The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1889-11-21
Instinct OF Mine Rats.

AS the work of mining advances in
che great coal mines, says Scanton
pa correspondent of the New York
Times, the collapse of the workings
becomes more frequent, more extern
sive, 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 "rob-
bling the pillars" and this is an ex-
tremely hazardous undertaking. 1t
is however, done by the employees of
the coal company, and not by heed
less thieves, as the phrase would sug-
gest.
There was great fall of roof in
one of the principal mines at Arch
bald, in the northern portion of the
Lackawanna valley, recently. The
men had been 'robbing pillars" and
lad made considerable Roadway.
Everything looked all right Satur-
lay evening when they quit work,
out when they returned to the mine
Monday morning they found that
acres of the roof had fall
IN in, and a great field of
.ock, from three to nine feet
n thickness, lay on the floor of
The colliery, after having ground
several stout anthracite pillars to
powder. The miners congratulated
themselves on the fact that the great
.ock, which must have weighed mill
ons of tons, had fallen Sunday when
they were absent from the mine.
In cases ola falling roof the expert
enced miner is torewarned by the
cracking sounds, often pistol-shot,
that invariably precede the down
rush of the great mass; but an in
tallible warning of future danger is
said to be the desertion of the mine
by the hugerats that make the slopes
their home.
The belief in this particular notion
is quite general throughout the coal
fields, 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 fire.
quent occuranoe. THERE'S good rea-
sons for associating the disappear
ance of the rat from colliery with
an impending disaster. The rat is a
sensitive thing; it makes it's resting
place in the hooks and crannies OF
the mine, and it feels the first slow
movement of the crumbling rocks as
they begin to squeeze and settle and
shape themselves for the disaster
which eliminates in the fall of roof
The wary rat is first to feel the com
motion. He is dazed by the grinding
motion OF the rocks; he undoubtedly
thinks they have suddenly become
imbued with life and he fees with his
fellows, panic-stricken, from the place
The first great fall of the roof that
ever occurred in this region was al
Carbonate about thirty five or forty
years ago. The entire side of the
mountain fell in and several lives
were lost. Several days before the
disaster the people of the neighbor
hood were astonished to see swarmf
of rats leaving the mine. This tact
was recalled after the great disaster
occurred, and the rats were credited
with extraordinary foresight.
The rats become very bold in the
mines. Thev will frequently take {
piece of bread or meat from a miner
hand, and follow him about for food
A miner, who is not easily frighten
ed, told me the other day that he has
often been scared by mine rats. Or
one occasion he had a considerable
distance to go, and he had to pass
through portion of an old working
There he encountered about a duze1
rats. They were large and fierce
and were not q bit startled by hi
presence. On the contrary, they soo1
showed that they rather liked hi
company. His oil was burning low
in his lamp, and smelled very strong
and it was evident that it had 1
great attraction for the hungry rats
they followed close at his heels, anC
whenever he FASTENED his speed they
did the same. His only hope was il
keeping the tiny flame in his Lamp
glowing, and he felt that if it was eX
tinguished by any mishap they WoulC
attack him at once. 1t was with I'm
speakable relief that he reached hi
destination before the last faint flick
er of his lamp died out.