River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1905-01-12
in A KILN-TOP
By
ALBERT w. TOLMAN

y
up on the stage beside the open kiln
top, Harry Sanders stopped his horses
and twined his reins round the whip
stock standing in it's case on the right
of the seat Then he pulled on his
leathern grabs" and began to pitch his
load of limerick, piece by piece, into
the granite-lined pit that yawned below
him, vomiting forth a ceaseless tide OF
smoke and heat.
Underneath, in the body of the kiln,
were 20 or 80 tons of limerick in every
stage of burning, from the thoroughly
calcinea Jumps at the bottom, which
needed only shoYeling out and coollng
off to prepare them for packing In the
casks. to the fragments last thrown IN
at the top, crusted with coal SCOT, but
not vet heated enough to show any signs
Of crumbling From this mass, through
which the arches sent a steady hood OF
streaming fame, spun out by the forced
draft. rose a mingled column OF car
bonic acid gas and coal smoke, deadly
combination for the human lungs.
'If a man ever falls into one Of those
tops. he's done!" burner had once re-
marked; and no one who had seen the
smoking pits in full blast would be like
" to question the truth of the assertion.
1t was Monday morning, and the rock
IN the kiln had settled considerable dis
lance The top was something over IL
feet in diameter. From this point the
body of the furnace gradually contract
ed, until just above the arches 1t meas
ured barely eight feet across. UP 10
within two or three yards of the surface
It was lined with friedrich, but for the
remainder OF the distance blocks of so
called fire granite were employed
The workmen below never intention
ally put on fresh coal when cart was
being unloaded above; but sometimes
they could not avoid doing So and theH
the driver was subjected to a very I'M
pleasant smoking.
On this morning Sanders was untoc-
tupate. He had not thrown off dozen
pieces when he heard the scraping OF
ghoyels. and in a few seconds, curling
up through every creyice in the rough
pit bottom, came the sooty vapor. Thick
or II grew, eddying and whirling round
him in choking clouds. But the team
must be unloaded, and he could not stop
The faster he worked the sooner he
would be through.
With dropped heads the horses stood
patiently, waiting for the signal to
start They were used to the smoke, and,
indeed. were so far forward that they dlo
not get nearly so much as their driver
He was completely hidden by it. spec
tator a short distance away could not
have told whether or not he was still on
the top of his load.
Sanders worked rapidly, tossing the
humps one after another into the kiln
ton The wagon was perhaps quarter
unIoaded when his left toe caught I'M
der an especially large piece OF rock, anu
he stumbled forward Then fragment
under his other foot gave way, and ne
pitched over the wheel into the mouth
of the kiln. AS he fell, he caught UNI
avaiIingly at the whip-stock, round
which the reins were twisted 1t yield
ed and the place where he had stood was
vacant So blackly did the smoke roll
over the wagon that man ten feet on
could not have seen him fall.
Almost before the driver had time to
realize what had occurred, he found him
self spraying in a loose, helpless heap
upon the rocks he had just thrown in.
They were not yet heated through, but
their sharp corners cut and bruised him
severely.
Instantly the deadly peril of his situa-
ton dawned upon him, and he sprang to
his feet. bent upon getting out at once.
Warm. black and sitting, the smoke
wrapped him about like shroud. He
began TO cough and choke. An ordinary
man would have succumbed immediate
" in that fearful atmosphere, but San
ders had become so accustomed to
breathing coal smoke that he did not
WELD readily to the fumes. He was per-
fectly aware that his life could be meas
ured by very few scores of seconds I'M
less he extricated himself at once from
this fiery pit Two quick steps brought
him to the front wall. He pushed his
hands up along the hot granite blocks,
and found that he could reach we'll over
the highest layer. A moments grasp
upon some firm projection, the quick
thrust of bOot-toe into a crack in the
lining. and he would be out of his diem
ma in fifty
Even in the midst of his peril he was
inclined to congratulate himself that the
rock in the kiln was no lower, for had
the distance to fall been greater he
might have broken some bone, the heat
would have been more intense. and the
depth would have made it impossible for
him to get his hands over the top of the
granite.
He was on the point of lifting his toe
to thrust it into some crevice in the
wall when beneath his feet there came a
rumbling, a sinking. The drivers heart
almost stood still with terror, for he
knew too we'll the meaning of the SOUND.
The kiln was settling! Down slumped
the rock with a Suddenness that almost
threw him off his balance. The heated
mass inside the furnace sank barely two
feet but when the motion ceased the
tips of Sanders fingers rested on the
Joint between the first and second layers
of granite. He could no longer touch the
top of the upper blocks.
1t was death to stay, but how could he
get out? The wall in front was now
too high for him to scale. Beneath his
feet a dull red dusky glow showed dim
KUROPATKIN'S AUTO