The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1908-08-29
ELECTRICITY
UNDER GROUND
GREAT USE TO WHICH JUICE" is
PUT IN MINING OPERA
TONS.

electricity has revolutionized Things on
the surface of the earth the impor-
lance of electricity far underground
| in the mining world is practically un-
known. And yet the changes and i'm
provements wrought under the earth
by the worlds greatest force, elect
ricity. are greater than anyone not
! familiar with mining work could guess.
! In the anthracite coal mines Of Penn
syiyania and West Virginia; in the
soft coal mines of Illinois, Alabama,
| Kansas. Montana and Texas; In the
| gold and silver mines Of Colorado.
Mexico, California and Alaska and in
the various other mineral excavations
| throughout the world electricity takes
! fully as important a part as it does IN
the industrial field.
| Electricity is the ideal power for
J mining operations. Where power Is
necessary in the narrow confines or
gangway or tunnel, steam ana water
power is impossible; animals are too
slow and require too much attention;
| compressed air and rope drive have
| dozen different draw-b backs and incon-
1 It
f, the work in mines was done by nand
or with the help of burros and mules.
In these days of electricity the water
falls of the mountains and rivers are
harnessed to generate electricity which
is transmitted to the mines over
slender copper cable. From small
substation at the mouth OF the mine
the current is carried on insulated ca
bles to any part of the workings. The
little motors do not take up much room
and are capable of great power. High
speed pumps and blowers are coupled
direct to the motor shaft, doing away
with belts and gears. The electric
light is safe and convenient; the elect
rio hOists do their work better and
quicker than any other form of power
hoists, and the underground electric
locomotives are rapidly replacing the
mules in hauling the ores.
We read a great deal about the re-
cent electrification of steam railroads
on the surface of the earth but 1t is
only in mining circles that one hears
, it said that the network of tracks in
the anthracite coal mines has spread
uutll Tie HiICo5C 10 eaA-
most as great as the mileage of the So
called anthracite roads" The opera
ton of coal mine today includes the
management of an electric railway
system fully as intricate and difficult
as any surface electric road.
Mine owners were first to see the
value of the electric locomotive for
mine haulage and today thousands of
electric locomotives are taking the
place of mules on the underground
railways. One of the first electric mine
locomotives was built by the General
Electric company in 1887. long before
an electric locomotive for surface work
had been perfected and only year
after the first electric street railway
system was installed. How we'll this
early locomotive was built is evidenced
by the story told of an attempt to get
it to exhibit at the American Elk
position One Of the officials wrote
and asked if the old locomotive could
be resurrected from the scrap-heap for
the occasion. The manager bf the
mine wrote back a very indignant let
ter and said it could be resurrected as
/
and was still in operation and that
they could get the locomotive only by
sending one to take the place and do
it's work during it's absence.
AS the excavations get deeper and
deeper and the gangways extend fur
Their and further from the shaft, ell
ectric hoists and electric locomotives
are the most economical agents for
handling the ores. oi1@
There are four distinct kinds OF pow
err used in mines, exclusive of rope
Nhaulage for steep slopes-mules, COM
pressed air, steam and electricity. In
the volume of work done mules re-
main in the lead. Steam is going
backward. Compressed air is about
stationary Electricity is the coming
factor. Every year the gangways are
extended further from the shafts. AS
the hauls increase the problems of
underground transportation become
more serious Some $4,000 mules are
still employed in and around the an
thracite coal mines but in many cases
mere distance has already disquali
fed mule-power. Compressed air loco
motives, though used in considerable
number, have proven less economical
than electric locomotives. There are
few steam engines in the mines as
combustion of any kind is not desira-
BILE in coal mines on account of the
risk from gas explosion. Within three
years, from 1903 to 1906, the number of
electric locomotives in the anthracite
mines in Pennsylvania, not including
those on top of the shafts, grew from
"a to 205.
The electric mining locomotive has
been the direct means of keeping the
price of coal within the reach of the
consumer. If, as the mine grew deeper
and more difficult. the old methods
were still employed. the cost of get
ting the coal out would be so great
that the price would have to be raised
several dollars a ton. Electric haul
age provided by means for getting the
coal out of the mines at a very low
cost because it does the work SO much
quicker and better than mule power
In some of the older mines it is three
miles from the breast" where the
coal is mined, through the gangways