The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1895-08-01
A FIvE-MILE TUNNEL.
Passes Under Two fountains to
Drain Abandoned Coal Mines.

PasseE Under Two Mountains to
Drain Abandoned Coal Mines.
The hard-coal Jeddo basin is about
forty miles from W~ilkesbarre and near
to the highest point in Pennsylvania.
The coal of this field, discovered come
ten years ago, is exceptionally good,
anil has commanded the highest
prices. Three shafts were sun and
prosperous villages grew up around
them; the operators were making
large profits and everything was most
promising. But in the spring of 1887
headings driven too near the surface
caved in, and the waters of the creek
suddenly flooded the workings, hun
dreds of miners barely escaping with
their lives. Fol Ove two years the
district was practically deserted,
hosting engines rusting, and the great
breakers falling to pieces. But the
large reserves of coal were too valu-
able to be abandoned without an
effort. Pumping II the 50O,0OO,OOO
gallons of water and the steady inflow
seemed impracticable. So in 1890 the
operators agreed upon a plan for
draining the mines by means of a
five-mile tunnel, an enterprise which
was regarded by some as a probable
loss of 81, 900, in view of the I'M
certainty as to the ground to be pene-
trated, there being some chance of en-
~countering q%uicksand.
The Bulletin of the American Iron
and Steel association quotes from an
exchange the details of this great
work. The length of the tunnel is
about five and one-eighth miles, pass
ing under two mountains and under
the lowest workings (45O feet deep OF
the mines, and discbarging into Butler
creek. Two shafts were sunk to the
tunnel level, and progress was thus
made in five headings-twO each way
from each shaft and one from the
tunnel mouth. Five gangs of men,
fifty in each, were employed. Progress
was slow, owing to hardness of the
rock, necessitating constant blasting.
Powder drills operated by compressed
air were employed, and altogether
$4,000 pounds of forCite were used in
blasting. The dimensions of the tun-
mel, as originally planned, were 8 by =
feet, but the contractors, finding this
an inconvenient ~crcss-section, changed
to Z by 8 feet, and made faster head
way. Water was encountered in
quantity, and seven pumps We're kept
busy clearing the uncOnnected drifts.
The surveys appear to have been very
accurate. The first connection, be-
tween headings Nos. 3 and 4, was
made in September, 1894, and the
alignment found to be perfect, there
being not more than an inch differ
ence in the floors of the two sections.
Soon afterward the connection be-
tween Nos. 1 and 2 and the outlet was
made. NJ eanwhile as the tunnelw was
nearing completion, a bore hole was
put down from the surface, passing
through n of the flooded gangways
and piercing the center of the roof of
| the drainage tunnel. This bore was so
accurate that it came out within q g.
inch circle marked in the tunnel roof.
1t was so well cased that only about
a gallon a day" leaked into the tunnel.
To withdraw the 6 by 4-inch hickory
plug and the casing was the work Of
but half an hour. and the mines were
successfully tapped. "A grc tifying fea-
ture of this great undertaking is that
not a man was killed, despite the
amount of blasting done, and only
four men injured in any way. The
tunnel is expected to bring prosperity
back to a long desolate region.-Frank
IeS1ie'S Weekly.