Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-24
through on both sides and act as rein

through on DOtn SlOeS diiO az %
forcement to the walls. .,.
Transyerse concrete walls were ouiit,
thirty inches thick at the Oottom anu
narrowing to eighteen incnes az 'mc w
These walls, running across the Ano -
shafts and parallel to the course OF ti,e
Are. have openings three feet long by six
feet wide placed at intervals OF t"esve
feet. SO that the clay could run rom
one compartment to the other Thus the
pressure on the walfs was equah1eu
were needed to make the barrier ano
5000 cubic yards of concrete. Ten Hhies
of timber we're used in the snai's a.p
the open cut, all brought from Norla
Carolina In one of the holes. bored as
q protection to the work, 24.OOO tons OF
silt were poured.
Ventilation Provided.
Elaborate venti1ating apparatus had 70
be Installed at great expense. Canvas
fumes were let down into the snaIts'
Being flexible. they could be shifted SO
as to supply fresh air without delay 10
the SPOT where it was most needed.
The fire was within 400 feet when the
work started, which was too crosse ioi
safety but the engineers had no cnolce,
because If they had located the wall any
farther away 1t would not protect the
main hody of the coal basin. and there
fore would be useless as barrier. mere
fore the risk from the heat mad TO Oe
borne, and many devices were invented
to reduce and neutraize II. III
standing all the precautions the smoke
and fumes penetrated through the inter-
yening earth to where the men were
working. and had to be carried on by
means OF artificial ventilation.
An insidious gas came through the
cracks in the rock Lights would not
burn in it and men who were subjected
70 it's fumes quickly collapsed. After
few cases had occurred panic was ere
ated and the workmen struck. Presioen'
I,athrop. Immediately installed power
ful yentilating machinery and neld nos
pital equipped with the most enectlve
restoratives. Surgeons were einpioyeu'
Wa pes Increased. and Mr.. Latnrop MN
self set an example of courage ana oom
fdence by going down into the mine
daily himself and directing the work.
thirty minutes at time was all a man
could stand in the shaft. SO tnat ths
shifts were changed every half nour' ana
although there were frequent cases OF
nrostration, sometimes twenty day, no
deaths occurred In half-hour shifts the
men were required only four hours a day
each There were many anxious mo-
ments and at one time MI y. i. starr:
the engineer in charge. did not take on
his clothes for ninety-six hours Nearly
all that time he was down in the shaft
directing the work
Thousand Feet Of Wall.
The lob is almost entirely finished. and
now. between the fire and the rest OF the
coal, is a fireproof wall more than a
thousand feet long and twelve feet thick.
running from the top of the hill where
the coal outcrops. to the farthest shaft.
where it reaches the permanent water
level On the side OF this wall toward
the fire has been placed bank OF clay
twelve feet thick as a protection, and on
the side of the wall away from the nre
the coal has been taken out for fifty feet,
SO that the fire will have to jump that
distance before it can reach more fuel.
This cavity will be filled with fireproof
material.
The coal seam has thus been cut In
two by a fireproof wall thirty-six feet
thick.
It is yet too early to determine whether
this barrier will be a complete success.
but it is at least the most formidable
one that was ever erected in the path
of "a fire. and it does not seem possible
that anything but an earthquake can Inn
pair or destroy 1t.