Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-07-26
EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT.


EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
VIM. ELDEN. Editor.
How Miss Ross Spends the Vacation.
Extracts from Private Letter.
ST. JoHNsBURY, VT, July II, '78.
Mr.. ELDEN:
Dear Siir::-You see that | have
not forgotten the promise which l made
you. [ commenced letter on the 18th
but did not finish, so have concluded to
begin another this rainy morning.
The morning after | left Indepen-
dence found me at Minonk, ILL.,, a little
city of about two thousand inhabitants,
which might be very pleasant were it
not for the coal smoke which soils ev-
erything which it touches. The coun-
try about the town is as level as floor,
and the soil is very fertile. l remained
at Minonk about week, during which
time attended regatta at Peoria, and
paid visit to the depths below, 4. e., I
went down into coal mine. did not
enjoy the regatta very much, but found
Peoria quite pretty city, containing
some very pleasant people. The finest
buildings which l saw were the Court
House and Congregational church, both
built of slate colored stone. The GENE
terry is said to be very beautiful but we
did not visit it.
The coal mine which we visited is one
of the deepest if not the deepest in the
State of Illinois, being some $50 feet.
The shaft is just outside the city of
Minonk-it may be within the city lin
it's. At the time of my visit the miners
were not working all the time, as the
market for coal was not very good. DR..
B., Mrs. B. and | walked up to the
shaft without having made any previ-
Gus arrangements. Mrs. B. and l were
arrayed in our Oldest and poorest
clothes. After some time the octor
succeeded in obtaining permiss; to 60
down. He expected to find 7 Super
intendent, who is friend of his, below.
He took two miners lamps and a sup
ply of matches, and after the engineer
had explained to us the signals used
when people wished to come up, we all
stationed ourselves on the cage ready
for our descent. The Doctors lamp
went out just as we started, SO | can
say nothing in reference to the appear
ance Of the shaft. The feeling expert
enced, however, is peculiar one The
downward motion is rather frightful at
first, but one soon becomes accustomed
to it. At times it seemed to me that
we must be ascending instead of de-
scending. | rather dreaded the stop,
thinking that it would come with jolt
which would throw us all off the cage.
My fears, however, were not realized.
On reaching the bottom we found two
or three miners who were ready to go
up. They told us the Superintendent
was not below, and then left us to our
selves. There we were in truly novel
situation. Three persons entirely una
quainted with the mine, some FIVE or six
hundred feet below the surface of the
earth, and not another person within
call, perhaps not in the mine. Well, We
had come down and were going to see
something of the mine, at any rate. The
DR.. led the way and Mrs. B. and I fol-
lowed. We saw nothing but long
straight passage, with walls and roof Of
stone, occasional mule stables, some
cars laden with coal, and passages open
ing into the one We were traversing.
Mrs. B. was all the time protesting that
it was not safe for us to be wandering
round the mine in this fashion. She
was sure that we should lose our way
and never be able to find the shaft. Be-
fore reaching the place where the coal
is now found we yielded to her entreat-
les and returned. The cage came down
in response to our signal, and we took
our stand upon it, expecting it to rise
Immediately. Our position was any
thing but comfortable one, as streams
of water were running down our backs
and up our sleeves, but We did not ex-
pect to retain it long. Alas for the
vanity of human expectation! We
gave the necessary signals, as we sup
posed, again. Finally we all got off the
cage while the DR.. gave the signals
once more. The cage began to rise.
The motion was so slow that we were
all able to rush to it and get once more
in the way of the drizzling water. A
few moments more and we could see
the blessed light, and we shortly stood
again on the surface of the earth. ]
had been in coal mine before, but
had never been down in shaft.
A journey of two nights and two
days brought me to Lowville, my next
stopping place, where | met my sister
Lizzie and my grandmother.
From Lowville we went to Clayton
where we took little steamer for AL
exandrla Bay. The sail Gf l may cal
it SOY was very delightful. We were
going through what is said to be the
Pleasantest part Of the Thousand Is
The glorious Fourth we spent on thu
St. Lawrence, but l mnst not attemp
to describe what we saw; if l do l shall
never finish this letter. We had OF
board an immensely fat and comica
man, agent for one of the Montreal no
tells, who was better than guide book
He called the attention of the passen
gers to the various objects Of interes
all along the way, and gave us short &C
counts Of prominent buildings, as wei
as of the towns along the shore.
The old Indian came out in his cano
and took us safely through the last, tn
Lachine Rapids. He looked quite ik
any other pilot A gentleman offere'
to introduce us that we might see hin
better and shake hands with him, whicl
offer we declined.
We did not stop long enough in Mon
treal to see anything Of the city, bu
, hastened home. Our stay at home
however, was short one, as Monda
J saw us en- route for the mountains an
the Institute.
We had quite large party, nine>
dies. Dur rooms were ct the a
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