TISSANDIER'S ELECTRIC BALLOON. 85 



The coal mines of Cherokee and Crawford Counties are generally considered 

 one coal district ; the mines being located in the northern part of Cherokee and 

 southern part of Crawford Counties, they are properly enough considered one dis- 

 trict, and in this report I cornbine the two counties and give the business and out- 

 put as one district. 



There are twenty-five shafts, two of which are stopes ; of these, all but two 

 are in operation. Located north of Columbus, 4; Newcastle, i; Stilson, i; 

 Scammouvilie, 4; Weir City, 8; Pittsburg, 5; Litchfield, 2. Of these, fourteen 

 are operated by steam power, and eleven by horse power. Output of coal, 5,- 

 706.877 bushels; number of miners, 817.; pit bosses and employes, 215 ; amount 

 mined per each miner, 7,095 bushels per each miner daily, allowing 150 working 

 davF, 47 bushels; amount paid miners, $217,000; each miner, $265. The average 

 amount of coal mined by each miner appears small, but this calculation is made 

 from the number of miners at work in November, which is larger than an aver- 

 of six months would be. The business here would have been one-third larger 

 had the demand warranted it, Stripped coal in this district", 235,000 bushels, 

 employing 35 teams and 60 men. Total output in the district, 6,031 877 bush- 

 els; number actual miners, 835; engineers, laborers and strippers, 277; total 1,112 

 — operators, superintendents and office men not included. 



Leavenworth County, 953,099 bushels. Number of miners, 200 ; other employ- 

 es 162 ; total 362. Penitentiary shaft, 504,064 bushels. Number miners (con- 

 victs), 131 ; laborers 15 ; total 146. 



'J'here are several smaller mining districts in the State from which I have 

 partial returns and some I have°none. The reports I have I combine in the fol- 

 lowing statement from Ellsworth, Russell, Neosho, Franklin, Bourbon, and Linn 

 Counties: Number of bushels of coal mined, 458,715; number miners, 103; 

 number laborers, 16. 



From the foregoing, the total amount of coal mined in the State of Kansas 

 for the last six months in 1883 was, in bushels, 13,377,875; in tons, 535,115- 

 Number miners, 2,844 ; other employes, 671; total, 3, 504. — Corresponde?ii Kan- 

 sas City Joirrnal. 



PHYSICS. 



TISSANDIER'S ELECTRIC BALLOON. 1 



I. W. COOK. 



m 



Aerial ascents were scarcely ever spoken of by classical writers, but are 

 alluded to in one or two fables written before the dark ages. In one. of these we 



1 Read before Penn College Scieatiflc Association, Oskaloosa, Iowa, May 10, 188i. 



