Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1886-02-11
AN HOUR In 4 COLLIERY.
Down Through the Eearth's Crus. into q
Coal Mine-The Bewildering Sensation
of the Descent in the Cage.

Down Through the Eearth's Crus. Into q
Coal Mine-The Bewildering Sensation
of Descent in the Cage.
A writer in Chambers Journal says:
Through the earth's crust into a coal
minel VIII you come? Take first a
glance around the pit top; peer down
the black holeyou 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, 1 emade 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 it's Top
to steady yourself, and prepare
to drop a qurater 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 anoyice'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 I'M
tenanted say by swarms of mice,
which scamper off in all directions as
we bring our lamps to bear on the
well filled managers. Surprise numboa
one. Wonderingly, we ask; How did
mice get here?"
Brought 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 our rounds" So our
guide informed us, and added: Come
now; it is time we started for our
drive"
+ Accordingly, we return - the spot,
from which l!yers small tUnr.cls OHM
penatrahie L.ackness radiate; each of
us Grams himself into an oblong box
on wheels, and a train of some dozen
or 30 "traEls,'! as they are called, is
at once set in motion by a plump,
powerful horse. He has not seen day
light for eight years, we learn in an
swer to our questioning. The uniform
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES 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 ense enough to step outside
the tram rails at any stoppage, and 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
keep a good lookout for any curiosi-
ties 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 whichrest upon
each side on stout upright posts. See!
there's aperfect lepidodendron, stand
ing just as 1t grew, when these dark
places of the earth constituted a
swampy forest, densely covered with
| raaIu opJ farnS o,1 +,.anC ~ yrbinb +ba
ornamental monkey shrub, Araucaria
imbricata, is perhaps the best repre-
sentative among u country's pres
ent-day growths. How many thou
sands OF years have elapsed since this
trunk-a core of stone within, but
without the actual bark with it's seal
like markings stamped out in solid
coal-waved its spiky branches be-
meath the open canopy of heaven!
And yet, through all these eons, press
ed as in a girls album, fern fronds of
most fragile and exquisite forms, deli
cate as lace work, as if photographed
on stone, lie beneath the enormous
mass of superadded strata, as perfect
as when they shot their graceful stems
up into the steaming air in which our
coal measures were laid down in such
lavish profusion. Verify, there be
sermons in stones"
"show us where they are digging
coal" is naturally the first request as
we leave our comfortable vehicle.
But if riding was bad. walking is
worse; Il that can be called walk,8",
where = N ' ant neck and stopped
Shoulders tall, men. progress win fire.
quent head humping along a ROAD ofa
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
into trans, for conveyance to the up
per regions. 1t is a very busy scene.
for all these honest fellows are on
piecework.
As we go on to visit other workings,
our guide stops at a point where a
disused road runs down to the right
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 a
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 ofaman approaching him
from the opposite direction. He
stopped, to avoid a collision, and dis
tinctly heard the stamping of heavy
boots, and a SOUND as of some one
scraping mud off them on the rails.
He shouted to him to hurry up, but
got no reply. He held out mis- candle
He went on to the spot whence the
sounds had 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 corroborateG again
and again by strangers who hadnever
heard it. Hush! there it is! Can't you
hear it?"
Our lamps had been taken from us
under the pretense of trimming them,
and at this instant they went out, we
were in the blackness Of darkness.
Few people know what absolutedark-
ness is.
"Yns," we faltered; "we do hear a
strange noise. How do you account
for it?"
81 can't" was tn ereply. at may be
water in the abandoned road there. 1t
may be an unexplainable echo. Sounds
are audible at enormous distances I'M
d%erground. We had a similar scare
years ago" Here the bailiff succeeded
In .relighting the lamps, to our great
relief. "In another part of the mine
the men were constantly hearing mYs-