Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-10-23
great size of these hydraulic engines

S!eA1 siZo OF CneSe nyQ1aullc engines
when it is known that the stations ex-
cavated for them at the several levels
where they are placed are IS feet long,
% feet wide, and - feet high. All this
space is so filled with machinery that
only suffi Gent room is left to allow of
the workmen moving about it. One of
these stations would, on the surface,
form a hall large enough for a bali
room, and to those who are unac-
quainted with the skill of our miners it
must seem wonderful that such great
openings can be made and securely
supported far down in the bowels Of
the earth; yet it is very effectually
done. These great s~ubterranean halls
are supported by timbers l4x16 inches
square set along the walls three feet
apart, from centre to centre, and the
caps OF joists passing overhead are
timbers of the same size. The timber
used is mountain spruce. Not one of
these huge stations has thus far cost
one dollar for repairs. The station at
the 2,4OO level has been in use five years,
that at the 1900 three years, and the
n at the 5000 level eight months.
Room for ventilation is left behind the
timbers, and all are still sound. Tim
bers of the same kind are used in the
shaft, and all are sound. The shaft
has cost nothing for repairs. Being
in hard andesite rock from top TO bot
tom, the ground does not swell and
crowd upon the timbers.
If it shall be thought advisable to go
to a greater depth than 5000 feet, a
station of large size will be made on
the east side of the present shaft, and
in this station will be sunk a shaft of
smaller size. The reason why the work
will be continued in this way is that in
a single hoist of 8 200 feet the weight
of a steel wire cable of that length is
very great-so great that the loaded
cage it brings up is a mere tritle in
comparison. In this secondary shaft
the hosting apparatus and pumps will
be run by mean of compressed air.
AS it is very expensive to make
compressed air by steam power, the
pressure pipe will be tapped at the
level of the Sutro tunnel and a stream
of water taken out that Will be used in
running a turbine wheel of sufficient
capacity to drive three air composers.
As there will be a vertical pressure upon
the turbine at this depth of over two
thousand feet, a large stream OF water
will not be required. The water used
in driving the wheel will flow out
through the Sutro tunnel and give no
trouble in the shaft.
By means of this great shaft and it's
powerful hydraulic and Cornish pumps
the crust of the earth will probably yet
be penetratedt to affair greater depth than
in any other place in the world. 1t has
been only q little yer ten years since
the work of sinking it was begun,
whereas in the mines of the Old World
they have been delving since "time
whereof the memory of man runneth
not to the contrary" The work on
the Combination shaft has been by no
means continuous. There have been
long stoppages aside from those re-
quired at such times as they were en-
gagged in running long drifts to the
westward to tap the vein. and at times
for many months, when the several
companies interested in the shaft we're
engaged in prospecting the various
levels it had opened up.
The work in the Combination shaft
and the mines with which it is con-
nected is not only of great interest to
biologists, but also to all men of
science, and there is afforded an oppor-
tunity for the observation of the in
crease of temperature as the crust of
the earth is penetrated, and for many
other interesting studies. 1t should
also be OF great interest to the Ameri-
can people at large.-Cor. N. Y. San.