Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-08-29
a Flre That Has Burned Forty.fve
Xeura,

One of the most interesting and extensive
Ares ever known in this country has been rag
inc in a colliery in Schulkill county, Pa, for
r,erly e. years. Thousands OF dollars have
been spent in vain endeavors to extinguish
tbe fire, but at last the idea was abandoned,
and since the beginning of the war nothing
has been done to subdue the connapration,
which RACES without interruption The his
tory of this mine is very interesting, and,
strange TO say, although hundreds of travel
ers visit the coal fields of this and adjoining
counties every year, hardly any of them hear
Of this great curiosity.
The vein that is burning is called the "Jug-
MIR and the surface crop was first worked
in 1888 by Lewis e. Dougherty, at place
called Coal Castle, one and a half miles west
Of what is now known as Mount LafTee. The
coal taken out was of excellent quality and
the mine very productive. Where drift is
worked above water level it is the custom to
keep huge CRATE filled with burning coal
lust inside the mouth to prevent the water in
the cutters from freezing. Such CRATE was
in operation in the upper drift of Mr.
Dougherty's mine in the winter of 1885. One
Saturday night the CRATE was filed with an
unusually large quantity of coal, and the
miners went to their homes. On the follow
ing Monday morning when the mine was Wis
tied, it was found to be filed with flames
It is supposed that the fire on the CRATE be-
came communicated to the timbers, and NOV
ing along the upper drift was, by means of
an air-hole, carried into the lower drift At
any rate the coal in both drifts was on fire
when the men came to work on Monday
morning. and two of the miners recklessly
went in to save their tools who never return
cd.
Efforts were made to put out the fire at
that time and many times since. On eight
different occasions has the colliery been
pumped full of water, and a contractor named
McGinnis sank his entire fortune, trying to
extinguish the flames, all TO no avail. Since
1859 when he gave it up, the fire has contin-
ued without interruption, and the coal has
been consumed for half a mile in every direc-
ton The ground has caved in in many
places, leaving great chasms that vary from
~ to 100 feet in depth. Travel over the
burned district is exceedingly dangerous to
any one not familiar with the country, for in
many places great holes are only covered by
a shell of burned earth three or four feet
thick.
The only external evidence of the great
conflagration that is going on underneath the
ground is total absence of vegetable life
Stones on the surface of the ground are so
hot that they cannot be held, and snow is
melted us fast As it falls. During rainy
weather, the surrounding country is envelop-
ed in dense clouds of fog that rise from the
over-heated earth. The fire has now burned
across the top rock and into a dirt vein, or
vein of soft coal, where it may last for many
years.
During the early part of Mr.. McGinnis's
connection with the mine it was noticed that
the water oozing into it from the levels above
had the effect of destroying the miners shoes
as soon as they came in contact with it. The
water was not unpleasantly warm, and the
men found that if wound was washed with
it speedy cure followed. The curative
qualities of this water soon became known,
and hundreds of people hocked to Coal Cas-
tie during the summer of 1858 to test its mer-
it, Remarkable cures of rheumatism, scrof-
ula and other diseases have been made, and,
consequently, the water attracted great deal
of attention all over the country, and hun
dreds of barrels of it were shipped to Phila-
delphia, New York, Boston and Baltimore,
A regular physician established himself near
the burning mine, lighthouses were erected,
and for several months the place was filed
with strangers. After the mine was aban-
doned, however, andleft half-full of water, it
was difficult to obtain the mineral water that
performed the cures, and the place began to
lose its reputation, the doctor left for parts
unknown, the shipment of water ceased, and
one by one the visitors departed. The water
is still held in high regard by many people,
and being strongly impregnated with alkaline
earths. its medicinal virtues are, no doubt,
very great
The property is now owned by the Pbila-
delphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company
and is seldom visited by any one except buck
leberry pickers and country people, who
come to carry away jugs full of the wonder
full water.-PottSriAe Miners Journal