MINE. 



369 



Diluting 

 the a>r. 



The ets- 



odc. 



Slate of 

 tbebaro- 



Mlff. 



Stale of 

 rrntiljlion 

 hum 1760 

 to 1811. 



having a person of skill at their head. Their watches 

 are set to one time, and at an appointed minute one set 

 of stoppings is quickly driven down, and new ones 

 built up, which have the effect of reversing the cur- 

 rent of air without laying any part of the works 

 dead. 



When at any time the pas comes off suddenly, and 

 the air becomes foul at the foreheads, ready to explode, 

 it" no immediate remedy is found to be effectual, the 

 working of the coal is suspended, and a flow of air is 

 allowed to pass directly from the fresh in-going cur- 

 rent so a* to mix with, and dilute the air highly charg- 

 ed with gat, before it comes in contact with the fur- 

 nace. Thi* is termed trailing the air, otherwise the gas 

 would ignite at the furnace, and go back like a train 

 of gunpowder through the whole extent of the workings, 

 carrying destruction and devastation in every point 

 of its progress. By ckailing the air, time i given for 

 going forward with water, and drowning the furnace, 

 so as to insure safety, until plans are Adopted for ren- 

 dering the ventilation safe. When the furnace is ex- 

 tinguished, and the inflammable air continues to fill the 

 works, the only effectual remedy is the cascade, which 

 is produced by working the steam-engine, which draws 

 the water from the mines, and allowing the whole of 

 the water to fall down the pit, which has such power in 

 descent of 600 feet in carrying air with it, that it 

 forces a sufficient current through every part of the 

 work. By these means the ventilation is corrected, 

 and again put into its usual train. 



In collieries which have lieen wrought for consi- 

 derable time, particularly where there are goaves, creeps, 

 or crushed wastes, the inflammable air is much influ- 

 enced by the state of the atmosphere. In the above 

 case, when the barometer is low, or about 29, the gas 

 issues from every crevice of the old works, and incom- 

 modes and endangers the miners very much. For this 

 reason, the state of the barometer is examined every 

 morning. 



It would require volume* to describe the infinite va- 

 riety of circumstances connected with the system of 

 ventilation Where inflammable air abounds, they 

 vary with the state of the atmosphere, the abundance of 

 the gas, and. in a great degree with the length which 

 the air 'rxverse*. All that can be stated here are ge- 

 nera] principles. 



In the manner now described, the ventilation of col- 

 lieries has been carried on progressively to an astonish- 

 in*; extent, from the year 1760. (when Mr. Npcdding's 

 important improvement in ventilation was brought 

 fi-rward. ) to the year 18I.*> ; betwixt these periods, not- 

 with'' e well ordered regularity and complete 



system which had Iwen introduced in coal mining, by 

 the mining engineers of Northumberland, Durham, 

 and Cumberland, and also notwithstanding their very 

 active and unwearied attention, living out of the 

 world, and devoted to the hazardous duties of their sta- 

 tion, > --cndently of these circumstances, explo- 

 ions frc|uently, nsy almost daily, took place, and ca- 

 tastrophe*, the most melancholy which have occurred 

 in civil life, were the consequence*. Year after year 

 passed away, and every year added greatly to the 

 f victims carried away by this fatal pestilence. 

 Being in its nature subtle and in visible, and when at the 

 point of ignition still capable of supporting animal 

 ml flame, it lurk* like an assassin, and ttrikes 

 deadly when least suspected. The elegant and figu- 

 rative language of the Sacred Scriptures may be most 



VOL. XIV. PABT ||. 



aptly applied to It, as "The pestilence which vralketh in Mines of 

 darkness, and destruction which wasteth at noon- r " al l / 



To describe the catastrophe attending an explosion tion . 

 of an extensive coal-mine, would require the pen of an 

 able writer, guided by one who has been present at 

 such a scene ; but some faint idea may be formed from 

 the following description We shall suppose a mine 

 of great depth, perhaps from 100 to 150 fithoms, Catastrophe 

 with the workings extended to a great distance, the attending 

 machinery complete in all its parts, the mining opera- :l ." ' 

 tions under a regular and rigid discipline, witli rail- s " 

 ways in every direction ; the stoppings, parsing doors, 

 brattices, and the whole economy of the mine so arrang- 

 ed, that every part of the work is performed like a well- 

 regulated machine. To see a mine of this extent at full 

 work is a scene of spirited animation, and of wonderful 

 industry ; the " sound of the hammer" is heard in every 

 quarter, and the numerous carriages, loaded and un- 

 loaded, passing to and from the wall-faces to the pit 

 bottom, are seen driving and thundering along in every 

 direction. At each door a little boy, named a trapper, 

 is placed to open and shut it. Krery one is at his post ; 

 added to which, there is a degree of cheerfulness per- 

 vading the whole scene, which could scarcely be ex- 

 pected in a place of so sombre an aspect. While the 

 work is thus going forward, it has but too frequently 

 happened, that, from some unforeseen cause, part of the 

 ventilation has become stagnant, or laid dead, as it i 

 termed, by which a great body of inflammable air is 

 gathered into one place, or the sudden opening of a 

 blower has produced the same effect, the certain 

 consequence of which is, that the unsuspecting miner 

 enters it with his candle ; ignition takes place ; " sud- 

 den as the spark from smitten steel/' the whole extent 

 of the mine in that direction becomes one blaze of 

 light and flame from roof to pavement, in which the 

 miners are enveloped. It hangs for a few seconds ; 

 then from Uie evolution of immense volumes of gases, 

 with much heat, this pestilence begins to move with 

 the violence of a tornado, and with the noise of thun- 

 der, directing its course always in the nearest direction 

 to the upcast shaft. Its power is awful and irresistible. 

 Whatever obstructs its course is swept onward like 

 smoke before the wind. The stoppings are burst, the 

 doors are shivered to a thousand pieces ; while the 

 unfortunate miners and boys who are within its range, 

 with the horses, carriages, corves, and coals, are swept 

 along with inconceivable velocity; and when a pillar 

 obstructs the direct course of the current, they are dash- 

 ed against it, and there lie mingled in one common 

 mass of ruin, desolation, and death, as if they had been 

 blown from an immense mortar against a wall ! Other* 

 are carried direct to the .shaft, and are either buried 

 there amidst the wreck, or are blown up and over the 

 pit mouth : So powerful is the blast, that even in the 

 shaft it frequently tears the brattice walls to pieces, 

 blows the corves, which are hanging in the shaft, 

 as high into the air .is the ropes will allow them ; and 

 not unfrequently the ponderous pulley wheels are 

 blown off the pit-head frame, and carried to a consi- 

 derable distance in the midst of a thick cloud of coals 

 and coal-dust brought from the mine by the volcanic 

 eruption, which absolutely shakes the solid mas* of 

 earth that confines it. The dust rises to a great 

 height, and sometimes obscures the light of the sun in 

 the vicinity of the pit. No sooner is this part of the 

 catastrophe over, and an awful silence produced, than 

 3 A 



