The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-12-25

u1uc III COuUlIlOQ TO De worked anu u
E set its products upon the market, it i!
j, among the things possible that somt
s OF the properties which are to day Civ
} ing employment to many men in the
neighborhood of Park City, might
have been void of signs of life and
} activity. 1t is astonishing what
one mans persistent labor will
accomplish in securing desirablel
results for men aud in promoting the
development of the worlds manu-
features.
Mr.. Mitchell returned to this city
from the Sandwich Islands in 1875 and
went to work for q. c. M. l. as clerk
He had already long been an owner,
and heavy on, n the mining claims
that were worked before the present
site of the Home Coal Oompanv's works
was even creamt d of. At that time
Weber coal sold in this CITY for SO per
ton. The mine from which the coal
had previously been taken out being
closed owing to the ipjudlcioUs manner
OF its working, it became necessary that
operations should be commenced at
another point. But Mr.. Mitchell was
not in pecuniary circumstances to
undertake the work, though the cost
had been but a trife. He became, how
ever, so impressed with the necessity
of opening ap new source of CO al sup
ply that he could not rid himself of the
idea. His friends laughed at him, and
did everything to persuade him that he
was foolish to give the matter any con-
sideration. Despite this fact and all
the untoward circumstances, and the
advice of his friends, the determination
to open tie mine anew grew upon in,
until without dollar of capital to
work with, he set out for Coalville. He
surveyed the grounds, located the spot
where he proposed to sink the shaft,
worked with the men digging it day and
night, being compelled to lift
three tubs of water to one of
rock-constant work being neces-
necessary to prevent being flooded out.
Satisfied he was right, yet possessed by
| anxiety to know that he was not astray
in his calculations as to the location of
the vein, he worked on until they finally
found the coal, and it was demonstrated
that he had been out but two inches in
his calculations. He secured a power
pump on credit, for it was on this alone
he had been enabled to prosecute his
work. He set the pump, place his own
boiler and hosting engine, put on the
fittings himself and even curbed the
shaft. At length he got out coal, and
began the opening of the most extern
siye mine of coal anywhere east of Salt
Lake and west of the Missouri River
that has yet be n disco e. ed.
At the time of the beginning of the
operations by Mr.. Mitchell, the Summit
County railroad, built by the late Hon
Joseph A. Young, was in operation,
and conn cted the old Crismon mine,
Gn the later part of the workings of |
which the Home Coal Company now
are) with the Union Pacific, so that |
there was through rail transit for coal |
to Salt Lake. When Mr.. Mitchell began |
sinking his shaft, the Union Pacific, no |
longer taking coal from that quarter,
closed the road and took up the rails.
This was another blow to the hard |
worker and it began to look as though |
the friends who had told HIM that he |
was tool, were about right. But he
could not desist, and TO the persistence |
then manifested is due the Home Coal |
Company of to-day.
The coal measure thus opened up
anew, is almost limitless, and it is
a safe assertion that there is no mine in |
Utah to day that is in better condition, !
or which shows finer state of develop
ment. The shaft is 100 feet in depth,
and up it all the coal is brought. The
air for the workings is supplied by tie
old slopes of the Wasatch and Crismon
mines, and there is plentiful supply of |
it so that explosions from the accumula-
tons of gas never occur. The main !
level runs in north-easterly direction
about 5000 feet, on a water line, |
through the coal vein, which is twelve |
feet thick the whole distance, and is
never lost sight of save in one instance |
where fault occurs. At each rs feet |
q room is run at right angles with the |
level and coal Is taken therefrom. This |
plan is followed to the extreme end of |
the level, practically only enough coal
being take out to enable the men and |
horsas and cars to pass. Thus the roof |
of the mine, where it is being worked, |
is sustained by pillars of coal, each not |
less than sixty feet one way and about !
seventy-fve the other, and this pre- |
vents the possibility of a cave taking |
place. When the limit it is intended to |
run in any direction has been reached,
then the (nen work back, and take down |
these pillars, beginning with the one !
farthest off and getting out every parti- |
Gle of coal and then removing the |
timbers, that for the time being have
been PIT up for safety and permitting |
the roof to fall in. Then the next pillar
is assaulted and so on until the point at |
which they began has been reached.
This plan has been followed because it |
conduces to the absolute safety of the
men and because it enables them to
take out all the coal. More coal could |
be taken out in the beginning by making
the pillars smaller and, for the time
being, coal could be mined cheaper,
but the increased cost for tim
bers involved in the lessening
of the pillars and removing of
the coal fully from the beginning,
the greater and constant danger of the
mine caving in despite the timbering,
and thus causing a serious danger to
the workmen and loss of coal, all
point to the wisdom of Mr.. Mitchelrs
method.
new slope is being run northwest
from the present level. It follows the
dip of the vein and will be extended
1000 feet from the point of beginning.
Here another level will be run to the
northeast, paralleling the main level,
and the coal for this thousand feet be-