The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-11-20
Enects Of Great Lea in mines.


In an interesting paper read at the
Pittsburg meeting of the American In
stitute of Mining Engineers, Mr. John
A. Church reviewed at considerable
length the accidents in the Comstock
mines and their relation to deep mining
| During the p months preceding May,
| 1879, there were 101 accidents, killing
outright SO persons and woundin9 20
others. The accidents were classifable
under the eight following heads: I.
Falls ofrock, timber, etc 2 Training;
3. Effects of heat; 4. Falls of men; s.
Explosions; 6. Hosting apparatus; Z.
Overwinding; s. Miscellaneous. Most
of these causes of danger and loss of life
are common to all mining operations;
the third class includes accidents pecu-
liar to the Comstock mines.
In several instances miners have been
fatally scalded by falling into the hot
mine waters, which exhibit tempera-
lures rising to 1852 Fab. The most re-
markable casualties, however, are due
to the killing effect of labor in the hot
and steaming atmosphere. The pro-
portion of fatal casualties is larger in
this class than in any other, being 70
per cent. and from the peculiar mental
effects of the heat it is highly probable
that it may be the real cause of many
mishaps, which under other circum-
stances would be ascribed to culpable
laundering.
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 spot where the
thermometer marked at times 1889 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
a man who has been working in Il 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.
i Among minor casualties, Mr.. Church
mentions one which happened to Mr.
Sutro, in the Sutro Tunnel, before it
made a connection with the Savage
mine. After spending some time in an
air temperature of 10 deg. Fab, Mr..
| C17fr.T fA no al fC 1oo1 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 the handles of their
shovels the found him unable to move.
He had lost all volitiOn, and had to be
taken out on a car.
The graver results of overheating in
clude insanity and death. The death of
a carman on the l 400 level of the Gale
donna mine, Gold Hill, March Il, 1878,
is 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
l 400 level and reported that the wheels
of his car were mashed. The sta
ton master returned with him to
his car and found it all right. There
was evidently something wrong with the
man, and he was taken to a 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 a few minutes. In this case the
heat was only about 80 deg. Fab.
In another case a 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 be-
ing partially overcome with heat
Though contrary to the rules of outside
hygiene, the miners resort to cOpiOus
draughts of ice-water or to exposure to
strong cOld-air currents for recovery
from Overheating, and usually with i'm
puuity. 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.
The next case illustrates the violent
effects which excessive heat may have
upon person not accustomed to IT.:
80 On Friday, October II, 1873, John Nc
in the Imperial Mine. He was cautioned
| against over-exerting himself in the eX-
IRENE heat of the lower levels. He re-
piled that he thought he was strong
enough to stand any thing and paid no
| attention to the advice. AT haf-past
two in the afternoon he was brought to
/ the surface in an unconscious state, and
died the next morning at half-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 hot drift on the 1000 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, 1873, to load a donkey pump on
n 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
confusion, but felt that they could not
remain longer. Starting up a Wine
which connects with the l ZOO level one
man fell on the way, and the others
were afraid to stop to help him, but
! pressed on, reaching the 100 level in
half an hour from the time they left it.
They were very confused and nearly
speechless, and hardly realized what
had occurred. Three men went down
to the rescue and found the fallen man
still alive. Clearing the pump they got
into the car and signaled TO hoist, but
on the way up the Wine the man they
had gone to rescue reeled and fell off.
The car was stopped at once, but he
was jammed between it and the brat
tice so fast that the others left him and