The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1902-02-27
AVERT EXPLOSIONS.
Damp Mines Are the Less Like
ly to Accident.

| les MONIES, Feb. "a .--Ine coal mine
commission provided for by joint res o.
luton of!the general assembly and of
which ex-Mayor T. ]. Phillips, of OF
tumwa, is the chairman, will make a
recommendation some time the COM
ing week in regard to methods of pre-
venting explosions in mines.
The commission inspected the Lost
Creek mine where the recent explos-
ion occurred which cost 80 many
lives. They found that while mining
had been resumed there the room in
which the explosion occurred had
been closed and was left in exactly
the condition which followed the ex-
plosion. They looked into the matter
carefully. The miner who had fred
the fatal blast had bored hole into
the coal perhaps five feet deep on the
day previous and had fred it, but the
blast was Intellectual, at it ''blew
out" and left the mass of coal only
cracked. Then he had put in anoth-
two holes came near to each other
within the mass. sWhen this was fired
with an extra charge of powder, as
the recordstof the mine show, part
of the blast came out through the
former hole and the cracks produced
by the former shot, as well as blow
ing out the tampiDg in the last hole.
The records in the mine disclose that
the miner took with him to the room
a much larger quantity of powder
than he should have taken, and the
real cause of the blowing out of the
blast was carelessness in preparing
the same and using too much powder,
The further fact was disclosed by
an investigation ofthe mine that it is
a very dry mine, that pure cold air is
drawn into it,that it is well ventilated
and we'll arranged.
Since the return of the commission
to Des Moines they have been at work
in one of the Offices in the state house,
and q number of experts have been
invited to appear and state their
views. Among others who have ap-
peared before the commission is Ben
Buxton, OF Monroe county, who OPP
crates the largest coal mine in the
state. Hei taking out over 1 400 tons
of coal a.day and working big force
of men, the mine being run to it's full
capacity all the time. But he has
never had life lost by an explosion,
Blasting is going on all the time in
his mine and the blowing out of the
blasts, exactly as at the Lost Greek
mine, occurs frequeptly-yett this does
not result in the terrible explosions
which fill the entire mine. His plan
is to wet down the mine regularly.
The air is kept damp. The entries
and avenues are all kept wet down.
His theor. IS that mine explosion
cannot occur where the air is damp,
but that iC is only where there is dry
dust in the air that the explosions &C.
cur. 1t is singular fact that these
explosions have generally occurred
in theIbest mines and this is because
of the fact that dry air is drawn into
the mines. This quickly fills with
dust and while the air appears to be
pure and wholesome it may become
dangerous from the very fact of it's
dryness. But explosions never &C.
cur save where the mine is filed with
dust and gas. This is agreed on by
all who have investigated the matter.
What the commission is most like
ly to recommend is that the law re-
quire wetting down of the passage
ways of the mines and inspection of
the blasts. Special inspectors will be
provided whose duty it is to see that
the proper amount of powder is used
and all the conditions are right for
successful and safe blasting.