The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-03-30

ped off and slid or sunk downward, and in
that way etfectually sealed up and oblltera-
ted the whole existence of the mine and
perhaps left the fissure or crack in the
rocks first found higher up.
The shoulder, or bench, around the side
of the mountain that this immense slide
would cause is plainly visible. 1t was
through the just-flnishcd opening, which
had been driven from both ends, that your
correspondent entered. reached the spot
Oh Monday morning about 1890, ac-
companicd by Mr.. James II. Raymond,
his son, a lad of fifteen, two ladies and two
gentlemen, residents of Waterloo. We
proceeded through tho outer opening to the
main artery and along It to the point where
it was first entered. Here is one Of the most in
tcresting things saw. The mud and loose
stones having been removed, flight of
steps are found to have been cut in the
rock, with raise of about ten inches to the
step, connecting with the passage above
These steps arc worn in the centre to a
depth of at least three inches-assuming
that they were originally straight. This
would indicate their long use, and suggests
the idea that this may have been used for
ingress and cgrcss after the mouth was
closed up. On either side of this stairway,
and eight feet four inches apart, arc two
columns of stone neatly dressed, and from
appearances placed there as supports to
tAc roof. They are each about four by
six feet. All the supports or pillars saw
there were of hcwn stone-nowhere has
any evidence of tlmbers been found. Nu-
mcrous blocks of hcwn stone can be seen
scattered through the various parts of the
mine, some, of them half buried in the
pastc-ikc bottom. At the intersection of
the main portions these walls or pillars are
seen in all the parts visited The only
tools or implements of any kind found arc
number of curiousshapcd wedges made
OF metal which, if it is not, closely re-
semblcs copper and is very hard. They
are eighteen inches in length and two and
a-half inches in diameter and rounded at
the head, tlattencd toward the centre to
nearly four inches in width, and tapcring
to q wedge about one-and-a-half inches
broad at the small end. -Four of these
wedges have been found In all, one in the
debris at the foot of the stairway and three
at the fall of the coal at the extremity of
one OF the chambers, driven half their
length into the coal near the top of the
vein. Two of these have been picked out
by the miners and the other still remains
"i'SiS Wiz oICllOuS tllaG CrOVC IL
left off their labors. No other tools of any
description have 80 far been discovered,
but further investigation may bring many
more curioslties to light. Everything visi-
bic goes to show the great antiquity Of the
place. AS to who the miners were, or the
lapse of time since the work was done, it
is simply conjecture. The surface Of tic
mountain and the country on that side of
Big Sandy for several miles would indicate
to the most casual observer that. it had
never been occupied since the country has
been known to Europeans, tho surface
being rough and rocky. What Is now sup
posed to be tic same coal vein, about Six
miles west of there, has been worked for
several years. Several oil wells, without
success, have been drilled along the stream
above and below, but they wero all started
below the level of the coal. Limestone
has been quarried in several places, but to
no great depth.
One eminent gentleman, Prof. Rugby, of
Allegheny College, has already visited the
place and carried away interesting speci-
mems. Specimens Of the stalagmite have
been carried all over the ncighborhood, and
fine collection arc on exhibition in tho
village store.