The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1905-11-10
Sudden Plunge Of -Four Hun
dred Thousand Tons Of
Earth Into Richard Mine
Brings Many Sightseers.
WENT DOWN 800 FEET
HISTORY OF THE RAILROAD
MINE WHICH DATES FROM 1854
1T CONTAINS SEVERAL
SHOOTS OF ORE STILL BEING
WORKED.

WORKED.
One of the show places of Morris
County just now is the Richard Mine at
Mt Hope, two and one-half miles from
Dover, where few weeks ago some
0000 tons of earth and rock took a
sudden plunge during the night and drop
ped out of sight into an old abandoned
working of the mine, leaving bowl
shaped hole about 100 feet in diameter
at the top and about seventy-fye feet
deep, says the special Dover correspon-
dent of the Newark Evening News"
All this great mass of earth, which dis
appeared in the twinkling of an eye, drop
ped through a assure in the rock seventy
five feet below the surface of the ground
and thtnce fell straightaway 300 feet to
the bottom of the old mine. No one saw
it go and no one heard it. In fact, the
first knowledge of the caye-in was had in
the morning, when the miners going to
work saw the great hole in the ground.
The cave-in was caused by the rotring
away of the timbers in the old working
known as No. shaft. This shaft Went
down to depth of seyenty-fiye feet to
! the vein of ore in sthe rock and thence
followed the vein more than 300 feet
deeper. When the shaft was abandoned,
about sixteen years ago, timbers We're
thrown across the bottom of the shaft,
where it entered the rock and started off
at another angle to follow the vein, and
the shaft was filed up with earth and
rock These timbers finally gave way
| and the mass of earth and rock held up
By the cross tinlbers slid through the rs
sure in the rock to ths mine below, and
carried with it the old shaft timbering
| and the earth for large radius round
about The fssure through which this
mass, estimated at 100000 tons, passed
| is about thirty feet long ard seven feet
| wide.
| With the aid of glass. and some
times with the naked eye if the light is
right, it can be seen that the mass of
earth filled up the old mine, working
nearly to the opening of the rock. It
is expected that further falls of earth
from the sides of the hole, which are
nearly perpendicular for a distance of
| forty feet down, will fill up the mine to
the opening in the rock The hole will
! then be filed up with waste mine rock.
The cave-in is located about 100 feet
north and east of No. / shaft of the
Richard mine, and many wild stories are
being told about the dangerous condition
! of all the workings Some of the stories
4 would make one believe that all of Mt
Hope was about to drop out of sight.
Captain James Arthur, superinten-
dent of the Richard mine, explains that
in former years mine operators followed
the vein too near the superimposed EARTH
and points out that No. working came
/ within seyenty-five feet of the soil,
whereas to-day there is no wo-kRG in
the Richard within SEQ feet of the top.
The caye-in undermined part Of the
railroad track, making it necessary to
/ shift it over to the north. One of the
| stories told was to the effect that No. 4
/ shaft southwest of the cave-in was in
danger. Mr.. Arthur laughed at this, and
said that the workings were so far be-
low the surface, and such an amount of
rock was left between the surface soil
! and the mines, that there was no possi-
bility of its ever caving in.
THE company" said Mr.. Arthur,
pointing along the ground under which
i No. runs, expects to build row of
twelve double dwelling houses here. so
they must think it safe
The Richard mine is the property of
the Thomas Iron Company of Catasau-
qua, Pa David Thomas. the founder of
the company who has been called the
father of the American anthracite iron
Industry was born on November 8,
1894, in the parish Of Codoxtan Glamor-
ganshire, South Wales. The company
which bears his name was organized on
February A. 1854, and purchased the
Richard NINE known as the Mt. Hope
tract, which contains 6,271 acres. from
Henry McFarlan, Of Dover, on October
80, 1856 The mine had been worked
previous to his purchase By the Dover
i company and its successors, Blackwell &.
MeFarlan. The price paid for the mine
was $4,000. No record Of the amount
\ Of ore mined prior to 1856 can be had,