Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-11-05
IN A COLLIERY.
Down Through the Earth's Crust Into
Coal Mine-The BewiIdering SENSATION
of the Descent in the Cage,

crust into a coal mine1 VIII YOU Gomez
Take iirst a glance around the pit top;
peer down the black hole you are to
descend; look up at the huge wheels
overhead, and comfort yourself with
the thought that the ropes, though
they seem so much like spiders threads,
are made of steel and will bear thirty
tons. Take this lamp, unless you pre-
fer candlestick in your hat, collier
fashion,; and as the cage-so the plat
form is called in which men and coal
are alike conveyed--clicks on the
catches, step in, clutch the iron rod
which runs along it's top to steady
yourself and prepare to drop a quarter
of mile in no timel A bell rings and
we are of. Before the qualmy sensa.
lion, so suggestive of sea-sickness, is
fully realized, with rattle and Jerk
the cage stops, and you find yourself
bewildered and helpless; for the can
TO render the darkness visible. We
still sit on this bench for a minute,
till--as the phrase is-we ''get our pit
eyes," and then start, escorted by the
manager, to see such objects of inter-
est rs naturally attract u novice's at
tention.
First of all---whie we are waiting
for our carriage to drive up-let us pay
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
well-iiled managers. Surprise number
on@ Wonderingly we ask: How did
the mice get hcrc?"
Brought down in the hay, you
know; and they multiply so alarming
ly 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 our rounds" So our
guide informed us, and added, Come
now; it is time we start for our drive"
Accordingly we return to the spot,
from whence divers small tunnels of
impenetrable blackness radiate; each
of Us Grams himself into an obong box
ON wheels, and n train of some dozen
or so trans, as they are called, is
at once set in motion by plump,
powerful horse. He has not seen day
light Tor eight years, we learn in an
swer TO our questionings. The uni
form temperature warmer in winter
and cooler i'll summer than on the sur
face-suits the equine constitution
wonderlullyi and then there is no rain
underground. Dark rs it is, our DOB
blu has sense enough to step outside
the tram-rails at any stoppage, ana so
the trans pass without touching him.
Doubtless many 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
keep good lookout for any curios-
tiles we may pass; only hold your
head well down, or it will come in
painful contact with the timber props
which support the roof, and which rest
upon each side on stout upright posts.
See! there is perfect lepidodendron.
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 present
day growths. How many thousands
of years have elapsed since this trunk
"a core of stone within-but without
the actual bark, with its seal-like mark
ings stamped out in solid coal-waved
its spiky branches beneath the open
canopy of heaven! And yet, through
all these icons, pressed, as in girl
album, fern fronds of most fragile and
exquisite forms, delicate as lace work,
as it is photographed on stone, lie be-
meath the enormous mass of superadd-
ed strata, as perfect as when they
shot their graceful stems up into the
steaming air in which our coal meas
ures were laid down in such lavish pro-
fusion. Verify, there be sermons in
stones"
'Show us whore they are digging
coal, " is naturally the first question as
we leave our comfortable vehicle.
But if riding was bad, walking was
worse; ii that can be called walking
where, with bent necks and stopped
shoulders, tall men progress with fire.
quent head bumpings along road of
painfully low pitch. Soon we come
TO where, by the dusky light of flick
ering dip we see half-naked col
lier lying on his side, the better to
drive his pick into narrow seam Of
coal; where 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 into
trans, for conveyance to the upper
regions. Ii is very busy scene, for
all of these honest fellows are on piece
work.
As we 60 on TO visit other workings.
our guide stops at point where dis
deeper and deeper still, " to tell us
this odd story: This spot is believed
by the miners to be haunted. They
are. you know. very superstitious, and
now none of them will come this way
without company. 1t seems that q
carter. whose duty it was TO push
trans of coal along here to the horse
road we have just left, one day heard
footsteps as OF a man approaching him
from the opposite direction. He stop
ped, to avoid collision, aud distinctly
heard the stamping of heavy boots,
and sound as of some one scrapino
mud off them on the rails. He Shout
ed to him to hurry up, and got no re-
ply. He held out his candle at an
arms length, but saw nothing. He
went on TO the spot whence the sound
proceeded; but there was no one there.
Incontinently. he bolted to the nearest
workings and told his weird tale to
sympathizing ears. The story has been
corroborated again and again by
strangers VINO had never heard it.
Hush! there it is! Can't you hear itp''
Our lamps had been taken from us
under the pretense of trimming them,
and at this instant they went out and
we were in the blackness of darkness.
Few people know what absolute dark
ness is.
Yes" we faltered. 1--WE do hear a
strange noise. How do you account
for it?"
II can't" was the reply. 1T NAV
be water in the abandoned road there.
Ii may be an unexplainable echo.
Sounds are audible ut enormous dis
tances underground. We had a SINH
liar scare years ago." Here the bailiff
succeeded in relighting the lamps, to
our great relief I'm another part of
the mine the men were constantly hear