Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1889-07-12
Roam MOUNTAIN.
Descent into Mica Mine in East Tonnes
see-A beautiful View.

Descent into Mica Mine in East Tonnes
see-A beautiful View.
A corr espondent, writing from tho top Of
Roam mountain, Tenn, sGys: Here is a plao'
said to be over two milos above the sea levS,
and there is only one thing that is sufficiently
convincing Of the fact, and that is you can
see with a telescope a little village sixty
miles away. And mountains after noun
tains, and hills upon hills go rolling over
the broad expanse, and here and there is to
be seen the swift mountain stream rushing
on with furious speed and tireless course TO
ocean. mother of all The mercury Of my
thermometer today shows 81 degs., and l am
sure that it is fully so dogs, If not more, say
at Pittsburg or Washington. The salubrity
of the atmosphere is something to be won-
dered at, and if anything will instill new
life into the over worked and indisposed city
man this will do it. An overcoat is a very
necessary article Of clothing, and where any
one is not acclimated tosuch place it is quite
hazardous to indulge in physical exercise,
such as climbing steep declivities, unless they
are prepared with plenty of clothing, for a
sudden chill gives the susceptible quite a
severe cold.
There is but one way to make the ascent to
place like this and that is to put yourself
on the saddle of mountain mule The ani-
NAL is sure footed, and if he is given the lines
there is no danger of him falling, either day
OF night, the animal going over places that a
man would never risk
As is pretty well known, the country of
East Tennessee is not thickly settled, and
consequently the place is not in a very good
state Of cultivation The thick wooded for
ests of tho mountains produce the finest
timber in the world, but they are so mac
cessible to railroads and water courses that
the land can be bought for So an acre Lum-
bering, however, is one of the principal vo-
cations of the people. Some mining is done,
coal being found in considerable abundance
in some places | went down to a mica mine
Yesterday before ] came up hero, and had
quite treat in tho way Of getting some in
formation that l was heretofore ignorant Of.
A beautiful drive-uncommonly good and
even for the mountains-of about seven miles
from johnson City landed us at a spot where
a strange kind Of people lived. OF course
they were Americans, but there is something
strikngly peculiar about these mountainous,
that on first acquaintance with them you are
led to believe they are foreign people. There
| is a little colony Of them, and there they live
isolated almost from the world, having very
little commercial intercourse with outsiders.
They raise their own vegetables and meat,
and when they have mined enough mica they
ship it away in little low wagons, drawn
| by the aforesaid mountain mules, and in ex-
change for it they get clothing and other nee
essaries that their soil viii not produce.
The machinery of their mine shows nothing
of the improvement one would expect to find
! in the coal regions of Pennsylvania, You
/ s.,er, -foI
| chine, which consists of IA rough platform, tc
which is attached a rope which is wound "
/ bv two pretty big strong looking fellows.
| looked at the rope in a critical way before
was lowered sixty feet below the surface Sc
we all boarded the arrangement and down
we went. Instead of getting warmer, the
deeper we went as it usually does in mines
| the atmosphere seemed to get more chilly
and colder as we descended. But now W,
were at the bottom.
Mica is formed only with great age, the
| biologists tell us, and it is only obtained by
/ blasting. So after walking many devious
and dark little ways, almost frozen to death
we came to the place where the stuff is got
ten. One big six footer, who seemed to b,
boss Of all tine rest, ordered the blasting pow
| der to be brought. There is no dampness il
these mines, and consequently there is NJ
arising of noxious gas, such as often explode
in the coal mines, Of Pennsylvania and il
England; so the 6iners wore ordinary OF
lamps on their hats, the regular lamp used il
mines being unnecessary. You have no doub
seen the manholes in railway tunnels. Well
they have such arrangements in the mict
mine and have doors to them.
After the powder is placed in various posi-
tons the fuse is ignited and every man hur
ries to nanhole. Suddenly the explosion
takes place, and immediately upon hearing
the report started to go out, but one Of the
men warned me of my folly, telling me
would be smottered So after few min
utes' wait we all went out, and there W,
found a couple of art loads Of mica, anC
general debris and dirt. One blast like tina
yields about what would ill a bushel meas
urc, after the waste was taken away No
more than two blasts can be made in thes
mines in a day, ON account of the smoke ant
gas arising from the burning of the powder
So l began to figure to myself and saw VIII.
it was such poor business There is no yer,
great demand for it, but l am told it is tn
only place in this country that it is to be OBJ
tanned in such purity. -Hartford Post.