AMERICA'S UNDERGROUND WORKERS 21 



of cubic foot of air to be proviclod for oach iindorground work- 

 man. Other laws have been enacted governing the methods 

 of working mines, the manner in whicli timbering must be 

 done, and setting forth protective measures. All states have 

 enacted such legislation for the protection of the minors. 



With all the protection afforded, however, enough (catas- 

 trophes happen every year in the mines of any state to fill 

 a score of pages with the varied list. 



The story of the horror in the Crown Point mine, in the 

 Comstock lode, April 7, 1869, not only illustrates the terrible 

 effect of the slightest carelessness in a mine, but also pictures 

 the most dreaded happening in a mine — an outbreak of fire. 



Previous to the fire of the 7th of April there had been 

 two serious fires in the Comstock lode l3ut both had been 

 extinguished without loss of life. The third fire started in 

 the morning in the eight hundred foot level of the Yellow 

 Jacket mine, next to the Crown Point. To this day its 

 origin is somewhat of a mystery but the investigators have 

 declared that it probably was kindled by a careless miner 

 who left a torch leaning against a wooden support in one of 

 the passageways of the level. For some time the flames 

 crept along the drift unnoticed, as no one happened to be 

 working there, until finally, with a deafening crash the charred 

 timbers fell beneath the weight of the roof, driving blasts of 

 foul air and smoke into the drifts of the Crown Point mine 

 and scattering fire through the adjoining drifts of both mines. 



It was the hour for the changing of the shifts — the night 

 and the day — and to this fact many owed their lives. John 

 Murphy, in charge of the station at the eight hundred foot 

 level of the Yellow Jacket, felt the sudden rush of wind that 

 followed the collapse and then the lights in the station went 

 out, leaving him in darkness. The foul air choked him, he 

 crouched close to the floor, his head enveloped in his rubber 

 coat to escape the fumes, he heard a faint voice from below 

 calling '^ Murphy, for God's sake send us a cage, we are dying," 

 and then he lost consciousness. He was rescued in time and 

 recovered. 



All the workmen near Murphy were struck down and 

 killed by the blast, but in the adjoining mine — the Crown 



