Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-11-15
INSTINCT OF MINE RATS.
How They Foretell Disaster by Fleeing
From the Eated SPOT.

As the work of mining advances In the
great coal mines. says Scranton Pa cor
respondent of the New York Times. the
collapse of the workings become more fire.
quent, more extensive. and more fatal.
After all the coal has been removed then
the coal pillars left to support the roof are
mined away. and this is called ''rohbing
the pillars, and Is an extremely hazard
Gus Undertaking. 1t is. however done by
the employees of the coal company. and not
by needless thieves, as the phrase would
suggest.
There was great fall of roof in one of
the principal mines at Archibald. In the
northern portion of the Laekawanna val
ley. recently. The men had been rob
blng pillars and had made considerable
Roadway. Everything looked all right
Saturday evening when they quit work,
but when they returned to work Monday
morning they found that acres of the roof
had fallen in. and great field of rock
from three to nine feet in thickness. lay on
the floor of the colliery. after having
ground several stout anthracite pillars to
powder. The miners congratulated them
selves on the fact that the great rock which
must have weighed millions of tons. had
fallen Sunday when they were absent from
the mine
In cases of falling roof the experienced
miner is forewarned by the cracking
sounds. often as sharp as a pistol-shot that
invariably precede the down-rush of the
great mass: but an invaluable warning of
future danger is said to be the desertion
of the mine by the huge rats that make
the slopes their homes.
The belief in this particular notion is
70 h. l.
and, repulsive as the great. fierce mine
rat is to the miner. he likes to see it at
ease in the dismal depths where death is
of such frequent occurrence. There is
good reason for associating the disap-
pearance of the rat from a colliery with an
impending disaster The rat is Sensi-
tive thing; 1t makes its resting place In
the hooks and crannies of the mine,
and it feels the first slow movement of the
crumhling rocks as they begin to squeeze
and settle and shape themselves for the
| disaster which eliminates in the fall of
| the roof. The wary rat is first to feel the
commotion. He is dazed by the grinding
| motion of the rocks; he undoubtedly thinks
they have suddenly become imbued with
life and he flies from his fellows. panic
| stricken, from the place.
The first great fall of roof that ever oc
CURED IN this region was at Carbondale
about thirty-fve or forty years ago. The
| entire side of the mountain fell and sew
eral lives were lost. Several days before
the disaster the people of the neighbor-
hood were astonished to see swarms of
rats leaving the mine This fact was re-
| called after the great disaster occurred,
and the rats was credited with extraordin-
airy foresight.
! The rats became very bold in the mines
They will frequently take piece of bread
or meat from the miners hand and follow
| him about for food. A miner who Is rot
easily frightened. told me recently that he
has often been frightened by mine rats
| On one occasion he had considerable dis
! lance to go. and he had to pass through a
portion of an old working. There he en-
countered about dozen rats. They We're
| large and fierce, and were not a bit startled
| by my presence. On the contrary they
soon showed that they rather liked his
| company. His oil was burning low III his
| lamp. and smelled very strong and it was
| evident that it had great attraction for
the hungry rats. They followed close at
his heels, and whenever he FASTENED his
step they did the same. His only hope
was in keeping the tiny flame in his lamp
| glowing. and he felt that if it was extin-
guished by ny mishap they would attack
| him at once. 1t was with unspeakabe
relief that he reached his destination be-
fore the last faint flicker of his lamp died
ont