The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1892-12-15
DOWN IN A SALT MINE.
How It Is Operated a Thousand
Feet Under Ground.

AS our readers are aW are, we nave
been working for the past three or
four years to get pass down into the
Retsof salt mine at York, says the Gen.
eseo Democrat. It so happened one
day recently that two personal friends
of ours had business down in the mine,
and. meeting us afterward, they gave
us a 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 tho matter they
said:
"You may imagine that. you would
like to 60 down that shaft, but let us
tell you that whom you once stood on
the verge OF that y yswning hole waiting
for the car to let you down. it is two
to ono that your courage would fail
you and you would inform the
guide that you would postpone
the trip until some other day. Super
intendent Chaplin was tbs one who
went with us, and. Of coulje, there
was no cause for alarm. as he knows
the workings Of the whole plant from
one 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.
ssWho~, ho cfp0o1 enNrJo ho Arr<
thing you do is TO hug your hat down
on your head for keeps, and by the
time that you have got that act accom-
plished it seems rs though you were
going down at about the rate Of thou
sand miles o minute. You have seen
one streak Of creased lightning chase
another-well, it's no comparison. 1t
seems as though the cable has been cut.
and you are just dropping down to the
| bottom. You can't see, and the only
thing to be heard is that terrible roar
Of the air as you rush through space.
After the first two or three hundred
feet there is feeling it would be hard
to explain, sort of goneness as it were,
| and you don't care much whether
school keeps or not, and the changes
are so 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 up at about seven times
that rate. Finally the car lands at the
bottom of the shaft, and you breathe a
sigh of relief as you step out.
well, the first thing you do is to
look for salt; it's there, all around you,
above, beneath, on all sides, but it
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 a long, dark tunnel, and you
discern in the far distance some flicker
ing lights, and You are informed that
they are lights used by the workmen
who are engaged in mining the salt.
Your guide steps up to man near
where you land and says: Three lights,
please and three tallow candles are
handed out. 1t may seem little
strange that tallow candles are used in
this age of kerosene, gas and electrici-
ty, but such is tho case, and they are
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 be
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 we followed the guide
and proceeded to make tour of the
mine; we might add, partial tour, for
it 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 reached point where the
worlsmen were busjly engaged mining
the salt. They were not at work with
picks picking it out, as might be sup
posed, but were breaking up the large
Jumps and shoveling it into the cars,
the salt having been blasted out ahead
of them. While some were engaged in
shoveling the salt, others were drilling
holes into the solid mass, making ready
for a blast, machines run by COM
pressed air being used for this purpose.
'As before stated, the main tunnel
runs directly east, and is nearly a hall
mile in length Near the shaft two
other tunnels branch off from the main
tunnel, one on either side, and run par
allel with it. These, we believe, are
termed airshafta From these shafts
rooms branch OF both north and south,
and in these rooms is where the salt is
mined. These rooms are nothing more
nor less than short tunnels. and in time
win probably be lengthened out as far
a. the main tunnel or even farther. a
thgy canpgo miles In any direction and
tetnl ~ n TIE salt The rooms are per