The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1896-09-29

on the Saturday night he and his faithful
men were buried under the collapse of thel
roof strata,
The pillars throughout the entire worlznia4|
in the Twin Shaft colliery have as a whYh1|
been very regularly formed in our opi9hiit
and the dimensions of most Of them wer.
fairly good The map shows large pilltM
/ 1 ,450 feet long by 30 feet wide under thd|
Lackawanna river, extending from the meri
dian line west to and under the centre of the
/ Susquehanna river opposite ScovelPs Island.
| Where the two veins have been worked, as
shown on the map, the pillars and chambers
| of the upper vein are not all Immediately
above those in the lower. This, to some ex-
/ tent, superinduced the squeeze and caused
| the falling down of coal and rock into the
No vein, and although the openings made
| by these falls were filed up with refuse and
''cogs' built with logs, these substitutes could
| by no means be considered equal in strength
to the coal in its unbroken state; because, in
proportion to the height of even a closely
built pillar-support Of either rock or wood, as
they are generally built in mines, 50 will he
the distance they will be compressed by the
weight of the everything strata. Therefore,
if we would have tho roof supported prop
erly, it is safer and cheaper to leave enough
unmined coal for that purpose. Where two
veins are so intimate as those at the Twin
Shaft, the upper vein should be mined first,
for, even with the greatest care takon to have
chamber over chamber, the partition rock
is liable to fall down, taking the miner with
it and killing him.
The Twin Shaft mine has always been very
gaseous and the coal Of q free nature, and
whore much gas is confined in the cosl, as at
this colliery, the coal is liable TO burst out,
even where the pillars have been formed
with openings on all sides OF them, and those
in abandoned sections of the colliery, under
these conditions will, from time 10 time, be-
come reduced in size and strength. We know
where gas in some anthracite collieries has
forced tho coal out of the solid for yards
ahead Of the face of gangway having an
area Of only rs feet, burying the miners and
fouling the atmosphere for hundreds of feet
back from the face, so suddenly did the pres
? sure of the confined gas in front of the
miners displace the solid coal that they had
no time to escape. However, the dangers at
tending an occurrence Of this character can
not be considered parallel with those attend
| ing mine squeeze for, as we have already
r. stated, notwithstanding mine squeeze may
and often does occur, sufficient warning is
! always given for all to escape TO a place Of
: safety.
We have carefully inspected rs much Of the
) Twin Shaft colliery workings as it was pos
, sible for us to do. and at the same time &C
r quainted ourselves with tho method Of min
t ing as shown on the colliery map. We have
also taken into consideration what effect the
: mud crack" would necessarily have on the
rock strata. In addition, we have also
J noted the absence of large reserva-
e ton pillars of coal left sectionally
A throughout the colliery. These havo not
{ yet been introduced in connection with coal
4 mining in the vicinity of Pittston. After
, matured deliberatiOn, we have come to the
, conclusion that the mud crack, discovered
G in front of the bore hole marked on map
''Elev Sur. 556,27," which dislocated, the
= roof strata, together with some irregularity
a in the formation of the pillars and the
$ chambers of No. vein not being all verti'
# cally over those in No vein, was the
+ original cause of the squeeze.
- We have also been asked by you to state in
'' our report whether, in our opinion, any pre-
: caution was omitted which would have pre-
It vented such loss of life. Our opinion is that
IS Notwithstanding a squeeze did occur at the
o Twin Shaft Colliery, Mr.. Langan, who wat
r in charge of the work, erred in Judgment il
: going so far into the mine from the bottom
y. of the shaft. Having gone so far from
u means of escape TO make an examination o
II the squeezing section of the colliery, he pu
d his men to work TO arrest the squeeze whicl
II he may have considered local, and he anC
d his men worked for hours under the squeez
h ing territory until the collapse came. So
40 without question of doubt, his error o
Judgment was the cause of the loss Of hi
70 own life as well as of those subordinate t
Y him. Mr.. Mcdonald, the Mine Inspector
'e cannot in any way he held responsible 70
III the accident, not having been notified Of tn
N squeeze by the Mine superintendent
10 Accompanying Ou1 report is a tracing @
70 two veins mined simultaneously, with breas
- over breast, pillar over pillar, which is tn,
VI only safe method of mining coal where tn
IS veins are close to one another also tracin
N showing the plan of mining coal from group
OF Of ten breasts between reservation pillar
c. No. 2 shows that the breasts may be opened a
h an angle to the gangway, other than
{, right angle, and the breasts on the one sid
: of the gangway opened opposite a pillar o.
II, the other side. No 3 shows a group of te
ed breasts opened at right angles TO the gang
re way, and also opposite to the pillar on tn
he other side. The openings connecting til
d. breasts as shown on Nos. 2 and s, are NJ
We opposite one another. This method {
y, mining strengthens the surroundings of a
the openings and increases the safety of tn
nc wOrkmen, for should a squeeze occur,
OF would be confined to one group of breasts
re- OF should an explosion occur, its effects wOul
ne be confined to one group Of breasts. Again
should a fire occur, dams could be construCte
NO on the gangway opposite these reservatio
no pillars, which would necessitate flooding Onl
" the section Of the colliery in which the fiji
Is was located, Each group of breasts coul
ur also be ventilated separately, thereby di
gh charging all impurities from combustion al
he otherwise into the return airway, whiC
or would give a safer and healthier atmosphe
he for the men to breathe.
,to A tracing of part of the workings
Wa Packer No. cOlliery, belonging to Il
'a' Lehigh Valley Coal Company, also accoI
IN, panies our report. This shows the method
Ied mining coal, as introduced by Superintende
Of Col. d. p. Brown, twenty years ago. III
nd - -