The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1922-09-07

PREPARED by the National Geographic So
ciety. Washington. d. C)
Goa Is m of the vital factors In
modern civilization that is taken for
granted. 1t is only when the priceless
black stream that flows to our cities
and factories threatens TO dry up that
the average person gives thought to
the Importance, magnitude and com
plexity Of the coal industry.
The first thing hat impresses one
who studies the coal situation in Amer
lea is the well-nigh Uncomfortable pro-
portions Of the nations demands for
fuel. The highest point in Goa prOduc-
ton was reached in 1913, the last year
of the World war. when slightly more
than o ,000,OO0 tons were mined. But
in The year Immediately preceding and
In 1920 the production was little short
of that amount. So huge is this figure
that ii were almost as futile to use
tons aS units as to measure thP dis
lance around the earth in inches.
About the only way In which one can
visualize this demand Is to build n
mental bin capable OF holding enough
to meet the national uced. If this bin
were made with each of its four sides
measuring a thousand feet, il would
have to be more than % 900 feet high
almost twice as high al Pixies Peak.
Or, if the fuel were put into a coal
pile Of normal slope. with a base of
20 feet, that pile would have to be
nearly $4,000 miles long-more than
three times around the earth.
A visit to a modern colliery in the
anthracite region is an impressive ex-
perience. Depending on its size and
the labor available, il will bring from
n to two full trainloads of coal up
out Of the bowels of the earth every
day, put the coal through the breaker,
where the sheep of fuel are separated
from the goats of slate and culm, and
load it into the cars ready for market.
coIIiery In Anthracite Region.
We shall be safe even IL we go down
a thousand feet into the earth and
roam about in an underground planta-
ton whose area may he judged by the
fact that there are So miles of railroad
track in 1t.
There are some thugs on top of the
ground that will be even more inter-
esting to us when we go belOw-par-
ticularly the hosting engine and the
ventilating fan, for without the one we
would not be able to ride back to day
light, and without the other We would
stand a chance of being ''gassed' in
times of peace.
The giant fans fly around with a
rim speed of a mile ii minute, two of
them, with n third in reserve for emer-
gencies. If 1t were not for those FAM
the air in the mine would become $ o
laden with gas and dust that If II did
not explode and transform the whole
mine into a charmed house. 1t would
develop choke-danlp and suffocate us
Every mine has two shafts-the
hosting shaft and the air shaft. In
order to keep the air In the mine free
enough from gas to permit miners to
work In safety. m quantities
of fresh air must he sen down the
one shaft and corresponding quantities.
gas-laden, drawn out OF the other.
1t may very well he imagined that a
mine with enough tunneling To call
for IS miles Of railroad track needs
a great deal If air. and that this air.
to reach every part. must o It's W
path many times. just as a man, cover
ing all four sides of every block in a
city, would have to cross his w
tracks. In the mines this is accom-
plished like a railroad crossing by
bridge instead Of at grade. When a
crossing point Is reached. there Is a
tunnel opened up through the solid
rock above the roof IF the mine. and
through this the air rushes at right
angles to it's former direction.
To get the air properly distributed,
II is necessary to make splits. so that
the current can he divided and sent in
TO different sections Of the mine. These
air splits are doors .nlch pessnit only
half of the air coming their way 10
pass. The rnnainder must find some
other way through.
We step on the "cage" or lift. the
mine superintendent presses a button,
and the hosting engineer Is notified
that we are ready to go down. u
denly the cage seems TO drop. then =
seeIns 10 otop, and the walls Of the.