Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1881-03-05

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whirling along this track carrying
the black diamonds in cars to whsre
they will be hitched to the slope rope,
and from thence hoisted to the surface.
The superintendent puts the capa-
city of the hosting power at fifteen
hundred tons per day at the lowest
calculation.
In the meantime work is being
rapidly pushed forward in the New
Hope mine for the purpose of tapping
the water at lower point SO as to
enable the superintendent to push
forward the heading that he had to
abandon at the tail OF the water in the
Eckhart slope before referred to.
This will give seven hundred feet Of
a lift below the bottom Of the Hof-
man slope, which will be driven down
to it and serve for an airway and
water course. This heading will run
through to the Ocean mine, passing
as it does through the center of our
coal basin. With deep cover on it
the quality of the coal cannot be snr-
passed dy any other mine in the re-
gion, and with the great care taken
in cleaning the bone coal out of it,
it will be found to be a strong COM
petitor with any other bituminous
coal shipped to the eastern market.
As the cause for drowning out the
Eckhart slope has remained mys-
terry to the public, allow me after
careful inspection of the old workings
to give my opinion as to the reason
why the aforesaid mine was flooded,
go that your readers may fully under
stand it:
One thousand feet down from the
mouth of the slope is what is known
as tho upper south, or the old T-iron
heading. A large portion of this
heading, to use mining term, "took a
creep" or "set," or, in other worls,
it caved in and buried T-iron, cars,
tools and some of the miners clothing
and dinner buckets. From the thick
ness of the pillars that are between
the rooms of the lower south heading,
l am surprised that the "eet" did not
extend through the whole of the mine,
and no doubt the management ex-
pected the same. | am satisfied that
this is one of the reasons that the
mine was flooded. Water is q very
useful element to cover blunders I'M
derground, and it is not the frat TINA
that | have known it to be used.
From close inspection of the old
workings Of this opening I find the
rooms twenty feet in width and some
of them more. The pillars are from
three to ten feet in width, some of
which you can look through the
email holes that are mined through
them, bringing one in mind of peep
show with the Snowman pulling the
string and crying look to the right
and you will see damaged coal prop
erty.
So much for professional mining
engineering. If the departed spirit
of the Chinese Emperor, Ho-wsng-ti,
who first discovered the directive
power of the magnetic nssdls, could
look down from the boundless realms
of space and view the uss of his dis
covsry as applied to these cid work
ings, he would come to tho conclusion
that there was something wrong.
Shades of Marco Polo !! draw the
mantle over it
The improvements outside are of
the most substantial character. As
soon as the loaded cara are unhitched
at the top the grade carries them to
the dump-house. The dumTin ap-
paratus is contrived upon the most
imrroved plan, SO that. one small
boy dumps three hundred tons. A
small engine will socn be fitted up to
pull the empty cars back to the head
of the slope, thus superseding horle-
power altogether. And when the
improve ments are completed inside
the whole of the undertaking will
reflect credit upon tie we'll astab-
lished practical judgment of tho au-
perintendent of the Consolidation
coal company, Mr.. James B. Thomas.
THOMAS BROWN.
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