Great Falls tribune., 1922-04-23
400 cROSScUT
FILLED WITH
TA1LING
THIS WAS
IN THE WORST
OF FIRE COUNTRY
18 MONTHS AGO
o-@
)

valves. which remained open while the
| ian operates, but which close instantly
when. as it sometimes happens. the
electrical current fails. and prevents
the backing up of any gas Just be-
fore bulkheads are blasted the fans
are set in motion. When the blast oc-
ours, the stiff air currents generated
hold the gas in check, aud the fire
fighters are. able to pass through the
airlocks in safety.
Gases chiefly encountered in the fire
zone have been carbon monoxlde
carbon dioNide and sulphur dioxide
Of these the monoxide. known among
miners as sweet gas is the most
ktreacherous and deadly. 1t is lighter
than air. colorless and in its pure state
colorless. Its presence cannot be de
teeted by any effect upon lighted
candle or a miners carbide lamp. Yet
even i'll small quantities it is poison
Gus to human beings. Mice and small
birds. who are particularly susceptible
to it. have been valuable in revealing
its presence. Carbon dioxide. produced
by burning timber, is colorless and
odorless. but quickly bertays its pres
enee by. extinguishius candles or
miners lamps. 1t is dangerous be
cause ii displaces the oxygen in the
atmosphere. Sulphur dioxide. formed
by burning sulphur in broken ore.
smells like smoke, and produces an ex-
ceedingly disagreeable irritation of the
throat and bronchial tubes.
Victory Signs for 1923
Hour after hour year in year out.
these gases are held prisoner by the
fans and airlocks. while this oxygen
armored fire fighters steadily reduce
their volume. Quite as steadily the
men on the sluices and flame keep up
the supply of sludge in NE specified
proportion of ton of solids to 800
gallons of water. Hour by hour the
puipy fluid they serve tumbles down
Loo feet through successive lengths
of siX-lneh pipe to spread thick. cool
ing blanket of mud over every blister
ing yard of rock and lode to be found
IN the fire zone. For almost five years
their work has been continuous. un-
faltering, exacting. and with their chief
they expect to hang up the victory sign
at the end of Il great fight ON Or about
the New Years. 1928
From the financial standpoint the
big thing. of course. is the recovery Of
millions of tons of valuable ores
Eighty thousand tons of copper, fig
ured at from 1875 to Is cents a pound
gives an idea of the amount involved.
But from the viewpoint of the dinner
bucket brigade, comprising the thou
sands of men who actually dig out the
ore. there are other equally important
results.
AS Mr.. Rahily puts it. the process
not only will extinguish fire in mines.
but will eliminate gas. increase ventila
tion and reduce rock temperatures
These statements are based on actual
demonstration. Slopes and drifts in
which temperatures were above 200 de
grees before the sludge was turned into
them a year or So ago. have been re
opened recently. The sludge had dried
leaving Il soft. sandy. easily removable
filling. and the rocks forming their
walls were unable TO force the mercury
above S5 in the tubes of thermometers
left resting against them for an hour
or more.
Furthermore. the sluirng of shdge
into old workings has opened the Way
for the development of new aud prob
ably much cheaper system OF returning
waste as filling to the tiiggugs from
which it came to prevent ground move
ment. or surface subsidence.
Bur that's another story.