The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-11-13
Effects of Great Heat in Mines.

Pittsburg meeting of the American In
stitute of Mining Engineers, Mr.. Johl
A. Church reviewed at considerable
length the accidents in the ComstOcl
mines and their relation TO deep mining
During the p months preceding May
1879, there were 101 accidents, killing
outright SO persons and wounding q
others. The accidents were elassifiabl'
under the eight following heads; l
Fallsofrock, timber, etc. 9. Tramming
3. Effects of heat 4 Falls of men; .
Explosions; 6. Hosting apparatus; Z
Overwinding; s. Miscellaneous. Mos
of these causes of danger and loss of life
are common to all mining operations
I the third class includes accidents pecu
liar to the Comstock mines.
In several instances miners have beer
fatally scalded by falling into the hot
mine waters, which exhibit tempera
lures rising to 1852 Fab. The most re
marketable casualties, however, are due
to the killing effect of labor in the hot
and steaning atmosphere. The pro
portion of fatal casualties is larger ii
this class than in any other, being a
per cent; and from the peculiar menta
effects of the heat it. is highly probable
that 1t may be the real cause of many
mishaps, which under other circum.
stances would be ascribed to culpable
| laundering. a.
On the 1900 level of the Gould &
Curry mine drift was run along and
quite near the black dixie, one of the hot
spots of the mine. AT a spotwhere the
thermometer marked at times 1922 Fab,
Thomas Brown tainted while at work.
When taken to the surface and revived he
was found to have completely lost. his
memory. He could not tell his
name or where he lived, and
had to be dressed and taken
home by his friends. The newspaper
which recorded the occurrence said that
such sudden loss of memory from over
heating was quite common in the mines
and suggested that the fact might fur
nish an explanation of the walking off
into fatal wines and chutes by expert
enced miners, seemingly with deliberate
intention.
A frequent accident in these mines is
fainting in the shaft while the cage is
rising to the surface. The faintness is
always felt Immediately upon reaching
the cooler air, a hundred or a hundred
and fifty feet from the surface, where
there is usually side draught through
some adit. This happens so often that
man who has been working in hot
drift is never allowed to 90 up alone.
Long habitude to the heat is no safe
guard against this danger, and serious
accidents have occurred in this way.
Among minor casualties, Mr.. Church
mentions one which happened to Mr..
Sutro, in the Sutro Tunnel, before it
made a connection with the Savage
NINE After spending some time in an
air temperature of 10 deg. Fab, Mr..
Sutro went to the air pipe to cool off.
He stayed so long that. the. min
ers told him to get way from
the pipe and let them have air.
He did not move, and when they tried
to stir. him up With Che handles of their
shovels the found him unable to move.
He had lost all yolitiop, and 2. had to be
taken out on car.
The graver results of everheating in
clude insanity and death. The death of
a carman on the 1.400 level of the Gale
donna mine, Gold Hill, March H,-1S78,
is a case in point. He had been idle
for six months, and that morning he
was working his first shift. At an early
hour he rushed into the station of the
I,40o level and reported that the wheels
of his car were mashed. The sta
ton master returned with him to
l. Ill ,.,rrb+ TThnra
was evidently something wrongiwith the
man, and he was taken to q cooling
place. Here decided mental alteration
was discovered, and the man, firmly
dashed to the cage, was hoisted TO the
surface, where he tainted at once and
died in few minutes. In this case the
heat was only about 80 deg: Fab.
In another case miner died from
cramps, attributed to heat, but which
may have been due to drinking ice
water; and another death is charged to
a cold taken while cooling off after pc
ing partially overcome with heat.
Though contrary to the rules of outside
hygiene, the miners resort to copious
draughts of ice-water or 10 exposure to
strong cold-air currents for recovery
from overheating, and usually with inn
punity. The cOld-air cooling is cOnsid-
cred the safer method; but to gain time
Mr.. Church, commonly chose the ice
water, and never felt any i'll effects from
it. With several thousand cases a day
of rapid cooling off BY one or the other
of these methods it is surprising that
fatal consequences have been so infre-
quent. elG = r&'~4 - =
The next case illustrates the violent
effects which excessive heat may have
upon a person not accustomed to it:
FOn Friday, October II, 1873, John Nc
Cauley went to work for the first time
in the Imperial Mine. He was cautioned
against over-eXerting himself in the eX-
treme heat of the lowerlevels. He re-
piled that he thought he was strong
enough to stand any thing and paid no
attention to the advice. :. At half-past
two in the afternoon he was brought to
the surface in an unconscious state, and
died the next morning at haf-past 10
o'clock ....-
Two other cases very similar to this
have occurred in the Imperial within a
few years. This mine is eXcavated in
one of the hot spots of the ComstOck.
The hotdrift on the 1900 level of the
Gould and Curry is the scene of the
most serious of these casualties due to
heat. Five men were sent there in
June, 1878, to load donkey pump on
a car. The work was so exhausting
that when the pump caught on plank
they were not able to move it. They
seem to have been in . state Of mental