Year: 1879

!


From the Virginia (Nev.) Chronicle.I


Superintendent Bawden of the julia
Mine, meeting a Chronicle reporter yes
! terday, said:


90 If you want an item about heat in
| the mines, come with me some day and
I will give you one that viii beat any
thing that you ever had. ~
/ The reporter expressed his willing
ness to endure any suffering possible for
the sake of a good item, and an early
hour this morning was appointed as the
time for an examination of the hottest
part of the Julia. As the party, consist
ing of the Superintendent. the foreman
and the reporter, were disrobing for a
change of clothing, Mr.. Bawden casually
observed:


. believe we have the hottest under
ground workings in the world; at least
[ don't know of any place hotter. Peo-
pie on the street don't know any thing
about it. am glad this newspaper-man
is going down to see for himself. If he
gives out addressing the foreman) have
relays of meh ready to carry him to the
nearest cooling station"


With these terrifying words in his
ears the reporter got on the cage and de-
scended the shaft. The north compart-
ment, in which the party went down, is
cool, beng a down-cast, but the adjoin-
ing compartment, being an up-cast, is
very hot.


When the 1900 station was reached
the connection with the Sutro Tunnel
was explored and found to be intensely
hot. The volume of water pumped
from the mine into the tunnel is here
seen. 1t is so hot that it would


COOK AN EGG


in about the same time that would be re-
quired in the best regulated kitchen
range thoroughly fired up. One can
no more than dip the points of his fin
gers in it and withdraw them instantly.
The surrounding temperature, except
where the dOwn-cast of the shaft is felt,
is extremely oppressive. The miners
can lot work in it more than few min
utes a. a time. An incline leads from
this level to the 1900 level, where the
greatest heat in the mine is felt.


The heat increases as the incline is de-
scended until the 2,000th station is
reached, where it is more severe than at
any point above. This level was aban-
dOned about four months ago, when q
Burleigh drill, boring into the face of the
drift, struck a stream of hot water,
which drove the men from their work
and came near scalding one of them to
death. Recently additional power was
secured in the form of boilers and air
compressors, and since then the work of
reclaiming the :, 200 level has been pros
ecUted under the most favorable circum-
stances imaginable. At the station the
temperature is not so great but that one
can manage to breathe without much
effort, but a few feet in the drift the
heat gets so intense that the men pant
like lizards as they pass through it.
The temperature a few feet from the
station is 135 degrees.


RUNNING THE GAUNTLET.


About hundred feet from the station
is cooling house. The intermediate
distance grows hotter every step until
the coOling-house is reached. In pass
ing in the men take a slow trOt, and
stoOp over, so as to avoid the great heat
at the top of the drift, which far exceeds
in intensity that closer to the bottom.
They put on heavy woolen shirts before
attempting to pass from the station to
the first cOOling-hOuse, as if they were
stripped they would be burnt to a bis
ter. 1t is like going into a burning
building, or running through Il street,
with high buildings burning on each
side. One is compelled to pull his hat
down so as to protect his face and gather
his woOlen shirt up about his neck to
prevent being burned. The hands, be-
ing exposed, felt the heat as if brought
in painful proximity to Il hot stove. The
heat is fully as dry as that radiating
from furnace When the cooling
house is reached the men are painting so
that they can scarcely speak.


THE WORST OF ALL.


Up to this point the reporter thought
he had experienced as much of the un-
derground caloric as any man could
stand, and was surprised when told that
the worst place was yet to be encount-
cred. The party at this time were about
hundred and fifty feet from the sta
ton The face of the drift was over
three hundred feet further on, and the
heat grew more intense as each foot was
advanced The Superintendent and
foreman took the lead, the reporter fol
| lowing close upon their heels, holding a
piece of ice to his nose to cool the air
that he breathed. Two miners, used to
| the drift, were detailed to follow, so that
| if any of the party gave out relief would
| be at hand. Thus organized, the run
was made to the end of the air-pipe
about 200 feet further in the drift. This
| was


THE MOST TRYING EXPERIENCE


of the whole undertaking. About mid
way between the cooling station and the
end of the air-pipe is the hottest place il
the mine, and the hottest place any
where in the world, perhaps, in which
men work. The heat is all that the
| strongest man can bear, anC
more than the most of men car
endure, even for the brief period o.
passing through it from one cooling sta
ton to the other. After the miners ruT
through from the second cooling station
to the end of the air-pipe they are 81
exhausted that they can not do more
compelled to run the gauntlet agair
back to the place of refuge. The wOrl
of cleaning out the drift has progressed
to within about 60 feet of its face. A
this point there is an old cooling-roOm
which is now being repaired. Whel
this work is completed there will be
new line established toward the face o
the drift, which will greatly facilitate
operations. No one can imagine tn


difficulties encountered in opening VI
this drift who has not experienced then


himself. The Julia Mine undoubtedl
carries off the palm for being the hotties
underground working in the world.


Mr.. j. H NEwBERN, Little Rock
Ark, read, with incredulity, the state
ment that peppermint plants thrust i
their holes or scattered literally in place