Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1920-12-22
miss Florence Minis Explores
AN Iron Mine.
Dear dvertiser:

rs an iron wine.
Dear Advertiser:
II Some time ago in a letter / spoke
.o,f stlie wonders "under the earth" in
aA1lrora, meaning the great iron
min KS which have made this part of
the country rich and famous.
ednesday evening party of
us esGSE a "trip down into the St.
;Jan mine, about quarter of a
nil from the town itself. Since
StIleiss was a. great deal of climbing to
ssbes die, we were obliged to wear the
:cIof fSes that the miners wore. Over
!alls hat; had, once been blue, and
Goa That, doubtless had been too,
:eoge with mud and iron ore, were
Ig;iyef us to wear. After looking long
and hard at these togs, I summoned
all will power I possessed and u.s.
imp, ,a1f Il had stored up for the future,
Igpt into the clothes and we survey
;sesa ed each other with peals of laughter.
Each'w provided with a hat from
the locker of some sturdy Austrian
for italian and unless one looked at
the feet and the face it could not be
told whether we were real miners,
or minors, as some one suggested and
Which we all ella; led to be.
Hhenever think Of mine, |
titink also Of the story of Jean Val
sJeaf SIN the underground sewers of
Paris though the mines unlike the
sew is, are sources of great wealth.
The sentrapce to the mine is exactly
Ike the entrance into an elevator on
the the FIRST floor of a building, only this
elevator is called a cage and we felt
like animals. in our outlandish suits,
descending into a den. A drop of 175
,,ffees from the level of the ground
brosg to the bottom OF the mine,
and immed ediately thought of Edge
Geld and felt myself there on seeing
Che sticky mud Just exactly like the
red Sid hills of Edgefeld, l really
diFslsa e mind walking around in it. !
,fslf asely natural as though j
afti UP over the clay hank and nd
sseSsAs High thsr
familiar place.
I can think of no comparison that
seems to fit more aptly than that be-
tween the subway and the mine. Car
tracks run along leaving about as
much space on either side as a car
track leaves in subway and the
stations might be compared to the
elevator landings where the visitors
get on and off.
Overhead the archways were quite
low. We wore carbide lights on our
heads and someone was continuously
asking "Is my light out?" And the
gentleman who took us through was
there to replenish our headlights.
From one level to another we
climbed tiny perpendicular ladders
with just enough room to stand on.
In fact was such an unskilled climb
er and the quarters SO narrow that l
burned my hand on the light on my
hat.
/ can think of no color combina-
ton more vivid, not even the tango
of a few years back, than the red
mud and iron ore dust. My rubbers
are still wearing the effects of it and
someone on looking down at them to-
day said "Oh l see you have been
down in the mine"-that in spite of
two cleanings 1 had given them.
F., Someone would call out every now
and then, as we went along '"Look
out for your head" for I was absent
mindedly thinking of something a
long way off and once l did hit the
top of the mine but came out with
my light still burning.
We all looked like statues of liber-
ty on dark coast.
On turning a bend in the passage
way we came upon some men at work
and Immediately offered the assis-
tance of our mighty right arms. l
took up a large shovel almost as long
as myself and managed to get two
pieces of ore on it, which l almost
dropped on my foot instead of into
the ore car. Then dug into the soft
ore with a tremendous pick axe and