The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1907-04-04
SCORES OVERCOME
AS THEY FIGHT FIRE
Fifth Day Of Disastrous Blaze
in the Homestake
Mine.
. BATTLE WITH GASES
Fifteen Minutes of Effort Is All That
Men Can Endure and Many Col
lapse Before This-First Fire
in Fourteen Years.

Lead, S. D., April 1.--Tae fire in
the Homestake mine is the first in four
teen years, and only the second IL thti
history of the mine. Considering TIN
amount of powder constantly in use,
the quantity of pine tinlhers. n the
thousands of men who pass in and out
of the workings day after day, the
wonder is that these occurrences have.
not been more frequent.
This is the fifth day of the fire, and:
the great pine timbers, many of them
full of pitch and dry with age, are,
smoldering away, while the fire SLOWLY
but surely is eating it's way farthell
north. In the workings of the Home-i
stake. underlying the city of Lead,
there is enough timber to build the
cities of Lead and Deadwood twice
over, and it was in blasting out some.
of these Die tiE:bers that h fire is,
supposed to have originated. Fighting,
fire in a mine is very different from.
fighting in the fresh air or even in a
building. In a mine, there is not draft,
enough to produce a good blaze; con-
sequently quantities of carbon dioxide
gas are generated. The small passage.
ways become filled with gas and
Siltohc, LIE lights " llc GlGClEIC laIllDSl
glimmer dimly. A man becomes over
by the noxious atmosphere and.
falls, and unless q friend is at hand
to take him above or to some other.
safe place, he is soon gone. +,
No Fatalities Vet. f;
Fortunately there have been no ia.
talities in this fire in the greatest gold
mine in the world, although hundreds,
OF men have been brought to the sur
race hmm and lncOn ScinlJG Tho ss5r,,',
roonl, where the men go to change.
clothes when coming up from work.,
was made into an impromptu hospitals
and at one time men were laid out on
the focr, occupying every available
inch. They would lie unconscious for
a few moments and then start up raw
ing, requiring two or three men to
hold them down. Prompt measures,
including plenty of hot coffee, soon
brought them to their senses. The
company is ordering hot coffee by the
gallon ard keeping it now constantly
on hand for all the men coming off.
To-day conditions are better, although
the men are able to work only fifteen
minutes at a time. They then go to a
drift where the air is perfectly pure,
and where they rest for a an hour
before going back for fifteen minutes,
more of combat At present the work
Is confined to building a "brattish,,,
which is a long partition running the
length Of the drift.
Plan to Reach Flames.
Down one side of this fresh air will
be forced, which will, in turn, force the
smoke and a out the other side of
the partition, The men will follow in
the wake of the fresh air, and hope in
this way to reach the flames. SO far
no has been within 100 feet of
them. Three streams of water have
been pouring down the immense open
cut, ESQ feet deep; this cut connects
directly with the 300-foot level, from
whence the water will find it's way to
the fire near the 900. An immense bulk
head Just completed cuts off the work.
ings at the south end Of the mine, and
makes it possible for men to mine
there, free from danger of the gas and
smoke, which completely fill the north
ern workings.
Some idea of the magnitude of the
workings may be obtained when one
realizes that though miles of them are,
ct present practically inaccessible and
not worked, yet the men are having no
trouble: in taking out sufficient ore to
keep the thousand stamps dropping.
And that mean 1000 tons a day.