The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1906-02-02


found by the miners working near these
old mines. The wheels are made OF wood,
the axle being Of oak, and the other parts
of pine. The wheels are estimated to be
1900 years old although the wood is still in
perfect state of preservation, due to the
fact that the water is charged with metallic
salts, especially those of copper and iron
The wheels were worked on the treadmlll
principle, by slaves. The water was raised
by one wheel into large basin, and then
lifted another stage by second and so on
to the surface.
Under groundwork not directly connected
with the extraction of metals is Of interest
as showing some of the earlier methods of
excavating.
In India we find the Hindu caves in
groups numbering as high as 1000, the
earliest of which were cut in 26O B. G. In
all this tunnel work, which records tell us,
were artistic and beautiful, not particle Of
stucco or masonry was used, wholly the re-
suit of laborious cutting with hand tools in
the hardest rock, and except in the center
excavating of the largest caves, it would
seem absurd to risk shaking or cracking the
rock by the fire setting system. At Baby
lon an arched tunnel lined with brick - #.
high, Is #. wide and about 5000 tt. long
was constructed under the Euphrates, con-
Meeting the royal palace with the temple Of
Jupiter Belos. During the process of con-
struction, the waters were first diverted from
the bed of the river. There is also the
record of tunnel in the island of Samos
under mountain 900 #. high. The tunnel
The Romans, we fnd built tunnels for
traffic, drainage, and aqueducts, through
rock and earth in Italy and wherever their
conquests led. These tunnels are of all
sizes; one constructed in 359 B. c., to tap
Lake Albanus was 5000 #. long, Z to 8 #.
high and 5 #. wide: Fifty shafts were
sunk on it's line and the work is said to
have been finished in one year. Another
tunnel undertaken to connect Lake Fuel
nus with river Liris is l4449 feet long,
10 It. high, 8 #. wide and 10000 men
were employed, the work covering period
Of eleven years.
After the fall of the Western Empire we
have no special mention Of tunnel work,
excepting those records pertaining to early
crude attempts at mining in Germany,
The Introduction Of gun powder, how
ever, gave new zest to the search for the
precious metals, although it was not used
for some considerable time after it's dis
covery. The first recorded use Of gun
powder for blasting was in the year 1897 at
Merat, where mine was blown up in mill
tary operations. In later wars, miners
often accompanied the troops; thus it is
seen that the use Of gun powder as dis
ruptive agent and it's application for pro-
jectles preceded it's use in ordinary mining
and blasting, and it seems probable that it
was first usefully applied IN mining FOR NOV
ing large masses. AS early as the 18th and
10th centuries, powder was used in quarries.
The earliest positive records in blasting and
+ drilling date from 1913, when wooden plugs
were used to lamp the holes at the mines at
Freiberg. Seventy two years later, small
hand drills were introduced and clay used
to plug the holes. About the year
1914 the use Of gun powder had became
more general, for at this time the Hartz
mining accounts show expenses for powder.
Two hundred and eighteen years after the
first use Of powder in mines, the safety fuse
was invented and in the same year ls3l)
the first patent for the simultaneous blasting
Of a number Of holes by electricity was
granted.
Two hundred and thirty six years elapsed
before the first percussion rock drill was
made, and 248 years before machine drilling
was successfully established Drilling and
blasting Of course, in its early days had to
contend with the opposition always incl
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