Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-04-03
THE BIGGEST COAL FIRE.
T HAS BEEN BURNING FOR A
QUARTER OF A CENTURY.
Forty Acres of Anthracite on Fire at
Wilkesbarre Which Has Entailed n
Loss on the Delaware and Hudson
Company of 100000.

Company of $3,OOO,OOO.
The Wilkesbarre correspondent of
the New York Egening Post had the
following interesting story from that
city in the above paper, recently:
Twenty-Five years ago, on the 9th of
January, 1874, there was ignited what
proved to be the biggest and most eS-
pensve mine fire in the coal mining
history of the world, fire that has
destroyed forty acres of coal, twenty
feet in thickness on the average, has
cost over So 900. 900, and is still burning.
1t is estimated that it will last another
quarter of century, and may cost
some thousands of dollars more before
it has burned itself out.
This remarkable fire, whosQ proper
tons and Importance few who are not
mining experts realize, is in the No. .
colliery of the Delaware and Hudson
Canal Company, in the East End district
OF that city, and is one OF the most note
worthy features of the mining region of
northeastern Pennsylvania. Despite
its unusual extent it is under the watch
full care of but two men, one during the
day and the other at night. Two men
have in the last twenty-four years been
its sole guardians, yet upon their yigi-
lance depends many thousand dollars
worth of property.
The Baltimore vein is famous through.
out the anthracite region as being the
most valuable coal in northeastern
Pennsylvania, for it is free from slate
or rock, and averages from sixteen to
twenty-four feet in thickness. There
are bigger veins, notably the the Nam
moth of the Lehigh region, which
reaches a thickness of forty feet, but
the coal from none of them sells for 81
high price.
When the Delaware and Hudson Com
pany tapped this vein in the early
seventies the officials looked forward to
Il rich harvest, for it was easy of ac-
cess and was readily mined. 1t was
reached by an interior slope, starting
near the foot of the No 2 shaft, and
the cars were hoisted up by this slope
by engines placed at the foot of it, the
steam being generated in boilers close
to the engines. This was the custom
in the early seventies, and it was not
changed until the disaster at No. >
demonstrated the danger. Nowadays
the steam is carried to the interior en-
gines through bore holes from the sur
face.
The vein had been worked but a com
paratiVely short time when. on January
8, 1874, the working in the vicinity of
the engines caved in, the boilers were
demolished by the mass of coal and rock
falling on them, and the boiler fires
ignited the coal. Thus in moment
occurred the disaster which has cost
enough money to buy several mines
Gangs of men working in short shifts
cleared up the fallen rock and slate as
quickly as possible, but when the boilers
were reached the fire had eaten well in
to the big vein and was spreading rapid
ly.
The difficulty Of fighting a big mine
fire is great. The intense heat, the cor
find space, the Sutfocating gases, all
make it well-nigh impossible to get
within striking distance of it by ordin-
AIRY means. But o miner can endure
much, and for weeks gang of 300
stout-hearted and strong-limbed men
wagged a ceaselesss battle with this fire.
Each could labor but a few moments
before being overcome, and a constant
stream Of workmen were advancing on
the face" of the fire, and being carried
back again to revive, where the air was
comparatively pure and the heat less
intense. But the fire gained steadily
and soon the plan of fighting it was
changed.
Water had no appreciabe effect upon
it, and the next course pursued was
that which was called ''suffocatng it. "
Fire must have air. So all the openings
and channels, by which air could reach
the blaze, were hermetically sealed with
ands of tons of clay. This work, though
immense walls of masonry, and thous-
pushed with the utmost yigor and the
largest available force, was also
failure, for, after months of waiting for
the fire to be suiIocated, the air tight
compartments were tapped and the fire
was found to be of greater extent and
fiercer than before.
The work of the first month alone
cost the company 500, 900, and in the
following months more hundreds of thou
sands had been spent in unsuccessful
efforts. Then, every method known to
the American mining engineer having
failed, the company engaged Robert
Brown, an English mine fire expert.
Still the fire ragged, until, at last, after
years Of work, the effort to subdnc it
was abandoned.
The officials, anxious to save as much
as possible, cnt off the burning work
ings, making them practically an island
of fire in an oasis of COAL for there are
other rich veins in close proximity to
L.. lfalA .