Daily public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1892-191?, 1896-10-17
NEARLY A NM srRAIonr DOWN
The Great Depth of shaft of Que OF the
Michigan Copper MIaes.


A French engineer proposed lastyear
TO the directors of the international eX-
position to be given in the French capi-
tai in the year 1900 the digging of a
hole to the depth of one mile. The idea
was fayorably received. but on invcsti-
cation the magnitude of the undertake
ing became SO apparent that the idea
has been dropped. 1t will, therefore, be
necessary for those who desire to de-
scend a mile into the bowels of the earth
to come to Calumet, for nowhere else
on earth are there available openings
of such depth. Within less than a mile
of each other in this mining town there
are three vertical shafts each nearly one
mile in depth. The deepest of the trio
is the Red Jacket shaft of the Calumet
d Hecla copper mine, which has
reached its full depth Of 1900 feet. Five
Eiffel towers could be dropped down
this hole were it wide enough, and the
top of the fifth would reach above the
surface only to such height as would
allow it to be easily covered by the steel
shaft house now being built over the
monstrouS hole.
The shaft was begun in 1889, and it
has taken seven full years TO sink it,
showing an average progress of 700 feet
annually, nearly all of which has been
in blue trap rock, one of the most re-
fractory Of minerals. The conglomerate
carrying copper was the bed of an an
cient sea, and is composed of pebbles
and gravel worn by the action of the
water, such as are seen on sea beaches
or lake shores, cemented into a solid
mass of Gale or silica. BY the percola
ton of the waters and the decomposi-
ton of certain constituents of the rock
little cavities were formed, in which
were deposited small nodules of copper
by the water.
The Red Jacket shaft is 1872 by %
feet in size inside of the timbers and
contains six compartments. being fully
equal in working capacity to half a doz-
en- mining shafts of ordinary size. The
| shaft is solidly timbered. The ada
nantine frmness of the rock renders
it secure for all time to come, the tim
bers being merely to carry the traffic
of men and mineral. of water and cleo
tricity, which surges between the sun
| light and the bottom. In four COM
| partments will slip up and down the
! ponderous cages, carrying ten-ton loads
of rock at the speed of express trains.
| Up and down these cages will also ride
the men who mine the rock from the
old sea bed. In one compartment will
be the great iron pump pipes, and down
another deScends the steady current of
compressed air which runs the drills
a mile below the engine house. Bunched
in slender cables are copper wires which
convey electricity 70 light the recesses
of the mine. threads of wire that afford
telephone communication from the
most remote drift to any other portion
of the property, for the Calumet &
Hecla has telephone exchange of its
own. which in size and perfection of
equipment puts to the blush the facili-
ties of many pretentious towns. and
which reaches every Office on the sur
face and every portion of the great
mine. There are fire-alarm wires, too,
for the Calumet d lIecla spares no
cost to make It's employees as safe as skill
and lavish outlay of money can render
them.
The sinking of the shaft possesses
deep interest from a scientific stand
point. Observers ascending TO great
heights in balloons have been able 10
secure data of surprising importance
regarding meteorological conditions,
and observations made at the depth OF
a mile afford positive information. The
Red Jacket shaft has shattered some
of the deeply-chershe theories, and
there are text books now eNtant i'm
| the higher institutions of learning
which must be overhauled because facts
have succeeded theory. The mines of
| the Comstock lode in Nevada were the
| deepest in the world. The mines were
very hot, and on the deeper levels some
OF the more pious miners werequite pos
| tive that they smelled sulphur and re-
| fused to go further down for fear Of
encroaching upon the dominions of the
devil. According to deductions, the bot
tom of the Red Jacket shaft should be
about the proper temperature TO boil
eggs. Careful tests have determined
that the normal temperature of the rock
is SIC degrees Fahrenheit at the bot
tom. The rock temperature at the
depth of 1O5 feet was SO degrees Fair
enbeit, showing an access Of ?S.6 degrees
in 4,795 feet. There was, however, e
gain of degrees in temperature In
the last 500 feet sunk, a much more
rapid increase than at lesser depths.
Notwithstanding the beEelicia, effects
of ventilation and compressed air, men
working at the bottom of the deep shaft
do not have an especially easy berth.
though literally paid. They are com.
Felled to wear rubber boots and rubber
coats, as the water found in the mine
at that great depth is most corrosive on
the human body.
There is machinery enough on the
surface to drive all the street cars of a
city like St. Louis at this single one OF
1 shafts, and it is housed in ilreproot
buildings that would he the pride of a
city of 100000 inhabitants.-Minn