The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-05-04

The miners work about in these blocks
of solid coal with walls of coal from
which they dig the fuel Each pair is
! separated by these walls from the
other pair and there is between most
OF them no communication But some
OF the rooms" running south connect
with those running north from tunnels
just beyond. Thus it is possible to walk
through great stretches of the mine
without following the main tunnel.
How many of these rooms there are is
not known. They are all numbered and
the knowledge of them is very SYSTEM
atized. But, in the hurry burly and con-
fusion consequent upon this accident,
little information concerning them can
be obtained from the company officials.
There IS one map of the whole mine
somewhere here at Scofeld, but the Of
ficials of the mine declare that they are
too busy to find it for the newspapers.
Rescuers Driven Back.
Were it not for this connection be-
tween the rooms" the rescue work
would be a matter of weeks instead of
days. The rescuing party in No. 1 on
Tuesday found it impossible to get into
eross-entry No. from the main tun-
mel. The after-damD which surround
ed them made it impossible for them
to go farther. Had they gone on they
would have been overcome and would
never have been taken out alive. SO
they found it necessary to go away up
the main tunnel till they reached
cross-entry No. Z. Then they made
their way south through the rooms till
they got into cross-entry No. 5. There
were found Adam Hunter and son,
Tom Parrish and son and Harry VIII
son.
How many more of them did you
see?" was asked Of one of the rescu-
ers.
"Oh, don't ask mel" said he, and he
seemed sick at the thought. There
are lots of them"
Driving Out the Damp.
The system by which they push the
damp in front Of them and force pure
air in it's place so that they can pro-
gress is complicated to an outsider.
There is in the air chute of the mine
which lies between the two tunnels an
immense suction fan, which draws air
in both tunnels and drives it out the
chute. The miners have a method
worked with what are known as brat
tees, which consist merely of long
pieces Of canvas six feet wide. These
are stretched down the center of a tun-
mel and the pure air is driven down
one side Of it, while the after-damD is
forced out of the other. The system
is not perfect and is, in this present
confusion, impromptu and make
shift. But it serves a purpose and is
the only way by which the rescuing
crews can enter where the noxious and
deadly damp has peTmeated.
No one at the mine can say definitely
how long it will take to force out all
the damp. It may be weeks or it may
be merely days. The gas is what de-
lays the work of rescue. Were it away
and out, large numbers Of men could
rush in and dig away at the debris,
look for victims and bring them out
in a short time. But only one crew
has been working at a time because
Of this danger.
THESE MEN ARE HEROES.
The men who are doing this work Of
rescue are heroes, for they take their
lives in their hands as soon as they oot
near the afterdamp. It requires nerve
to approach these places, and nerve to
keep up and fight off the feeling of
sickness that comes even when the
pure air has partially driven the damp
out. c. L. DOWNING.