The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1880-11-18
Burning Coal Mines.

The Reading (Pa.) correspondent of
the New York Sun writes: The failure
of all the attempts to ext nguish the fire
which has been raging i'll the Kelley
Run cOlliery for several weeks, it is
feared, will add another to the perpet-
ually burning mines that now exist in
the Penns, lvania anthracite regions.
The greatest of these is probably that in
the jugular vein. near Coal Castle, this
county. This has been burning since
1885. Lewis F. Dougherty open d this
vein in 1888. The upper drift of the
mine was above water level, and a huge
fire was Kept in crate at the mouth of
the mine to keep the water from freez-
ing in the cutters. One night il the
above year the timbers OF the drift
caught tire from the CRATE. When it
was discovered the fire had been
carried down the air hole to the
lower drifts, and was hey md con-
troll. Two miners entered the mine
hoping to recover their tools. They
never came out. The mine was aban-
doned. No effort was made to mine
auy of the coal near the burning vein,
although it was considered the best
coal in the region, until 1856. Then
John McG.nuis put in q slope on the
east side of it below water level. He
struck place where the coal was SO
thick that two miners could keep large
breaker supplied. When four hundred
yards of gaDgway had beeA excavated
the heat from the burning Dougherty
Mine began to bother the miners.
McGinnis attempted to open an
air hole. The heat became SO
gre,t that the men were paid double
wages to induce them to work. They
worked entirely naked, and were re-
licved every ten minutes. Finally the
heat became so intense that work was
abandoned. The mine was flooded.
After being pumped out, men could
again work for few DAYS. The mine
was flooded nine times. McGinnis
finally failed, and the mine was then
abandoned. The fire has been IA ring
in the vein ever since. An area OF half
q mile in every direction has been
burned. No vegetation grows on the
SUR ace. In places the gcound has
caved in, forming chasns q hundred
feet deep. There is bat a thin she'll of
earth over the pit of fire. At night
blue. sulphurous flames issue from the
crevices in the ground. it's dan serous
to walk across the spot. Several per-
sons have mysteriously disappeared in
the vicinity during the past twenty
years. 1t is believed that in majority
of the cases they have fallen into the
burning mime Dougherty, the original
proprietor of the mine, attempted to 60
across once. He sank to his armpits
a. ~ o,,,.< ~,nI ~uoo onlu
BY courageous friends who venIured to
his assistance. The stones on the
ground are hot, and snow never rests
there. Rain turns TO vapor as last - It
fails on the roof of the burn NJ mine.
Millions of dollars worth of the best
quality of coal have been consumed by
the fire. 81 go e@s ~ = g - =
The Summit Hill mine, near Mauch
Chunk, has been burning for twenty
five wears. 1t is believed that this mine
was set on fire BY disc0ntented miners.
Thousands of dollars have been ex-
pended in fruitless efforts to extinguish
the flames.
The Butler mine. near Pittston, has
been burning three years. 1t was set
on ire by party of tramps, who built
a fire in the mine in 1877. The fire is
in the upper drifts. 1t is confined to an
area of forty acres by an immense ditch
forty feet wide, VIII oh was excavated
between the burning drift and connect.
ing ones. The digging OF the canal
cost $50, 900. But for that obstacle the
fire would have communicated to some
Of the most extensives mines in the
Lackawanna Valley, and suhterrane-
Gus confiagration would have swept
under the whole OF West PittstOn.
Miners have worked in the lower drift
OF the Butler mine since the fire lroke
out, but there are but forty feet of rock
between them and the field Of fire
above. The water that tricklee through
the root is scalding hot. The .empet&
ture is SO high that the men can WEAK
bat little clothing.