Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-24
Of Unknown Origin.

OF Unknown origin.
Nobody knows how the fire in the Up
per Lehigh Valley Coal Company's mine
started. 1t was discovered on the morning
of February Is. 1859. in some abandoned
workings in what is known as the Mann
moth Vein at the east end Of the Summit
Hill basin in Panther Creek valley. The
general shape of that deposit has been
compared to mans hand, with the
thumb and the fingers extended The
fire started near the end of the thumb
which is 600 feet wide at the narrOwest
and LOO feet wide. at it's broadcast point
and for fifty-one years has been working
it's way slowly toward the main part of
the hand. II 1t ever reaches there the
work of devastation could not possibly be
stopped. and 4OO.OO0,OOO tons of coal must
inevitably be sacrificed.
Already. according to the best estimates,
SO, OOO, coo worth of good anthracite has
been consumed Various attempts have
been made to extinguish the fire. In the
sixties it was proposed to dig an open
cut with sloping sides across its path and
flood 1t SO that when the fire reached the
water 1t could go no farther. That
project was found to be too expensive and
years ago an attempt was made to fill
the mine with culm and smother the
flames in that way. But that proved
failure The fire was subdued for a
and continued burning.
Finally Mr.. w. A. Lathrop, president of
the company. devised plan of "slushing
holes" Seven hundred long borings were
made across the spur in advance of the
flames down to the water level and were
filled with mud. the idea being to form a
wall Of wet clay at the base of the thumb.
between the fire and the main part of the
hand. 1t was difficult and dangerous work
on account OF the heat. and exceedingly
expensive. Some of the Coles were SO
deep that it took eight thousand tons of
clay to fill them; and all that labor and
skill were ,,e wasted d. Tbe heat baked the
| for the flames.
| Mr.. Lathrop at last decided that the
only way to protect the rest Of the de-
| post was to build a solid concrete wall
| ahead of the flames. and the work was
Gently finished at a cost of more than a
| quarter of a million of dollars, being
| $50 feet long, IL feet thick and PAT feet
deep or high, as you may care to put 1t.
! Cuts Made and Shafts Sunk.
| On the north of the basin. where the
coal comes to the surface, an open cut
was dug. From there southwark, the vein
sloping downward, a series of shafts was
sunk, the last in line to the south being
ooO feet deep. Later it was found thar
not only would the barrier have to cover
| the face of the vein, but that the space
between the first four shafts would have
to be filled with clay. This makes the
barrier extend from the bottom of the
vein to the surface of the ground, for a
considerable part Of its length.
At the southern end 1t was not neces.
sary to take out the everything rock be-
tween the shafts, but simply the coal
This was done by tunnel following the
vein and extending 500 feet on a slope tc
water level Two concrete walls, sixty
feet in height, are being built to form the
side of the tunnel. There are windows
at short intervals so that the wet clay
besides filling the space inside, may seer