The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1893-05-18

hnps. twenty or thirty feet wide and
from seven 70 eight feot IN height A
section Of salt some thirty feet IN
| thickness Il left between each
room as support 70 tho solid mas
above. A thickness Of Eve or six feet
10 left above as ROOD. and q substnn-N
tial roof II makes. as the salt in it, nat
ural state iB almost as hard as rock.
There arc no other supports than the
columns Of salt that are left
sOf these rooms mentioned there arc
fifty or sixty at the present tlmo. and
tho worlxmen arc distributed about.
working In several Rooms at time.
There Il no necessity Of q foreman In
each room, a. the number Of carloads
Of salt delivered At the shaft tells the
taic as 70 whether tho men arc ahirk-
Ing their duty or not A railway runs
through the main tunnel and branches
cxte nd IN all directions The cars are
hauled from the aevcrai rooms by large,
powerful les. and there are Some
thirty Of these In the mine.
There IL @ blacksmith's shop In tho
mine whore the tools are repaired and
the mules arc shod, and there Il also
large stable where the muics are shell
tered during the night OF course they
would be well sheltered in the mine,
anyway, but II allowed TO roam about
they could find nothing 70 eat but salt
and the railroad track, and the average
mule cannot exist on adiet Of this kind.
This stable 10 far ahead Of the ordinary
stables about the country, and there Il
every convenience and luxury for HIS
m uleship. The stables arc some forty
or fifty feet In length and twenty or
thirty feet wide, with wood floor and
wooden stalls and managers. This Is
the only combustible substance there
= about the mine, and there are no ex-
posed lights anywhere about H. d.
rcctly in the rear Of the stables Is what
u known as the barnyard. This Is q
large room cut in the solid salt, and
hero the mules are turned out for re-
euperation.
''0ne may imagine that salt mine
y bad place toawork. but aside from
the fact that II Ii little dismal there
arc no bad features about It. Unlike
q coal mine, it Is clean, and there Ii
almost an even temperature the year
around, ranging from fifty-eight to
sixty degrees, winter and summer
The ventilation Is perfect and the sys-
tenn for supplying fresh air Is not OK
cclled by any mine in the world. In
some of the passageways the air rushed
through with such velocity ns 70 OK
tinguish the lights.
''The experience in going up the
SHIFT Is somewhat different from that
while going down. The signal is given
from below after you have been safely
stationed In the car, and away sh6
goes. Your hat sinks down Ally
on your head and your clothing seems
TO sit right down tight where 1t
belongs. A person who Is lit
tie weak IN the knees would also have
tendency to sit right down tight on
tho bottom Of the car. The roar Of
the wind as you hustle up toward day
light Is about all that can be heard
When near the top the speed Is
lessened, and it Is then that one Inn
agincs that he Is going down again at
the rate Of about q thousand miles q
minute, but finally the daylight begins
to peep down at You and you are landed
safely on top, only few seconds hav-
ing elapsed since you walked upon the
car below"