The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1898-06-26

cation, are called "vugs" by the miners,
| and are usually small; but the one at De-
| troit held millions of gallons. At the
| Mansfield iron mine, on Sept. "a, 1893, the
Mlchigamme river broke through the roof
| of the mine, which had been opened under
the bed of the stream, and drowned Is
lsmen within a few moments. The owners
| had been warned of the danger by the men,
| but followed the valuable seam of ore
| foot too far. The Lake shaft of the Cleve-
| land mine, at Ishpeming, Is opened under
| the former bed of Lake Angelina. This lake
| contained nearly billion gallons OF water
but was pumped out in 1898 to render safe
| the operation of the mine under 1t. Al
| though the water was pumped out In Few
| months there remained a 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 out, and occasionally
| breaks through into the mine and gives
| the miners a lively chase. 1t is watched
| with exceeding care by the management or
| 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 1896. The mine has excep-
tionaly firm walls and therefore contains
but little timberng. A careless miner
threw a candle-end into a mass of cedar
Tagging" which caught fire. The men
were warned of the fire and efforts made
to extinguish it. Although told to go to the
surface at once, many of the miners
laughed at the idea of danger from flames
in mine containing scarcely enough TIM
Der to make a good bonfire and sat down
in the fourteenth level, between No.
shaft (where the fire was burning at the
twenty-seventh 1eveD and No. shaft, to
eat their MONDAY lunch. The system of
ventilation at the Osceola was a natural
one, the air descending No. and ascending
No. 4 shaft. AS the flames gathered
strength the hot air begun ascending No.
3 shaft against the downward current OF
fresh air that supplied the mine. This
changed No. from an upcast to down.
cast the downward current of aid in No.
4 being sucked through the connecting lev
els to furnish air to feed the flames. When
this change in the ventilation of the mine
took place the gases from the burning TIM
bers were whirled through the mine.
Wood, when burned in open air, gives Off
carbon dioxide commonly called carbonic
acid gas, but when burned with an made
quate air supply, as in a charcoal kiln or
underground, the scarcity of oxygen
causes q union of carbon and oxygen atom
for atom, forming carbon monoxfde pc
culiarly acrd, irritating and poisonous gas
having the odor of creosote Some of the
miners who were eating their lunch on
the fourteenth level filed quarter of
mile to the southwark and escaped to sur
face through No. shaft, but thirty men
and boys remained In the mine, suffocated
by the gas. Not one man was touched by
flames. One poor fellow was found within
sixty feet of the surface. his arms and legs
twisted around the ladder and his teeth set
with a death grip upon the iron round.
The men were suffocated on a Saturday,
and it was not until the following Thurs
day that brave volunteers succeeded in
H. Ave On
dead there was no rigor mortis and blood
flowed freely from the bodies when cut by
the knives of the undertakers, the gases
which took life having preserved the flssh.
Those who were in the little carpenter
shop of the Osceola mine that peaceful
September afternoon and saw the embalm-
ing and coffning of the thirty hapless mi
ners, some of them boys of barely fifteen,
will never live long enough to forget the
horror of the scene.
AT the Tamarack mine, in January, 1897,
fire was discovered in No. shaft, which is
perpendicular. The cage was kept running
and many miners below the flames were
safely pulled through the fire by the en-
gineer at the hosting drum One miner,
fearing that he might miss the rapidly as
cending cage and be dashed to death
thousand feet below, jumped while the
cage was at the level hundred feet be-
nath, caught the rope and sliding down it
was brought safely to surface on top of the
cage, with singed garments and palms bis
tered from the friction of the wire cable,
but saved through his presence of mind
and courage. Four men did not escape
and 1t was felt certain all were suffocated
but q few hours later the engineer at the air
compressor reported that one or more were
aliy and wre signaling tn engine house from
half a mile below the surface. Asked for
proof he stated that air was being drawn
from a mine pipe, internationally, the pres
sure gauge on the air tank showing him
correct. At the earliest moment 1t was
possible to descend the charred and Still
smouldering shaft, a relief party went
down, finding two dead men and two still
living the latter a father and son named
Limpaa- The Limpaas had retreated to the
end of q drift as far as possible from the
flames when they found escape to surface
cut off and by opening the stop cock OF an
air pipe had managed to not only signal
those on surface of their being still alive,
but secured air to sustain life.- The air,
compressed to pressure of seventy pounds
to the inch drove out the foul gases coming
from the flames, but the father died week
later of pneumonia, caused by breathing
the intensely cold compressed air for two
days and nights. The younger man
speedily recovered and is still working IN
the same mine where he had such mar
row escape from death.
Seven years ago an engineer at the Red
Jacket shaft of the Calumet and Hecla
mine overwound his rope on the drum and
pulled the cage into the sheave wheel at
the top of the shaft house. The steel cable
parted and the cage dropped $500 feet to the
bottom Of the shaft. The engineer became
insane over his fatal mistake, for ten men
were dropped in the cage and their bodies
were mere masses of pulp when recovered.
There are miraculous escapes, as well as
terrible accidents in the mines. Many
wears ago there was unique character, d
chronic grumbler named Ryan, employed
at the Lake Superior mine, 1shpeming.
One afternoon while expatiating on the de-
merits of the mines management Ryan
walked into an open shafe, 100 feet in
depth. A rescuing party was sent down
at once to bring up the remains but was
met midway on the ladder by Ryan, who
had fallen to the bottom without breaking
a bone and was climbing to surface with
a fresh grievance against his employers.
Peter Mustrom, a Finnish miner, en-
ployed at No. shaft of the Calumet &c
Hecla fell 230 feet down the shaft on Feb
ruary a. 1896. Although brought to day.
light with many broken bones and badly
bruised, Mustrom completely recovered
within n few months and resumed work