made just at
the last critical moment to land them safe at
their destination. In mines like those of the
Consolidated Virginia and California, where
large bodies of ore are mined, the space left |
vacant by the extracting of the ore is filled
with solid timbers fourteen and sixteen inches |
in size, leaving only narrow passage ways for
he workmen and cars used in the conveying |
If ore to the shaft. This, although very
costly, is necessity to- secure the mine
against caving and protect the lives of the |
aborers. All such mines are obliged to en-
)lOy watchmen, whose business it is to see |
hat no miner shall accidentally or carelessly |
cave candle where it can start conflagra-
ion. A fire in a mine creates suffOcating, |
leadly gas, which will in minutes time /
sphixiate the strongest man. Floods Of
water often burst suddenly into the drifts,
completely flooding mine, and sometimes
djoining ones, as was the case few months
ince in the >Hale & Norcross, and Savage
nines Immense caves are liable to occur,
oisting works may take fire and burn up,
udden explosions take place, and thousand
ther casualties and mishaps are likely to
ccur, which makes the life of miner one
# continued danger and hardship, and the
ost and risk OF mining investments one of
be most hazardous occupations followed by
ivilized man.