Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-09-26
A NIGHT IN A COAL MINE.
Industrious Toilers Working Beneath the
Surface of the Earth---A Weird Scene
Graphically Described.
Philade1nbia Press
InduStriou

DeSCr1Ueu
Philadelphia Press.
A small doorway, made of upright logs
and a crOssbeam, marks the entrance to the
leading mine in the heart of the anthracite
region. 1t is located on the mountain road
just above Black Jeddo, in Luzerne county,
place made notorious during the Molly
Mcguire reign. In company with an ex-
perienced guide with small miner s
lamp suspended from the hatband, a
tourist enters the dreary, cavernous depths
of night. AS his eyes become accustomed
to the darkness making his way over rivu-
lets of running water and stumbling over
shining pieces of anthracite he reaches
the railroad track which connects the toll
ers In this underground workshop with
their brother workmen in the mammoth
breaker perched on the mountain side In
building of such magnitude that the ten
story structures on Chestnut street sink
into insignifcance when compared with it.
The sharp whistle of the little engine
which winds It's way through the dark
recesses of the mine warns all corners to
give it room to pass, and the tourist hastily
jumps into the ditch and presses close to the
sides of the bank. The little engine with
its train laden with coal, rushed by. Pass
ing onward the tourist enters roomy
chamber where dusky men, by dingy
lights, with heavy drills, are tapping in
to the hard black rock beneath their feet
and scooping up the powdered dust unit. "a
sufficient depth is reached. when the ex-
plosive material is inserted, the fuse applied
and the warning cry is given.
All rush for shelter behind the pillars or
lie fiat on the ground until the bursting
rock has ceased to scatter. The mass thus
detached is sufficient to ELL small train of
cars, but body of laborers with pick and
shovel and sledge-hammers reduce it to a
convenient size for handling. The train is
soon loaded and the little engine takes it to
the bottom of the slope, where mammoth
wire cable is attached, and powerful
engines at the mouth Of the slope draw
the load to the outer air. The cars are
then placed ON the tracks of the breaker
and powerful machinery carries them up
wards to great height, where the mass is
shot down on an iron hoored room, where
brawny men break up the large humps and
the mass Is again started downward,
passing though several chambers and be-
ing picked over and examined by numbers
OF old men and boys, who are considered
fit for nothing else but to pick slate.
These mines are worked day and night,
and there is no intermission. No daylight
penetrates the gloom of the mine but the
flicker from the little lamps suspended in
front of the headgear of the army of work
men somewhat dispels the gloom. With
cans upon their back, one filed with oil, an
other with water and another with powder,
the miners wend their way into the bowels
of the earth
Here, seated around network of shall
low pans In which the coal is constantly In
motion and pressed forward on its journey
to the car, is a large body of people of all
ages and nationalities As the streams of
glittering coal pass in review before them,
each piece of slate is removed and thrown
into box alongside of the busy workers.
Thus every piece of coal which is brought
to the market is handled by number of
people.