The bee., 1913-01-17

!
loose the frogs and releasing thu hop.
per bottoms Of the cars. Heavy clouds
OF fine coal dust poured up from the
cars as the coal roared down into the
bins, and the clanking Of metal, the
crash OF falling coal ana the unintelli-
gible shouting Of the foreigners flled
the entry with dull tumult Of sounds.
Dodging the low trolley wire which
hung about Eve feet above the rails,
we crawled across the coupling be-
tween two Of the cars to the other side
OF the entry and walked to the left,
past the locomotive. where the motor
man was still sitting in his low seat
waiting to pull out his train Of empty
cars into the sudden darkness OF the
tunnel beyond Then for the FIRST time
learned that mines are echoless
and that sound, like light, is absorbed
by the blotter-like walls Of the tun-
nels.
We walked down the entry between
the rails and after a hundred yards
turned with the switch In the track
sharply to the right. and again on.
Sense Of direction or angles was lost,
and, like the faces in a foreign race Of
people, where one can see little or no
Individuality, so here. each corner
seemed the same. and in a hundred
yards l was utterly lost. Above was
the smooth, black roof. below the ties
and the rails. and on either side behind
the two long rows Of props the face Of
the coal seam, which glittered and
sparkled in the light from our pit lamps
like a dull diamond. We talked a lit
tie. My companion asked me where l
had worked before, how much knew
of mines and a few other questions.
And still we walked on, lodging the
low wire that comes level with ones
ear and stumbling over the layer Of
broken coal that lay strewn here and
there between the rails.
The silence was like the darkness-a
total absence of sound rather than
stiffness, as my first impression of the
mine had been that of an absence of
light rather than of darkness. The
smoking lights in our caps seemed to
press out through the blackness twen-
ty feet around us, where the light dis
appeared and was gone, and always
in front of US, out of the black dark
ness, the two long lines Of props on
either side of the track stepped one by
one into the yellow haze of light and
sank again into darkness behind US as
we walked.
The air was cool and damp, but as
we turned the last corner the damp
ness seemed suddenly gone from it. 1t
was warmer and closer. Here the
track swerved up from one of the main
tunnels into a room" and at the end,
or heading" of this room, which we
reached a few minutes later, empty
and waiting for its first load, stood one
of the square cars which | had seen
before at the mine bottom and which
we passed several times on sidings by
the track. The car was pushed up to
the end of the track and its wheels
Sprayed" by two blocks of coal.
Here the tunnel suddenly ended, and
from the blank. back face" rough,
broken pile of coal streamed down on
both sides of the car and reared up be-
fore it against the roof.
Just shovel 'er full. then wait till
the motor takes her out and sends in
an empty, and ill that one. I'll look
in on you once in awhile and see how
you're getting along
Then he turned and walked down the
track and left me in the dim light OF
my single pit lamp.