Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-05-09
A WONDERFUL MINE.
1T is BURRoWED THROUGH 5000
FEET OF SOLID ROCK.
The Descent Into the M,ne-Its
atmosphere Very Pure-Wcird
Sights and Odd Sounds
Par Underground.

Frank Vincent i'll his book, ssAround
and About South America" gives this
Interesting description of the mine of
MORO Nellio, situated near Connonbus.
Brazil. 1t is the greatest gold mine on
the Southern Continent, and one of the
most remarkable III the world.
y very remarkable and interesting ey-
perence was my descent into the mine.
At one of the neighboring Offices some
miners clothes were given me Esnc-
ciaiiy useful rs II shield against falling
stones was hat made of very stout felt.
To the front of this Il candle was stuck
INTO q small lump Of soft clay. Two iron
cages, or cars, were run with wire ropes
by Water power, aud filled Il vertical
shaft, bored, after the iirst hundred feet
or so, i'll the solid rock, to a dcpth of
l45O feet. One car ascends while the
other desoends, carrying the miners, or.
III other times the gold rock, in little
IRON cars which are run in and ont upon
rails. Not far from the point where the
gallery branches from the shaft, is the
original starting of the drift by the pres.
ent company, the lode running toward
tne east by an angle of forty-iivc degrees
ms DRIFT descends several hundred feet
ID large level space, then there is an
abrupt descent of perhaps fifty feet, and
another great level, another descent of
nifty iect and then smaller level, and
you arrive ut the extreme bottom of The
mime. In reaching the bottom we de-
scended innumcrable ladders of inter
minable length. The roofs and sides or
the mine were everywhere supported by
the hardest woods of Brazil. Two ccct
square was the average thickness of these
tmbcrs, though | occasionally saw them
rs much as three feet square. At the
bottom, such of the roof us | could see
seemed supported by great wooden col
nmns, between which was Il solid bacL.
ing of heavy planking. Then some
twenty feet below this was Il row of
enormous legs, placed about fifteen feet
apart. From the last stage the bottom
OF the mine is reached by long wire
rope ladder, loosely hung against the
perpendicular wall. 1t is necessary to
have ladder of this kind, for the fire.
qucnt blasts would soon destroy wooden
one The lode, at the end, 2000 feet
oeiow the surface, is about fifty feet in
width, and so itch that the dark cray
stone fairly glistcrs i'll the light of the
miners candles. Comparatively little
water is III the mine, the pump drawing
from shallow pool through long can
vas tube. AS fast rs the gallery nd.
vances The huge timbers are placed inst
below the roof. across it, 1t seems won.
dcrful how the men can get :, tree Trunk
Three feet square and nearly hundred
ieel IN length into such seemingly inac-
ccssible positions. 1t is done by means
Of great chains and the assistance of 81
Steam engine.
All through the mine the visitor is
startled and alarmed by Il variety OF con
tinnous rnmblings and revcrirations.
The calls of the men 10 eac!i other and
the commands Of the bosses have also an
oinlnons sound. These goblin noises.
penetrating through the murlly darkness,
combine with the miners lights, which
dart about like so many vicious Jack o.
Lanterns, to surround one with a pandc
monlum. The air, however, is cvcrywhcr.
remarkably pure, II pleasantly disillusion-
AIRY Tact, rather unusual, rs no fresh nj.
is forced down from above. At the end
OF the DRIFT found about ii dozen me-.
drilling holes in the ore producing min
eral vein, and another dozen cnon~cd i,
putting III new timbers. From here YOU
can look straight up, along some thou
sands of feet to the beginning of the
DRIFT, OYER the two platforms, and above
to the roof, 400 feet distant The width
varies from fifty to Il hundred feet. Ii is
Il most wonderful, awe-inspiring cavity.
No other mine III the world can boast of
Il greater.
While Watching the men and standino
on tie next highest platform, noises like
distan: bu- heavy thunder would OCCASION
ally be heard. These, they told me. were
blasts i'll remote and smaller galleries.
Dynamite - used for these blasts, 81 ycnty
live pounds IL day being required. The
men 1t the end OF CIR gallery next fired
seventeen chnrgcs, rs we all stood under
What IS regarded rs the strongest wall.
for fear Of horrible stone flakes falling.
though the drifts are blasted and cleared
so ciectualiy that there is but very little
danger. The various reports OF the cx-
p!oding charges were appalling The
successive waves of air struck us with
powerful force. After the sharp crash. as
of the heaviest artillery, the ground
would violently shake beneath orr feet.
while the whole mine appeared to be
rocking and tumbling for some seconds.
The reverberating echoes were especially
sonOroug.
The CHATTER oil the mills is heard night
and day, Sundays and holidays, week in
and week ont. The mining works were
all shown me by the obliging superin-
tendent, Mr.. Chalmers. 4 general view
Of the place brings into prominence a
huge water course and iron siphon com.
ing down n hill to the extreme left or
west. The driving power is water, in-
troduced i'll fumes, and this one is seven
miles in length. Then you see, at the
north, the quarter where tho married