Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-02-01
porrsvrLLF. PA. LETTER.

| DEAR SlR.-EuCiOSSu piod0o Huu Vbo HOA
lar for the renewal of my subscription to
Your paper SHENANDOAH HERALD.
Wife and find much pleasure ia read
ing the HERALD, especially its locals and
Talmages Sermons. The latter we never
fail to read.
believe promised to write you few
lines about some of the things to be seen
in this county, (SchuylkilD, the greatest
coal producing county IN the Anthracite
region.
The surface Of this county is very
hilly and mountainous but the people toll
Us that the whole county is underlaid
with weiss OF coal some Of which are very
deep down, as deep a. a 1000 feet belo"
the surface, but in other parts it crcp'
on; on the surface and can be mined with
but little or no cost, hut where they must
go so deep and have large and expensive
engines and other machinery for hosting
purposes, the cost is much more, and the
danger attending the lives Of the miners
is much greater It was only this week
that We had an illustration Of the great
disasters that sometimes befall these poor
miners going dswn into these dark dirty
holes to earn a LIVING for themselves and
families.
The Miners Journal Of this county says:
"Chas. Ditzel was reScuSed from the
jaws Of death in the Richardson collieIy
At g. o'clock at night, after having spent
a hours in living tomb. His Buddy"
August Brenner, vas taken out of The
mites dead several hours later. Both
men were found side by side, the one
covered by . dense mass of coal and the
other sitting in aspace that left no rosm
for him 10 move any thing but his head
and part of bis one leg with which he
could Just make cut to feel the cold and
ifsless corpse of the man by bis side"
The thought Of man in Ditzel's position
81 hours with the ice cold dirty water
dripping down over him and with moth
ing TO eat or dlink for that length Of
time takes all the fever out of me about
wanting to visit the inside OF any OF
the mines. This strikes me all the mere
forcibly because l have been to these
mines and had Issn the man bsfors the
occurrence. The doctors say Ditzel will
live.
Pottsvillc is the county srat!of Schuyl-
kill county, and is very mountainous in-
deed, what city people would call a nice
summer resort if they were fond Of
mountain scenery.
The people ia this part of the country
are mostly Of German descent and can
drink more beer than any people among
UnOm have ever lived, but they are
thrifty and industrious as auv you viii
find in tho state. The principal industry
in this town is the car shops. The Phila
delphia & Reading and also the PennSy !
vania Railroads each have large sheps
that empty several hundred hands. ]
believe that every other town in the
county Is supported by its surrounding
coal mines, and it may seem strange 10
yen that there are emily two within four
miles of this town, but they tell me the
reasons are that the coal lies very deep
and is too expensive to mine at present;
and then the coal barons who own the
land hold then prices up tSo high IL"
their rights in the laud.
For the benefit OF the teachers in Shsn-
andoah who will care to know. Their
80 teachers IN this county and once each
year they assent bic in some town in th'
county, usually the cousty seat, and
have full week for Institute wSrk, mud
can assure you they have some very sn-
ioyable and edifyIng exercises during that
tlue. The audience is somewhat larger
than We uSsd to hAye in Shenandoah
county while was in the profession IS
Pedagogue, but the practical work il
much the same as we used to have
Very truly yours,
J. L. SHOCKEY.