The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1885-11-20
AN HOUR IN A COLLIERY.
Down Through the Eaarth's Crust Into q
Coal Mine-The B"ewildering Sensation
of the Descent in the Cage.

A writer in Chambers Journal says;
Through the earth's crust into a coaI
mine! Will you come? Take first a
glance around the pit top; peer down
the black holeyou are to descend; look
up ut the huge wheels overhead, and
comfort yourself with the thought that
the ropes, though they seem so much
like spiders threads, aremade OF steel
and will bear thirty tons. Take this
lamp, unless you prefer a candle stuck
in your hat, collier fashion; and as the
cage-so the platform is called in which
men and coal are alike conveyed
clicks on the catches, step in, clutch
the iron rod which runs along its top
to steady yourself, and prepare
to drop a q~urater Of a mile in no
time! A bell rings and we are off.
Before the qualmy sensation, so
suggestive OF sea-sicknesss, is fully
realized, with a rattle and jerk the
cage stops, and you find yourself be-
wildered and helpless; for the candles
cast so dim a glimmer as merely to
render the darkness visible. We Will
sit on this bench for a minute, till-as
the phrase is-we get our pit eyes
and then start, escorted by the man
ager, to see such objects of interest as
naturally attract anoviCe's attention.
First of all-while we are Warrington
our carriage to drive up-let us pay a
visit to the stables; capital stalls, cut
out in the solid rock, at present un-
tenanted save by swarms Of mice,
which scamper off in all directions as
we bring our lamps to bear On the
we'll filled managers. Surprise number
one. Wonderingly, We ask; "HOwdid
mice get here?"
Drought down in the hay, you
know; and they multiply so alarm
ingly that we keep cats and pay them
weekly wages, that they may wash
down with milk their monotonous
mousy diet. We shall see some OF the
horses as we go u rounds" So our
guide informed us, and added: Come
now; it is time we started for our
drive"
Accordingly, we return to the spot,
from which divers small tunnels OHM
penetrable ~blackness radiate; each of
us Grams himself into an oblong box
on wheels, and a train Of some dozen
or so "trams," as they are called, is
at once set in motion by a plump,
powerful horse. He has not seenday-
light for eight years, we learn in an
swer to our questioning. The uniform
temperature-warmer in winter, and
cooler in summer than on the surface
suits the equine constitution won
derfully; and then there is no rain
underground. Dark as it is, our Dob
bin has sense enough to step outside
the tram rails at any stoppage, ands so
thetrams pass without touching him.
Doubtless many a whack on the heels
has taught him this lesson, for the
string of carts is drawn by a loose
trace-chain only.
Don't omit, while going along this
road cut through rock and coal, to
keepa good lookout for any curiosi-
ties We may pass; only head
well down, or it will come In painful
contact with the timber props which
support the roof, and whichrest upon
each side on stout upright posts See!
there's aperfect lepidodendron, stand
ing just as it grew, when these dark
places of the earth constituted a
swampy forest, densely covered with
reeds and ferns, and trees of which the
ornamental monkey shrub, Araucaria
Imbricata, is perhaps the best repre-
sentative among our country's pres
ent-day growths. How many thou
sands OF years have elapsed since this
trunk-a ore OF stone within, but
without the actual bark with its seal
like markings stamped out in solid
c0al-waved its spiky branches be-
meath the open canopy of heaven!
And yet, through all these @ons, press
ed as inA girls album, fern feonds Of
most fragile and exquisite forms, deli
cate as lace work, as if photographed
on stone, lie beneath the enormous
of superadded strata, as perfect
as when they shot their graceful Items
up into the steaming air In which our
coal measures were laid down in such
lavish profusion. yesily, there be
sermons IN stones"
sshow us where they are digging
coal" il naturally the first request as
we leave our comfortable vehicle.
But II riding was bad, walking is
worse; II that can be called walking,
where, with bent neck and stopped
shoulders tall, men progress with fre-
quent head humping along a road of a
painfully low pitch. Soon we cometo
where, by the dusky light OF a flicker
Ing dip" we see a half-naked collier
lying on his side, the better to drive
his pick into a narrow seam of coal;
while, near by, others are hard at
work upon the thicker veins, hewing
out big blocks OF shiny blackness, in.
terspersed with cataracts Of small
coal, which other men shovel rapidly