The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1885-03-14
OUR HARRISBURG LETTER.
Special to the CARE an ADVOCATE.
HARRIsBUKG. Pa, March 10, 'S5.

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In previous letters / have made men
ton of the appropriation committee
making visits to different institutions of
the State. Once they were at Hunting
don, then in a few weeks they were in
Philadelphia and last Friday they were
at Ashland, Schuylkill county, there to
inspect the Miners Hospital. Now, last
week the members and senators were at
the Inauguration, the House was quiet,
the Senate likewise, and no one but few
employees were moving about the Hill.
No news there, and very little in the
city, so if the readers will indulge me for
little time will speak about the trip
to Ashland, the condition of the Hospit-
al, its needs and what it is accomplish
ing. Whenever the committee go o..
slch n mission they always go in style,
as we are accustomed to say, so they did
this time. They had special train,
composed Of two of the finest cars owned
by the Philadelphia and Reading Rail
road Company. Provisions were provid-
ell sufficient in quantity and quality 10
suit the taste of the most fastidious. II c
start was made at I o'clock in the morn
ing. From Harrisburg the train sped
on to Dauphin, where We took the
S,l,nyll,;n o,J S,,souobonoa brorol, 60,
Pinegrove, thence to fremont and from
there to Tamaqua. A short stop was
made there and few officials of the road
were taken aboard. From Tamaqua we
went up the main line of the Reading
road and soon arrived at Mahanoy City
and Mahanoy Plains, where the train
was stopped and backed up to coal
mine The word was passed around that
any one who wished TO so down into the
mine could do so.
The mine is fine one, every thing
about it is in the best of order. The
owners are Mcssrs. Lawrence and Brown.
The depth is $50 yards. The vein of
coal on which they work is fifty feet
thick. The coal is the purest mined in
that region. Few of the members and
senators had the courage to take trip
to the bottom, but those that did go say
that Il coal mine is "fearfully and Won
derfully made" No one can conceive
of the intricate and dangerous methods
pursued by the miners in obtaining the
coal. Mules, steam-engines and railway
cars are running, putting and braying
over 1900 feet under ground.
The stop made here was about an
hour and us soon as the last car load was
at the top Of the pit scramble was made
to reach the train, which in another half
hour landed the party safely at Ashland.
From the station the party was taken to
the Hospital in sleds. The building is
about mile from the. station, situated
on hill, at once suggesting that it
must be Il very healthy place. The
building is large, well arranged, clean,
commodious and perfectly adapted for
the good work it is doing.
The front part of it is large building
reminding one of a summer hotel, back
of, and attached to the front building are
two wards, about 20 by rs feets, in which
were, at the time of the visit, seventy
two manned, injured and crippled miners,
men whose homes could not furnish
them the attention they are receiving in
this place. This building was built en-
tirely by State appropriations, no private
individual ever gave any money toward
its erection, in fact, if any philanthropic
individual should desire to contribute to
this worthy cause there would he no one
legally authorized TO receive il. They
need money now, The wards in which
the injured are kept are much too cold,
which is owing to the ineapaeity Of the
heating apparatus, They are asking for
S62, 900 10 maintain the institution, and