Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1912-03-28
MAKING
SURVEY
Work of Durham Coal & Coke
Company Now Reaches
Interesting Stage.

Recently the News contained an ar
tcle which told of the location of the
outfits of diamond drills on lands,
which were in prospect of purchase by
the Durham Coal & Coke Co., of New
York. These lands, as we said, are
located at the head of Little Sequa-
chez Cove, and perhaps are the most
valuable mineral lands in the state
comprising thousands of acres, under
laid with several seams of coal To
test these seams the drilling outfits
were sent to them, and as soon as in
stalled we're put to work Immediately,
and hole after hole has been bored into
the depths of the mountain. The drills
have been kept running night and
day, Sundays included. There has
been no stops, except to change loca-
tion, and that was done as quickly as
possible to lose no time. The reason
for such haste was that the options of
the company on the lands expire in a
short time, the first of April, SO we
understand, and therefore to know
what they were about to purchase it
was necessary to make tests at once.
All the work, however, has been
conducted in secretive manner, as
was to be expected. The cores show
ing coal have been removed privately,
and we have not learned of anyone
outside of the operatives who has seen
them. Moreover, the parties in charge
have had little to say, except that good
veins had been located, ranging as
high as 10 feet Last week one of the
men in charge when leaving Whitwell,
said that the work of drilling would
be finished in another week. The cores
containing coal have shipped away as
soon as taken out.
At present surveying crew is loca-
ted in Grays Creek Cove, surveying
for railroad up that cove. Gray's
Greek lies between the Pocket Gulf
and Peter Cave Fork, and it is said by
the engineers that the road will be To-
Gated up this cove in preference to Pc
ter Cave Fork for two reasons: first,
because of the nearly uniform rise of
the cove, which admits of an easy
grade to the top of the mountain, and,
second because the coal can be
brought both ways. There are num-
Der of ridges, or "hills, as they are
called to be worked out on top of
mountain before regular veins in body
of mountain are touched. These hills
themselves contain a vast amount OF
coal. This surveying crew is supposed
to work its way down to Sequatchie
Cove when work is completed in
Gray's Cove. However all this work
is merely preliminary, and made so as
to formulate an idea of the cost of q
road to get the coal out. The actual
grading and stalking of road will be
an after consideration provided proper
ty is purchased.
1t will, perhaps, be interesting to
some of our readers to learn how the
process of drilling is conducted. The
drills are operated by steam power
from portable boilers. They are what
is known as ''diamond drills which |
cut in wide rotary motion, which |
leaves a core in centre. This core is
removed after certain length is cut,
and another length is cut into the
rock. Water at 100lb. pressure to
the inch is forced through pipe to
the bottom of the drill hole while pro-
cess is going on, and as it comes to
the surface brings the debris with it.
An operator constantly watches the
drill, and indicator shows just how
fast it is cutting. When the debris
changes from white to black the oper-
ator knows at once that he is cutting
through coal The rate of speed in
cutting is rapid. On one occasion 60
feet of cong glomerate rock was cut
through in twelve hours drilling by
one drill.