S18 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 6 



pidly ihp, whol'^ distanre to the CFinal — nnd tn the 

 nvcr vvluMi rpfniired — tiy \hp. fbrcc nf trravity alone. 

 Tlie cars oarrv twonty-seveii linshels of coal. 

 Mules are quickly aiiaciiei! at. either end. The 

 railway exieiuls oti loni^ beam?, which turn on a 

 hiriire or pivo^ over the catial. At the end, there 

 are s!ron<^ hars of iron curved to fit aijainst and 

 to stop the wheels of ih« car, and the beams are 

 preve-nted !'rom yieidiuir to the weiirht of liie car 

 by beiniT confimnl by a rope. The end of the car 

 (or tail-board.) is held by hi nixes at top, ami !.« 

 kept close by an iron bar, or latch, extendinif 

 quite across, and fiitinij^ into catches at both ends. 

 When in iis place, the rone is cut loose, tlie outer 

 ends of the railvva\-l)eams sink, with the car, so 

 as to be consulerahly imdined; and the latch is 

 struck, and the [)res3iire of the coal airain-^t ihe 

 Tail-board ihrr>\vs it open at bottom, and the load 

 slitles out into the boat, wliicli had been placed be- 

 low. 



The railway sfrinfr-pieces are made of scant- 

 Jintjfjur inches by fi\-(>, and without any iron where 

 the road isstraiirht. Thin iron is on thi' rails ihrouirh 

 the leng;th of a curve niede fo ihe shaft. I should 

 s ippose that there woidd have been ecnnnmy in 

 haviniT the whole railwav lightly ironed, boili fo 



fine estate on the Appomattox, where lUrminir is the 

 sole object; and tliat he mpans to do wonders 

 ihere next year, and thereafter, aa a five-stock 

 breeder and fjrazier — all ol' vvtiich operations I 

 hope hereafier fo see, anii to award to them due 

 credit and praise. 



There was however one dilchincr operation of 

 Mr. Anderson's, on a iarae scale, whiidi well de- 

 serves notice, and imitation, nndersiniilar circum- 

 sfancfjs. An excellent saw and com null is turned 

 by water drawn Irom the canal, at an annual reot. 

 The fall is twenty-two feet, and of course it was 

 necessary todiira canal, or race, as deep, from the 

 mill-wlieel to the river, several liurfdred yards. 

 This would have been a heavy job, if executed 

 by spades and barrows; but was eHecfed with 

 fjreat ease, in the tiillowintr manner. The irack 

 was laid off, fen f^'^t wide, and well coultered by a 

 team of oxen. Water wis then turned on from 

 'he canal, in sufficient quantify, and the current 

 soon swppt a passaije aiontif the coultered surfiice, 

 and carried off all the earth as low as it had been 

 well loosened, into the river. The cou!tersn<r was 

 then becrun aijain, upon the sub-soil, and the cur- 

 rent of water beinir f"ill kept flowing, it washed 

 away every slice almost as fist as it was loosened 



prevent wearincr away the anirles of the rails, and j by the coulter. In this manner, the layers of cut- 



to keep the cars more securely on the track. 



The inclination of the railway is so steep that 

 it is necessary to expend considerable power, on 

 part of the route, fo retard the rapidity of the cars, 

 hy a mechanical contrivance, to reirulate which 

 (and to emnty the load) a man rides down on 

 the car. On one o rasion. the man became 

 alarmed, and leaped of!, leavinir the car to run 

 down without the usual and necessary obstruction, 

 and such was its actjuired velocity, that it bent one, 

 and broke o^ the other of the stroniriron bars, in- 

 tended to stop its course, and leaped across the 

 canal, without touchinjr fl>e wa'er, and suck into 

 the bank on which it struck. If the inclination of 

 the railway was better irraduated, and a strai<rhf 

 course adhered to ilirouuhouf, if would be quite 

 practicable, on a double track, fo make the descent 

 of the loaded cars operate ro hrinor back the emp- 

 ty ones, and so dispense with any other power 

 than orravity. Or if this plan was not simple 

 enoufrh, and mule-power was still preferred to 

 brinfj back the cars, and hand-power fo retard the 

 descent of the loads, still it mi'jfht be so fixed (as 

 at the Maiich Chunk mines in Pennsylvania,) that 

 the mules micrhf ride down, on the loaded car, so 

 as to be on the spot fo return immediately with 

 the car, as soon as emnlied. This would save 

 half the travel of the mules, prevent all delay in 

 waiting for their arrival, and also the need for the 

 hand who now rides them down to the canal, or 

 river. 



As (arming is not Ihe main business of the pro- 

 prietors of this naturally f-rtile tract of land, and 

 moreover, (as one of ihem said to me,) as col- 

 liers are to a proverb neirliijent of every source of 

 comfort, and of profit, except the coal or ore they 

 are in pursuit of, if would be out of place here to 

 describe or criticise the agricultural ojierations of 

 this estate. If is enouffh to say, that the larminir 

 operations, and stateof the farm, present, in all res- 

 pects, the most perfect con'rasf ima<Tinable to those 

 of tlie proprietors' near neichbor Richard Samp- 

 son. Bir, on the o'lier h in I, my friend A. as- 

 sures me that his management is capital on his 



finir or diuLntiix were made entirely by the coulter, 

 fo the full depth required, and the current of wa- 

 ter served (or the whole liftiiigaud removirig-pow- 

 er. If being in summer, flie f\o\v of water was 

 not hurtfijl to the team, or ploutrhman. The sides 

 of the canal were thus Ciirried d(nvn as nearly per- 

 pendicular as possible, hut they have f^^ince cruiTi- 

 bled in, so as to be sufficiently sloped, and to have 

 width enouirh at fop, the wafer fr-om the mill serv- 

 ing to carry off all the crumbled earth as last as 

 necessary. 



There was another excavation in progress, 

 which attracted my notice particularly. This was 

 a funnel which was intended fo pass throiitrh a 

 hill, (iir the purpose of leadinir pure wtiter from a 

 well, to supply the steam engine. The water 

 drawn from the coal mine cannot be used for this 

 purpose, as if issfronixly impregnated bv copperas, 

 and would corrode the boilers — and indeed all the 

 water from wells aid springs over the bed of coal 

 is vititifed in like manner, thouirh in but a slight 

 derrree. When I went into the tunnel, as fir as 

 finished, it had reached thirty-seven yards under 

 the hill. It was diisr horizontally throu<rh clay, 

 and sometimes through sandy and wafer-yielding 

 earth, about (bur and a half (i^et high, and (bur 

 wide. The man who was difftrinLr it advanced 

 the work three feet a day, gearins; as he proceed- 

 ed, as is done in the galleries throujrh the coal. 

 He worked, <renerally, seated on a low stool, and 

 with a short and light pick, the ciittinir ends of 

 which were chisel shaped, and not more than half 

 an inch wide. With this pick, he cuts in about 

 two feet, a narrow opening at the bottom of the 

 tunnel, and the while width across; then n>akes a 

 similar narrow perpendicular cut at one side; and 

 then, by sirikintj in wedges, brings down the earth, 

 thus undermined, in large masses. Another hand 

 draws out the earth in a coal-corve. The exami- 

 nation of this tunnellinij satisfied me of the practi- 

 cability and saff-fy with which a like work might 

 be executed fhroti'jh solid nv.irl. wherever required 

 by the or^'af thickness of, and labor o'herwise ne- 

 cessary for removuig the superiiicuinhenf earth. 



