The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1894-01-04
RATS IN A SILVER miNE.
zoe Lsttic Creatures Rsrht at Home
the tT1syyer I, s.ss,,,,ss ~. :. y. I. .

Auc k.atstc Creatures Right at Homo Ia
the Underground Chambers
ne first rats were brought TO che
Comstock from California ia fseipht
wagons, principally most likely in the
oig prairie schooners, slowed away
among boxes and crates OF goods.
Their rapid Increase, after their first
appearance on tile comstoek, was as
ton'shing. From ten TO fourteen Young
are produced at a birth, aud there are
several filters each year; besides, rot
Us o great-grandfathcr before he is q
year old. Then, the rats that colon
azess the Comstock towns encountered
no enemies. There were no cats in the
country.
The rats soon discovered the mines
and found therein u congerinl home
and home free from the terrifying
presence OF members OF the feline
tribe. Never wasu eat seen In any OF
ene lower levels Of tile mines. though
shey 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 tie tim
oers began to be set up and
cribs of waste rock built they were
able to find safe undergraduates; also
there was room for them everywhere
behind the tagging of the drifts. AS
they increased in numbers there was
on al siles al increase of space
through the rapid extraction Of ore by
the miners.
They doubtless sooa discovered that,
though nun WIS their cnemv on The
surface. ne y-..:; thsir friend down in
Che underground drifts and chambers.
lie shared his naal with them, aud
they scainnerad and caperea about him
with perfect impnnity. The warmth
of the lover levels appeared to be Very
coaTcnial To the r,ts, both old nd
younT, Cold is T. thing unknown 10
them. 1t IS as though they had been
given immense hotliouses 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 scavengers in mines
They devour all the scraps oe
meat and other food thrown
upon the ground by the miners while
ut lunch, eating even the hardest bones,
thus preventing bad otlor. AS the de.
cay Of the smallest thing is unendur-
able in a mine, the miners never intcn-
tionally kill n rat.
The miners have high opinion Of
their sagacity. The rats generally give
the miners the FIRST notice of danger.
When big cave is shout TO occur they
are seen to swarm out Of the drifts and
scamper about the floors Of {. level At
unwontcd times The settling of the
waste rock probably pinches the ami
mails in their deps, causing them at
once to leave in search of less danger
GUS quarters.
At times, when mine has been shut
down for few weeks. the rats become
ravenously hungry. Then they do not
scruplc to dcyour 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 catable in the
underground regions is devoured, even
the candle dripp;ngs 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 arc 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 tho 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 homcs.-Engineering Journal.