, 1879-08-07
4 BURNING COAL.MINE.


a Flre that 1Eas Ragged for Nearly Forty
five Years.
I'1ttsrttfe tftnn.> Hlnerf .yo.srnai.
fire In col1tery is BY no means al, ubeom-
mon OCCURRENCE In this Or any other coal region;
but in most Cases the tanea arc SOON drowned
out, the water removed, nnd mining continued
~ bcfore. 1t fs only on raro occasions that the
flames mako such hcadway, before bel.lg ltscoy-
cred, tliat they cannot be exttngutahcd In 4 few
woeks by the Introduction Of water aud stea.1,.
One Of the most interesting and extensive fires
eyer known in this country has been raging In
coll1cry In schuylkt!i County for uearly fortr-
ave ycass. Thousands Of dollurs have bcen
spent 10 vain endeavorh to cxtt,,gulsh The fire.
but nt lsas the idea Was abandoned, md sluec
the beginning Of tile War nothing has been done
to auodue the contla0rat!on, which RACES NTH
out Interruption. The history OF this niue
Is very Interesting, and, strange to say, A.
though hundreds OF travellers visit the coal
tlclls OF thls and adjoining counties every yuar,
hardly any Of them 1sar of TIL. great curiosity.
The vein that ts burning IL called tts "tugn-
1888 by Lewis Z. Doughcrty, Vt a plare called
Goal Cast1o, ono a!s halt mllos west ot what
~ now known ~ Mount Laftcr Tic coai takrn
out was Of cxesllcnt qua!ity a1Ml thu snlnp very
productive. Where d drift IL worked above
water leyel Il + the custom to kaep . huge
gratu flled With burning coal Just insiln the
nlouth to prevent tins waiter In The CUTTERS from
freezing. Such Erato was In operation in lt:
upper dE!tt u Mr.. DunRherty's uiuc In tlle wtn-
Ter of 1885, onu Saturday night llu CRATE was
ti!led With an unusually large quantity Of coal,
n,,tl the miners went tn their homes. On .ht.
following Monday morning when tIle mine was
visited. It was found to be filled With flames. It.
Is suppotcd that the fire IN tho grato Geeam:
communicated to tho timber, aull. moving along
the nppcr drift, waB, by meana Of an nI.-lotu,
carried Into y. lower DRIFT, At my raiu, thu
rual Ia both tlrlfts was on ilEu whcn tic tntn
custo 10 work on sfon'laT morning, md two NJ
the mtucrs recklcssiy WclIt iii to save loIr tuo,s
unt1 i.eVur returneI.
after wosk!ng iur soycral weeks, Alr. Doughrrsy
gave up nlI hopes. md abandoning The p!asc,
oprncd uno!l.cr coltIery about half a mile west
u i. DurlnE thc winter 0f 1857, Sir. Iohn
Metinns, Of Pottsyltlc, heard OF tho lntge body
of c.'aa tlMt lny near tl!c abandoned mlne, and
concluded that suuu Ut It could bo rot out with.
out reayh.,lg thc Iire. lfu put In slupa o., tho
cast sac of tl1c vein ul'l llcuw The wuter level.
'liIc work. however. progressed slawly, and,
nwtag tu tic heavy nasacs Ut rork encountered,
WIS very expensive. fas was finally reMarue.l
Dyatrlking The ''JuYulnr y vein At pont where
there WIS deposit u coal 70 tuck ,lmt two or
thgac nlners could Keep lhc breakur goug, naA,
although 1t WIS worked for months, they t1cyrr
succeeded 1T Cutting through tt. Tile coal
prorca to he nrst.cl4ss, a,ltl i01 yards OF gang-
way had bcttl driven when thu miners begau tn
ccnmnlain ut tho excessive llcat, aud .lun Mr.
Aict inn!s knew tliut ,lsrY wero approaching ll,c
ilru IN tic Intne Dougherty had abandoned.
This was about year alltr tho alopo Ind been
ssurted. mud Mr. Mc1lnnls saw thu. l. would ss
tieceasary to open vi alt~llDie, TAis wurk
l,eEan at once, but, after drly!n. twenty ar
thirty yas'is, i'Ic heat bccanlo so intenss tllut
lhe "ortncn werc altis0st sul1uentc1, aMl many
OF thcm refused TO continue. Dy paying douba
wages, however. 4 Auulbor 0f lHcn waro found