The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1877-08-17
Il NARROW ESCAPE.
AN EDITOR VISITS A 'tCAvE,' AND GETS
SOME EXPERIENCE IN MINING

Below the groupings of the Gould &
Curry mine is to be seen a large cavity or
sink which marks the spot under which
great cave occurred during the superintend-
ency of Charley Bonner. Happening to
pass over the ground on July 21st we were
strongly reminded of rather perilous trip
| which we made into the underground re-
gions of the mine at the time the cave oc.
| Cured.
Luckily ample warning had been given
| by the settling of the ground within the
mine and the Swapping and spintering of
! timbers, therefore no lives were lost in the
mine. News of the grand crash in the
mine spread rapidly through the town, and
| all who heard of the accident gave a sigh
| of relief when told that all the miners es-
! capped uninjured.
The full extent of the cave and the dam
age done thereby in the interioro of the mine
was not known for some time, but from the
| cavity formed on the surface was Judged 10
be very great. Being lesirous of obtaining
if possible, full particulars in regard to the
condition of the underground sections of
the mine, we called upon Mr.. Bonner and
| m1de known our wishes.
| Il have not been in the mine for three
or -four hours, and therefore am unable to
| give you an exact account of the present
condition ofithe caved portions. However,
| if you will venture with me-" said Mr.
| Bonner, we VIII 90 IN as lar as possible
/ and see how things look.
! Having agreed to Mr.. Bonner's PROPOSE
-tion, two lanterns were procured, and we
! soon found ourselves on the,level where the
greatest damage had been done. The mi
! ners had all left that part of the mime
| Nowhere to be seen the friendly twin
! kle of either lamp or candle: all WAS dark
as the caves of the Cimmerii, save where
| the light of our lanterns fell upon the walls
n n al wi w q adv
ing or where the rays streamed far ahead
and were reflected back by points of pol
| ished pyrites or bright quartz crystals.
At first, too, all was as silent as the tomb
but as we moved forward the sharp snap
of a falling timber or the dull boom of
heavy fall ofearth reached ourears These
sounds constantly grew more distinct
Soon was heard a running fire of sharp lit
tie snaps, from the bent and spliutering
tlmberS, with ever an anon stating,
musket- like report some large timber
broke in twain or was rent asunder
We were now fast nearing the scene of
the cave. As yet the ground abOut us was
sound, and all the timbers stood in their
places. Our advance was slowly and eau
oiously made. At times some unusual
cOmmotOn caused us to stop and listen half
a minute, with bodies inclined forward.
and eyes strained to penetrate beyond the
light thrown out by our lanterns. Few
words passed between us. 'Wait Bit
or ''Now let Us move on, " from Mr.. Bonner
was about all that was said.
Presently came TO a drift leading from
the tunnel we had been traversng. The
swapping and grinding sounds were now
more distinctly heard.
'.It is in this direction" said Bonner,
leading the way into the drift.
We had not proceeded far before we
came to where the timbers of the drift were
had tnant Wa in,
spot where the ground was settling. \
kind Of tickling noise came from the lag
giug overhead aud along the sides of the
drift and dirt sfted down on our hats.
Soon we reached a place where the posts
on the sides of the drift were bent like
bows. The backs of these bows projected
into the drift and were full of splinters,
some of which were formed-snapped out
before our eyes. Shortly we came upon
two posts bent out from opposite sides of
the drift till their backs were not more than
a foot apart.
"This looks bad,' said Bonner.
Every. Let us GO back" said we.
cit cannot be far frcm the edge of the
cave. We want to see that. Suppose
venture. Timbers are still strong when
| they snap"
Then move on" said we, but our legs
wanted to go the other way.
In passing between Ihc two bent posts
it was necessary to turn our bodies edge
! wise. AL about MS the timbers were work
| ing and groaning, but still stood some dis
| tance apart, st the end of the drift we
| came into large open space-what seem
| ed long an0 broad chamber-and turning
| westward across this, were soon as near
| the edge of the cave as ii was thought safe
| to venture,
Holding our lanterns above our heads we
| saw before black and yawning pit or
II. L.. f..l. Il
| show us either the top nor bottom of this
| pit nor could we see across to the further
side. 1t seemed to have neither top nor
| bottom-seemed but 4 shapeless, boundiess
| region of darkness.
Into this frigh ful pit there fell every half
minute, from somewhere in lhe darkness
| high above, great masses of earth and
rocks. At times, Judging from the tbun-
| derous sounds, hundreds of tons at once
tumbled from the roof aud sides OF the
chasm. Smaller masses were almost con
stantly dropping in some direction, while
the spiintering, swapping and Sroaning of
timbers in all directions was something
frghtfn.
Suddenly, as we stood quaking in the
midst of the terrible commotion, a great
mass of rock and earth fell from some place
high up on the wall of oar size of the
shoreless sea of darkness, almost grazing
the brink of the chasm before US. With
the fall of the mass came a rush OF wind
hat nearly extiuguished the candles in our
lanterns. Elcvating his light and gazing
upwards, Mr.. Bonner cried "Fall back
fall back, the roof is giving way -
Almost as soon as be spoke a mass Of
several tons fell from the roof of our cham
Der not ten feet in front Of US, aud in fall
ing took large bite out of the edge OF our
floor.
'Quick quick This way! we must
get out of this ~ cried Bonner.
We ran back to the drift by which we
had entered. The two posts between
which we had squeezed had closed :ogesh-
er.
Back, back p cried Bonner 'fThis
way | know a drift. Quick, we may
. acl, ~