The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1885-01-09
Down in a Coal Mine Shaft,

Pa, which has depth of over a quar-
ter of mile:
"rhe candidate for the experience of
visiting for the first time a coal mine
by way of the perpendicular shaft that
leads TO the Cimmerian depths must
not pause at the edge of the chasm to
consider the matter. The rope that
slowly unwinds al the surface as the
car and platform are lowered through
the darkness may part before the jour
ney is fairly begun, and the bottom of
the shaft is good quarter of mile
below; but if the visitor stops to pom.
der over that possibility and fingers to
calculate its consequences the chances
are that he will never see the inside Of
a coal mine. If he really desires the
experience he must step in off hand
like, as the old miner said, aud imagine
he is going to a picnic.
1t is an exciting trip down coal
mine shaft to a novice. One who is
nervous in an ordinary elevator, sur
rounded by upholstery and light,
and with the monotony of the trip
varied by frequent stops and constant
changes among the occupants. would
simply die on the journey down mine
shaft. Visitors who have tie courage
to make the trip are not many. Hun
dreds go to the collery firm in the in
tentiou to descend the shaft but nine
tenths of them change their minds
when the clash and clangor and whirr
of the machinery, the sitting dust, and
the hurrying, sooty werkmen surround
and filt about them. Some visitors
who have kept their courage to the
sticking place until they have entered
the car, lose it when the descent into
the depths begins, and cover down to
the bottom OF the car, motionless with
fear, and not infrequently lose con-
scousness.
The space is narrower in mine
shaft, and the impenetrable darkness
makes it appear to be more contracted
than it really is. The miners lamps
are but as FREELY wrinkles. Water
filters through the rocky walls and pat
ters upon you as you pass down, like
uncomfortable rain drops from drip
ping caves. The oscillations of the
rope that holds your life are painfully
apparent. The cheerful thought can
not be driven away that some ponder
Gus rock, which has been hanging for
years from one side of the shaft or the
other, will more than likely be Civ
en- the jar this trip which will fetch it
laundering down upon the car. Even
the fact that the miners make this trip
twice day, laughing and talking, and
even humming snatches of folk songs
but never whistling to whistle in a
mine will fetch the worst of luck, they
say-fail 80 remove all thought of dan
ger from the mind of the novice de-
scending a mine shaft. There may be
sensations of greater happiness and re-
lief than those he feels when the car
reaches the bottom, but | doubt it.
Every one who can read knows what
coal mine is. One is like another
the galleries crossing each other in all
directions, like the streets of town
with many turnings--a black and deep
city, city of coal. Some of the gal
lerles are long and wide and well ven
tilated; others are low, narrow and
tortuous, with air suspiciously fowl
and charged with danger. The laden
cars, trundling along the dingy tram
ways toward the foot of the shaft, pass
the empty ones going back into the
hidden depths for other burdens. The
noises of blasts, the smell of powder,
the rumble here and there of falling
coal, the glimmer of lamps, whose
feeble rays barely outline the ghoulish
forms Of the miners at their toll the
noise of water pouring from the many
subterranean veins sundered by the
pick and drill-these are the sights
aud sounds that surround the life a
miner leads, by night and day, hun
dreds of feet beneath the ground.
Work never ceases in a coal mine
when it is being run to its full capac-
ity. One set Of men go down the
shaft at daylight and come out at dark,
meeting at the surface the men who
are going down, and whom they will
meet coming out again next morning,
Fire damp explosions and falls of
roofs and walls are the great dangers
the coal miner fears. The one has
been greatly lessened of late years by
improved ventilation of mines-an i'm
provement that had to be compelled
by law, Before Davy gave to miners
the safety lamp that canonized him
among them, it was the custom to
light the tire-damp in coal mines every
night. 1t is within the memory of old
miners yet when it was the duty of
one man to fire the gas in certain
mines, especially in Continental mines,
so that the explosion might be pro
voked and the mine made accessible
again for the men next day. Wrapped
in covering of wool or leather, the
face protected by mask and the head
enveloped in a hood like a monks
cowl, this man entered the noisome
depths to perform the dangerous task
imposed upon him. The fire. damp is
lighter than air and floats above it. To
keep as much as possible in the area OF
respirable air, the penitent, as the mar
was called, because of the resemblance
of his dress to that of a religious ordel
of the Catholic Church, crawled or
the ground, bearing before him a long
pole with lighted taper on the end
As he made his way along, alone il
the poisonous mazes of the mine, hi
taper came in contact with the explo
sive gas, and detonation after detona
ton followed one another until tn,
noxious substance had been entirel,
decomposed and the atmosphere wa
safe. Frequently the penitent wa
killed at his post, either by the fore
of the explosion or by coal and rocl
dislodged and falling upon him.
Fire-damp explosions are still yer,
frequent in coal mines, and in to-
many instances the responsibility ma
be traced to recklessness on the part 0
the miner himself.
1t is remarkable that in the confine
and sunless atmosphere in which IN
coal miner lives at least half of his lif
he contracts but few maladies. II