Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-17

baskets on WheelbarfoWS, from Two 10 lour
baskets being fastened on the shelves
which jut out on each side of the wheel.
1t is in such barrows, pulled and pushed
by men, that the coal is taken to the mar
ket. Some of the wheelbarrows have sails.
Only little can be carried on a barrow, and
the freight rates are so heavy that 1t costs
Sc TO bring ton from the mines to Kiao-
chau. a distance of seventy miles. Coal
worth S2.25 a ton at the mines sells for 81
a ton few miles away.
The Germans now building a railroad
to these mines The road-bed is almost
completed and the cars are the way.
1t will be put into operation and this coal
will have an outlet to the sea
Rich Mines Along the Yangtse.
The Yangtse Kiang is one of the most
wonderful rivers of the world. 1t is over
5000 miles long and it almost bisects China.
The biggest ocean steamers can sail up II
into China as far as New York is distant
from Chicago, and with Its tributaries IT
furnishes more than 1000 miles of navi-
gable waterways. There are vast coal de-
posts. which could easily be made accessi-
BILE to the YangtSe kiang. This Is SO OF
the Shansi coal beds, which describe fur
Their They are the greatest in China,
and short railway will bring them to the
Han river, which flows into the Yangtse
at Hankow. The mines of Yunnan are not
far from the upper Yangtse, and there are
coal beds all along the 4angtse valley.
told they are to be found near Nan
king, Hankow and from Chnkiang to the
borders of Thibet.
Mrs. Bishop visited coal mine in S!chuen,
on the Yangtse, about 1000 miles back from
the sea She says the seam was four feet
thick and of a hard bituminous ma
ture. 1t was reached by a tunnel six feet
long, in which was wooden tramway. and
the coal was carried out in baskets on
wheels. The mine was worked day and
night in shifts of twelve hours, the miners
being paid IA cents a day, with an allow
ance of three meals of rice. The coal costs
about 40 cents a ton in labor, and a short
distance away from the mines 1t was sell
ing for s1.75 a ton.
In the upper Iangtse near Suchau, there
are coal mines in the side of a cliff, which
have been opened by galleries hung from
the top with ropes of plated bamboo. The
miners bring the coal out upon the galleries
and thence slide 1t down in baskets into
the boats on the 1angtse.
Abandoned Mines.
There arg thousands of abandoned mines
both along the Yangtse and in other parts
of China. One of the greatest troubles is
water The Chinese have no good pumps,
and as soon as the water comes into the
mines they leave them. Shafts are seldom
put down more than 200 feet.
In Shangtung the experiment Of trying
modern pumps was attempted The pumps
We're ordered from England and were
brought into the coal regions at great cost.
They We're allowed to lie there and rust
until thieves had stolen many of the parts.
Then an engineer was brought from Shang-
hal to put them up. but was unable to do
So
An instance of Chinese superstition oc-
Cured in one of the Kaping mines,
which lies Tong Shan the Tien
Tsin, Shanhaikwan railway. These mines
are the greatest in China. They employ
about 10000 men, and have an output of
1900 tons of coal day. have visited
thew II n
date in their machinery and modern meth
DDS Of working.
The mines at Kaiping operated by
Chinese under foreign supervision. Not
long ago a new mining engineer from Lon
don was brought to take charge Of them.
He went through the mines and was
surprised to find large block of the
He asked why 1t had not been taken out,
and was told that 1t was the home of wa
ter demon. Upon inquiry he found that the
former engineer had left 1t partly to Please
the Chinese directors and partly because he
thought there might be something in the
theory.
The new man"said: Hang the water de-
mon. Let's get out the coal" The Chinese
still protested. but as he insisted. they put
in blast and fired it, When the wall of
coal fell great stream rushed in. foo ling
the mine and shutting up access to many
chambers. Since then the water in that
mine has not been controlled. although tie
costlest of pumps have been purchased.
The block Of coal was in reality a great
pipe in which a subterranean river flowed
through the mine. The coal had been cut
out about 1t. but the pipe had been left
intact until the engineer ordered 1t dyna-
mitcd. The Chinese must have suspected
the river. At least they looked upon 1t as
holding a demon.
As Good az Pennsylvania.
II you will take your map Of China and
look at the province lying west of Chill,
Nv
the west by the winding Hoangho, you will
see the Pennsylvania of the Chinese en-
pire. 1t is the province of Shansi. which Is
said to contain the greatest ard richest coal
area Of the globe 1t is fust about as big as
Illinois. and 1t has four times MANY pno-
pie. 1t IS of much the same shape as Illinois,
and Ike Illinois has a great river running
about Its western and southern sides. II
contains iron and limestone in vast uuanti-
ties. and in the future 1t will probably be
the greatest manufacturing and steel mak-
ing section Of the world.
This province has been recently visited
bv Noah Dra',e of the Imperial Chinese
University of Tien Tsin. He speaks Of the
anthracite area as greater than that Of
Pennsylvania and estimates that It con-
tains more than six hundred million tons
Of coal. There is quite as much bitumi-
| nous as anthracite. and the deposits of
both kinds are beyond description won
darful
Il
great tahleland in its center rising more
than mile above the sea. This taheland
is made of sandstone. shale and conslomer-
ate of as MANY different colors as the cliffs
of the Colorado canon. The top Of the
plateau is covered with a rich loess de-
post. bed of clay dirt from FIVE hun
dred to a thousand feet deep. which is
euleyed with water courses. Under the
dirt there are vast deposits of coal and
iron. exposed by the water There Is a
great deal of coal about the edges of the
plateau and in the mountains. It lies at
an elevation of about twenty-five hundred
feet In horizontal beds, and is to be seen
wherever the rivers have cut through
The anthracite seams are unbroken over
over an area of more than thirteen thou
sand square miles. They OF thick
ness from twenty-five to fifty feet and of
an average of forty feet. The anthracite
gives from eight to ten per cent Of ash.
and 1t Is but slightly impregnated with
sulphur.
The bftumtnors coal fields of Shansi have
an area of ~ 900 square miles, or as great
as that of Massachusetts and Connecticut
They lie in the western part of the prov
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