The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-09-19
the engineer how much the rope will hold
without breaking. We re:told that 1t can |

the engineer how much the rope will hold
| without breaking. We are told that 1t can
easily support eighty tons look at the
manager and the two miners who are to 80
with US. None Of them weigh more than
200 pounds, and as my weight Is about 100
feel comparatively safe. Now the .eleva-
| tor is at the top. Two cars, each holding
1900 pounds OF rock, are wheeled off and
we are motioned to take their places. AS
we do so the manager gives signal to the
engineer, and we start down into the bow
els of the earth. We descend as fast
as though we were in the elevator of a
4 Chicago hotel, and we were warned to
keep close within the cage, as. a
hand or head might be taken off bysa
projecting timber. We hold on for dear
I life to the iron rail over our heads, and l
try to shrink myself inward as far as pos
| sible as we go down, down, down.
! Now we, pass one Of the Levels. and we
catch glimpse of candle in the open
ing Now our ears are dinned by the
shooting of blast, and the sound SO
shakes the air that our candles are blown
out. We light them again when we fall
to. the next level, and the faces OF the
miners about us look weird and ghost-
like in their Pickering glare. 1t makes
/ cue SuuuuCl, ctuu JOu 4CNA CIV SAAAASo w
though you were on the edge of the
grave. At least I felt so when the ele-
yator was stopped at the sixth level, and
there, 600 feet below the earth, a miner
stepped on with box of dynamite CAN
dies. It was no bigger than a soap box.
! It could not have been more than two
| feet square, but it contained enough
dynamite to have blown up the capitol
building at Washington and to have torn
the state, war and navy department into
atoms. There was no top to the box, and
as the miner placed it close to my feet, I
thought of the terrible possibilities. Sup
! pose a shark from a candle or bit OF
wick should fall into it! A sudden jar
might throw one of us upon it. could
feel my hair rising and my face whiten.
| asked as to the danger, and was told
that it was comparatively small, but that
the box contained 40 per cent of nitro
slycerine. I was much relieved when it
was taken away.
And so we went on down to the bottom,
where we were to visit one Of the greatest
feats of mining g-engineering known to the
wcrld. This is the famous Ontario tun-
mel, which has just been completed at
| cost of $5OO,G00, in order to draw the
water off the mine. The Ontario
is a. wet mine, and a river OF water
flows through it's tunnel. It is, in fact, a
great subterranean passage, so wide that
YOU could drive horse and buggy
through it, and so high that we walked
in it without STOPPING. The three-mMe
tunnel has a. floor running through: it's
middle. upon which there is a railroad by
which the ore and men are dragged from
one part of the mine to another by mules,
AS we walk over the road we hear the
rushing of water and look down between
the boards. There is torrent flowing
under us. It comes from the mine at the
rate of ten thousand gallons a minute.
and as we listen we hear the water fail
ing. falling, as it comes from the levels
above. There was not an ounce OF silver
in the rock which was dug away in order
to make this tunnel, and it gives you
some idea of the cost of mining when You
learn that this half million dollars was
spent for dead work, and solely to get
water away from other parts OF the mine.
Until this tunnel was built all OF the
water had to be taken out by means OF
pumps, one Of the pumps used costing
the enormous sum of 100000. It has
capacity Of 1000 gallons a minute, but it
is now lying idle and useless, its work be-
ing done by the tunnel.
It is the water that necessitates the
walling of he tunnels and the slopes with
logs. The wet earth and rock is always
pressing in, and without timbers the
mine would not last for an hour. The
force is so great that it sometimes grands
these great pine logs-many OF which are
as large around as your Walst-to powder.
Some Of the highest-priced men employed
in the mines are those who take care OF
the timbers, who walk through the mine
daily looking out for weak spots. The
best of timber is required, and that used
in the Ontario mine comes from the for
ests of Oregon.
And SO we go along from tunnel to
tunnel. Now we climb into one OF the
slopes and watch the men at work. We
have candles in our hands, and we crawl
along, almost bending double, the water
dripping down upon us. At last we enter
cave Here half dozen miners are
working. Some are taking the ore out
with picks Their wire candle sticks are
stuck into the rocks beside them as they
dig away at the pile of stone, which has
been blasted out with dynamite. Some
are loading ore. They push into the
chutes with long handled shovels, and we
hear it roll down and strike the iron bot
tom of the car beneath. In other places
men are drilling in order to blast. They
cut out holes by means Of diamond drills,
compressed air furnishing the force
which turns them. There they have the
work done and a half dozen holes are
ready for the explosion. Note how care
lessly the miner seems to handle that
dynamite! He picks up one of those dyna-
mite candles, cuts it in half with his knife
and slices it down at one end. He then
nuts a fuse as big around as a lead pencil
and about three feet long into the powder.
He next pushes the candle into the hole
in the rock and fills what is left Of the
hole with mud and dirt, pounding it close
in about the fuse, handling his tools with
great care A strike too hard might send
off the candle and blow him into eternity.
Other holes are prepared in a similar
manner, and the charge is now ready for
lighting. The miner hands me the
candle and tells me to start the ex-
piosion. / hang back a moment, but
finally consent and touch the candle to
the end Of. the fuses. The powder at once
begins to tiz and the miners as we'll as
ourselves run for dear life. We get just
around the corner and into the chamber
or stope when there is an immense re-
port. 1t is dull, heavy and cannon-like
It blows out our candles, and following It
we. hear the falling and crushing of ore
Jxss. on: hack tn the scene OF the ex-