THE COMSTOGK MINES. 185 



laborers, who were warned too late of its approach. It is only necessary to 

 imagine a mass of timbering similar to that of which a view is given on Plate 

 V, but fining spaces from twenty to forty feet wide and several hundred 

 feet in length and depth, dry and resinous as it often is in some mines, and 

 subjected to a powerful draught of air, to understand how great a conflagration 

 may be possible in the underground chambers. 



According to Mr. Jones's report the fire was first discovered at 7 o'clock 

 in the morning of April 7, The night-force had been withdrawn from the 

 mine, and the greater part of the day-men had been lowered to their stations, 

 when the smell of fire was detected in the Crown Point mine at the 700-foot 

 station. A signal called the cage to the 800-foot station where many work- 

 men had collected in alarm. The cage was filled with men and raised to the 

 surface with the greatest possible speed, and the work of removal continued 

 until five loads of workmen were safely extracted from the 600-foot, 700-foot, 

 and 800-foot levels. A cage was sent down to the 1000-foot level, in re- 

 sponse to a signal of alarm from that point. On descending, however, none 

 of the workmen employed there were found, as they had left the station in 

 the attempt to climb up the pump- shaft, where their bodies were afterward 

 found. The cages were kept running for many hours from station to station 

 and to the surface in the hope that some one might find his way from the 

 chambers of the mine to the shaft, and thus be saved, but it soon became 

 evident that all still remaining below had perished. In the Crown Point 

 25 lives were lost ; in the Kentuck, 7 ; and in the Yellow Jacket, 5. The 

 fire increased until 2 o'clock p. m., from which time until 11 o'clock it seemed 

 to abate, when a partial exploration through the 900-foot level was made, 

 resulting in the recovery of 13 bodies. On the following morning 9 other 

 bodies were recovered. On the following day, the 9th, the fire again increas- 

 ing, and no hope remaining of rescuing any of the men still in the mines, the 

 three shafts of the several companies were tightly sealed up and a con- 

 tinuous current of steam was forced down each shaft, in the hope of thus ex- 

 tinguishing the fire. This was continued several days, with occasional inter- 

 ruption for the purpose of examination. On the 26th the shafts were opened 



and it became possible to go into the mines and contend against the fire with 

 24 



