Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1898-03-05

the years production. For long time this
company owned large majority of the stock
Of the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Rail.
road In 1876 the Coal Company acquired
the balance of the stock, and became sole
owners of the railroad, and have since op-
Grated the same under one management.
The railroad extends from Cumberland, in
Maryland TO Piedmont, in West Virginia,
with branch extending from the main line
about a mile and half above CHAMBERLAIN
to the Eckhart and Hoffman mlnes
The total trackage of the Cumberland and
Pennsylvania Railroad is IS miles, or exactly
the same as the total trackage in the various
mines of the Consolidation Coal Company
Under one management is thus operated the
same number of miles of railroad "above
ground and below"
The chapter entitled Operations"
treats of mining operations as con.
Quoted by the engineers, foremen and
miners-all intent upon economy of
labor and magnitude of results. In
the mine the tourist at last reaches the
face" Says he:
Here in space about 10 feet wide and feet
high the miners are toiling with pick and bar,
breaking down the coal; around us on every
side is the black deposit of countless ages of
time.
Here diversion occurs which takes
in Braddock's expedition in 1855 and
Sir Archibald Geikie's visit last year.
The text goes on:
While these thoughts pass in the mind
the miners are digging the coal which we are
to follow in its long journey to the consumer.
There is no blasting with powder; that shat
tiers the coal and breaks up the Jumps. The
Georges Creek miners have for their tools
only picks shovels, and wedging bars. A
small mining car, with a capacity of about
two tons, is drawn by mule and pushed up
close to the face on temporary wooden
rails. With his pick the miner digs away a
space at the bottom of the coaIseam, called
an "undercut' This undercut slopes grad
ually downward until he has undermined
space clear across the face, as far as he can
reach under the coal with his pick Then an
up and down cut is made on each side and
the coal is forced down by iron wedges.
When the coal is knocked down, the miner
shovels 1t into the small mine car, saving the
large Jumps to pile around the edges, and
heaping the coal on the car as high as DOS
sible. The car is then showed back to the
steel rails of the main heading. Along this
main heading the drivers and mules collect
the cars from each room '-branchin g off
at regular intervals from the main road land
haul them to the cOliery or tipple, where
they are dumped into the big railroad cars
! standing ready on the tracks of the Cumber-
land and Pennsylvania Railroad below
The chapters which follow treat of
Transportation" Tide Water" and
Consumption all showing the mag
nitude and completeness of the COM
pany's equipment to mine, transport
and deliver great tonnages of its SUI
perior coal. They evince anew also
the acknowledged popular conviction
that the company's great interests
were never so intelligently, aggressive
ly and progressively promoted as now.
Its operations make up vast machine,
manned throughout by clear-headed,
skilled officials and intelligent, indus
trious artisans.
The conception of the book was a
happy thought and its letter press and
illustrations are corresponding oc-
casion for congratulating the company
upon an equally fortunate develop
ment.