The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1892-02-16

item that In all the hundreds OF mine
fires in the anthracite region the one at
No. is unique. There are others which
have burned longer. East Pine Knot,
a few miles from Pottsville, has burned
more than thirty years without work
ing one-quarter so much destruction.
At Wadsville, in the same neighbor-
hood. there is a mine which has burned
forty wears, and at night is quite vol
canic in appearance, but which likewise
did vastly less damage and was not
fought with the persistency which
marked the efforts at No. g. Nor did
IL exhibit the stubborn resistance and
energy which this has shown.
There are numberless instances OF in
ternal fires which had much greater
start than this and were subdued in
short time, but they were below the
water level, and were quenched by turn
ing a stream of water into the blazing
subterranean recesses- In the case of
No. the fire started below the water
level, but it spread so rapidly upward
that, while the slope fire was soon
drowned out, there was no known way
of checking its progress above water
level. except by shutting out the air
that is needed to support combustion.
This was the first effort made. Brat
tees were built across the gangways,
stopping every hole and crevice through
which air could reach the fire. The
mine was practically Theoretically
sealed. All pumping of water and air
was suspended, and the men were left to
watch the result. In two weeks, when
reopened, it was found that the fire
burned with increased fury. The at
tempt to smother it was a failure. Then
an effort was made to draw the fire, and
men were engaged in mining the glow
ing Goals until one after another they
were overcome by the heat and gas, and
several lives were endangered.
At various times men were so far
gone that their recovery was doubtful
General Superintendent William D.
Zehner was carried out in an uncon-
cious condition, and for half a day he
Law in the brush with excited men work.
ing over his inanimate body. Another
man was packed in an envelope Of
moist clay, with no part of his skin ex.
posed but that which covered his NOS
trils, and thus he lay for six hours be-
fore returning life became apparent
The third attempt was by drowning.
Dams and brattices were constructed
across the tunnels Two dams of brick,
laid in the best cement, were built
across No. 6, and one on the other side
across No. z, which cuts all the veins
and extends right through the entire
mountain. Water was poured in, but
year after year there were surface indi-
cations that the fire was still raging.
Wherever these indications appeared it
was a sign that that there the fire was
getting air, and clay was piled upon the
spot by men employed for the single
purpose of watching for these manifes-
tations. At one time an effort was
made to destroy the atmospheric air by
the introduction through drill hole of
lime and nitric acid gas, and at other
times other gases have been manufac-
tured high up on Locust Mountain side
and forced in upon the burning mass,
but without having the slightest appar-
ent effect upon the energy of the flames
Thus the unequal contest was waged
Increasingly until 1890, when all hope
of extinguishing the fire was aban-
doned, and it was decided to cut the fire
off or rather to confne it to a definite
area, 1900 feet long, by deep cuts trans
versely to the vein.-Philadelph Press