The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1902-08-13
HBBRSCHAUH MINIHG
III LAND OF SULTAN
The Industry Confined to
Turks Country.
How the Beautiful Material Of the
Most Luxurious CT Pipes Is Obtained
There Are Four Grades

The British foreign Office has issued a J
report upon The neerschaum mining in +
dustry OF ConstantinopIe. This product. /
which is extensively utilized Tor the (
manufacture Of pipes, is almost entirely :
confined 10 Turkey The meerschaum +
can be mined by any. person at Sari-sou. /
Sepetdje, Gheiki and Nenlou on pay
ment OF five pias 10 the administration f.
OF mines-the cost Of permit. The
mines OF Sarf-sou are situated at a dis
lance of about seventeen miles to the
cast OF EskichehIr. The pit at Sari-sou
was opened twenty years ago, but today
there are 5000 mines opened. OF which.
however, only 1000 are worked. the re-
Inainder having been abandoned Some
/ 900 miners work these mines. and
every Friday market is held at which
they dispose OF the blocks OF meer-
schaum they have extracted during tho
week For the accommodation Of the
y.orkmen SOM Loco huts have been
erected.
At Sepetdje, about eighteen niles to
( The northeast of Eskichehir. there are
some 10000 pits in a space Of six miles.
/ OF which only $50 are worked, all the
others being exhausted. It is said that
these mines were opened !. 900 years ago.
which IS not incredible, as it is well
known that magnesia was formerly used
/ for many. purposes ether Ehan the fab
riead0n Of pipes; moreover. fuller's
/ earth used 10 be worked on vast scale
{ by the ancients. The Ineerschaum mines
are worked by some soc miners, who live
IL the surrounding villages. At Gheiki.
in the neighbOTho0d Of Sepetdje. there
are 1000 pits, Of which only 1G0 are
/ worked, giving employment TO 400
miners.
The only place where the adninistra-
ton Of mines authorized meerschaum to
( be extracted is Menlou, and here there
are only twenty pits actually worked
By Zoe workmen- The working Of these
meerschaum deposits. called the Es-
Eiehehir mines, which formerly were
actively worked, is reduced TO ]. 10 pits.
giving employment 70 some 5000 miners.
the greater proportion Of whom are
Kurds and Persians- These deposits are
worked on the following primitive sys-
tens
4 foreman or ganger, having from two
70 fifteen men under his supervision.
having pcgged out q --iece Of ground.
generally q meter wide g pit is sunk
until q red, clayey earth which IS the
first sign Of the existence Of nagueEia.
is reached. Sometimes this is reached
/ at q few meters from the surface. but
as rule the miners have 70 dig down
some twenty meters. and often forty.
and even up TO sixty meters. before
reaching the red earth wherein the
meerschaum is disseminated in kidney
and other irregular forms The volume
[ Of these blocks seldom exceeds thirty TO
forty cubic centimeters, the greater part
OF them being the size Of a walnut or
an apple.
On reaching the ganeue containing the
blocks Of magnesia. the miners drive
horizontal shafts through the red clay.
This. hcweEcr- is no easy matter as they
. cannot detach or pick OF more than fifty
: grams Of the clay at stroke. Some
8 Of these galleries are no less than a
b quarter OF a mile IN length, ana st some
l. times happens that owing TO these be-
@ Ing pierced ut random different gaug-
q meet underground The" work night and
! day. the galleries being I gnted with pc
Z rToIeUm.
after q certain quantity Of blocks have
e beer extracted the meerschaUm ssi.I Gu
zeolped III its gaugue is drawn Uut o: the
e cit. and stacked 81 the miners barracks
p These blocks are b0ugH- By the msEufac.
d turers OF Eskfchehir u job lots every
d Fr#dev. and there are some $50 persons
G who regularly attend these markets
$ The TceersCEaUu is then taken tg Esbi.
e cbahir. where the brooks are cleaned
the operation consisting Of acrapiHg aul
2 cutting the blocks uith q sharp iustru
p 3
r sui soft and easily cut into any shape
2 or form
It Owe. hoo persons ave occI pied il
cleaning and shaping these blocks
which. after being th5'oz CHI cleaned
are separated into fC:.- elaTses. accord
ing TO size and quality. siIese block
= being ready for sale, a bargain Is struc
e between the pipe manufacturer and th
e commission agents ard merchants g
r. EsEicnehir. of whom there ere about
r dozen The latter then pack 80 block
a aF these four classes w.t. vvT2 eTee
care into boxes OF equal siz,, e-ch bloc
being wra pped IN cOtt~.- IL avid an
sri-tiCn OF shock between the pie,es-
The actual annual output Of these mine
varies from I2g to $50 tons The Eskich
q ehir ueeTschGum is very GlS9ly prize
Is iu Europe on account Of its supeTio
a quality ard these deposits, notEith
.e staEzinE that they have been worls
l. for centuries. are still considered TO >
i1exh2ust Enthusiastically American.