8T6 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 5 



masiquerade dress was not a little ludicrous — but 

 it is so frequently resorted to here, that it is quite 

 ii thing of course, and attracts no notice. We 

 had not lo be let down the shaft in an empty 

 carve, as is the usual course, (and which I have 

 tried elsewhere, on a former occasion,) as there 

 is a steep slo[)inti tunnel cut ibr a :hot-way. The 

 entrance is tlirouiih a low and roiiorh door-way, 

 supported, as qre ihe ceding and sides of'tiie tunnel, 

 by "gearuifr," or limbers placed thickly for tiiat 

 purpose. The descent through the foot-way was 

 at an angle of about tiiirty degrees, and is render- 

 ed not a little laiifjuing hy the stoopitis posture, 

 made necessary by the low ceiling. However, a 

 larger and better graduated foot-way is now con- 

 structing, which will make the passatre sufficiently 

 easv. Each of us carried a miner's lamp, and all 

 our lights served to dispel the deep darkness but for. 

 a few feet around us. After descending son)e dis- 

 tance, we came to a hole through which we had 

 to let ourselves down about four feet into a lower 

 passage. When we got to the coal, the gallery 

 through which we passed was sirnilar to the up- 

 per part of the foot-way, except being generally 

 higher, rarely requiring one to stoop, in walking 

 through. 



The bed of coal is every where steeply inclined, 

 or "dips" rapidly. The dip here is about thirty 

 decrees, and in other mines it is often much more. 

 Of course, from wherever a new shaft reaches the 

 coal, drifis may be dug, according to their direc- 

 tion, either ascending, descending, or horizontal. 

 The plan is to make the first or main drift ascend- 

 ing, or fbliowinnr the greatest ascent of the seam, 

 and to pursue it to the e.xtrennly (or out-cropping) 

 of the coal, unless it be so distant that it would be 

 cheaper to dig anoihersliaft. After this main gal- 

 lery is finished as far as is desired, a drift is car- 

 ried across it, and neario iheshalt, on a level bot- 

 tom, or nearly so; and others are opened, in suc- 

 cession, similar and parallel to the first cross-drift, 

 and about twenty to forty feet apart from each 

 other. Each successive cross-drilt is of course on 

 a higher elevation than the preceding, and all dis- 

 charge into th.e first main drift, which serves as 

 the passage from all to the shaft. Afterwards, 

 other drifts are carried parallel lo this main passage, 

 and of course, cutting nearly at right ang-les all 

 the first parallel driiis. When all these galleries 

 are finished as litr as the workings are designed to 

 extend, for one shaft, the whole seam of coal 

 through that space is divided into square masses, 

 or "pillars," ol' twenty to lorty feet diameter, and 

 the perpendicular height ol the seam of coal. 



The drifis are dug from three to five feet wide. 

 When the miner has dug in about two feet, (a lit- 

 tle moreorless, it may be, according to the degree 

 of the solidity of the roof,) and the side walls 

 have been made perpendicular, he putsupon each 

 side a prop of green timber, five to eight inches 

 through, with a cross timber extending; from over 

 the lop of one to the other — and so shaped at the 

 joininirs, that the ci'oss-piece cannot possibly be 

 made to slip off, by the enormous perpendicular 

 pressure. These two uprights and one cross piece, 

 when placed thus, and similar ones at every two 

 feet, or thereabouts, form the frame-work of the 

 gearing. Rived timbers about two inches thick 

 are placed over the cross timbers, and close 

 enough together to prevent any fillino; in of loose 

 rock from above. Tliese split pieces of course are 



across the cross-timtjers or joist-pieces, and there- 

 Ibre run in the same direction as tlie drift. Other 

 similar split pieces are also soon required behind 

 the upriiiht side-timbers, as the coal, however 

 solid at first, soon beiiins to moulder and crumble 

 down, therefore requiring to be in some measure 

 kept up by timbeis. This plan of gearing would 

 seem sufTicienily laborious iuid costly, even if per- 

 manent; but it is continually lihluig, and the tim- 

 ber of every drill requ.res renewal about once a 

 year — and this not so riuch on account of rotting, 

 as of the crushing and sinking of the limbers. As 

 we irroped along the drills, I noticed one of the 

 uprights heat to an angle, and splintered, in yield- 

 inir to the pressure; and remarked to the overseer, 

 who acted as our guide, that his timber there was 

 too small. He answered, as coolly as if we were 

 in day light, "No. it is oniy the creeping of the 

 metals above our heads." I soon saw plenty ot" 

 such cases of shivered and yi'ddiiig timbers, and 

 was surprised to learn that it was not a partial and 

 particular effect, but a genert.l and continued, 

 though usually very slow and gradual sinking of 

 the roof, or "creeping" down, as they call it. The 

 side-walls of coal crumble, and run out more or 

 less into the galleries, or otherwise press the props 

 inward. To prevent these being bent or broken 

 inward, lower cross pieces (called "Samp.-ons") 

 are put between them, to resist the pressure from 

 the sides. But if nothing else gives way, the bot- 

 toms of the props gradually break into the foun- 

 dation of coal or slate below, and sink lower than 

 their original position, and therel)y sufii^r all the 

 l^earing, and the roofj to come lower. So it is, 

 however, the roof of a mine that is worked to its 

 full height, and to enough extent, is continually 

 "creeping" down, and generally '-'tumbles" or falls 

 to the fioor, before near all the coal has been re- 

 moved. 



But before any considerable and extensive sink- 

 ing has taken place, new galleries and enlarged 

 diggings have fendeied most of the first diggings 

 useless. Aller niaking drifts as above mentioned 

 through the space intended to be excavated, the 

 masses of coal left are "robbed," or reduced in 

 size, throughout, and then are again so reduced a 

 second time. Finally, if not prevented by a pre- 

 vious "tumble" of the superincumbent slate-rock, 

 the whole of the coal, or as nearly the whole as 

 may be, is removed, by beginning at the extreme 

 limit of the working, and then coming on towards 

 the shaft, leaving the roof with no additional tim- 

 ber support; and it unusually falls in very soon 

 after the space is emptied and abandoned. In 

 such cases of final operations, a coal mine must 

 present an unusually exciting scene ; there being 

 added lo the usual matters of interest, the increas- 

 ed apprehension of danger — the rapidity of the 

 excavation, by the concentration of numbers in 

 small space — and successive abandonment of each 

 portion — and by the continual sounds of cracking 

 and crushing timbers, and falling in of masses of 

 the stony roof, in places not many yards distant, 

 and which were excavated by the miners but a few 

 days, or perhaps but a few hours before. 



The water, that is always met with in digging 

 coal, if in a new work, is made lo drain into a 

 deep pit, under the shaft, whence il is drawn up in 

 buckets, when enouirh is collected, by the same 

 machinery that draws the coal. In some [lite, it 

 is so abundant that the drawing of water and of 



