QUENCHLESS SUBTERRANEAN FIRES.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2229, 20 April 1881, Page 3

QUENCHLESS SUBTERRANEAN FIRES.

(Prom the “ Albany Sunday Press.”) The failure of all the attempts to extinguish the fire which has been raging in the Keeley Bun Colliery, near Pottsville, Pa., for several weeks, it is feared, will add another to the perpetually burning mines that now exist in the Pennsylvania anthracite regions. The greatest of these is probably that in the Jugular vein, near Coal Castle. This had been burning since 1835 ; Lewis F. Dougherty opened this in 1833. The upper drift of the mine was above water level, and a huge fire was kept in a grate at the mouth of the mine in the winter to keep the water from freezing in the gutters. One night in the above year the timbers of the drift caught fire from the grate. When it was discovered the fire had been carried down the air hole to the lower drifts, and was beyond control. Two miners entered the mine, hoping to save their tools. They never came out. The mine was abandoned. No effort was made to mine any of the coal near the burning vein, although it was considered the best coal in the region until 1856. Then John M'Ginnis put in a slope on the east side of it, below the waterlevel. He struck the vein at a place where the coal was so thick that two miners could keep a large breaker supplied. When 400 yards of gangway had been excavated the beat from the burning Dougherty mine began to bother the miners. M'Ginnis attempted to open an air-hole. The heat became so great that the men were paid double wages to induce them to work. They worked entirely naked, and were relieved every ten minutes. Finally the heat became so intense that the work was abandoned. The mine was flooded. After being pumped out men could again work for a few days. The mine was flooded nine times. M'Ginnis finally failed, and the mine was then abandoned. The fire has been raging in the vein ever since. An area of half a mile in every direction has been burned. No vegetation grows on the surface. In places the ground has caved in, forming chasms 100 feet deep. There is a thin shell of earth over the pit of fire. At night blue sulphurous flames issue from the crevices in the ground. It is dangerous to walk across the spot. Several persons have mysteriously disappeared in the vicinity during the past twenty years. It is believed that in a majority of the cases they have fallen into the burning mine. Dougherty, the original owner of the mine, attempted to go across once. He sank to his arm-pits through the crust, and was only saved by courageous friends who ventured to his assistance, The stones on the ground are hot, and snow never rests there. Bain turns to vapour as fast as it falls on the roof of the burning mine. Millions of dollars worth of the best quality of coal have been consumed by the fire. The Summit Hill mine, near Mauch Chunk, has been burning twentyfive years. It is believed that this mine was set on fire by discontented miners. Thousands of dollars have been expended in fruitless efforts to extinguish the flames. The Butler Mine, near Pittston, has been burning three years. It was set on fire by a party of tramps, who built a fire in the mine in 1877. The fire is in the upper drifts ; it is confined to an area of forty acres by an immense ditch, 40ft. wide, which was excavated between the burning drift and connecting ones. The digging of the canal cost 50,000 dollars. But for that obstacle the fire would have communicated to some of the most extensive mines in tho Lackawanna Valley, and a subterraneous conflagration would have swept under tho whole of West Pittston. Miners have worked in the lower drift of the Butler Mine since the fire broke out, but there are about 40ft. of rock between them and the field of fire above. The water that trickles through the roof is scalding hot. The temperature is so high that tho men can wear but little clothing.