106 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



coal to Atchison or sell it to the farmers, getting about four dollars 

 per ton for it. 



But the coal-mining enterprise which is now commanding most 

 attention at Atchison is that of the Atchison Coal Mining Company, 

 which is sinking a shaft to the three-foot vein discovered by prospect 

 drilling in October, 1900, This shaft is now down to a depth of about 

 a thousand feet, and has only about 130 feet yet to go till the coal is 

 reached. The work of sinking progressed rapidly and smoothly until 

 the bed of sandstone at about 900 feet was reached, when there was 

 such a greatly increased flow of water as to necessitate suspension 

 of oiDerations until air-compressors and pumps could be installed. 

 These are being put in at the present time, and when they are in 

 service it is hoped that the work of sinking will be pushed to com- 

 pletion in a few weeks. 



The waterflow at present is about 70,000 gallons in twenty-four 

 hours, which under continuous lifting reduces to 40,000 gallons, but 

 after each shot the flow is increased again. 



The engines, machinery and equipment are all of the very best type. 

 The shaft is sixteen by eight feet, and is timbered into two compart- 

 ments by four-by-twelve-inch curbing, laid flat. The derrick, or tower, 

 is seventy feet high, and is provided with two sheave wheels around 

 which the inch-and-a-quarter steel cables pass from the ten-foot drum 

 in the engine-house to the two cages of the shaft, carrying one up as 

 the other descends. 



This shaft and equipment have cost the company to date about 

 $70,000, including recent expenditures for pumps and air-compressor. 

 All the work is of a permanent order ; for even if the three-foot vein 

 for any reason should prove unworkable, it is the purpose to back up, 

 and work the Leavenworth vein, which at the shaft was found to 

 measure fully twenty-three inches. 



