GOOD STEAM COAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 152, 22 March 1919, Page 8

GOOD STEAM COAL

HEWING IT IN THE MINE

HOW THE MINES WORK

TBy AY ill Liiwson.] (All Eights Koservcd.)

From- what uiay be termed the business portion of Denniston', the coal town on the skyline, near Westport, tho town sprea'ds away inland over the high sandstono country. This purely residentipl part is. of more recent construc-tion,-and many of the homes aro of decidedly smart appearance. About a mile along the road leading to the mines stands the new hospital, containing ten beds, which is in chal'go of a matron, who has a night nurse to assist her. There is an excellently-appointed X-rays room, a theatre, and a maternity ward, in addition to two other wards. Towards the. equipment of this hospital tho miners have subscribed very generously, and thev have expressed their readiness to provido ajiy. extra equipment which may be required. The hospital stands in grounds which have been turfed at considerable expense, and which present a pleasing contrast to the barren surroundings of tho sandstone lulls. Standing on those lawns, one would find it difficult to believe..tliero.wero .coalmines near at hand' were it not for tho ceaseless' rumble - of the coal-tubs on the "rope-ways" which connect the mines with the coal-bins at- Denniston. ' Miles of Tram-Lines, , Between Denniston and the various mines adjacent, and in the mines themselves, there aro from twenty to twentyfive miles of rope-ways. These are tramlines. double-tracked, with endless steel ropes running between the rails. on rollers above.ground. On these roperways three, thousand four-wheel tubs are always running, during working hours, 'fl'hey' travel at from two and a half to three miles an hour—a little slower than a man walks—and in the mines they ®iay be stopped instantly by pressing tojgether two bare electric-bell wires which are suspended above the tracks. On the ,wav from Denniston to Burnetts iace, jwliich is the metropolis of this group .of mines, the rope-ways are constantly m Tview, now running across a. bridge, now through fi : cutting, or across the open >eldt; and each little wagon carries the metal disc of the miner who filled it, merh'aps'two miles away underground. Burnett's Pace is a most -unprepossessing place. It follows the windings of iJßurnett's Creek, and the houses are 'Jbuilt in a higgledy-piggledy way. 'There ,is no outlook but the hare hillsides, the tumbling - rope-ways, ; and tho .dreary 'water-course/ Denniston, standing on (the brink of tho heights, is a scenic dissipation in comparison. But tho business point of' view, and especially >the coal mining business, Burnett's Face is an" important place. ■ v' ' 1 The Coal' Mines.

The first mine on the road is the Iron Bridge, which enters 1 the hills on the left.'on a descending grade. But it Wing impossiblo to. inspect more thanone mine in an afternoon, the newest drive is selected, namely, the Wareatea Extended,, which lies at the head of the Battlement. In these coal mines 11. ere are no perpendicular shafts arid'cages worked by hoisting gear. They are all horizontal drives, with slight inclines, up or down, in their courses and branches and curves as they go. Before actually entering the - drive, however, there are interesting things'to be seen, which vitally concern • the safetv of the miners working within. There is a large shed, for example, with - benches around its interior walls. On one side of it there is a lino of pegs beneath the word "In." On tho other side there are some moro pegs, under tho word "Out." On some of the pcg3 i on each side there are wetal discs hanging. By inspecting the numbers on these anyone in authority can tell which miners are in tho mino and -which . are out. When'they come'to v-;ork in the mornin" the men move (heir discs from (lie "Out" side to the "In" side, and iu : tho evening vice versa. In the event of a man meeting with an'accident or being, otherwise detained in the mine, his disc, would be hanging alone on the peg, and would quickly bo noticed by tho experienced tho watchmen. Another important feature is the big air fan and the engine which drives it at a speed of from 150 to S2O revolutions per minut?. This fan is solf-lubricating and all enclosed, and it tricks the foul air out of tho drives ond- tunnels of the ■niine, allowing puro air-to take its-place. By'this means, the mines are kept , very sweet and cool. Then there are .the compressors, which pump air through : pipes to work the 7 ock drills and other machinery used inside a mino. These compressors are - driven bv steam from 'luge toilers, and tho heavy "thud, thud, 'thud" of'the air-pumps sounds like the heating heart of a great machine. When i&heso thingsTiave. all.been inspected each • '.Visitor is given a hand-lamp, _ which '•-"burns colza oil from a flaring wick', and j-yrith a'"mine manager leading, and the (little tubs jerlcinir their ceaseless way '&long on either side, the gloomy tunnel :I bf the. mine is entered."

The Distant Light, ( ,Far inside tho tunnel, an electric lamp ■(burns redly.. , ! "That ilight, is a : quarter .of a mile . j&way.: Mind your head," says the mine The.tunnel or drive is through iTock'at first, and no i timbering is. reUrared. But-.;as Owe g0,.0n, it bores fefchro.ugh solid coal, which requires tim- „ Fbering, and in places the head-room is j limited. The trucks on cither hand— ;Jfor the footway is between tho tracks the rope-wav—take some getting used •'to. At first there is some nervousness (■concerning tho tub which is rolling lalontr just behind your heels. But presently it is realised that tho tub is mov>'sng more slowly than yourself, and so Cannot run over you. The light which (was a. quarter of a milo away is overjiliead now, and another one is visible Talong the straight drive. Its light gleams on the glistening coal of the. walls. "Why don't you dig out this coal?" the. Question comes. "Because wo are telescoping this mine. We drivo in to the other side of the coal, then work backwards, dropping tho nillars as we come. It doesn't matter if tho worked-ont parts do collapse then. There is about 10 years' coal in lliis section." "Dropping Tops," After going along the drivo for a mile, including a swerve to the right, where some horses wore dimly visible in the oil-lamp's light, wo scrambled up a "jig-way" and went to a place where men wore "dropping tops" from 30 to 40 feet high. In between the main drives of a coal mine, the whole area of tho coal seam is laid out in "pillars"—that is, huge squares about 00 feet wide on cach face. Tho miners, or colliers, cut out a clea," space round each of these pillars, and then the pillars themselves must be. brought down. "Dropping lops" is tho last act in this process. In a vast coal cavern,' whore one stumbled and scrambled over blocks of coal and loose coal, several men ' were working. On the can of each flickered a tiny oil lamp; thei- faces were grimy, perspiring, and pale by contrast with the coal. Tint ,they were.hearty and 'happy, and hailed us cheerily. One of them'scrambled up a'huge slide of coal to show how high the roof of the cavern was—and it looked very high. The coal was coming freely, howeve", and as tho hewers, or colliers, are naid by the ton they had no quarrel with anyone. The nimble of tubs on the "jig-way." where, the full tubs going down hauled the empties up. told of a Imsv place._ 'From a distant drivo a muffled explosion told .of men working at a "face," while the voices of the drivers end llie stamo of horses on the road below I he "jig" sounded along the black galleries. These horses haul the talis alow; llm'side drive to. the main tunnel, where they are dragged on to the.rope-way to go bobbing and rocking away to Denniston,' and the hordes sometimes push the empties back with their chesls 'against the rear tub. 'As the buffers bump and rattle the horse . appears lo count them. At any rate, if the "rake" of' trucks should be twelve and lie hears thirteen bumps, the horse refuses to push. ' . » Tlie return to daylight asain, uast the m'anv workers of the mine, makes one ponder on this industry in which so much is done underground, and upon •which so much depends. And in this

matter there is this fact to bo noted— that eoalminers, tho veal article, will always return to this work, wherever they limy wander and whatever other calling they muy try. Tliero is, without doubt, a fascination about it oven though it repels at first acquaintance.