The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-01-22
ON FIRE FOR EIGHTEEN YEARS,
Million Tons of Anthracite Burning
| Under Ground.

A Million Tons of Anthracite Burning
Under Ground.
In 1878 fire broke out in the inside
slope of No. colliery, near Lansford,
in this state, and it is raging still with
all the fury which the very best of fuel
can give it. IL is in bed of coal two
thousand feet long, thirty feet thick
and four hundred and fifty feet deep,
and though it is covered with rock and
clay to depth ranging from thirty to
fifty feet, the stones on the surface are
so heated that parlor match laid on
them will ignite in an instant In one
spot the men employed at the diamond
drill light their pipes with the super
heated pebbles. There is very little
external evidence of the fire. save the
constantly rising vapor and the noxious
gases that fill the air and at times kills
birds and small animals that linger too
leng in the neighborhood.
The early history of No. was very
uneventful until about 1878. 1t was
opened some thirty odd years ago by
sold Jim Andrews" and was worked on
the water level for some years without
serious accident, and without produ-
cling any considerable quantity OK coal.
The gangways were turned east ind
west at a point $50 yards vertically De-
low the surface, and mum Der of breasts
were opened and continued to be worked
until the Lehigh Coal and Navigation
Company reclaimed the place.
The company originally obtained
control of the largest tracts
upon the rental of an ear OF
corn per year, but. as may be readily
imagined, in lieu of paying the great
| increase of rent demanded when the de-
velopments had been made, the com
pany acquired title in fee.
The workings were all opened from
the foot of the slope, and the machinery
for pumping and hosting was not only
in place, but working along smoothly
when the fire broke out. 1t is alleged
that handful of oily cotton waste was
used about the machinery and carried
perhaps by rats up the slope and behind
the timbers igpited spontaneously and
caused a conhagration which has since
cost a fortune in cash and coal. 1t is
estimated that yard of coal in the
vein weighs ton. The dimensions of
the era in which the fire is now confined
and beyond which it can not extend
| hereafter, indicates one million one
hundred and seventy thousand cubic
| yards or tons of coal involved From
this must be deducted the small amount
which "Old Jim" Andrews and his sue
eessors, mined and the portion which
may eventually be saved.
From all these circumstances the
| statement will be the more readily cred.
tied 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,
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 mine which has burned
forty years, and at night is quite vol
| canic in appearance, but which likewise
| did vastly less damage and was net
fought with the persistency which
marked the efforts at No 6. Nor did
| 1t 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 a
short time, but they were below the
water level, and were quenched by turn
ing stream of water into the blazing
subterranean recesses. In the case of
No. 6 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 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 day he
lay 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 Oh 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