St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1892-12-03

fou 0io not know LIES thogny way,
Or. even when earth's laurcls won,
How quick thcy fade st close OF Day.
Would could be yout again.
50 free from hear:ache. care and pain.
Julia Wood, in Good Housekeeping
DOWN In A SALT NINE.
How It u Operated . thousand
Feet Under Ground.
As our readers are WARE, We have
been working for the past three or
four years to get pass down into the
Retsof salt mine 1T York, says the Cen
eseo Democrat It 20 happened one
day recently that two personal friends
of ours had business down In the mine,
and. meeting us afterward. they gave
MS . very graphic description Of the
trip. so much SO that we almost imag-
ined we were with them from the time
they left the top until they returned
again, and for the benefit Of our read
ers we will give their description of
what they experienced and what they
saw. Referring to the matter they
said:
"You may imagine that you would
like to 60 down that shaft. but let us
tell you that when you once stood ON
the verge Of that yawning hole waiting
for the car to let you down, It is two
TO one that your courage would fail
you and you would inform the
guide that you would postpone
the trip until some other day. Super.
!ntendent Chspin was the ono who
went with us, and, OF course. there
was no cause for alarm. rs he knows
the workings Of the whole plant from
ono end to the other. Well, we jumped
into the car and waited for the signal
to start and we did not have to wait
long before the gong sounded and that
was the signal to let her go From
that time until We reached the bottom
no man will ever be fully able to de-
scribe the experience.
''When the signal sounds, the first
thing you do is to hing your hat down
on your head for keeps, and BY the
time that you have got that act accom-
plished It seems a. though you were
going down at about the rate of thou
sand miles n minute. You have seen
one streak Of CREASED lightning chase
another-well. it's NO comparison. It
seems as though the cable has been cut.
and you are just dropping down to the
bottom. You can't zee, and the only
thing to be heard Is that terrible roar
Of the air - you rush through space.
After the 6rst two or three hundred
feet there il . feeling it would be hard
to explain, sort of guneness - Il were,
and you don't care much whether
school keeps or not, and the changes
are 20 different and varied that one be.
gins to wonder what will come next
"When near the bottom the car On
which you are riding begins to slow up,
and then comes the most peculiar ex-
perience Of all. You imagine that you
are shooting upward. and You will soon
be among the stars You can imagine
the sensation from going down At the
rate of about one hundred miles min
ute to going mp At about seven times
that rate. Finally the car lands at the
bottom Of the shaft. and you breathe .
sigh Of relief rs you step out
"Wcll. the first thing you do i 70
look for salt; It's there. all around you.
above, beneath. on all sides, hut Il
don't look like salt near the bottom of
the shaft, as lights are burned con-
stantly and the smoke has blackened
the walls. You look away to the east,
through long. dark tunnel. and you
discern in the far distance some flicker
ing lights. and you are informed that
they arc lights used by the workmen
who are engaged In mining the salt.
Your guide steps up to . man near
where you lana and says: Three lights.
please and three tallow candles are
handed out Il may seem . little
strange that tallow candles are used in
this age Of kerosese. gas and electrief
~, but such Is the case, and they 80
the only lights used in the mine, and
each man carries one, and they are
hung up from the ceiling where the
mining Of salt is going on, and they
are the handiest lights that can b
used. They don't purchase these lights
by the dozen or hundred, but BY the
carload.
The candles were lighted, and with
them in hand VIC followed the guide
and proceeded to make tour Of the
mine; We might add, . partial tour, for
Il would take person something like
a week to walk all over the mined ter
ritOry. We followed the guide along
through dark and winding pathways,
until we rcsched . point where the
workmcn were busily engaged mining
the salt. They've not 1t work with
picks picking it out, Is might Be sup.
posed, bat were breaking up the large
Jumps and shoveling il into the ears.
the salt having been blasted out ahead
of them. While some were engaged In
shoveliug the salt others were drilling
holes into the solid mass. making ready
for . hl.st, maehines run BY com
pressed cir being used for this parpose-
..As bsfore stated, the main tunnel
runs directly east. and Is nearly half
mile in length. Near the shaft two
other tupnels branch Oh from the masn
tunnel. onc on either side, and run par
allel with it. These. We believe. are
termed AirshaftA From these shafts
rooms branch on both north aud south,
md in these rooms Is where the salt b
mined. These rooms arc nothing more
nor less Dian short tunnels. and in time
will probably be Heightened out as lar
"A the main tunnel oe even farther. -
they can 60 miles in any direction a.d
Vtjll be IN the salt The rooms are, per-