The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-03-21
MULE LIFE IN THE MINES.
ANIMALS AS sAGAcIoU5 AND SEN.
sITIvE AS THEY ARE USEFUL.
Their Usefulness as an Underground
Motive EOUer-A High Tribute
Paid To their General Intelligence.

"A POttSVllle (Benn. letter to the Phil
adelphia Press says that the recent order
OF the Girard estate trustees prohibiting
the use of locomotives in the mines on
the immense coal tracts bought years ago
by the sagacious and benevolent old
French sailors son restores the mine mule
once more as an underground motive
power position he formerly occupied
with undisputed honor. 1t is probable
that in Schuylkill county three thousand
mules are used at the mines, and as a
coal operator paid over 81 600 for five of
these dccp-voiccd Kcntuckans few
days ago, an idea of the immense outlay
in that direction in the anthracite coal
regions may be formed.
\ mine locomotive will do the work of
ten mules, but it will throw off much
noXious and asphyXiating gas. The
miners, therefore, are reasonably opposed
to it. They are sometimes, also, the cause
of mine fires, but majority of operators
seem willing to assume that risk for the
increased amount of work at the dimin-
ished expense.
Kentucky used to be, and still is, the
principal breeding ground for mules,
though of late years Illinois, Missouri,
W
Just as good stock The earlier breeds
were the offspring of Spanish jacks and
thorough bred mares The get was
nimblefooted, strong, handy and will
ing, but light. The substitution of Nor
man mares for thorough produced
a grade of mules better adapted to heavy
work and just as spry and spirited
a mule $ considered fit to enter the
mine after he has reached three years of
age. The latter is considered rather
youthful, and preference is given to ami
mails that, by reason of a larger expert
ence with the world, are better qualified
to contend with its trials and tribulations.
The length of his stay after he enters the
mines it is impossible to forecast. He
may be removed, but he seldom dies, and
is not often, comparatively speaking,
killed.
sFrom the day he enters he is COM
PEELED to exercise every faculty of which
he is possessed to prOlong his career. He
finds numerous natural enemies all work
ing assiduously TO shorten his days, but.
in spite of them all, he gets fat and
round, his coat becomes sleek, glossy
and mouse -colorcd, and twenty years of
scrvitudc may find him somewhat calmcr
and more inclined to meditation, but
scarcely less keen, nimble or willing
The nature of his employment inside is
to draw cars in the gangways. 1t is
rare case when he requires more than a
few days to thoroughly understand what
is required of him, and thenceforth he
performs his duties with unwavcring,
accomplishing zeal. AS soon as he has
been harncssed he will take his place at
the head of :" trip of cars" He will
start at the right time and stop at the
right place. If the driver be a new one,
and by Il mistake command him to stop
short, it is probable he will be UNDECIDED,
or that the mule, having stopped, will go
to the rear and with his shoulder push
the cars to their proper place.
lie learns the ropes very readily, and
no well-regulated horse would ever
dream of attempting things a mule does
without Il thought of lis impossibility
To Il mine mule nothing is impossible.
Experienced drivers say mules may be
taught anything and the incredulous
would experience Il shock on witnessing
some of the fcats they are compelled to
perform in the mines.
At night the mules of coliery are
stabbed in a cavern of the gangWay
This is boarded up around to hang up
the harness, and, probably, also to keep
alive the memories of the stalls of youth
and vcrdant pastures. They are literally
fed, and require and receive but little
other care. From year to year they live
in darkness and gloom. Sunlight and
fresh air are unnecessary to their thrift.
VII SbornnpnI nv IA
pctual night so that they acquire the
gift of the owl to penetrate far into the
inky blackness of the deep damp pit
They may become color blind bat are
always able to discern an object or find
/ their way in the deepest shaft they have
ever worked in. And thus they live
barring accidcnts) ten, fifteen, twenty
years-ayc, one mule is known to have
spent the greater part of thirty-tive years
underground.
The most frequent cause of mine
mules death is being jammed between
cars. While standing on the gangway
railroad at the head of one trip of cars
another dashing suddenly round curve
may catch him and crush out the vital
spark but if there is Il means of escape
he will take it. 1t is only when there is
not room enough by the side of the track
for him to jump into that he loses hi.
Lille in this way. Twenty horses would
be killed that way before one mule is
Really there is only one other way in
which remember to have ever heard OF
mule meeting his death, and that i,
when the mine is suddenly drowned
out.
This is not always sure either. Not
long ago seven mules were unable to cs-
cape with the men, when the accumu-
lated water in an Old working broke
through into the one in which they were
The water filled the gangway to within ;
few inches ofthe roof. Hours alterward
when the pumps had reduced it sutli
GENTLY the stable-boss swan in to thu
mules and found them propped up OF
their hind legs with their heads up, ant
their noses elevated above the flood
Fastening the halter of one to the tail o
another, and taking the lead mule by tn,
1 1. . . ,. fg, of Ia,