The sun., 1891-07-12
A YANKEE MINER IN CHINA.
HOW NH. CHURCH. DEVELOPRD THE
GREAT Ii HUNG CHANG,s MINES


NeishSorhood OF the Great Wall and
che Tombs OF the Emperors-Thres
Years OF Curious Experience In a Re-
giou that Has Never Been Described
The Work Carried on Under Guard.
Up In tho province. Of Mongolia. nearly $50
miles north OF tho Great Wall Of China. In the
territory OF o Monaghan prince, are the two
old silver mines, Yen Tung Shan and the Ku
Sian Tsu, owned by Ii Hung Chang. Viceroy
OF the imperial province OF ChihL Their
shafts have been sunk dozen miles apart In
the steep mountains that lie midway be-
tween the MonRolisn plateau on the
west and the seacoast. Nomad tribes
Of Mongolians have camped around them
for MANY years. and II you asked native Of
northern China II ho had ever heard OF the Ru
Shan Tsu he would probably tell you OF tho
spirits that had haunted It in the past Then
he would protest mildly against the sacrilege
Of the minsrs. because $50 miles toward tho
sea In tho same range OF mountains are the
tombs OF the old smperors. and the dragon
that guards them il disturbed by the miuers.
No one knows the exact age Of the ku Shan
Tsu. 1t must have been considerably moro
than q century ago when work was begun
there BY the Chinese. Their mining tools were
OF the most primitive kind and. notwithstand-
ing the large force OF men employed, very
little was accomplished. The miners worked
away with their picks. aud when the shaft
flooded they baied 1t out By hand.
AZ a producer Of silver the Ku Shnn Tsu
never has and probably never will be OF great
importance In calculating the worlds aggre-
gaze supply OF that metal. 1t has been during
hao - fn, ho 0f n
interesting experiment Mr.. John A. Church.
an American engineer. has been teaching
700 Cinnamon a: the Ku Shan Tsu the
American methods Of mining. Nothing but
the fast that he was under the special
protection Of the imperial Government en-
ablsd him to live in that country. There were
all tho difficulties incident to the peculiarities
Of the Chinese methods OF work and the local
hostility to TO, cIgners to be overcome In q
country that is comparatively unexpored.
Mr. Church had big contract before him.
Accompanied by his wife he went to Tien Tsin
where the viceroy live and from there he
started By cart to the Mongolian silv mins
in . scountry about which he could lea n moth
caIly 1pored. AZ lhongh like all OF China i
@ R Darts o s. eoal % 'ai asd mSs. Ss
Somewhere the distance you will SEQ a lone
as Ss tsnF R esSsd 0r
as thn ts say od o northepn
Soandasy. Sss s F From an an engineerins s.aDdpuint
passed .h! on 81 he Tieh Men a kusn gate: whica
taa' PS!s e Elk .s at
ga: and on
The space between those walls wa. fled ln
h dr. And p the Ts seems soars 10 hat
they are baking water 10 =, .hrcXn on them them
SGS' S1as IN 9hs csss:, sss: sud 'nsf:s :.n si
the foun a,ion for the 1000 miles Of thi. great
wall is uilt entirely OF squared granite blocks.
aud that the wall runs over tho crest OF some
very high and steep noun aims, yon can appre-
cia,e The dlfiS nlties trs, nust hHys been oyer;
vast amount Of granite. and how many men
did Il take to square the hlocks and pmt them
% .hss have BEEN
tsin. I siror' 'Ied i oisce.; Sas q tSs c5iasss
to the tops OF these mountains Is tina, N llions
Of goats were employed to transnor, them.
W. Ven, tti Through @ the g were some Oil Chinese
gun made Of w.nu:h! iron and about an
inch and 3, nnrtdn oi Mon9os vber. b. Ku
Shan TsS nine was s,tnsied 4. "a found country
yth climate somewhat Ike h., tnas OF Hew ,eN
ressmbl a id in General ,vay thoss Of Wsst vls: M
gin They eo1tan s,yps and 1hsm lead In %aP
!SIs Sas ore fs0 had no. sm""un,ed' to, " mneh:
I5sy T s%Tssd TED nsn IN and s sSsy sunk Ss
shafts BY the use OF picks and d. chisels without
the aid oi blasting Howder The ku shan IN Tsa
have the proper MAJ hinery for, pum ming 1t out
It bad ceased to be profitable under their
q nd ssr sss
mine s"ccas- fully, i m4r!ra1 machinery must
b I9rodussd; There is ,S nS country in ths the
sea, q fsd "
Viceroy agreed to this. and o9r order. together
5hs hs n
as soon as il was allied ~ were ready % work"
Ky an s6fG & 'o a into Enf
the generally accepted translation. Tor owing
to the peculiar construction Of the Chinese
Of the name, Il was simply mining camp or
village that had grown up, arou,d ,hts TIL shaft
1901 ION In '11HaEnsf %inins 16. vcerey howeSer
Heed the camp with fifty soldiers armed with
'Hp S.n cap t.1e wsps sns ZIP
gun, has carried two nss
6s saa ss saey
Gin a was loaded heavily and 'hen prorped
Is hS sS BY the S whS
W were W fortunate. @ ssa rule tn Chinese soldiers
are COOL marksmsn.
With his American machinery were a few
American miners to operate It. The resident
physician at the mine. DR.; d. N. Osborn. was
also an American. Few Chinamen are good
10 do the more dif!l.ult wTrk came from CAP, y.
coolies Who did the heavy work in the shstts %tt
nose workmen reed close watching Tho
Amarlcsn q EnelIsh miner can 30 sen: into |,
WORE = Is only for tho Gsms9 bi To-
s'i ness miner the same orders and unless
there, is . man TO watch him In mos % OF the
at Ky shan Tsu about 5oo mem The s.a =. "oss.
ma ntained, so that malls were received about
every two days. house on me "A Amsr!S"aa s,nSna
I ysrs the hu,s Of the miners American IA
what was his power to make !ie pleassn, IN n
we're 'ryine to put his mine on paying na.is
A strong steel vault. similar 70 that n l,,oar our
thai was cast ln 81 'cks shaped Ike Chinese
Wome Is -hoe. Once month this silver was
sent under guard to Jehol, whore 1t was ex-