MINE. 



3.57 



Min of ticable to work it .-none sexro, as in Staffordshire; and 

 therefore the method is to leave about three feet of the 

 upper coal for a roof, then to work a band of the coal 

 ____ from six to seven feet thick, as best suited the partings 



of the coal, or thin bands of stone, which band of coal 

 is wrought in the post and stall system, with square pil- 

 lars of extra strength, w hich are cutthrough afterwards. 

 A scaffold or sta'^e of about three feet thick of coal, or 

 of coal and band stone, is left at the sole ; and under this, 

 rooms and pillars are set off and wrought in another 

 jxirtion of the coal, from five to seven feet thick, great 

 care being taken to place pillar under pillar, and room 

 under room, to prevent a crush. In this way, whan the 

 coal is thickest, lObands of coal are wrought, in the man- 

 T- *TT ner represented in Fig. 2- Plate ( ( ( XI III, when any 

 cccxcui. band of the coal is foul, or of a quality not suitable 

 *'6- * for the market, it is given up, and allowed to remain 

 along with the next scaffolding : a great proportion of 

 the eoiil is consequently lost, as in the Staffordshire 

 thick coal. The working of this coal requires very as- 

 siduous attention to keep the pill.-rs and rooms in a per- 

 pendicular direction ; the miners' compass has to be 

 used daily, and bore- holes have occasionally to be nut 

 down through the scaffoldings of coal, that the pillars 

 may be placed correctly under each other. 



Having thus described the general modes or systems 

 which have been adopted in working coals of various 

 thickness, the system adopted in working coals w hich 

 are named half-edge coals, and edge coals, shall next 

 be described. 



Haif-Jge Half edge coals are wrought either post and stall, or 

 co*J- in ti lire system, as before described, with this 



difference, that the rooms are always, if possible, car- 

 ried in a level course direction, for the safety of the 

 workmen, and the more easily taking the coal to the 

 pit bottom. 



aWfe-to*)*. The working of edge coals, which are nearly per- 

 pendicular, arc wrought in a peculiar manner, and dif- 

 t from any of the coals before described, as the 

 collier, while working, stands upon the coal, having the 

 roof upon his one hand, and the pavement upon the 

 other, like two walls of stone. The engine- pit is sunk 

 in the strongest of the rtrata, and, in some instances, 

 rtly vertical, that the same stratum is 

 sunk through the hole depth. After the pit has reach- 

 ed the required depth, mines are carried across the strata 

 from the pit bottom, until the coals are intersected, as 

 Ti ATI represented in Fig 3. PlateCC ( X( 1 1 1. where a, a, are 

 ii. the edge coals ; A the engine-pit ; 6, It, the cross-cut 

 *'lr * mines from the pit Ixittom ; r, c, upper cros-cut mines 



for the greater loim niency of working the coals. All 

 the rooms are wrought in a level course direction, with 

 openings made from one to another, for air and access 

 to the pit bottom. The chief eHge-coal works in Bri- 

 tain are in the vicinity of Edinburgh, where hitherto 

 all the coals in such works are carried upon the backs 

 of women from the wall face to the pit bottom ; nd, 

 in general all the pits of a colliery, excepting the en- 

 gine pit, are only sunk one half the depth of the breast 

 of coal to be wrought, in ordrr that one half of the 

 rooms may have their coals carried up to the pit bot- 

 tom, and the other half carried down. Thi is effected 

 by wooden traps or stairs, placed from one room to 

 another, it U singular that no improvement has been 

 yet made of this very rude plan ; particularly as the 

 edge coal* are wrought at a great expence, and with 

 great n cy. 



Although varii.u* modes and ; -tern" of coal working 

 have been described, there are \ erv n<any modifica- 

 tion* in all of them, which are regulated by the consider- 



1 



tion of local circumstances joined to years of experience. Mines of 

 These alone can determine the mining engineer as to his 

 adopting the system best suited for working the coals ' 

 in a coal-field. 



With regard to the manner in which coals are Bringing 

 brought from the wall face to the pit bottom, this is al- coals lo th 



:s various as the systems pursued in working. p " 

 The oldest mode, and that which it is presumed was 

 used when coals were first wrought by ingoing eyes, or 

 mines at the crop, was by women carrying the coals in 

 baskets on their backs. This method, rude and severe 

 as it is, was carried on very generally in Scotland till 

 within these forty years ; and it is to be regretted that 

 system so slavish and severe is even in this age (which 

 boasts of being enlightened) adopted and carried on. 

 It is admitted that it is a matter of free-will, and those 

 women who carry cods may give it up if they choose. 

 To young women the severity of the labour is less to be 

 considered, in one point of view, but to the mothers of 

 families the system is oppressive, deprives them of many 

 comforts, and p'recludes them from advancing in their 

 own scale of society. This system is, however, declin- 

 ing every year; and, on this account, no description is 

 given of the arrangement of the workings of a colliery 

 which are peculiar to this method. 



The women who carry coals are named bearers ; the 

 weight each carries is from 1 cwt. 1 qr. to 2 cwt. ; in 

 some instances they have carried 3 cwt In the worst 

 kinds of this system, they not only carry the coals from 

 the wall face to the pit bottom, but ascend a stair to 

 the top of the pit, and bank the coal;. In the other 

 case they carry from the wall face, and lay them down 

 in bins at the pit bottom, in order to be hi led into the 

 baskets. In some collieries 60,000 tons annually have 

 been carried in this way, and an extent of KiO yards 

 from each quarter of a pit has been wrought by this 

 plan, which is an area of 102,400 yards. 



The next mode is to use hutches or baskets, with slipe 

 or cradle feet shod with iron, containing from 2 to 3 

 cwt. of coals. These are drawn along the pavement 

 either by ropes and sosrru, or by harness of leather 

 over the shoulders of the workmen. The collier either 

 performs this work as part of his daily labour, or per- 

 sons are api-dintid for this work alone, and are thus 

 drawn from the wall face to the pit bottom. This sys- 

 tem is used in many small collieries, but it is among 

 the worst plans ; for in no instance can the strength of 

 a man be applied with les efl'ect than in this w.iy ; the 

 exertion required is very great and unceasing, nor don 

 an\ ixtra exertion of muscular force aid him the least 

 in the next step of his labour ; it is from beginning to 

 end one continued dead pull, without the least spring or 

 elasticity; and if be slackens his exertion one instant, 

 the weight he is dragging that instant Mops. It is 

 painful to see men thus emplcycd, and thtir strength 

 so evidently misapplied. 1 must daily decline. 



The third method, as an improM nu-nt of the la-t. i, 

 to substitute hutches, or baskets, capable of containing 

 from 4 to 6 cwt. of coals, and of the same form as those 

 above described, but, in pi: cc of men, horses arc em- 

 ployed to draw them from the wall tacc to ihe pit hot. 

 torn. This is also a very bad system ; the same ohjec- 

 iire applicable to it as to the IOMU.T, and the 

 strength of a hone is applied with the very wort effect. 

 The next improvement upon the system where 

 men draw the coals, was, cither to set the curve on a 

 Mnall four-'.' _:e, named a tram, or to have 



wheel* attached to the ttirve. Hy mean* (if this, more 

 work was performed, provided the pavement was Ivtrd, 

 but it was not applicable when the pavement was soft; 



