Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-24
MEERSCHAUM MINING
TURKISH DISTRICTS WHERE
VALUABLE CLAY IS SECURED.
Pipe Making Prominent Industry in
misunderstanding
in the Pits.
From tho Scientific American.

From tho Scientific American.
The British foreign office has issued a
report upon the meerschaUm mining in
dustry of Constantinople. This product,
which is extensively utilized for the man
ufacture OF pipes. is almost entirely con-
fined to Turkey. The meerschaum can be
mined by any person at Sair-sou, Sepetdje
Gheiki and Meniou on payment Of pias to
the administration OF mines-the cost of a
permit. The mines of Sair-sou are situated
at a distance of about seventeen miles to
the east of Eskichehir. The pit at Sar-sou
was opened twenty years ago. but today
there are 5000 mines opened, of which,
however. only 1000 are worked the re-
tnainder having been abandoned. Some
1900 miners work these mines and every
Friday a market Is held at which they
dispose of the blocks of meerschaum they
have extracted during the week. For the
acoomIno dation of the workmen some 900
huts have been erected.
Ancient Diggings.
AT Sepetdje about eighteen miles to the
northeast of Eskichehir. there are some
10000 pits in space of six miles of which
only $50 are worked. all the others being
exhausted. 1t Is said that these mines were
opened 1000 years ago, which is not incred-
ible. IS 1t is well known that magnesia was
formerly used for many purposes other
than the fabrication of pipes; moreover,
fuller's earth used to be worked on a vast
scale by the ancients. The meerschaum
mines are worked by some 200 miners. who
live In the surrounding villages. At Gheiki,
in the neighborhood of Sepetdje, there are
5000 pits, of which only 100 worked,
giving employment to 400 miners.
The only place where the administration
Of mines authorized meerschaum to be ex-
tracted is Meniou, and here there are only
twenty pits actually worked by 100 work.
men. The working of these meerschaum
deposits called the Eskichehir mines, which
were formerly actively worked is reduced
to LOO pits. giving work to some 5000
miners, the greater proportion of whom are
kurdS and Persians. These deposits are
worked on the following primitive systems:
Character of the Earth.
foreman or ganger, having from two to
fifteen men under his supervision, having
pegged out a piece of ground, generally a
meter wide. pit Is sunk until a red,
clayey earth, which is the first sign of the
existence of magnesia, IS reached. Some
times this is reached at a few meters from
the surface, but a rule the miners have
to dig down some twenty meters, and often
FORTY or even up to sixty meters, before
reaching the red earth. wherein the meer
schaum is disseminated in kidneys and
other irregular forms. The volume of these
blocks seldom exceeds thirty or forty cubic
centimeters, the greatest part of them being
the size of walnut or an apple.
On reaching the gangue containing the
blocks of magnesia. the miners drive horI-
zontal shafts through the red clay. This,
however, is no easy matter, as they cannot
detaCh pick off more than forty grammes
Of the clay al a stroke Some of these gal
leries are no less than a quarter of a mile
In length. and It sometimes happens that,
owing to these being pierced at random,
different gangs meet underground 1ney
work night and day, the galleries being
lighted by petroleum.
Buying the Blocks
After a certain quantity of blocks have
been extracted, the meerschaum, still en-
veloped in it's gangue, Is drawn out of the
pit and stacked in the miners barracks.
These blocks are bought by the manufac-
turers of Eskichehir in job lots every Fri
day. and there are some $50 persons who
regularly attend these markets. Tho meer-
schaUm is then taken to Eskchenir where
the blocks are cleaned the operation con-
sisting in scraping and cutting the blocks
with a sharp instrument or knife the
meerschaum being soft and easily cut into
any shape or form.
More than LOO persons are occupied in
cleaning and shaping these blocks which,
after being thoroughly cleaned, are sep
arated into four classes, according to size
and quality. These blocks being ready for
sale, a bargain is struck between the pipe
manufacturers and the commission agents
and merchants Of Eskichehir, of whom
there are about a dozen. Thu latter then
pack the blocks of these four classes with
very great care into boxes of equal size,
each block being wrapped in cotton to avoid
any friction or shock between the pieces.
The actual annual output of these mines
varies from 100 to $50 tons. The Esklche-
hir meersChaum is very highly priced IN
Europe on account of its superior quality
and these deposits, Notwithstanding that
they have been worked for centuries are
still considered to be inexhaustible.