The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-20
THE BIGGEST COAL FIRE.
story of the COnnagratIOn in the
baltimore Vein.

BultImOre VEN.
Wilkesbarre (Pa.) Letter in New York
Post.
Twenty-Five years ago. on Jan. 6, 1874
there was ignited what proved to be the
biggest and most expensive mine fire IN
the coai-mining history of the world, a
fire that has destroyed forty acres of COAL
twenty feet in thickness on the average,
has cost over 100000, and is still burn
ing. 1t Is estimated that 1t will last an
other quarter of a century, and may cost
some thousands of dollars more before it
has burned itself out.
This remarkable fire whose proportions
and Importance few who are not miniug
experts realize, is in the No. colliery of
the Delaware and Hudson Canal Com>
pany, in the east end district of this city,
and is one of the most noteworthy feat
ures of the mining region of Northeast
Pennsylvania. Despite its unusual extent,
it is under the watchful care of but two
men, one during the day and the other at
night. The men have in the last twenty
four years been its sole guardians, yet
upon their vigilance depends many thou
sand dollars worth of property.
The Baltimore vein is famous through
out the anthracite region as being the
most valuable coal in Northeastern Penn
sylvania, for ii is free from slate or rock,
and average from sixteen to twenty-four
feet in thickness. There are bigger veins,
notably the Mammoth of the Lehigh re-
sion. which reaches a thickness of forty
feet, but the coal from none of them sells
for so high a price.
When the Delaware and Hudson Com
| pany tapped this big vein in the early
seventies the officials looked forward to a
! rich harvest for it was easy of access and
was readily mined. 1t was reached by an
| interior slope, starting near the foot of the
| No shaft, and the cars was hoisted up
| this slope by engines placed at the foot Of
it, the steam being generated in boilers
| close TO the engines. This was the Gus
| tom in the early seventies, and It was not
| changed until the disaster at No 2 dem
onstrated the danger Nowadays the
steam Is carried to the interior engines
! through bore holes from the surface The
| vein had been worked but a comparatively
short time, when, on Jan. 6. 1874, the work
ing 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
a 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, put when The boilers
| were reached the fire had eaten well into
| the big vein and was spreading rapidly.
The difficulty OF fighting a big mine fire
is great. The intense heat, the confined
| space, the suffocating gases, all make it
| well-night impossible 60 get within strik-
| ing distance of il by ordinary means. But
a miner can endure much, and for weeks
a gang of 300 stout-hearted and strong
| lmhed men waged a ceaseless battle with
this fire. Each could labor but a few mo-
ments before being overcome, and a con-
| slant stream of workmen were advancing
on the face of the fire, and being car
| riod back again to revive, where the air
| vas comparatively pure and the heat less
| intense. But The fire gained steadily, and
soon the plan of fighting it was changed.
Water had no appreciate effect upon it.
and the next course pursued was that
which is called 'suffocating it." Fire
must have air. So all the openings and
channels, by which air could reach the
blaze, were Theoretically sealed with inn
mense walls of masonry ana thousands
OF tons Of clay. This work, though push.
cd with the utmost vgor and the largest
available force, was also a failure, for, af-
ter months of waiting for the fire to be
| sulocated. 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 100000 and IN the following
months more hundreds of thousands had
been spent in unsuccessful efforts Then
every method known 60 the American
mining engineer having failed. the company
| engaged Robert Brown, an English mine.
fire expert SIN the fire ragged, until, al