The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-09-24

the elements above for nature to purify
| Under my system it required ten min
utes for the air entering the down-cast 10
/ be discharged by the up-cast to the sur
! race. Under this system my air was not
loaded down by gases, making it health
/ Ter for <he men and preventing the rapid
decay of timbers. Then the air was
! changed every ten minutes in the mine;
know from the tests made by my air
/ meters, which showed its exact velocity
Was No Bad Air in Parrot.
Was there any bad air in your mine,
or any hot places?"
No; l had a standing reward of 81 900
/ for any man who could find smoke in the
] face of any working place five minutes
/ after a shot had been fired, and hundreds
/ of men who worked for me are here to
prove this statement. Further than that
the Parrot mine was open for the inspec-
| ton of any mining man in the camp or
the world, and many took advantage OF
| this courtesy"
"Where did the hygrometer come in in
your system of ventilatlon2"
1t showed the humidity of the air go
ing into the mine and also the increase IN
/ humidity of that returning to the sur
face. If the air showed a humidity OF
so to IS per cent on leaving the mine, and
if the up-cast shaft was wet, IL indicated
the necessity of increasing the air curreEt
in the lower levels, for the current was
too feeble TO raise the heavily laden,
moist air. As / told you before, | had
five currents in the mine, and the lowest
levels were always the wettest. By d.
Viding the air sometimes / did not have
sufficient drsught 10 raise that extra per-
centage of moisture from the lower lev
els, which occasionally would result IN
reversing my current in some levels, ana
] would have to put in more air to coun-
terbalance this humidity. There was
about 200 tons OF water carried out or the
mine by the air every day. | used to no
tice the timbers never bore any fungi. The
presence of the fungi indicates carbonic
acid gas
Mr. Tibbey. did you ever work in any
Of the Butte mines before going TO the
Parrot, and if so did you suffer from bad
air in any of themY'
''Yes; and often wished the mines con-
tanned explosive gas, so that they would
pay more attention TO the air. When 1
took charge of the Parrot, because con
sidered well and profited by the mistakes
, / had seen others MAKE, / resolved TO
make the Parrot an example of what good
ventilation should be In a mine and leave
a lasting evidence of my experience and
knowledge. ! carried the mine workings
to the depth of LEO feet and the air i'm
proved with each 100 feet in depth. l
could have carried il to the depth OF Il
mile with equally good results. For in
stance. the day left that mine II was IN
splendid condition as to ventilation, the
Up-cast shaft averaged 90 degrees in tenn
perature and the temperature in the race
OF the workings would not average over
Z
Cooler Below Than Above.
Mi Tibbey. how could the tempera-
ture i'm the mine be 40 degrees, when L
was 50 TO 50 degrees in the outer air.
Air IS elastic. expanding with neat and
contracting with cold, and as the air de-
seconded to the 1.l0O level It was cooled
How do YOU know thst2"
Il had ever twenty thermometer. one
on top and the rest scattered through the
mine. ard ] would see each of them &C
least twice week in summer time-it was
not necessary TO Go so In winter. Hun
dreds Of miners in this Town will tell you
of the icicles ut che bottom cf the Par
rot doWn-caSt shaft and they were TO
he seen i'm the mornings 800 or 600 feet
along the 500 level or 900 feet below the
my home IN salt Lake Ih-Idc Of six
months after ! left the Parrot the temper
allure of the mine increased to s. or so de
grees. so | am informed. The reason OF
this was that the system of ventilation
laid out was not continued, and the cur
rent was broken, resulting in the mine be-
coming hot
Causes Of Heat Underground.
What do YOU suppose was the cause OF
the heat in the mine?"
"As I stated before, you have TO under
stand the use CT The instruments / men
toned 10 appreciate the condition OF the
air. The atmosphere is the earth's great
boiler valve preventing the outbreak OF
gases which are pressed and pennd up in
the oarths status like steam in boiler
The slips and seams of the earth better
known TO some people as crevices in the
rocks, arc the pores Of the earth, the
same as the pores of your hands and
body. fall in the barometer allows
these gases TO escape owing TO the air
being lighter. ! may explain why mines
are affected by d change of weather. Be
cause the weight of the atmosphere which
presses gas in the strata is diminished
when the barometer falls When a change
Of weather takes piscc the weight Of the
atmosphere may be diminished from fif-
teen 20 fourteen pounds, figuring at sea
level. This diminishing weight of atmos-
phere causes an extra discharge of gas
as an extra discharge of steam would
blow out of boiler If a little weight were
taken off the safety valve. The moment
the pressure of, the atmosphere is reduced
gas expands every place into which it Is
compressed. Miners often Say on seeing
p cloudy, wet morni.g, that they will not
&c abb TO work thar day, The miner