Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-07-22
IN THE DICKSON MINE.
WANDERING A NILE THROUGH UNDER
GROUND PASSAGES.
F. ". II. IN AlhdAy Argus.

F. ". II. IA albany Argus.
The entrance TO nearly all mines disap-
points preconceived notions. One cannot
say exactly what he expected, hut ne 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 a short distance
from the breaker was o 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 cars
loaded with coal, opens directly into the
breaker.
AS we gathered about the passenger
shaft the car was hoisted several times,
bringing up q number OF miners and labor
ers. and ell looked like imps from the in
fernal regions. Their bodies and clothing
were black as jet from smoke and coal
dust, and the only white pms could zee
about them was the whites OF their eyes.
In their caps were extinguished torches,
which still gave out a black snd sullen
smoke. Men we found them, talking
freely OF their lives and rather enjoying
the curiosity they inspired. Their appear
ance, ard the mouth of that black shaft
leading down a sheer 500 feet into the
bowels OF the earth, led some OF the party
to conclude thatthey would enjoy birds
eve view of Providence on the surface
rather than tempt Providence under
ground. So less than forty made the de-
scent.
Each of us was given q little torch, and
then we gathered about the shaft. Tde
elevator is simply a platform like a freight
elevator, with a railing at either end.
Above it is a hood to keep of the water
constantly dripping down the shaft from
the seams in the rock. Fen of q time we
crowded upon the elevator, the torches
hsring up around Us and filling our Lungs
with smoke. The signal "a given and
every heart sank q little a the car rushed
swiftly down. Scarcely csuld We see the
damp and rugged walls soos swiftly did We
descend, aud in a few seconds We were
told to step of. All was dark and gloomy
beyond, snd | will confess to a momentary
surprise when my feet struck the solid
earth.
Along this narrow passage We wandered,
the light from our fickeriug lomps making
the darkness ahead the more iupsnetrahle.
AT short intervals were chambers where
the coal had been mined more extensively
but between all chambers pillars at least
30 feet in thickness were lett to support
the tremendous weight of the s~uperincum-
bent rock. And in the chambers them
selves were joists and beoms Of wood
erected for the same purpose. One could
scarcely realize that all these p~asSageways
and chambers were carefully laid ont by
engineers and surveyors, and that plans
we're drawn, marking sll the turns ard
divergences as accurately IS the map Of a
city.
But such was the case, and not blow Of
the pickaxe is struck that Is not foreseen,
and so two psesa2eways approach each
other from opposite directions and are f.
nally united in one At intervals are
heavy, sir-tight doors Of wood, which serve
the purpose OF breaking the current OF air,
give 8 perfect circulation, and allow the
steam fans to exhaust the firedsmp that
may have accumulated in any chamber, no
matter how far distant. As these were
closed behind Us they gave a crash like
thunder every sound being msgnihed NJ
the rocky walls Finally, when vi had
gone hunreds of feet from the shaft We
began to see dim and twinkling lights in
the c~istsnce and to hear echoing
cries, the crash Of loaded ans roll
lug along the rail, and the clang Of steel
on the sullen rocks Mules furnish the
only motive power, and perhaps it Is be
cause of their well-known stubbornness
that they needed such vociferous direction
that for minutes We would hear shouts and
cries that were echoed until they seemed
to come from Q hundred lungs. Then We
would range ourselves close along the
walls and up would rumble and clatter
and clash a loaded car, drawn by several
straining mules and driven (or rather dir
ected, for no reins we're used, by 9 boy as
black as the coal itself, his eyes glitteriDg
strangely in the light from the smoking
lamp stuck in his hstband.
Each miner Is paid for his work 95l
cents n car, and his days stint, under or
binary circumstances is six cars. But for
this he is expected to furnish his own Ia
borer to load the cars, his own tools, pow
der, oil, and. in fact all supplies. When
this is done he still has left 9 fair living
wage. There are more than 80 mules in
the mine, and they are comfortably housed
in 8 stable that is clean and airy, but,
of course, lacks the grest blessing of light.
The pitiful stories . hears Of mules
that are kept all their lives in mines
until they become blind from the dark
ness do not apply here. Whenever the
work Is slack they are brought to the
surface for q run in the green pastures.
Perhaps some particulars about the Dick
son mine may be of interest As doubtless
everyone knows, coal runs in veins Of vary
ing thickness, and often separated BY sew
eral layers Of rock. The first vein in the
Dickson mine is about $50 feet below the
surface, and is known ss the 14-foot vein
It hiss been the longest worked, and is con-
seQuently the nearest to exhaustion, al
though the thiekest vein Already IS acres
have besn taken ont This working We
did not explore at all, although the miners
we're busy in it getting out the glittsring
coal. But a. we descended the shaft we
passed the gaping mouth Of the passage,
still as death and dAk and forbidding IS
midnight
The second or Clark vein, which we
visited, is eight feet in thickness and about
800 feet below the surface. Ii was irst
opened in 1873 and about % acres have
already been taken out It viii lsst ten
years longer, and then the three untouched
veins which lie lower still viii be attacked
in turn. The lowest one is 500 ieet from
the surface. Ia the mine there are 100
chambers each one with . miner and q
laborer. m addition to these there ara as
men and boys at various work in the mine.
When the reader remembers that this is
hut enc OF several hundred mines N Penn