The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-08-04
THE COAL MINERS.
BY F. W. H.


 The entrance to nearly all mines dis appoints preconceived notions. One cannot say exactly what he expected, but he certainly expected something different from the reality. Here, for instance, there was no indication of the existence of the mine save in the pres- ence of the breakers and the huge pile of culm. At 6 short distance from the breaker was & little shed about ten feet square; and yawnirg 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 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 the whites of their eyes. In their caps were extinguished torches, which still gave out black and sul- len smoke. Men we found them, talk ing freely of their lives and rather enjoying the curiosity they inspired. Their appearance, and the mouth of that black shaft leading down 8 sheer three hundred feet into the bowels of the earth, led some of the party to conclude that they would enjoy 8 bird's-eye view of Providence on the surface rather than tempt Providence under ground. So less than forty made the descent.
 Each of us was given little torch, and then we gathered about the shalt. The elevator is simply platform like a freight elevator, with no railing at either side. Above it is a hood to keep off the water constantly dripping down the shaft from the seams in the rock. Ten at time we crowded upon the elevator, the torches flaring up around us and filling our lungs with smoke. The signal was given, and every heart sank little as the car rushed swiftly down. Scarcely did we see the damp and rugged walls, 80 swiftly did we descend, and in a few seconds we were told to step off. All was dark and gloomy beyond, and I will confess to a momentary surprise when my feet struck the solid earth.
 Perhaps reveal a woeful ignorance when I say that expected to see, as soon as I stepped from the car, a vast rugged chamber, glittering with dis tant 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 one instant vanished all these chi meras, and beheld a narrow tunnel, 90 low that I involuntarily stopped my head, whether such proceeding were necessary or not, and darker than midnight. On either side were walls of coal, glittering strangely as the rays of light fell upon them, and hewn into all sorts of irregular shapes and narrow recesses. But the roof or ceiling seemed as smooth and polished as marble. The vein of coal runs of almost uniform thickness, and the slate above and below forms . con- paratively level floor and roof.
 Along this narrow passage we wandered. the light from our flicker ing lamps making the darkness ahead the more impenetrable. At short in- tervals were chambers where the coal had been mined more extensively, but between all chambers pillars ct least thirty feet in thickness were left to support the tremendous weight of the superincumbent rock. And in the chambers themselves were joists and beams of wood erected for the same purpose. One could scarcely realize that all these passageways and cham bers were carefully laid out by engin- eers and surveyors, and that plans were drawn, making all the turns and divergencies as accurately as the map of city.
 But such was the case, and not c blow of the pickaxe is struck that is not foreseen, and % 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 pur- pose of breaking the currents of air, give . perfect circulation, and allow the steam fans to exhaust the llredsmp that may have accumulated in any chamber, no matter how far distant. As these weIe closed behind us they gave . crash like thunder, every sound being magnified by tho rocky walls. Finally, when we had gone hundreds of feet from the shaft we began to see dim and twinkiing lights in the dis i tance and to hear echOing cries, the crash of loaded caxs rolling along the rail, and tho clang of steel on the sul- len rocls. Hules fhrnish the only motive power, and perhaps 1t is be- cause of their well-known. stubborn