River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1893-12-28
RATS IN A SILVER MINE.
The Little Creatures Right at Home d
the Underground Chambers


the Underground Chambers
The first rats were brought to he
Comstock from California in freight
wagons, principally, most likely in the
big prairie schooners," slowed away
among boxes and crates Of goods.
Their rapid increase, after their first
appearance on the Comstock, was as
tonishing. From ten to fourteen young
are produced at birth, and there are
several filters each year; besides, rat
is great-grandfather before he is a
year old. Then, the rats that colon
lied the Comstock towns encountered
no enemies There were no cats in the
country.
The rats soon discovered the mines
and found therein a congenial home
and a home free from the terrifying
presence of members of the feline
tribe. Never was cat seen in any of
the lower levels of the mines, though
they sometimes prowl about the sur
face of the tunnels In the first OPEN
ing of the mines there was no place
for the rats, but as soon as the tim
bers began to be set up and
cribs of waste rock built they were
able to find safe hiding-plaees; also
there was room for them everywhere
behind the tagging of the drifts. AS
they increased in numbers there was
on al sides an increase of space
through the rapid extraction of ore by
the miners.
They doubtless soon discovered that.
though man was their enemy on the
surface, he was their friend down in
the underground drifts and chambers.
He shared his meal with them, and
thes scampered and capered about him
with perfect IMMUNITY. The warmth
of the lower levels appeared TO be very
congenial to the rats, both old and
young, Cold is thing unknown to
them. 1t is as though they had been
given immense hOthouses in which to
breed. Any temperature they desire,
from sixty degrees to one hundred and
thirty degrees, is at their command.
Rats are useful as scavenger. in mines.
They devour all the scraps of
meat and other food thrown
upon the ground by the miners while
at lunch, eating even the hardest bones,
thus preventing bad odor. As the de-
cay of the smallest thing is unendur-
able in mine, the miners never inten-
tionally kill rat
The miners have a high opinion of
their sagacity. The rats generally give
the miners the first notice of danger.
When big cave is about TO occur they
are seen to swarm out of the drifts and
scamper about the floors of level at
unwonted times. The settling of the
waste rock probably pinches the ami
mails in their dens causing them at
once to leave in search of less danger
Gus quarters.
AT times, when a mine has been shut
down for few weeks, the rats become
ravenously hungry Then they do not
scruple to devour the young, old and
weak of their kind. During the sus-
pension of work in a mine that is not
connected with other mines that are
running, everything eatable in the
underground regions is devoured, even
the candle drippings on the floors
When work is resumed the almost fam
ished creatures are astonishingly bold
and fearless. Then they will come out
of their holes and get upon the under
ground engines (even when they are in
rapid motion) and drink the oil out of
the oil cups, quite regardless of the
presence of the engineers.
A fire in mine slaughters the rats
by the wholesale. Few escape, as the
gases penetrate every nook and granny
of the underground regions, and often
so suddenly as TO asphyxiate them in
their homes. Engineering Journal.