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(5) HAULAGE, LIGHTING, SIGNALLING, AND VENTILATION. 
The writer will now, to a great extent, leave the 
surface of the mine, and beginning at the bottom of the 
shaft endeavour to record such marks of progress as dis- 
tinguished the operations of extracting the mineral and 
bringing it to the surface. In considering the question 
of haulage, it is interesting to record what is not generally 
known, viz. : — That the first railway in the world was 
made for the haulage of iron and coal on the surface at 
Merthyr Tydvil, in South Wales, in the year 1804, when 
the locomotive was also used for the first time. In con- 
veying the minerals through the various channels of the 
mine to the bottom of the drawing shaft, the use of boys 
is to a great extent abandoned, and horses are used only 
when the application of mechanical power is impracticable. 
The systems of haulage are usually one of the follow- 
ing : — First, the endless chain ; second, the endless rope ; 
third, pneumatic or compressed air. The first is adopted 
where it is required to carry minerals over very heavy 
gradients, and where it is not practicable to make a con- 
tinuously level road. It requires very little power to work 
it, especially where the same level is secured at both ends 
of the distance traversed, as this has the effect of equalising 
the power to such an extent, as to propel the empty and full 
wagons in both directions at the same time. Recent ex- 
periments in the North of England have demonstrated the 
great advantage of this system in point of economy and 
convenience. The second system is usually applied where 
the road is very level, enabling the rope to be worked 
without that great amount of wear and tear, which could 
not be avoided over an uneven piece of ground. The third 
system is one, that until the last few years, has not been 
applied for the purpose of underground haulage, but seems 
destined to be the means of supplying a most valuable 
power for conveyance over long distances. It has hitherto 
