The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-10-16
Mining Coal Under the So,

49,
other submarine mines Just what the - -
Will oe ard the qr0hSo bic profits ~
Mining Coal Under the Sc,
These coal mines Of Chile are exeeas,,..-
interesting. They are tar different ss9
any mines We nave III the United S.s,sss
and in some respects are far more s:s-sss.
20 work. The seam Of coal which Ia =. -
best about five feet thick. begins a. - -
shore ana runs down under the wats.. -
the Pacific ocean. The rock ahsya !. :
slate and ShaIe. So compact that the ws..s
does nor drip through. The funnels $50
IN dress suit without danger OF rs.,ssl
dirty. They are worked with the msssss
machinery. and during my visit 10 ;Aen
had several experiences which II is hs.St
realize could lake place in Gale. Tss,s
for instance. OF riding on an electri. -
ley coal train through a tunnel 0rs.
mile long under the Pacific ocean ),
speed OF twenty miles an hour. Irsshs
mines lighted by electricity forming a ess'
comb OF corridors and chambers under -
waves, Realize that JUS, above Won srss,
steamships are floating and that thss ssss
which is being taken out OF this had =
the Pacific is being ShoVeled into them
Picture soo;y miners, half naked H,a~
ing out the coal and loading the cars ~
follow the train carrying twenty seven tcss
or black diamonds TO the shaft. whers
mighty steam engine lifts four Of them !:
one time 70 the surface, and you haya ayss
idea of what is going on at the Iota oaal
mine. These mines are now producing ~
tons OF ccai a day and $50 miners arr an,
pioyed within them. They pay a pr,-,
running high into the hundreds OF thonS
ands OF dollars a year and are as earefuIv
managed as any Of the great coal propertiss
of our country. | asked as to the Day a
the miners and was told that they re;esrl
from 20 cents to 81 Chilean, or from Il =
80 cents of our money. ! wonder wha, aus
Pennsylvania miners would think OF thai
The Chileans, however. have their houss
rent free and coal IS furnished them a,
cost price.
These mines were opened by Don Maria
Cousino IN 1885 and they formed the foin.
dation OF the Cous,no fortune. of which
YOU have read in the stories published ahpu;
tho late Madame Cousino. the so-cald
richest woman in the world. Her incuue
from the mines and factories at Lota 4
said 10 have been a million dollars q yea
II so she spent the most or it, for th4
estate now that she is dead. though sgl
large, is many millions short Of the amount
at which 1t has generally been estimated
The Senior CouSino who was her husband
must have been a man OF great ability.
He owned copper mines. silver mines and
big estates and he established here cop
per smelling works TO which the ore from
the Cousino mine Is carried In the steam
ers belonging to the estate. Under him tho
town OF Llota. which now contains aboH
1i.o1o people. grew UP, and In the differ
ent Cousno works and factories here mora
than 3.0O0 men are now employed. On
mountainous little peninsula, above the coal
bed and just opposite the sniester. y Mad.
anne Co,ls.rio's famous park and palace Il
. Lota. It is one OF the most beautiful paz0
In The world and a fortune has been spsas
in making 1t so. 1t Is even more eeaui-
full than her estate of Mocul. which viz
tied from Santiago. and is fun OF wonders
OF Landscape gardening and racturesc9s
effects of land and fea.
FRANK G. CARPENTER