The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-17

der the bed of the stream, and drowned
twenty-eight men within a few moments.
The owners had been warned of the dan
ger by the men, but followed the valuable
seam of ore foot too far. The lake shaft
of the Cleveland mine, at Ishpeming is
opened under the former bed of Lake An
gellne. This lake contained nearly a bill
lion gallons of water, but was pumped out
in 1893 to render safe the operation of the
mine under it. Although the water was
pumped out in a few moments, there re-
manned sheet of mud two to fifteen feet
in thickness, which was too thick to pump
and too thin to shovel. The mud is still
there, many years after the water was
taken, and occasionally breaks through
into the mine and gives the miners live
ly chase. 1t is watched with exceedingly
care by the management of the mine and
at the first sign of danger the men are
warned and come to the surface.
The greatest loss of life ever caused by
a single accident in the great copper mines
of Lake Superior was at the Osceola
mine, in September 1895. The mine has
exceptionally firm walls, and, therefore,
contains but little timbering. A careless
miner three a candle-end into a mass of
cedar tagging" which caught fire. The
men were warned Of the fire and efforts
made 10 extinguish it. Although told to
go to the surface at once, many of the
miners laughed at the idea of danger from
flames in a mine containing scarcely
enough timber to make a good bonfire
and sat down in the fourteenth level, be-
tween No. shaft (where the fire was
burning a the twenty-seventh leveD, and
No. shaft to eat their MONDAY lunch.
was natural one, the air descending No.
3 and ascending No. shaft. AS the
flames gathered strength, the hot air be-
gan ascending No. shaft against the
downward current of fresh air that sup
piled the mine. This changed No from
an upcast to a downcast, the downward
current of air in No. being sucked
through the connection levels to furnish
air to feed the flames When this change
in the ventilation of the burning mine
took place, the gases from the burning
timbers were whirled through the mine.
Wood, when burned in open air, gives off
carbon dioxide, commonly called carbonc
acid gas, but when burned with an in
adequate air supply, as in a charcoal kiln
or underground, the scarcity of oxygen
causes a union of carbon and oxygen atom
for atom, forming carbon monoxide, a pc
culiarly acrid, irritating and poisonous
gas, having the Odor Of creosote.
Some of the miners who were eating
their lunch on the fourteenth level fed a
quarter of a mile 10 the southwark and es-
capped to the surface through No. shaft
but thirty men and boys remained in the
mine, suffocated by the gas Not one was
touched by flames. One poor fellow was
found within sixty feet of surface his
arms and legs twisted around the ladder
and his teeth set with a death grip upon
The iron round. The men We're suffocated
on a Saturday, and it was not until the
following Thursday that brave volunteers
succeeded in rescuing the bodies. Although
five days dead, there was no rigor norris
and blood flowed freely from their bodies
when cut by the knives of the undertakers
the gases which took life having preserved
the flesh. Those who were in the little car
penter shop of the Osceola mine that
peaceful September afternoon and saw the
embalming and coffining of the thirty hap
less miners, some Of them boys of barely
10, will never live long enough to forget
the horror of the scene.
At the Tamarack mine. IN January, 1897,
fire was discovered in No. 4 shaft, which
is perpendicular. The cage was kept run
ming and many miners below the flames
were safely pulled through the fire by the
engineer at the hosting drum. One min
er, fearing that he might miss the rapidly
ascending cage and be dashed to death
1000 feet below, jumped while the cage
was at the level 100 feet beneath. caught
the rope and sliding down ID was brought
safely to surface on top of the cage with
singed garments and palms blistered from
the friction of the wire cable, but saved
through his presence Of mind and courage
Four men did not escape and it was felt
certain all were suffocated, but a few
hours later the engineer at the air com
pressor reported that one or more were
alive and were signaling the engine-house
from half a mile below surface. Asked
for proof he stated the air was being
drawn from a mine pipe, intermittently,
the pressure gauge on the air tank show
ing him correct. At the earliest moment
it was possible to descend the cbarred ana
still smoldering shaft, relief party went