The Portland daily press., 1895-10-26
7,,NNELLINa THROUGH oUlcKsAND.
IT,. Peril Some Miners are Facing in the
Heart of a Big City.
philadelphia Inquirer. }


which the men are working night and
dav always in danger of never seeing
tbe light of heaven again, is one of the
things that have been made necessary in
the construction of the mammoth plant
of the Southern Electric Light & Power
Company, at Gray's Perry 70 d and Car
nenter street.
The station stands some l, 400 feet from
the Schuylkill River, and the company
owns the land all the way down to the
water's edgs. To supply the engines it
is going to take an enormous quantity
of water. That they might be independ-
ent of the city water supply the engineers
decided to tunnel to the river, laying
four-foot sewer under ground, that would
start at the Schuylkill and slope gradual
" until it would reach fall of about
100 feet at the power station.
! 1t was estimated that the work would
cost about $25, 600. But the estimate did
not take in extraordinary conditions since
encountered. An engineer sunk shaft
and started to work. He had not been
tunneling more than few feet when he
found he was in quicksand. The dirt
niled in on him faster than he could take
If out and he had to give up. Then con-
tractors and skilled miners were brought
all the way from Australia. They, too,
worked for a while and also made an in
glorious failure.
Frank M Kearns was next given d
chance to see what he could do he
hroneht some skilled miners with him
and started in. For four weeks his men
toiled night and day, and in that time
thew lost more ground than they gained.
The men kept on, never daring to stop,
for fear of cave-in, and at last they
reaohe point where it was found pos
sible to complete the big undertaking.
reporter and an artist visited the
scene yesterday. 1t was the first Sunday
since the work started that the PREACHER
GUS ground had been bridled sufficiently
| to permit the miners to lay off. After
the visitors had donned complete outfits
of oilskin, with hip boots and rubber
hats, they were taken to shaft Number l.
This is the one nearest the station, where
the tunnel is some hundred feet under
ground. The shaft was full OF water
and four pumps were hard at work get
ting it out. Further down towards the
river. at shaft Number 2, they were in
better condition. The artist. and the re-
porter with Contraction Kearns filed in
to an iron bucket used to haul up dirt
the signal was given and the machinery
began to move The bucket raised in
air and swu ng over the shaft.
Then it began to lower into darkness.
s'Now, if this bucket upsets, remarked
the contractor, cheerfully, "there won't
DO enough of lis left to hold an inquest
on No accidents, however, befell the
party, and. lighting miners lamps, they
started through the tunnel. The whole
surroundings were Of quicksand, shored
I'D by boards at every inch of the way.
At the end of the shaft the ground was
again boarded up.
| Here the work is of the most dangerous
character. The ground bubbles up from
underneath and falls in everywhere
Springs of water are on every SIDE The
miners dare only work an inch or SO at
time. They lie on their stomachs, with
their heads in the sand and dig out the
treacherous earth with their fingers, pass
ing it back handful at time to their
helpers. who, in turn, pass it to the
"muckers" or wheelbarrow men. AS the
miners work the lnen back of them keep
driving in board Snoring to prevent a
cave-in.
This in one of the most treacherous
pieces of ground ever SAW explained
the contractor. There is no stability to
the earth, and any minute the, men are
liable to be buried. The miners that
come down here literally take their lives
in their hands. Certainly the tunnel
and the big logs that shored it up bore
out this statement. The visitors breathed
a sigh of relief when they were once more
on top of hard, dry ground and walking
down to shaft No. 3, which lies about
three hundred feet further down towards
the river
The trip down into this shaft was made
by ladder and when the boom was reached
the sight seers found they had to crawl
through some 100 feet of completed
sewer, the water in the boom of which
varied from three inches to three feet in
depth. At the end of this was another
uncompleted tunnel. This showed the
diversity of soil, for here the men had cut
through solid rock. Dynamite was the
only thing that made any Roadway on
this ground In here the atmosphere was
go bad that it would have meant death
to stay for twenty minutes. When the
men are at work air pumps make things
| little more bearable.
The fourth shaft at the rivers edge was
full of water. Here a filter plant and
a big Pipe is to connect the Schuylkill
with the tunnel The final opening into
the river promises to be work that will
have to be undertaken with great deal
of care, and it is likely that Golfer dam
will have to be built.
Then men engaged in this work are
typical miners, who work all over the
1