He Finds a Coal Mine in His Cellar 



Coal may sell at eighteen dollars a ton but this for- 

 tunate lawyer can have all he wants at thirty cents 



The vein of bituminous coal found in 

 the cellar measures five feet in width 



At right above: It's only a step from 

 the coal mine to the hot-water heater 



THE purchasers of property in the 

 residence section of Norton, Va., 

 will hereafter be inclined to ex- 

 amine the cellars of their prospective 

 homes very carefully in the hope of 

 locating some such bonanza as did 

 H. M. Bandy recently. 



Mr. Bandy was excavating in the cellar 

 of his newly-purchased house in order to 

 install a hot-water heating plant. Almost 

 on the spot where the furnace was located, 

 an old negro workman discovered the 

 "bloom," which is a black carboniferous 

 earth found always on the edge of a stratum 

 of coal. "Boss, youse got plenty of coal 

 back up in the hill," the old negro said. 

 "These am the outcroppings." 



By the time the cellar had been excavated 

 to the desired width, enough coal had been 

 taken out to supply the family for the 

 entire winter. Then Mr. Bandy started 

 to drive a "heading" back up into the 

 hill on which the house stands. The 

 heading, which leads from the furnace out 

 under the garden, is ten feet wide. Mr. 

 Bandy has installed a small track of wooden 

 rails on which a hand car can be pushed 

 back and forth for loading and unloading. 



As the vein of coal is on a grade, even 

 this work has been simplified for him; for 

 when loaded, the car slides down the track 

 to the dumping place almost unaided, and 



The home of Mr. Bandy, under which 

 the vein of coal was discovered 



when emptied it is a child's task to push 

 it back to the loading place again. This 

 down-hill grade also provides natural drain- 

 age for the mine, keeping it free from the 

 water which seeps into it from the garden 

 immediately above. 



At present the mine is yielding from ten 

 to twelve tons of coal a day, with only 

 one miner employed. Dynamite is used in 

 minimum amounts to loosen up the strata 

 and lessen the work of the miner without 

 disturbing the inmates of the house or the 

 rapidly developing plants in the garden. 



The town of Norton is in the center of a 

 big bituminous coal region. According to 

 the local recorder, "Dig a post hole and up 

 comes coal. Lay a waterpipe, and some 

 coal has to be removed from the right of 

 way." Mr. Bandy's private coal supply 

 costs him about thirty cents a ton. 



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