292 Church—Underground Temperatures on the Comstock Lode. 
temperature even in these hot mines that the work of cutting 
the drift must have been extremely severe. It might not have 
been accomplished had not the expedient been adopted of board- 
ing or “lagging” up the sides of the drift with a double thick- 
ness of plank, breaking joints. This confined the water, which 
poured down the walls, to a tight chamber, and left the main 
part of the drift for the men to work in comparative comfort. 
The lagging remains, and has been carried around into the 
main drift, which is still in active use. Its joints are calked 
“with tow, and, one of these being stripped for me, the steam 
from the water immediately poured out and proved to be scald- 
ing-hot when tested the finger. id not, however, suc- 
ceed in getting a fair reading of the thermometer, because the 
crack was too small to admit more than the end of the bulb. 
distances ; others east of it. These inclines do not all exhibit 
unusual heat and it will be shown farther on that there is 4 
special cause for the exceptions. 
Belts of excessively hot ground are not the only noticeable 
phenomena in these mines. Mo 
m. 
Other cold belts are found in the mines which are not s0 
cool as that in the Justice, but are perceptibly cooler than the 
rock at a short distance from them. They complete a well- 
