The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-11-20

Special Correspondence of the Stand
Houghton. Mich. Nov. 16.-The fire in
&C" shaft Of the Atlantic mine is out
and the damage to timbering appears
10 be quite small. The mine was fort
innate and the miners doubly so
I'm that so little financial loss
was incurred and no lives lost. The
flames were discovered on Thursday
morning Nov. 10. at 2 o'clock. near G
shaft, on the seventh level. which is
200 feet below the surface. and are sup
posed to have been caused by careless
miners who went TO hat part of the
mine, where the copper rock has been
mined out. to eat their midnight lunch.
and started a fire with odds and ends
of timber. neglecting to put out all the
embers before leaving. This may not
have been the real cause. but IL Is the
probable one. Fortunately the men
were warned by the smell of smoke and
escaped safely. The mine was her
metically sealed and the flames were
smothered. A mine on fire may seem
an anomaly to those not conversant
with mining matters. but II is a very
real thing and a very dangerous one at
close quarters. Such fires at depths of
a few hundred to nearly 1000 feet have
caused the loss of scores of lives in the
copper district and the cry Mine
ahre." will clean out the drifts and
slopes quicker thar any other warning.
The cry Fire." alone merely means
that miners are blasting and warns
those who hear IT to seek spots distant
from the scene Of the blast.
The First One Costly.
. II - a.
was in the Calumet a. Hecla mine in
1887. Two thousand men We're thrown
out OF work for more than a month
and several lives were lost. The origin
Of the fire remains a mystery. but in
cendiarism was strongly suspected. The
cost of the fire to the mine was never
made known by the management. but
IL variously estimated at from 1000. 900
20 81. 00o. 900. The shafts leading into the
mine were all covered with heavy tim
bers. over which clay and sand were
spread and packed tightly Town. De-
spite all efforts 20 cut of the supply OF
air which fed the flames. the fire burned
stubbornly for many weeks. This first
and greatest fire was followed within
less than a year by a second. n the
latter within a few months by a third.
In the second. and again I'm the third.
fire the mere cutting on OF the air sup
ply was found too slow a process. the
immense u~nuerHfounu opttllnSs on tnr
mine containing air to feed the flames
for weeks. and hence carbonic acid gas.
which the chemists call carbon binox-
ide now. was generated In huge steel
tanks and SEN down into the mine by
millions OF cubic feet. The gas was
made by pouring dilute %sulphuric acid
on marble dust. just as II is made I'm
thousands Of pop factories for use in
soda water IND temperance drinks OF
various sorts The gas IL heavier than
atmospheric air and win drown a fame
quickly by shutting on access OF oxy-
gen. without which there can be no
combustion. The smothering plan was
a success at the Calumet & Hecla.
Nobody Can Go Down.
Since the three big fires great pre-
cautions nave been taken against far
Their ravages from that element. Per-
IONS not regularly employed in the
mine can go underground only when
accompanied by a mining captain. on a
trip pass signed by Alexander Agassiz.