, 1888-10-07

Descent in the Passenger shaft-Gloomy
Passages and Narrow TunneIs-MIuIes as
a Motive Power-The Miner and His
Blast.
The entrance to nearly all mines disap-
points preeeHeeiEed- notions One cannot
say exactly what he expected, but he GER
tainly expected something different from
the reality. Here, for instance, there was
no indication of the existence of the mine
save in the presence of the breakers and
the huge pile of culm. At q short dis
lance from the breaker was a little shed
about ten feet square, and yawning in this
was the mouth of the passenger shaft.
The other shaft, up which are hoisted the
tho cars loaded with coal, opens directly
into the breaker.
AS we gathered about the passenger
shaft the car was hoisted several times,
bringing up a number of miners and
laborers, and all looked like imps from
the internal regions. Their bodies and
clothing were black as jet from smoke
and coal dust, and the only white one
could see about them was tho whites. of
their eyes. In their caps were extin-
guished torches, which still gave out a
black and sullen smoke. Men we found
them, talking freely .~of their lives and
abhO ShJpJ ing Ilo CuTlOSlby IneY IN
spired. Their appearance, and the mouth
of that black shaft leading down a sheer
300 feet into the bowels of the earth, led
some of the party to conclude that they
would enjoy q birds eye view of ProVi-
dence on the surface rather than tempt
Providence under ground. So less than
forty made the descent.
Each of US was given a little torch, and
then we gathered about the shaft, The
elevator is simply u platform like q
freight elevator Swith no railing at either
side. Above it + a hood to keep of the
wS.er constantly dripping DOWN. the
Shaft from tho seams in tho rock. Ten
at q time we crowded upon the elevator,
the torches faring up around us and fill
ing our lungs with smoke. The signal
was given, and every heart sank a little
as the car rushed swiftly down.
Perhaps | reveal o woeful ignorance
when | say that | expected to see as soon
as stepped from the car a vast rugged
chamber, glittering with distant lights
and alive with eager workers. had read
descriptions of mines and seen pictures of
them, and yet this delusion clings to me.
But in s6n6 instant vanished all these
chimeras, and | behold n narrow tunnel,
so low that l irvoluntarily stopped my
head, whether such a proceeding were
necessary OK not, and darker thar mid
night. On either side were walls Of coal,
glittering strangely as the rays of light
tell upon them, ard hewu into al sorts of
irregular shapes and narrow reccsses.
the roof o.. ceiling seemed rs smooth
and polished as marble. The vein OF coal
runs of almost uniform thickness, and
the slate above aud below forms a COM
p2ratIvely level floor and roof,
Along this narrow passage we wand.
cred, the light from our pickering lamps
making the darkness ahead the more i'm
penetrable. At short intervals We're cham
bers where the coal had been mined more
extensively, but between all chambers
pillars at least thirty feet in thickness
were left to support the tremendous
weight of the superintendent rock. And
in the chambers themselves were ioists
and beams of wood erected for the same
purpose. One could scarcely realize that
all these ~passageways and chambers were
carefully laid mi by engineers and sur
veysrs, and that plans were drawn, mark
ing'ail the turns and divergences as accu.
rately as the map OF q city.
But such was the case, and not a blow
Of the picl2x is struck that is not fore
seen, and so two passageways approach
each other from opposite directions, and
are finally united in one. At intervals
are heavy, air tight doors of wood, which
serve the purpose of breaking the cur
rents of air, give q perfect circulation, and
allow the steam fans to exhaust the fire
damp that may nave accumulated in any
chamber, no matter how far distant. AS
these were closed behind US they gave a
crash like thunder, every sound being
~magnifed by the rocky walls. Finally,
when we had gone hundreds of feet from
the shaft, we began to see dim and
twinkling lights in the distance, and to
hear echoing cries, the crash of loaded
cars rolling along the rail, and the clang
of steel on h sullen rocks. Mules furn-
ish the only motive power. and perhaps it
is because of their well known stubborn
ness that they needed such vociferous di.
rection that for minutes we would hear
shouts and cries that were echoed until
they seemed to come from a hundred
lungs. Then we would range ourselves
close along the walls and up would rum
bic and clatter and clash a loaded car,
drawn by several straining mules and
driven Tor rather directed, for no reins
were used), by a boy as black as the coal
itself, his eyes glittering strangely in the
light from the smoking lamp stuck in his
hat band.
And finally we reached the miners them
selves, for all the men we had previously
seen were merely the laborers. Each
miner had a chamber to himself, and into
the walls he was viciously digging his
drill OF course his eyes get accustomed
to the semi gloom. but to us it seemed as
il he must work solely by the sense of
feeling. The miner we surrounded told
Us that he was almost ready for a blast.
While we waited a car rolled noisily up to
q pile CT broken coal. and u black aad
G-imy la5orer caught up a shovel and
sent the Jumps Numbering into the car.
u - 7 1 l..
Lis charge was ready and bade us go
around the nearest corner. Fifty feet
away we were halted. and her came an
anxious pause, each one agitated some
what, if the truth must be told. Then
c2re o loud end reverberating roar. fol.