DOWN IN A MINE. 12] 



tieep exploitation of the lode would have been insuperable 

 The country has thus become honey-combed to a depth of 3,000 

 feet. The total length of the galleries driven exceeds 15C ? 

 miles. 



Heat and water have presented obstacles most formidable. 

 The high temperature of the rock and of the water escap- 

 ing from it are very extraordinary. In the Clifford mine 

 in Wales, water heated to 125 has been encountered. But 

 on the 3,000 foot level of the Comstock, floods of water have 

 entered the mines at 170. Water at this temperature will 

 cook food, and will destroy the human epidermis. A partial 

 immersion in it is therefore fatal. The atmosphere, as a con- 

 sequence, is not only intolerably hot, but is saturated with 

 vapor. From prolonged exposure to these unnatural condi- 

 tions, many miners have lost their lives. In the Savage mine, 

 in 1879, the miners struck a hot spring having a temperature 

 of 157, and the incline was filled with scalding vapor ; picks 

 could only be handled with gloves, and rags soaked in ice- 

 water were wrapped about the iron drills. Occasionally, per- 

 spiration would cease, the miner would begin to talk in a 

 rambling fashion, and his death would soon ensue, unless re- 

 moved by his comrades to a place of relief. The conditions 

 of mining are greatly ameliorated by most efficient ventila- 

 tion through the 150 miles of galleries and the shafts. Still, 

 the air leaves the mines nearly saturated with aqueous vapor, 

 and at an average temperature of 92. 



The increase of downward temperature here greatly ex- 

 ceeds the general average. In one shaft at 100 feet, the tem- 

 perature was 50; at 200 feet, 55; at 500 feet, 68; at 800 

 feet, 76; at 845 feet, 80; at 1,100 feet, 92. In another 

 shaft, at 1,500 feet the temperature was 105; at 1,600 feet, 

 107; at 1,700 feet, 108; at 1,800 feet, 111; at 1,900 feet, 

 112; at 2,000 feet, 113; at 2,230 feet, 121. Mr. Church, 

 who investigated this subject very carefully, estimated the 

 mean temperature on the 2,000 foot level, at 130. The 

 water at 170, with which the Gold Hill mines were flooded 

 i the winter of 1880-1, entered on the 3,000 foot level, and 



11 



