The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1910-01-19
PLAN TO PREVENT
MINE DISASTERS
Coal Operator Would Imprison
WoIators Of Mining Laws.
LANTY IS TOO PREVALENT.

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Drastic Laws Are the Only Remedy.
Favors Courts Imposing Severe Pun
ishment For Least Violation Of Rules.
Colonel w. P. Rend, president of the
Rend Coal company and one of the
largest coal operators in Illinois. re-
Gently declared in speaking Of the
catastrophe in the st. Paul coal mine
at Cherry. ILL.,, that in order to pre-
vent future disasters the courts should
be called upon to send to prison for
q long term of years any n who In
the slightest way neglects or violates
the coal mining laws.
1T makes no difference whether it
il the operator, the mine boss or q
MINER" said Colonel Rend. If he vio-
lates the law in the least respect,
thereby e%ndangering the lives of other
men. he should be ent to prison. AS
things are now conducted. If a mine
boss or anybody else violates the law
he is taken before a justice of the
peace and given a small fine. This
must be done away with. II an in
spector finds the law being violated.
he should be able to have the violator
brought before the criminal court and
sent to prison for a long period.
Pennsylvania has stringent laws of
this character, which were brought
into being after the last big mine hor.
ror, and one man was sent to prison."
In addition to advocating prison SEN
fences for violators of the mining laws.
Colonel Rend declared that every mine
should be compelled to equip its tun-
nels and shafts with asbestus cur
tains, so that in event Of a fire they
could be quickly placed in a corridor
and the fire held back until all of the
men had escaped.
"Not only should they be compelled
to have asbestos curtains" he said,
"but the mines should be equipped
with sandbags and cement. with which.
walls could be thrown up in the work
tngs to stop the flames.
Prison For Lighting Pipe.
Another thing which should be in
sisted upon is that all powder and hay
should be lowered to the workings at
night and not in the daytime. Then
every miner should be compelled to
use safety lamps in place of the naked
ones now prevalent in Illinois. These
lamps should be carefully locked by
a foreman before the miner enters the
pit, and any man seen trying to ex-
pose his lamp or light a pipe or cigar
while in the mine should be at once
arrested and sent to prison."
Colonel Rend also was emphatic in
saying that smokeless explosives only
should be used in the mines, and he
was more than emphatic in declaring
that the miners must be forced to use
the explosives in such a way that no
blowout" shots can occur.
mine out Of ten explosions are
caused by blowout Shots he said.
VERY few are caused by gas or pow
der, and blowout shots are simply the
result of shiftlessness and ~laziness.
How Explosions Occur.
"In a vein of coal eight feet high
the miner should undercut it before
putting in the explosive and then put
In three or four small shots to bring
down the coal. Well, he won't do it.
He simply bores a hole in the solid
coal. puts in a big charge of powder.
lamps it with coal dust instead of
clay. which is usually just under his
feet. and let's it go. The result is
that the charge is unable to break the
coal. and it blows out of the hole. And
when it comes out it comes as fame.
The fame coming into contact with
coal dust in suspension causes a ter
rifle explosion, and there you are"
Fatal Mistake ls Made.
In speaking Of the recent disaster at
Cherry. ILL.,. Colonel Rend said that it
seemed to him the fatal mistake was
made in reversing the fans after the
explosion had occurred.
"Now, it is evident" he said. that
the fire was caused by some n in
some way igniting a bale of hay
which was being sent down into the
pit. At the time the fans were forcing
air down into the mine. and when they
were reversed they began to draw the
N~S
air out of the mine, and naturally
drew the flames with the air down the
~elevating shaft, through the main cor
ridors and up the air shaft. Why the
fans were reversed is a mystery to me.
And speaking Of the fans brings me
to another much mooted question.
which is simply this: Haven't we gone
too far in the matter Of putting in
fans? We have always thought that
the more fans the better ventilation,
but it is a question whether all this air
we are sending into the mine doesn't
keep the coal dust suspended too much.
thus very highly increasing the dan
ger of explosions. In all my mines
have installed sprinkling systems in
order to keep the dust settled, and that
should be required by law in every dry
mine. I don't mean these automatic
sprinkling systems; just a hose and a