The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1914-10-22

Z in length according to the depths
the holes drilled. For a hole 10 fe,
81 deep, tube or cartridge or fe,
81 long would be necessary. containing
pounds of glycerine. Into the end {
Il each cartridge an electric fuse or ex
~ ploder was inserted, to which wer
Z attached connecting wires for eectri
n cal firing. A number of accidents oc
q CURED. as would be expected in the In
PRODUCTION of a powerful new explosiv
but it is stated that there were fewe
accidents than with the black powde
q previously used.
1t can be imagined that carryini
4 liquid nitroglycerine around the shaft
\ and tunnels in copper cans, and lamp
ing tin tubes of it into drill holes TO
4 blasting was no job for a nervous man
When black powder was used, 5 pounds
per cubic yard of rock broken hat
4 been necessary; with nitrogycerine tn,
quantity per cubic yard was about
pounds.
Three shafts to Tunnel.
Two shafts We're sunk to the tunnel
The west shaft, which is now filled
was sunk for the purpose of affording
another heading SO that the tunnel
could be driven east more rapidly, as
at the west end progress was slow, due
to the loose nature Of the rock, which
required arching with brick Z to u
courses thick The west shaft was 31s
feet deep and was sunk only 5000 feet
from the west portal The central
shaft 1928 feet deep was situated be-
tween the two peaks of Hoosac noun
tain. about 500 feet west of the center
of the tunnel. on account of brook al
the central point, which was feared
would overflow into the shaft. The
central shaft was planned for ventila.
ton purposes, and is still open. II
was started in 1868. and was long
time in being sunk on account Of the
difficulties encountered. A very bad
accident occurred in 1866 at the cen
trail shaft when gasoline. used in light
81
teen miners had Just been lowered in
to the shaft, then $50 feet deep. Tho
fire spread so rapidly that the engin
Ger had no chance to hoist the men
All the buildings at the shaft mouth
were soor on fire. Several tons of
drill steel was in the shaft house di-
rec(ly over the shaft, and as the struct-
ure burned shower of steel and burn
ing timbers fell upon the, men below.
The following day a miner, Thomas
Mallory, was lowered on rope into
the shaft to see if by chance any Of
the IS men We're alive: in 40 minutes
he pulled the rope to be hosted and
reached the surface just as he tainted.
He reported Is or 20 feet Of water in
the shaft and no trace Of the men, The
bodies were not recovered until year
afterward, when the shaft was pumped
out, and only a few could be identified.
Connecting the Headings.
After sinking the central shaft, driv-
ing was commenced both to the east
and thus the progress was accelerated.
The drift to the west was advanced
20Oc feet, that to the ..;ls- 1.tS feet. The
surv eying for these holirg through
problems, where such lnr e tunnel /,
and such rough surface were con-
cerned was naturally difficult job. II |
as accomplished with remarkab < a"-
.uracy, the cast headings met with an
error Ct 7-16 ~ IN il CHI the west head
ings with an error of 5-16 Of an inch.
The Mount Cents tunnel, where
there were no shafts, had closed few
years before with an error of about i
half a yard, which was considered ex-
fortunate.
1t is evident that the central shaft
If the Hoosac tunnel, from which the
readings were driven in both direc-
ions, complicated the surveying a
treat deal more than would have been
he case had there been no shafts In
hose days plumbing the shaft" prob ,
ems had not been systematized to the
xtent that now exists. and the engin- ,
er in charge had to figure out methods ;
# his own. The engineer was Carl o.
Dane. who later had =
barge Of the engineering on the Sutro +
,lnnel Of the Comstock lode. +
In the work of plumbing the central n
haft, Mr.. Wederkinch used elaborate .
pparatus at the top of the shaft.
;tone piers were built 25 feet on either
ide of the shaft, ION each Of which
vas placed and securely fastened an
Instrument consisting of slides, divid-
d scales, motion screws, clamps. etc.
m average of great number of lines
yas taken to establish the true tunnel :
ERECTION across these piers; two par
llel steel wires were stretched close =
)gether across the shaft between the =
iers the intervening space of about =
twentieth of an inch represented the
rue tunnel line. Exactly between :
1ese wires, not touching either, were
lspended two plummet wires of cop
err on each side of the shaft; these "
Tres were % feet apart, that being the c.
Maximum distance possible. On the 9
nd of each wire, 1000 feet below, was n
ttached a plummet weighing Is l.
ounds; each wire was encased in D