The Portland daily press., 1879-02-05
Among the Coal Mlnes-H.
At notwithstanding into the Mine-Life
Underground-How n Colliery Zeoks,

i ~ LalueOn, we W0ulq
make an excursion to Broc, ,kside. thirteen miles
| distant somewhat notef. as we'll for being the
location OF the larf. est and most productive
coiilery IN tne state as for the beautiful seem
cry in its vicinity. Accordingly we took the
earliest pssse.lger train for that point. The
ROAD from donaldson to B. is q very heavy up
grace ncarly all the way. The scenery for the
nrst or miles Is not very striking, but soon
after reaching "the summit" as it Is termed, 1t
becomes really magnificent. The railroad
traverses the side Of a lofty mountain ridge,
and on the left you look down into the BOSOM
OF very broad and deep valley, for the first
mile or Two covered with an unbroken forest.
and then stretching out into cultivated farms
this morning wide map Of FURNISHED and
glitterug white, dotted now with single farm
houses-and now with clusters of buildings
with the spire of the village church rising from
their midst. The Summit we had passed il
the natural division between the waters of the
SchuSlkill and Susquehanns, and through this
valley the streams pursue their course south
ward until they pour thsir waters irto the
broad bosom of the last named river. Arriv-
| ing at Brookside we went out for few mo-
ments on to the "dirt banks (the refuse from
the colliery) which project out in huge piles
along the slope toward the valley. Standing
on the extreme point of one of these banks
looking eastward. thare is the deep and broad
| expanse Of the valley, bounded on the further
side by rugged mountains, to the south you
see deep fertile strip of country cleft through
| ths mountains which rise and fall on either
hand in an irregular line as far as the eye can
| reach; behir. you the mountain side still rises
| to q considerable height and from the railroad
half way TO the top are perched the black and
ugly rciidings of the colliery. To the north
the Course of the railroad along the mountain
size is marked by long lines Of coal cars. In
] about fifteen minutes the train was ready to
return. We accordingly boarded it and were
soon spinning back toward Donaldson.
There were but two passengers in the car be-
l sides my companion and myself, both of
whom, Joe informed me, were special police
officers of the Reading Railroad Co. These fell
lows are very odious to the miners, as they see
in them only the agents OF system OF opprss-
sion organized against them by that corpora
ton. "What do these fellows have to do?"
| inquired. "Oh," said Joe, at is their busi-
ness to pounce on and arrest any one they find
raking basketiul of fuel out of the dirt piles,
i gathering an armful of wood on the land of the
| company, or interfering in the least degree
with its rights or regulations. 1t is also part
OF their e1siness to play the spy and informer
to mark every man they find complaining Of
| or censuring the company, or trying to create
| dissatisfaction, or organizs labor combina-
| ITEMS" One Of these men had personal ar-
pearance quite in keeping with Joe's unpre-
| possessing statement of his duties. He sat
| doubled up in corner of his seat with most
unso,ial expression about him. His hat
-ieRched over his eyes, eyng Us and a party
tkat came in at small way station, in a cold,
keep, prying sort of way.
1 Getting home again, We swallowed our die
ner, which was awaiting us, and prepared for
| going down into the mine. Having each
drawn on an old pair of trowsers, pulled on an
l old coat and hat, we started for the "Colpett
| Coliery" After half an hours walk across
the village ard up the steep mountain gorge,
we found ourselves on lsvel space, covered
with black looking buildings, aud at the mouth
Of the ''shaft,' surrounded by a network Of
IRON tramways and coal carts, and iu the midst
of dirt-besmeared mer, mostly with greasy lit
l tie lamps stuck in their hats. Joe introduced
| me to the ''outside b)ss," and inquired of him
whether Jonathan the inside boss, was
cup" or "down."
lie was down in the mine, bat be guessed it
| would be all right If we went down without
first seeing him, and getting his permission.
The month of the shaft-an almost parpsudic-
ular slope of 300 feet-was guarded on the front
by strong railing Just behind it, further MP
the hill, rose towe;-like structure, containing
ha hoi tipr
en- front OF which, about twenty feet ABOVE u.s.
was an immense drum or cylinder, round
which wound the great wire ropes attached to
the @Cage." To our right as we leaned over
the rail and looked down into the icy depth of
the shaft, was building on line with the
hosting house, but on level with the mouth
of the shaft This had little niche for a
stove, round which clustered group of smu.ty
fellows, waiting for the cage to take them
down, and further on to the right, in the same
building, was a line OF furnace and boilers.
Pretty soon the bell tinbled, up in the hosting
house, and presently the great drum began to
reyolve rapidly, the wire cords stretching down
the shaft were drawn tense, and with 6 great
deal of swaying and creaking were wound
round the large barrel, until after lapse Of
perhaps, three minutes, up shot the cage to the
mouth OF the hole,-a platform, perhaps eight
feet squsre, with two rails across t, on
which stood car of coal. To this couple Of
mules were at once attached, and it was drawn
off upon the tramway leading to the "coal
BREAKER" and the cage being cleared, Joe and
the men in waiting leaped on to it confidently
myself, however, with little nervous reluc.
lance, and the signal rope being pulled. down
We went. Fancy yourself being shot down
hole 800 feet deep, for the first time, rapidly
enough to make you catch your breath.
Down, down, down, we went, until at ths
300 feet point in the descent we looked up and
could see the opening at the top contract to q
mere point OF .light-it was like looking up
wards through the big end Of an mmouse tele-
scope. Then there was crook in the shaft
and the glimmer of light at the top was cut
off. Joe nudged me when we were about half
way down and said, "what il anything should
break now?" What an unpleasant ideal 1
looked at the straning wire rops-at the mas
sive ring at the end of it, to which our car was
attached BY huge iron hook, and thought of
the frightfol possibility of either of them giving
away. Then looked at the icy timbers al
most straight up aud down, and thought OF the
small chance of one being able to cling to
such flight of stairs, even supposing himself
to have an instsnCs warning. Then thought
OF the lghtning-like slide we should take, even
from the halfway point, if nothing restrained
as, and the total annihilation that
would await us at the bottom, and thinking
of these things clune little tighter to Joe's
arm. But nothing gave way, and in a minute
or two the car reached the bottom, bringing up
with quite thud. A long gall, rg stretched
out into the darkness on either hand with a
gate on one side close to the cage, on which
by the dim light of Joe's lamp saw written
81 wish you happy New Year" A queer
place to find such a greeting l thought, though
would to heaven such q wish might be fulfilled
among all these toilcrs In the darkness In the
return OF ample employment and good wages.
Going through this gate we stumbled along for
quite distance in pnrblind condition, under
the escort of boy who had come down with
occasionally coming n m a
Car, and more than once nearly running onto
the heels Of q mule left standing in the way,
which thought to mysslf would be likely to
produce results nearly as disastrous ss an ex-
plosion of coal gas
First We turned off, after travelling perhaps
twenty rods. into the gallery leading to the
"stables'-the vicinity Of which was announced
to us by a much closer atmosphere, and the
odor peculiar to horse stables.
Here we found in snug box partitions along
side the gang way about twenty wholesome of
which had not seen daylight for three years.
Rsracing our steps, we found just at the juno
ture of this gallery with the ma n gaugway