Oxford Democrat., 1913-02-18

entry. holding their faces In theE
hands. when the flame had swerved
suddenly down and caught them. we
could always hear 1.-THE trickling. like
water running over pebbles-and some
times. too. us we sat and waited we
could hear far up in the strata above
sudden cracking as the pressure or
400 feet of solid stone bent beneath Its
weight the supporting timbers and Pill
lars of coal that held up the roof OF
the mine. Old miners call these noises
the working" Of a mine. and often
where the rooms were close together
and the walls Of coal between them
were thin there was constant spin
terinr sound and louder noises that
would bring us suddenly to our feet IN
little panic Of fear.
II is not the loading nor the long
hours with the shovel and pick that
grind into the brain, but 1t Is the ST.
lence and the waiting. the silence and
then the sounds. and then the silence
again.
coal mine is Il vast city In an un
herground world Beside the hoisttng
shaft. down which the men are lower
ed into the mine and from which the
coal Is lifted in great "Skips' or more
often In the mine ears themselves.
there Is The airshaft. These are usual
ly the only two connections between
the mine and the outer world. Shaft
I. where we worked. was about 400
feet below the surface and comprised
over seventy five miles Of tunnels laid
out by the Engineers transit. accord.
Ing to perfect system for the hauling
the maximum quIn;i;!. from tie ar
shaft to the hOisting Shaft ran the
main tunnel or entry. AMI parallel ana
ut right angles with this t'iInel ran
other entries. dividing the mine into
great sections.
Down into the airSiaft every hour OF
the day and night an enOriLous fan in
the fanhouSe III the top ri the shaft
pumped air into the nine. ana by
means of many doors. StcppingS and
bridges or "overcaStS" this strong cur
rent Of air passed through every mile
Of tunneling. never crossing its own
path and never stoppin:: until il again
reached the main entry. but this time
at the foot of the hosting shaft.
through which. f0uled by the gases.
the dust and impurities of he mine. il
poured ont Il cold blast in summer and
in winter Il pillar Of misty vaPor that
;lScended far into the structure of the
tippe tower above the shaft month.
TO keep this current of air from taking
the path Of tile least res Siaicc ANA
short cir,'uiting. cutting ~ whole
sections of the mine. thrr. was ar
ranged Il system Of doors which were
opened Ia allow the trains and tn.
mine ears 10 pass and c.o>cd again
when they had gone through AS an
additional precanti0n tn take care OF
this lfebIood circulation. without
which work in the mine would lee i'm
possible, Inspectors. whose duty il was
to measure the strength of the current
and to inspect the doors and stuppingS
to see thar no part Of the mine eScap-
ed the cleansing draft. passed con
stantly from place tO place. testing for
the presence of gaS with their safety
lamps and ever measuring the volume
and flow Of the mir current
And through all this vast system of
tunnels ran the great underground
electric railway. with lis low hanging
wire. its switching stations. its sid.
ings and its main belt line. Small
electric locomotives in the various out
lying Sec tionS of the mine gathered the
loaded ears from the rooms whrr" they
were filled by the leaders ana made
up the trains on SiiingS near the main
belt line. All day long the larse thir
teen ton locomotives gathered theS"
trains and dragged them past the seal.
house. where Old Man Davis checked
up the wei:,ht of the loaded ears to
each mans credit. to the great pit be-
tween the rails ut the foot of the hoist.
Ing shaft. where half naked. blaCkcned
Greeks beat open the hopper bottoms
and drOpped the coal down into the
waiting bins below. and from III" bins.
with automatic regularity. giant buck
cts. >sr ">kips." lifted the coal 4OG feet
upward to the open air and then hft!
feet more to the top Of the tipple tow
er where. like Il tumbling torrent. il
poured down over the sorting screens
into the railroad ears beneath.
There were 400 men on the day SHIFT.
and the leaders were. for the most
part. Bulgarians and Greeks. Few
spoke English. and few had been many
wears I'm America. Some worked and