St. Landry democrat., 1879-08-30

siLFANIA COAL MINE.
lPottsvillc Miners Journal
a lire IN colliery is by no means IN
uncommon occurrence in this or any
other coal region but in most eases the
flames are soon drowned out, the wafer
removed, and mining continued as be-
Tore. 1t is only on rare occasions that
the flames make such headway before
belng discovered that they cannot ! /
eAtlhguls!ied in few weeks by tic
introduction OF water and steam. One
or the most interesting and extensive
nres ever known in this country has
been raging i'll a collcry in Schuylkill
county Tor nearly forty-tive years.
thousands OF dollars have been spent
in vain cndeavors to extinguisl the fire.
but at last tile idea was abandoned, and
since the beginning of the war nothing
has been done to subdue the confiagra-
ton, which RACES without interruption.
Ilic history OF this mine is very inter-
eStlnS, and, strange to say, though hum
dreds of travellers visit the coal fields
OF this and adjoining counties every
year, hardly any of them hear of this
great curiosity. The vein that is burn
ing is called the ''jugular," and the
surface crop was first worked in 1888 by
Lewis +. Dougherty at Il place called
Coal Castle, one and Il half miles west
of what is now known rs Mount Laf1ee
The coal taken out was Of excellent
quality and the mine very productive.
Where u drift is worked above water, it
Is the custom to keep a huge CRATE
filled with burning coal by the side of
the mouth to prevent the water cutters
from freezing. Such IL CRATE was in
situation III the upper drift of Mr..
DouSherty's mine in the winter of 1885
One Saturday night the CRATE was filled
with an unusually large quantity of coal,
and the miners went to their homes.
On the following Monday morning,
when the mine was visited, it WAS found
10 be filled with flames. 1t is supposed
that the fire in the CRATE became COM
munlcatcd TO the timbers, and, moving
along the upper drift, was, by means Of
an air-hole, carried into the .oWer drift.
At any rate, the coal in both drifts was
on fire when the men came to work
Monday morning, and two of the miners
recklessly went in to save their tools
and never returned.
Efforts were made so cxtinguish the
fire, but. after woINng for several
weeks, Mr.. Douglletty gave up all
hopes, and, abandoning the place,
opened another colliery abeSaaIf Il
mile west of it. During the ter Of
1867 John McGinnis, of NxcPville,
heard At tie large body of coal vi lay
near the abandoned mine, anG'., CON
cluded that some of it could be got out
without reaching the fire. He putin Il
slope on the east side of the vein and
below the water level. The work, NV
ever, progressed slowly, and owing 20
the heavy masses of rock encounter~a
was very expensive. He was tiuaT q
rewarded by striking the "jugular V4
vein at a point where there was de-
posit of coal SO thick that two or three
miners could keep the breaker going,t 1
and although it was worked for month j
they never succeeded in getting througlH
it. The coal proved to be tirstdlass, |
and four hundred yards of gangway
had been driven when the. miners began |
to complain of excessive lNs&t and then |
Mr.. McGinnis knew that theN hGSe ap- |
preaching the fire in the mine N asrty |
had abandoned. THIS was aboN AarA
after the slope had been startea
Mr. McGinnis SAW that it wouNz !
necessary to open an air-hole. This |
work began at once, but after driving I
twenty or thirty yards the heat BECAME T
so intense that the Workmen were almost
and many of them refused
to continue. BY paying double wages
a number of men were folld AWilling to
work in the air-hole; some OF the
intense heat may be hadS it is
stated that the men worked aectly
naked, and were relieved .evef y&en
After the air-hole had
open about fifty yards the heat beg
and the men tainted Ns
exposed to it Il minute or two, geinyS
that it was impossible to com, lie
lir-hOle, work in it was given ~
Ut fortunate time, for it was afterWardy
discovered that If the hole haS been
carried up IL few yards further it 4
would have struck the water on the
upper level aud drowned everyone in
he mine. About this time the miners
iced that when shot was fred, and
i come rolling down in huge
4 - warm that it could
# s. A -. handled. Every
j # X Y 4 81 s q e TO see the fire
Il 4 Il the gang