AMONG THE COAL MINERS. 211 



swept it into these basins as vegetable matter, and 

 covered it with the silt and mineral debris which 

 were forced along with it in its course. We are 

 led to regard it as a kind of pemmican fuel, and 

 here is the vast cachet established by the Infinite 

 One, from which we can draw unlimited supplies. 

 The Enterprise Company are at present work- 

 ing upon a seam a little less than five feet in thick- 

 ness, which is about the Jeast that can be worked 

 with profit. The coal in situ, as we look upon it 

 by the dim light of the miners' lamps, appears as a 

 dark, shiny stratum, tightly compressed between 

 heavy masses of shale and limestone. The weight 

 of the mountain seems to rest upon it, holding it as 

 in a vice. To dislodge or break it from its bed is 

 the work of the experienced miner, and this is 

 accomplished with wonderful tact and skill. A 

 sharp drill is used, by which orifices are made in 

 the seam, and when these are filled with gunpow- 

 der, tamped, and exploded, large fragments are 

 dislodged, which are placed in the cars by the 

 laborers, and drawn through the dark labyrinths to 

 the shaft. The regular miner never lifts any coal 

 for carriage ; this is the work of the laborer, and 

 entirely beneath his dignity. As we entered the 

 mine at about noon, several miners were met com- 

 ing out, and we were informed by the superin- 

 tendent that they had completed their day's work, 



