The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-06-16
FIRES IN MINES.
DANG ERS IIRPR ESSED ANEW UPON
MINING EXPERTS.

states difficulty of stopping Fire
when Once Stnrtcd-- iferont Char
acter of Fires la Coal Mines and NJ et
al ones-Measures of Prevention nnt
Control.
This weeks fire record in the Calumet
mines, considered in connection with the
intelligent efforts there made to proven
all such outbreaks, has impressed anew
reaus here a sense of the enormous loss
of life and treasure to which the world
is in this way constantly subjected. A
fire once started in mine is very hard
to handle. For mines to remain on tire
year after year, eating their way
through the coal seams or other mineral
deposits, is not an uncommon occur
renee. The property destroyed in this
way makes the most extravagant use of
coal in factories and foundriea seem
trilling. Evidence abounds If such fires
in prehistoric times. Outcroppings of
burned-out coal seams are frequently
found on western plains, the color of the
soil revealing that the combustion of
coal at some very distant time has
taken place. Scenes of the great forest
fires of remote ages are covered over by
u new growth; but coal being stored
product, its wholesale destruction by
fire before the advent of civilized man,
leaves traces which time does not Who'll
ly efface.
A number Of good-szed mines are
now on fire in the United States, and
have been for years. The Vulcan mine,
on the Green river, opposite Newcastle,
in Colorado, has been ON fire since the
great explosion several years ago, when
about eighty persons lost their lives.
All efforts to quench it have proved
fruitless In Butte there is a mine
which has been afire since 1874. 1t has
been treated with carbonic acid gas
gentrated on a large scale, quicklime
and acids, and all the sitting devices
that genius and experience could devise,
but so far without effect In Pennsyl
vania there are several stead lily burn
ing mines, and in one place where the
outlet of natural gas is very great the
spectacle it affords is of surprising in
terest. For miles around u great tower
Of fire may be seen, day and night, and
the dense black smoke which it gives
off settles upon the surrounding coun-
try. How a mine gets atire is easily eX-
planned, even though the greatest pre-
cautions are taken to prevent it. Coal
seams exude a gas, varying in quantity
according to the pressure and the quail
tn, yNF
mixed with air in certain proportions is
about as explosive as gunpowder.
In a great group of metal mines, cop
per, iron. zinc and lead, the oxidation
which a fire once started produces re-
leases the sulphur, which in turn feeds
the flame, and so makes an endless
chain of destruction. Sometimes coal
mine will be so constituted that it seems
to operate 1t without fires
and explosions. One very valuable
in Colorado has been abar-
doned on this account. 1t seems that
the columns of coal supporting the roofs
Of the chambers, under pressure,
Clipped off a fine dust which was loaded
with sulphur In the form OF pyrites, SO
that spontaneous combustion would reg
fortunate experiences, became afraid of
ii, and it's treasures now remain unap-
awaiting the day when a
fiercer demand for coal or more success
full appliances for fighting fire will per-
NIT the renewal of operations.
Coal mines and metal mines stand in
distinct classes in regard to fire. The
difference lies in the char
1cter of the supports A copper mine
presents the spectacle of an immense
Forest of timber tier upon tier while in
coal mine the material itself is left in
columns for support. Iron has never
)een cheap enough for structural use in
mines, although metallic doors at main
shaft openings are sometimes found in
he most valuable mines, put there
purely to effect a stay of proceedings In
,ase Of fire. This forest of timbers is
naturally an invitation to combustion, |
md on that account it is customary to |
i'll in the chambers as soon as all use |
or them has ceased, Sometimes a |
hiatt is pushed through to the surface |
Ind the debris there accumulated is
Jumped into the mine. Another process
S "bulkheading," by masonry or earth,
ections of a mine which have no fur
her use. in order to lessen the sweep
which fire once started might take
In coal mines, where fires are the
worst on account of the greater Habili-
y to eXplosonS-and it is in these rath-
L than in metal mines that losses of
ife occur-the main source of preven-
ion is in the air supply Safety from
res depends upon good ventilation, and
he mining states have laws regulating
he number of cubic feet of air per min
nd animal employed there. With the
as constantly exuding from the seams,
he only safety comes from diluting it
with fresh air to prevent itS
ccumulaticn in dangerous ratio. 1t |
just like leaky gas-pipe in house
1ethods of getting in this necessary
upply of air are varied and ingenious
ONE mines ventilate themselves espec-
lily when situated on the side of hill,
} that a shaft from the side sloping
pward, like a furnace pipe, may come |
l and afford circuit with the main
critical shaft. On account of the diff
renee of the temperature inside and
1T of the mine, there will thus be a
instant movement of air, sometimes in
ne direction in summer and the oppo-
tie direction in winter in the same
inc. In the spring and fail days when
lie temperature inside and out does not
realty vary unless there Is a high
in JoF+ ,t-i4l |