The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1907-01-25
SINKING cussoss: Il Ilf saRAcUsk,
oe.er'p.'o. Of ss.a sslas So Ii
ouicasaaid atsEaet eadAliao.

Ssss SS4s.l ~
.Qu,c,...ad 4 East, f.5tA.aies. u.
The novelty Of: .. visit under
ground with the Sand hogs at the
shaft Of the syracuse property east
of Biwabik. is, an experiences. which
few people in the Lake Superior
district have been favored with,s> 3:
The shaft 10. heiuR sunk BY The
Foundation company of New York,
which makessa speciality of sinking
caissons through quicksaud to bed
rock as foundations for large build.
ings, bridges, ETC.. The concern was
originally organized 40 the Sooysua-
ish company and prosecuted its
work of driving tunnels and sink.
ing caissons through quicksand
by the freezing, process invented by
the celebrated New York engineer,
Sooysmish. The Foundation com.
pany still owns those patents, but
has found that the pneumatic pro.
cess is safer and more dependable.
In the freezing process if a spring
of living water Is struck very often
the water thaws out much of the
work that has been accomplished,
while with the pneumatic process
the water is forced out by air pres
sure. ..
The first mining shaft ever sunk
by this concern was done several
years ago at the famous Chapin
mine on the Menominee: range in
Michigan. It was put down by the
freezing process and when near the
bottom a spring was struck with
such a strong flow that it could not
be stopped. The result was that it
was necessary to let the shaft. fill
with water and then begin freezing
again from the top.
T1MBERs WE'RE FoRcED OUT.
The only difficulty. 90 far ex-
perienced in sinking the Syracuse
shaft was encountered recently
when the timbers that line the shaft
began to be forced outward by the
air pressure. Ordinarily this would
be impossible, but owing to the
fact that the steel piliug formerly
driven around tho outside of the
shaft had loosened up the ground
very much near the ttoul z1s11s
pressure of the sand from the out.
eide wac not sufficient to hold the
l'pressure of the air inside. A. soon
as the trouble wac noted the big
pressure was decreased snd the
work of bringing the timbers back
into line was started. This 10 done
by bracing them with steel rein.
! forcements and the work was practi.
cally completed yesterday % that
the work of sinking can be resumed
/ today.
| The experience of a trip down the
shaft is not very trying. When one
first enters the lock At the top of the
shaft and the air 10 admitted in
order to equalixe the pressure the
ear drums begin to tingle and feel
as they do when the ears are filled
with water az one dives. Other:
wise there ie no unpleasant sensa.
ttion and after one passes down into
the working cha mber he realizes nc
difference from being in the oper
air except that voices do not sound
entirely natural while if. he At
tempts to whistle he finds his effortl
useless. The men were working n
the bottom of the shaft very com
fortably. Of course when great al,
i pressure is required there is some
discomfort to the men but no yer,
heavy pressure 10 required In til,
Syrdcuse shaft.
h Another difficulty experienced II
sinking this shaft was the fact tha
| the steel piling that was previously
fdriven had curled inward afte,
striking bed rock. It was claimed
that this piling could be driven II
rock but it could not, with the re
suit that the ends curled up il
almost perfect circles about 8 feet II
diameter: All this piling. had to b,
cut out and removed With pneu
matte tools, which necessarily con
sumed considerable time, # It hat
not .beep for this piling the shat
would have been completed ere now
THE BANGOR SHAFT.