T N 
 

 JE 
 
 
 
 
THE CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RY. 
 
 The combustion of COAL for the generation of steam which furnishes the motive 
 power that drives the ponderous wheels of the locomotives oi the "GREAT ROCK 
 ISLAND" system, is one of the most important uses of the century to which that 
 material has "been and is applied. This form of application has made it an instrument 
 of incalculable benefit to mankind, and especially those, who df ire to travel to any 
 point west, southwest or northwest from Chicago. L<-ss than a century ago, the vast 
 territory of the Middle AVest was practically, a "howling" wilderness the howlers 
 being chiefly Indians and wild animals. Now (as this map shows.) it is the garden 
 of the world, thickly populated, and dotted at frequent intervals with prosperous and 
 beautiful cities and towns. 
 
 The COAXitbat supplies tractile strength to locomotives of the "CIIKAT HOIK 
 ISLAND," has accomplished such wonderful results. These "Iron Steeds," swift as 
 the wind, ever active, never weary draw over its smooth sled track, magnificent 
 express trains daily between Chicago, Council I'.infTs, Omaha, St. Joseph, Atcluson. 
 Leavenworth, Kansas City, Minneapolis and St. Psvu, (its principal termini,) where 
 through connections are made (in Union Depot si to .-md from California and all 
 important points in the Inteimedlate States and Territories. 
 
 THE CHICAGO, KANSAS & NEBRASKA RY. 
 
 (ROCK ISLAND ROUTE.) 
 
 extends west and southwest via St. .Joseph and Kansas City, to 1'^-atrice, Falrbnry, 
 Nelson, Horton, Topeka, Belleville. AVichita, Hutchinson, ilerington Caldwell and 
 all points in Southern Nebraska, interior Kansas and beyond. Track and roadway 
 in splendid condition. Bridges of si one and iron. Entire passenger equipment of 
 the celebrated Pullman Co's manufacture. 
 
 "THE FAMOUS ALBERT LEA ROUTE 
 
 is the favorite between Chicago, St. Joseph, Kansas City, Peoria and Cedar Rapids, 
 Spirit Lake. Watertown, Sioux Falls, Minneapolis and St. Paul. The popular tourist 
 line to the hunting and fishing grounds, summer resorts, watering places and scenic 
 attractions of the north and nort Invest. 
 
 The Passenger Conveniences, Comforts and Luxuries to be enjoyed on any portion of the 
 HOCK ISLAND SYSTEM of nearly 50<H) miles are nowhere excelled. Its splendid Day Coaches, 1 >ining 
 Cars, Pullman Palace Sleepers, and Reclining Chair Cars, have earned a world-wide reputation. 
 They commend themselves not only to the " Boys and Girls of America," but to adults every when*. 
 
 Speed, comfort, safety, and the full inejusure of enjoyment assured to all who trnvel over th I 
 
 "nation. For Tickets, Maps. Folders, copies c J 
 vst Coupon Ticket Agent, or addres* 
 
 GREAT ROCK ISLAND to or from any destination. 
 Western Trail, or any desired information, call on j'otir nearest C 1 
 
 ST. JOHN, 
 
 General Manager. 
 
 CHICAGO, ILL. 
 
 E. A. HOLBROOK, 
 
 Gen'l Ticket & Pass. 
 
AN ACCOUNT OF THE HOLIDAY EXCURSION OF THE BOYS AND 
 GIRLS AMONG THE COAL MINES, BY 
 
 MAN 
 
 OF THE GREAT ROCK ISLAND ROUTE 
 
 Respectfully Dedicated to the Boys and Girls of America, *by the 
 Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway. 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 
 THE J. M. W. JONES STATIONERY AND PRINTING COMPANY, 
 1888. 
 
BU| 
 
 1 ' Coal is entitled to be considered as the mainspring of our civiliza- 
 tion. By the power developed in its combustion all the wheels of industry 
 are kept in motion, commerce is carried with rapidity and certainty over 
 all portions of the earth's surface, the useful metals are brought from the 
 deep caves in which they have hidden themselves, and are purified and 
 wrought to serve the purposes of man. By coal night is, in one sense, 
 converted into day, winter into summer, and the life of man, measured 
 by its fruits, greatly prolonged. Wealth, with all the comforts, the luxu- 
 ries, and the triumphs it brings, is its gift. Though black, sooty, and 
 often repulsive in its aspects, it is the embodiment of a power more potent 
 than that attributed to the genii in Oriental tales. Its possession is there- 
 fore, the highest material boon that can be craved by a community or 
 nation. 
 
 " Coal is also not without its poetry. It has been formed under the 
 stimulus of the sunshine of long-past ages, and the light and power it 
 holds are nothing else than such sunshine stored in this black casket t< > 
 wait the coming and to serve the purposes of man." PROF. J. S. NEW- 
 BERRY. 
 
 * * * "Above all, we should see another instance of the wisdom 
 and goodness of Him who hath in so wonderful a manner placed beneath 
 our feet inexhaustless quantities, and in an imperishable form the * stored- 
 up fuel of a world.' " MCFARLANE. 
 
 COPYRIGHT, EvBRiTTaSr. J JHN, i833. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 With the return of the joyous holiday season, the GREAT ROCK ISLAND 
 ROUTE adds another to its series of popular little volumes this being the fourth. 
 It is, in a sense, a companion book to that of last year (PETROLEUM AND NATURAL 
 GAS), treating as it does, and in much the same manner, of another and an even 
 more valuable one of earth's hidden treasures. 
 
 Under the title of ''CoAL AND COKE," the present number aims to present the 
 most important facts concerning coal, its origin, its distribution, the methods of 
 mining it, preparing it for and transporting it to market, etc., etc. To present 
 such a theme, or set of themes, in style and language that shall be readily under- 
 stood by the boys and girls, to whom the book is dedicated, has been no 
 light task, and older readers will, it is hoped, pardon the frequent repetitions and 
 the oft-times round-about methods of presenting matters, deemed necessary to 
 make various points clear to the youthful mind. It has been the aim ever kept in 
 mind to tell the story of coal in the most plain and simple, yet entertaining and 
 instructive manner possible, all circumstances considered. 
 
 For very much of our national wealth and importance we are indebted to our 
 wonderful coal deposits, and the same is true of England and her coal beds. The 
 billowy blackness which rolls skyward day and night, from tens of thousands of 
 great smoke-stacks, all over the land, attest unmistakably to the fact that our 
 coal-beds lie at the foundation of very much , indeed, of our commercial greatness. 
 This little book aims to afford a glimpse at the operations which transform our 
 hidden, slumbering coal beds into one of the most important factors, if not the 
 most important factor, entering into the material progress of the wonderful nine- 
 teenth century. It is hoped this glimpse of mining operations, including the 
 scenes and incidents of a day spent "down in a coal mine," of the "towing" of coal 
 on some of our great rivers, of the manufacture of coke, and of illuminating gas, 
 etc., may be pleasing to every one who reads the book. 
 
 Again wishing you a " Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year," I remain 
 
 YOUR FRIEND, 
 
 "A MAN." 
 
 M203599 
 
I. 
 
 HOW THE EXCURSION WAS PLANNED. 
 
 you all are, again? Well, well, I 
 should say you are all here again, sure 
 enough ! Ned, Nell, Tom, Miss Inquisi- 
 tive, and the rest ; and not only so, but I 
 see a good many new faces in the crowd 
 or mob, I might well call it. Come in, 
 come in all of you ; glad to see the new- 
 comers, as well as to see my friends ol 
 former years, again. I am glad, too, 
 that you haven't forgotten me, but have 
 remembered me and have cared to come 
 to visit me. Do you Oho ! that's your 
 
 game, is it ? I understand it all, now ha, ha ! You old acquaintances have 
 gathered together all the other young folks you know; have brought them 
 with you here; and now, straightway, almost before you are in the house, 
 the whole party besieges and beseeches me to be taken upon another ex- 
 cursion ! A very shrewd trick, indeed, youngsters, and in the hands of 
 such a band of schemers and conspirators, I fear I will have to surrender 
 and agree to another sight-seeing tour. But where dear me, what a 
 racket ! one would think you had just been promised the most handsome 
 Christmas present to be found, to hear and see such rejoicing ! There, 
 now, that will do. I was just about Miss Inquisitive, can't you settle 
 down at all ? just about to ask where we should go ; however, as you 
 have got me into this trouble, I'll just let you get me out of it, at least, so 
 far as the decision as to where we shall go, and what to see, is concerned. 
 Can't, eh ? Come, put your heads together, and see if you can't. Put on 
 your thinking-caps, and while you enjoy its warmth, look steadily and 
 earnestly into the fire, among the glowing coals a plan much practiced 
 and highly praised by poets, philosophers and others, as greatly aiding 
 hard thinking. 
 
 While you all are thinking as hard as you can, I'll take a little nap, 
 and you can wake me up when you decide the well, Miss Inquisitive, 
 
\6. .: WHERE SHALL WE GO? 
 
 whaHs'it*?* Yoti'Vft'hif upoft'the plan, have you ? Oh ! just want to ask a 
 question ; I might have known that, to be sure. I see you haven't given 
 up your old occupation ; a great girl for questions, you are a regular 
 query-box. Well, what do you want to know this time ? My ! what a 
 question ! What makes that lump of coal burn ? I might say that the fire 
 makes the coal burn, but then you'd be sure to ask if it wasn't the burning 
 of the coal that makes the fire, and we would be back at the starting 
 point, again. Suppose, though, we put your question this way : Why 
 does the coal burn ? and then we will have it in better shape for an answer. 
 I might, now, tell you, after the manner of the big books which your big 
 brothers and sisters study, that coal burns because it is composed of 
 highly inflammable and combustible elements ; but to put it in plain, 
 everyday language, which boys and girls of your age can understand, I 
 will answer that coal burns because it is composed, or made up, we will 
 say, in part of certain gases oxygen and hydrogen which ignite, or take 
 fire, as I heard Ned say, a while ago take fire and burn very easily and 
 quickly. These gases and the other substances or elements of which coal 
 but dear me ! I mustn't begin to tell you more particularly, now, 
 about how these gases, etc., come to be in the coal, as that would make a 
 long story, carrying us back to the time of the formation of the coal-bed 
 from which these pieces have been taken, and our talking about it would 
 interfere with the hard thinking going on amongst the others, you know. 
 Some other day I'll tell you all well, I declare ! every one of you listen- 
 ing to what we two have been saying, when, as we supposed, you were 
 busily puzzling your young heads over the question, Where shall we go ? 
 ' Go on with the coal story ?' Oh, no ; better not begin it now, as we 
 would likely be led on from one point to another, talking about how 
 coal was formed or made; where it is found; how it is mined or taken from 
 the ground, and why, that's just the thing, Ned ! All in favor of an 
 excursion among the coal mines, say aye. Whew ! what a shout ! Those 
 opposed, say no. Carried, unanimously, as the big fplks say. To the 
 coal mines we will go, then, as soon as we can get ready. Miss Inquisi- 
 tive, we owe to you, after all, through your question, the settlement of the 
 where-to-go question. You shall have especial consideration shown you, 
 hereafter. " 
 
 II. 
 
 "WHERE SHALL WE GO?" 
 
 "Now, having decided to visit the coal mines, we must further decide 
 upon the particular coal region or field to be visited. Shall we cross the 
 ocean and visit the mines of England or ? Eh? you won't cross the 
 ocean, nor you ? nor you ? nor you ? nor . Well, we may consider 
 it settled that we won't undertake a sea voyage in our search for 
 
OUR LITTLE WORLD. 7 
 
 knowledge. To -what coal-producing region of our own country, then, 
 shall we go ? There are several Oh, no, Tom, it doesn't all come from 
 the same place ; I was just about to say that there are a number of coal- 
 producing States in the Union some producing but a small quantity , 
 others, millions of tons, yearly. Can any of you name some of the coal- 
 producing States? Yes, that's right Indiana ; what others? Yes, 
 Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee. Any more? You must have for- 
 gotten the ' chief products, ' as given for some of the States in 
 your geographies. A number of others, some of them producing 
 large quantities of coal, as Ohio and West Virginia, might be named. 
 Well, to which shall we go? Ned says, Pennsylvania. I recollect, as 
 perhaps some of the rest of you do, that he was very much interested in 
 the matter of coal mining last year, owing to the frequent glimpses he had 
 of mines and miners, while going about among the oil wells. I suspect 
 that it is a long cherished desire to visit some of those mines and to talk, 
 perhaps, with some of those grimy-faced coal-diggers, that leads him to 
 suggest that we go to Pennsylvania. Ah, I thought so. Well, your 
 choice is a good one, Ned ; not just because it suits your especial desires, 
 but because in the matter of coal, as in that of oil, Pennsylvania offers the 
 best field for studying the work of producing, shipping, etc., in all its 
 departments. We would find in Pennsylvania, should we go there, such 
 coal fields as we could find nowhere else great fields too, of quite differ- 
 ent kinds of coal. We could, too, see the wonderful coke region with 
 its thousands of great coke ovens, and Oh, dear ! too many questions to 
 answer at once ; nor would we have time to answer them singly, f I see 
 no way out of the matter but to accept Ned's suggestion, and agree to ac- 
 company him to Pennsylvania. Does anybody move that we visit the 
 coal regions of Pennsylvania? Ah! yes, and the motion seconded by a 
 dozen. All in favor of the motion, say aye ; whew! no need to call for 
 the noes in this case. It is decided, then, that we make a holiday excur- 
 sion among the Pennsylvania coal mines, and that we start, say next 
 well, as soon as Miss Ruffleton and some of the other girls can get ready 
 to go ; the boys could all start this minute, for that matter. " 
 
 in. 
 
 OUR LITTLE WORLD. 
 
 "As it is, generally, an advantage to be posted, in advance, in regard 
 to matters with which we may have to deal, it will not be amiss, since we 
 are now together, to spend the remainder of the afternoon in considering 
 some of the facts and theories in regard to coal how and when it was 
 formed or made, where it is found, etc. ; things which seeing it mined, 
 shipped and used would not tell us. 
 
 At the outset, it may not be out of place to take a look at the world 
 
8 OUR LITTLE WORLD. 
 
 we live in or upon, rather as a whole, before we enter upon the exam- 
 ination of the facts and theories which, as we shall proceed, will narrow 
 our field of observation until we may not only find ourselves confined to 
 some one particular coal region, but may, indeed, even be shut up, for a 
 time, in some dark, damp and dismal coal-pit or mine 'where,' as the 
 song says, ' no ray of sunshine ever can be found.' 
 
 In the first place, we must bear in mind that our earth the world, as 
 we call it is but a small affair, in a sense. Ha, ha ! Miss Inquisitive, you 
 think ' it's a pretty big place,' eh? You find plenty of room for questions, 
 anyway; don't you ? Well, it would be ' a big place,' indeed, if we did 
 not know of so many other and vastly larger worlds, as we are told ot 
 them by the astronomers the men who are familiar with the facts in 
 regard to the sun, moon and stars. In other words, our world is but one 
 of countless thousands of worlds which we see all about us the stars, we 
 call them. I said, all about us ; they are all about us, that is, all around 
 us, but at wonderful distances from us millions, billions, trillions of miles 
 from us ; distances which we cannot comprehend at all. The sun, from 
 which we get our light and heat, is 1,245,000 times as large as our earth 
 * big place ' as it appears to Miss Inquisitive, and to all of us for that 
 matter ; while all the stars we can see, together with almost numberless 
 others which can be seen only by the use of great telescopes, so great 
 is their distance from us all these, the astronomers tell us, are other 
 suns, which may be as large as, or perhaps larger than, our own large sun. 
 So great is the distance of some of these stars or suns, as we are to 
 think of them that (so the astronomers tell us) the light which comes to 
 us from them has been hundreds, if not thousands, of years in reaching 
 us ! although light travels, it has been learned, at the wonderful speed ot 
 183,000 miles per second or more than seven times the distance around 
 our earth while you wink ! You will understand these things of which I 
 have just spoken, as well as learn very many more wonderful facts about 
 our earth, the sun, moon, planets and stars, when you take up the study 
 of astronomy ; at present, however, we can not stop to talk about them, 
 as we have other business on hand, you know. But the statements I have 
 made are sufficient, in themselves, to show you that our world is but one 
 and a comparatively small one at that of untold numbers of worlds 
 which throng the space around -us the universe, we call it ; it is as a 
 single grain of sand in that great heap of sand and pebbles, which you see 
 across the way ! 
 
 But we started out to talk about coal ; and why, then, should we go 
 away off among the stars ? you may be asking yourselves. Well, for sev- 
 eral reasons. One of them is, the desire to set some of you to thinking, 
 reading and studying about the wonders of astronomy which I trust it 
 may. Another is, to present a truth which I would have you keep in 
 mind when we come to consider some facts in regard to our own earth, 
 in particular, that everything in the great universe, of which our earth is 
 but a small part, as we have seen, is controlled or governed by certain 
 
OUR LITTLE WORLD. 9 
 
 laws ; tliat nothing is of chance or mere happening, but has been made 
 what it is, as it is, and placed where it is, in accordance with a great plan 
 or order of things, as designed and only fully understood by the great 
 Creator. 
 
 As young astronomers, you will learn that not only is the universe 
 crowded, as I have already stated, with almost countless worlds, but that 
 all these worlds, as well as our own, are whirling or shooting through 
 space at a most astonishing speed, and never stopping or pausing, either, 
 in their wonderful flight ! But you will learn more than this. You will 
 learn that all their movements are controlled by certain laws ; that they 
 are not flying about helter-skelter, as it were, without direction or aim or 
 purpose, and at the risk of frightful collisions with each other, but that all 
 their courses are fixed, each having its own path or orbit, from which it 
 can not stray or wander, and that throughout all the ages they have been 
 flying, at most terrific speed, (our earth, more than 1,000 miles a min- 
 ute !) around and around their great circular orbits, * and yet with a reg- 
 ularity which never varies even the smallest fraction of a second, so that 
 thousands of years in advance astronomers can say where a planet or 
 star will be, at a certain second ! Wonderful, isn't it ? 
 
 Now, there is a point in this, for us, taking it in connection with the 
 littleness of our earth as compared with the vast universe. How the 
 wonders of our own little world shrink and fade, as our thought carries 
 us out among all the other and greater worlds ! It is easy to see, now, 
 how the One who could create all these other worlds, (tossing them out, 
 as it were, into space, putting each in its place and appointing each its 
 course through the heavens, and holding them all there by unseen 
 power,) could create our one little world, just as it pleased Him putting 
 an ocean here, and a continent or an island there ; hollowing out the 
 valleys, building the mountains and spreading out the plains ; clothing 
 the earth with grass and flowers and trees, and filling it with beasts and 
 birds ; and finally peopling it, when at last made ready for man's home. 
 As throughout all the rest of the great universe, so throughout our little 
 world a plan and purpose is everywhere seen. Our earth has been 
 fitted up for man's use, and all that he needs has been prepared for him 
 prepared for him before he was created. 
 
 Among the things thus prepared for us, and of which we find an 
 abundant store, is coal to a consideration of some of the facts and 
 theories concerning which we will now more directly give our attention." 
 
 * The orbits are not exactly circular, but are slightly flattened circles, we may 
 be permitted to call them-ellipses, correctly speaking. 
 
io GEOLOGY AND GEOLOGISTS. 
 
 IV. 
 
 A WORD ABOUT GEOLOGY AND GEOLO- 
 GISTS. 
 
 "First, then, let us see what maybe learned about how coal was 
 formed. But before we begin, please punch that big lump of coal with 
 the poker, Ned, and let's have a rousing fire. Now, come up closer, all 
 of you; there, that's both comfortable and cheerful, isn't it? Now, to 
 begin. 
 
 You all know, I suppose anyway, I've been taking it for granted 
 that you all know that coal is taken from the ground. It is not some- 
 thing made by men, but was prepared for men by GOD, in His wisdom 
 and goodness, long ago just how long ago we cannot tell. Ha ! ha ! at it 
 already, Miss Inquisitive. How was it prepared, eh ? Well, we must go 
 to the geologists for an answer to your question, mi'am, as we did last 
 winter when we wanted to know how oil and natural gas were formed or 
 made. For the benefit of the new members of our company, I will re- 
 peat the explanation then made in regard to geologists and geology, 
 adding, perhaps, a little more than then given. The word geology has 
 been formed by the union of two Greek words ge t meaning the 
 earth, and logos, meaning a discourse, or talk, we may say ; the 
 word geology, then, means a talk about the earth its structure, etc., 
 and of the changes which it has undergone. Geology is the science 
 which treats of the earth's structure and its development or progress in 
 the formation of rocks, progress in forms of life, animal and vegetable, 
 etc. Geologists are the persons who have learned, and who give to us, 
 the facts of geology. 
 
 What, then, can we learn from the geologists ? Well, while they 
 cannot tell us everything we may want to know, they can, at least, give 
 us very much information, and some of it most wonderful, too, in regard 
 to the formation, long ago, of the coal which is now being taken from the 
 hills and the depths of the earth, and some of which is blazing and glow- 
 ing, so much to our comfort, this chilly day, in the fireplace before us. 
 And while we are thus enjoying its cheerful presence, I will try to pre- 
 sent to you some geological facts, as made known to us by the learned 
 geologists. 
 
 Those of you who were in our company last winter are already 
 familiar with many of these facts, but you will not, I am sure, be un- 
 willing to have them again stated, for the benefit of our new members, 
 
GEOLOGY AND GEOLOGISTS. n 
 
 especially as I may speak more fully in regard to some of them, some 
 having been, indeed, little more than merely mentioned before. 
 
 The geologists, then, tell us of great and wonderful changes which 
 have taken place upon and within our earth. Even now, indeed, 
 changes are occurring, by reason of earthquakes and other mighty 
 forces ; but the changes to which I refer took place long, long ago, be- 
 fore GOD had created people to live upon the earth because it was not 
 yet ready for them and these changes were far 4iiore wonderful and 
 powerful in effect than the earthquakes and volcanoes of the present 
 time. Just how long ago these changes began which have resulted in 
 producing the earth as we find it now, even the geologists cannot tell 
 us ; it is known only to Him of whom the great Psalmist wrote : ' Be- 
 fore the mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the 
 earth or the world; even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art GOD.' 
 The Bible tells us that at the beginning the * earth was without form 
 and void/ not the beautiful world it now is, with its hills and valleys, 
 mountains and plains, its fields and forests, its rivers, lakes and oceans, 
 and all the forms of life we see about us ; all these things were then but 
 on the mind of GOD, who was creating the world and fitting and prepar- 
 ing it for us, with all our varied wants and needs, when , after all else 
 should be made ready, man should be created. 
 
 To learn something of the wondrous plan of the earth's creation and 
 of its gradual perfecting, has been the study of geologists. Many facts 
 have been established, while many theories or opinions have been offered, 
 to account for some of these facts not fully understood. The geologists 
 are able to tell us very much about the structure of the earth, as by long 
 and patient search and study they have learned many things ; but in re- 
 gard to other things, they are in doubt and are not agreed among them- 
 selves. They can tell us what and how some things are, but differ with 
 each other, and cannot speak positively as to how these things have come 
 to be what they are, how they are and where they are. You will recollect, 
 some of you, that this uncertainty was met with, a year ago, in our efforts 
 to learn how petroleum and natural gas have been formed in the depths 
 of the earth ; and we may find the same uncertainty again, as we seek to 
 learn all we may about the formation of coal. But while there are doubts 
 and differences as to some points, we shall find geologists nearly all agreed 
 touching what are given to us as the main facts in regard to the formation 
 of coal. 
 
 While many things are hidden from the knowledge of man, so that 
 he is not permitted to understand fully the great work and mystery of 
 creation, yet it has pleased the great Creator to leave such signs and evi- 
 dences of how very much of the great work which has given us the earth 
 as it now is has been carried on, that the geologists, reading these signs 
 and interpreting them, have given us various theories or opinions in regard 
 to some of the great facts concerning the earth's formation, some of 
 which theories have come to be regarded as true and correct. 
 
GEOLOGY AND GEOLOGISTS. 13 
 
 Thaf our earth has not always been as it is now, but has passed 
 through many very great and wonderful changes since first formed, is a 
 fact agreed upon by all who have given the matter sufficient thought to 
 have formed an opinion at all. These changes, however many and won- 
 derful, have not been the result of chance or accident that is, without 
 direction and without aim or purpose ; the contrary is the case. As I 
 said, a little while ago, everywhere in nature is to be seen a wonderful 
 plan, into which all of the great changes alluded to fit, each in its place, 
 and all working toward one great end. As the learned Prof. Dana, an 
 eminent geologist, says, an ' Infinite Mind has guided all events toward 
 the great end a world for mind,' and, 'the earth has, under this guid~ 
 ance and appointed law, passed through a regular course of history or 
 growth.' Some of these changes are of especial interest to us in search- 
 ing for the origin of coal and the manner of its formation, as now seen in 
 ' beds ; ' and at these changes, with some others, perhaps, as the geolo- 
 gists describe them, we will glance. 
 
 Stir up the fire again, Nell that's good ! Now for the geology of 
 the coal-fields." 
 
 v. 
 
 THE CARBONIFEROUS ERA-FORMATION OF 
 THE COAL BEDS. 
 
 "That the hard, black lumps we see burning in the fire before us 
 and which we call coal, is of vegetable origin that is, that it is composed 
 of the greatly changed remains of plants which grew and flourished long 
 ago is now perhaps a generally believed opinion. I say perhaps, because 
 there have been some, and there may yet be some, who believe that coal 
 has not been formed from old time plants, etc., but that it has been pro- 
 duced or made in another way ; but there are so many evidences of its 
 vegetable or plant origin, that few persons, if any, now believe any other 
 theory as to its formation, or production. 
 
 But then, again, while geologists may agree as to the vegetable origin 
 of coal, there are yet differences of opinion as to how the changes were 
 brought about which turned converted, the books would term it the 
 plants of that long-gone time into the 'beds' of coal from which we now 
 so largely draw the supplies of fuel which warms our houses (and lights 
 many of them, too,) and cooks our food, and which makes the steam that 
 moves the machinery in nearly all of our thousands upon thousands of 
 mills and factories, and sends the railroad trains speeding across the 
 continents, and the steamboats and steamships up and down our rivers 
 and over the pathless oceans. As concerning the formation of oil and 
 natural gas as we found last winter so in regard to the formation of 
 the coal beds, there are different theories held by geologists, based upon 
 
14 THE CARBONIFEROUS ERA. 
 
 what is, to them, satisfactory evidence, in each case. We will examine 
 some of these theories, as briefly as the case will permit, for you must 
 know that considerable geological history is to be touched upon in the 
 course of such an examination. 
 
 To begin, then, I will state that the geologists divide the history of 
 the earth's development that is, the formation of rock beds, etc. into a 
 number of ages, the ages being again divided into periods, and these 
 again, into epochs all of which you will understand better when you are 
 older. I may have to speak of these divisions in a somewhat general 
 way, but need not stop to explain, particularly, in regard to them. Of 
 the longest divisions, or ages, there are seven : First, the Archcsan ; 
 second, the Silurian ; third, the Devonian ; fourth, the Carboniferous; 
 fifth, the Reptilian; sixth, the Mammalian; seventh, the Age of Ma//. 
 Each of these ages has its beds or strata of rock, very many of them, and 
 of various thicknesses, several strata of the same kind occurring, with 
 others between. The same kind of rocks are found, too, in different 
 ages, and all these strata of all these seven divisions, taken together 
 a thickness of 20 miles, or more make up the earth, so far as we see it 
 and know it. The Archaean rocks, granite, gneiss, marble, etc., are 
 .the lowest rocks, forming the ocean bed, I may state. On these are the 
 rocks of the next age, and so on, to the last rocks formed, at the top of 
 all. 
 
 It is with the fourth, or Carboniferous age, that we shall have espe- 
 cially to deal in our study of the origin and the manner of formation of 
 the coal-beds. Indeed, it is the presence of the..coal-beds among the 
 other rocks that gives the name carboniferous to this age ; coal is com- 
 posed largely of carbon, as we shall see, and hence the name carboni- 
 ferous abounding in carbon. 
 
 As just stated, the beds ot coal are among that is, they lie between 
 other rock strata, and well, Mollie, what is it? Ah, yes, I've forgot- 
 ten that some of you were not with us last year and, therefore, do not 
 understand some of the statements I have made, or even some of the 
 words used. Ned and the others of last year's party must wait here, now, 
 until the rest of you catch up, as it were ; but lest they grow impatient, I 
 will make the necessary explanations as brief as possible. 
 
 All the beds of rock hundreds of them, and of various kinds and 
 thicknesses which lie upon or above the lowest rocks the granite, etc., 
 are what are known as sedimentary rocks ; that is, they were deposited 
 where now found, by water, as sediment sand, gravel, mud, etc. The 
 geologists tell us that all, or nearly all, of what is now our dry land, was 
 once indeed, may have been many times covered by water ; the ocean 
 now sweeping and spreading in, and again flowing off and out, as the 
 land sank or rose by reason of earthquakes or other great forces. As the 
 waters swept over the land, they brought with them sand, gravel, etc., 
 broken or worn from the older rocks, and these, of course, settled to the 
 bottom of the water, covering the rocks below. Sometimes, a great 
 
THE CARBONIFEROUS ERA. 15 
 
 depth or thickness of this sediment jwould be thus deposited ; while at 
 other times a thinner bed of it would be formed. Thus, one bed upon an- 
 other was deposited ; and these, hardening under the pressure of those 
 above them, and of the water itself, became beds of stone mainly the beds 
 of what we now call sandstones (of various kinds, in the matters of color, 
 hardness, etc.,) conglomerates, etc. The beds of limestone, which many of 
 you, I'm sure, have seen, were formed in another manner from the depos- 
 its of great quan- 
 tities of shells of 
 very tiny animals, 
 i with which the 
 waters abounded ; 
 | also, perhaps, from 
 the remains of 
 other small sea 
 animals, such as 
 the beautiful crin- 
 oids, or 'sea lilies,' 
 as they are some- 
 times called, from 
 their very great re- 
 
 ROCK STRATA, AS IN BITUMINOUS COAL REGION. SCmblanCC to HllfeS. 
 
 Those of you who have had an opportunity to see the edges or faces 
 of the rock-beds, in railroad cuts, quarries or steep hillsides, have noticed 
 that the beds are not all of the same thickness, some being but shallow or 
 thin, while others are of great thickness or depth ; also, that the same 
 bed may be thicker in some places than in others. These differences were 
 caused by the difference in the quantity of sediment deposited at each 
 time and place in some cases but a comparatively small quantity ; in 
 others, a very large quantity. You will have noticed, too, that any bed is 
 not one solid piece throughout its whole depth, but that it is made up of a 
 number of layers, of various thicknesses, as we see in what we call 'flag- 
 stones,' which are taken, layer after layer, from the bed. Each bed, as 
 made up of these layers, few or many, is called a stratum; when we speak 
 of more than one bed we say, not stratums, but strata the word which 
 Mollie did not understand. Because of this arrangement of the rocks in 
 regular beds or strata, they have been given the general name of strata- 
 fied rocks. Now, I think you all understand these points, and we will 
 take up our story again. 
 
 Where were we ? Oh, yes ; I was just saying, when Mollie put her 
 question, that we find the coal-beds, or strata, occurring among other 
 strata of sandstone, limestone, slate, shale, clay, iron-ore, etc. And 
 the question which I see in the eyes of each of you is, How did they get 
 there ? How, indeed ? * 
 
 s. I have already stated, or have given you to understand, at least, 
 that our coal-beds are found among the strata of what the geologists 
 
16 THE CARBONIFEROUS ERA. 
 
 call the carboniferous age or era. Now, for a description of that period. 
 The carboniferous era is divided by geologists into three periods 
 first, the Sub-carboniferous; second, the Carboniferous proper or coal- 
 measures; and, third, the Permian. The sub-carboniferous period (sub 
 meaning under) was what may be called a time of preparation for what 
 was to follow. The sea covered the land, and there were deposits of 
 limestone, sandstones and shales, with a few thin seams of coal which 
 are sometimes called the false coal-measures. Then followed the true 
 carboniferous period the time of the formation of the great coal-beds, 
 as we shall see. Following this, again, and closing this age or era, was 
 the Permian period. 
 
 Passing over the sub-carboniferous period, which has been briefly 
 described, let us enter the second or true carboniferous period, and see 
 the formation of the coal-beds. At the beginning of this period we find 
 the land covered with water, in which flourished myriads of crinoids or 
 sea-lilies which became the upper limestone of the sub-carboniferous 
 period. Currents and waves now swept over and buried all under a 
 great depth of sand and pebbles which later hardened into the stone 
 now known as the millstone grit, and which underlies the great coal- 
 beds. This millstone grit is as mnch as 1,500 feet thick in parts of Penn- 
 sylvania. Above this, lying between various rock strata, we find the 
 beds of coal making up altogether, however, but about one-fiftieth 
 (sVth) of the total thickness of all the strata of the carboniferous, or coal- 
 measure, period. 
 
 During this period there were many successive risings and sinkings of 
 the land the water sometimes being quite deep, and at other times 
 barely covering the surface, with parts, here and there, not covered at 
 all. It was during such times as those last mentioned periods of shal- 
 low water, producing vast swamps or marshes that the coal-beds, or 
 what are now the coal-beds, were deposited. Over these marshes vege- 
 tation sprang up a vegetation such as does not now exist, excepting to 
 some extent, in the hot tropical countries. The temperature was much 
 higher then than now, both water and air being very warm, the air being 
 also very moist and highly charged filled, that is with carbonic acid, a 
 gas composed of carbon and oxygen. These conditions of water and air 
 produced a most wonderful growth of every form of vegetation then 
 existing. You all are aware that trees, plants and all forms of vegetation 
 grow most rapidly and luxuriantly during a season of especial warmth 
 and moisture, but you "are not aware, I suppose, just how they live, so I 
 will tell you. They live mainly by means of carbonic acid, the gas ot 
 which I have just spoken, gathering it from the air through their leaves, 
 which are their lungs. You can see, then, that the time of which I have 
 been speaking, when the air was filled with carbonic acid, (the air now 
 contains but a very small quantity of it) would be one especially calcu- 
 lated to promote the growth of all kinds of vegetation. And so, in truth 
 it was. The great marshes of which I have spoken were dense jungles of 
 
THE CARBONIFEROUS ERA. 17 
 
 plants and trees of the kind then growing. The trees were lepidoden- 
 drids, tall, and resembling in foliage, our pines ; sigillarids^ much like 
 the first mentioned ; some species of conifers ', very soft pines, tree-ferns, 
 etc., etc., while everywhere there was a dense growth of ferns of the low 
 varieties, and of other vegetation. Growth upon growth of such vegeta- 
 tion occurred, until in some cases a great depth of old and decaying 
 vegetable material would be formed. Then came a change, the land, 
 with its profuse vegetation, being sunk beneath the water. Over the 
 sunken forests or jungles were deposited beds of sediment sand, gravel, 
 etc., and of the small limestone-making shells, etc. Again, the land 
 would be brought to the surface, and soon another marvelous growth of 
 vegetation, as before, would occur only to be in turn sunken and covered 
 by beds of sediment, etc., until very many such beds of vegetation had 
 been buried, some of them of great thickness or depth; others, of but little 
 depth. 
 
 It is these beds of vegetation, thus long ago buried in the earth by GOD, 
 in His great wisdom and goodness, that we now know as the coal beds. 
 After being buried, as we have seen, beneath beds of sediment, the great 
 weight above them, coupled with great heat, so acted upon these vege- 
 table masses as to change them from the delicate and beautiful ferns and 
 other plants into the solid black beds of coal the beds of sediment, etc., 
 deposited with them, becoming, at the same time, the beds or strata of 
 sandstone, limestone, slate, etc., lying between and above the beds of 
 coal. Thus our coal-beds were formed, according to what is probably the 
 most generally accepted theory. 
 
 Other theories differ from this in some particulars. What is known as 
 the drift theory is, that the vegetation which furnished the coal-beds 
 instead of having grown and been buried, as described, where the beds 
 now are, was carried to these places as drift material by waves and cur- 
 rents, from higher portions of the earth's surface, and then covered with 
 the beds of rock material. Other theories present yet different views as 
 to how the beds of vegetation were deposited and buried ; but we will 
 not stop to consider each, the one given being, as I said, a generally 
 accepted one. 
 
 But however they were deposited, there can be no doubt in regard to 
 the generally accepted belief in the vegetable origin of coal ; the proofs 
 of its correctness, as we shall see, are too conclusive to admit of doubto 
 Once great masses of vegetation, they have been changed into beds of coal, 
 composed in great part of the carbon as held in the plants, combined 
 with oxygen and hydrogen the gases which cause the ready burning of 
 the coal. Anthracite coal is almost pure carbon more than nine-tenths car- 
 bon indeed. It maybe interesting to you to learn too, that graphite (called 
 also plumbago and ''black lead 1 though not lead, at all) and which is, 
 familiar to us all as stove-polish, and as used in our lead pencils, is car- 
 bon ; while the diamond, that most beautiful and valuable of gems, is 
 after all, nothing but a bit of pure carbon a very near relation, you see, 
 
18 THE CARBONIFEROUS ERA. 
 
 to the lump of coal which we burn up, or carelessly throw away. You 
 can understand, then, the appropriateness of the name often applied to 
 coal ' black diamonds ! ' " 
 
 VI. 
 
 PROOFS OF VEGETABLE ORIGIN THE 
 WORLD'S COAL FIELDS. 
 
 '* That coal is of vegetable or plant origin, as we have seen, there 
 is abundant proof the main points of difference between geologists 
 being as to how the beds were deposited and buried. We will let the 
 geologists fight this matter among themselves, while we talk about the 
 points concerning which they are agreed. Proofs of the vegetable origin 
 of coal, then, are found on every hand. In the coal itself some kinds, 
 especially can be seen the impressions of plants.ferns, etc., the delicate 
 and beautiful leaves appearing as perfectly in this way as photographs, 
 almost. Then, again, the trunks or stumps of trees, some of great size, 
 are often found in the coal-beds. There is always immediately under 
 the coal-beds a stratum or bed of clay called the ituJcrclay which 
 is full of the roots of the old plants ; being, no doubt, the bed upon 
 which the dense growth of vegetation took place, in the marshes spoken 
 of. This clay, by the way, is used in the manufacture of fire-bricks and 
 is, therefore, often called fire-clay. The slate, shale, or other such ma- 
 terial which immediately overlies the coal, and which when the coal is 
 taken out, forms the roof of the mine Never mind, Miss Inquisitive ; 
 you'll learn all about mines and roofs, later, this slate, I say, is often 
 covered with the prints of ferns, leaves, etc., all these things which I 
 have mentioned pointing conclusively to the vegetable origin of our 
 coal. 
 
 Some of you, no doubt, have noticed a difference in the kinds of 
 coal you have used Ah, yes ; I thought so. Well, there are two 
 principal kinds of coal anthracite and bituminous. Anthracite is very 
 hard ; bituminous coal is soft that is, as compared with anthracite. 
 Between these two general divisions of coal, however, there are a great 
 many kinds or grades of each. From the very hardest of coal, as found 
 in some places, anthracite becomes less hard, in other places, until we 
 have semi- anthracite semi meaning half. So, also, with bituminous 
 coals they run through a great many grades of hardness or softness 
 and of other qualities. All kinds or grades had the same origin, and 
 were, no doubt, once all alike, in general, bituminous, anthracite being 
 but a changed and hardened form of bituminous coal, resulting from 
 causes which we shall learn, later. 
 
 Coal everywhere ? No, Ned, it is not found everywhere, though 
 
PROOFS OF VEGETABLE ORIGIN. 19 
 
 probably once existing in many sections where not now found. At 
 the time of the deposits of the beds of vegetation, the surface of the 
 earth was much more smooth and level, in general, than it is now, and 
 the marsh-jungles covered vast regions. The wearing away and carry- 
 ing to other places, as sand or soil, of the land including rock and coal 
 strata by the rains and streams, has left some sections now barren of 
 coal, though once it was present ; so, we often find coal in the sides of 
 the hills, while the low ground around has none, it having been carried 
 away. 
 
 While speaking of this matter, I may as well tell you where the coal- 
 fields are, in what countries found, their extent, etc. First in the list is 
 our own country, containing the most extensive and valuable coal-beds 
 in the world covering an area of perhaps 150,000 square miles.* This 
 extent of coal-land is not all in one great tract, but is divided up into a 
 number of coal-fields or coal-regions as they are called. The greatest 
 of these, as well as the greatest in the world, is the Appalachian field. 
 It embraces the Pennsylvania region which we propose to visit covering 
 a large part of the State, in anthracite and bituminous fields, and from 
 thence, following the Appalachian system of mountains, (the Alleghenies, 
 Blue Ridge, etc.,) it extends southwest over parts of Ohio, Maryland, 
 West Virginia, Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and across 
 the northwest corner of Georgia, to the middle of Alabama, having an 
 area of at least 60,000 square miles. The Central coal-field embraces a 
 large part of Illinois, Southwestern Indiana and Western Kentucky, 
 having an area of 47,000 square miles. The Western field embraces 
 parts of Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Eastern Kansas, Arkansas, and ex- 
 tending into Texas, with an area of 78,000 square miles. Then there is 
 the Michigan field covering an area of 6,700 square miles, in the central 
 part of the State. There is a small field in Rhode Island, extending 
 slightly into Massachusetts, with an area of but 500 square miles. These 
 are the principal coal-fields of our country, so far developed; but immense 
 deposits of coal are being found throughout the far Western States and 
 Territories, though of not so good quality as that of the eastern fields. 
 
 In the British provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, ad- 
 joining the United States on the northeast, there are valuable coal-fields, 
 covering an area of 10,000 square miles. Central and South America, 
 also, have coal fields, though small ones. 
 
 On the other side of the ocean, too, they have coal. England has 
 long been noted for its production of coal that is, the quantity mined, 
 in this respect outranking even our own country, although we have more 
 coal, having the greatest and best beds. Wales, also, is a great coal- 
 mining country; while Scotland and Ireland also have their fields. The 
 whole extent of the field of Great Britain England, Wales, Scotland and 
 Ireland is but 12,000 square miles. Coal is also found in Spain, Portu- 
 
 * This does not include the later formations, or Tertiary coals, of the far Western 
 States and Territories, and which are of very great extent. The total of all kinds tor 
 the United States is about 625,000 square miles. 
 
20 PROOFS OF VEGETABLE ORIGIN. 
 
 gal, France, Germany, Austria, Russia and perhaps, to a lesser extent, 
 other countries in Europe. Far off Australia, India and China, too, have 
 coal-fields. So, you see, we do not have all the coal over here. 
 
 The greater part of all the coal of the world is bituminous, the soft 
 coal. The fields of anthracite are few and small as compared with 
 bituminous fields. The total area of all the anthracite fields of the 
 world is said to be but about 2,000 square miles, and of this area nearly 
 one-half is in the United States, Central Pennsylyania containing the 
 greatest anthracite region of the world. The small coal-field of Rhode 
 Island is also anthracite. Abroad, anthracite is found in Wales, Ireland 
 and France. 
 
 i Besides anthracite and bituminous coals the true coals there are 
 beds of other kinds of coals, or substances used as coals. Broiun coal 
 is a brownish-black coal of the bituminous variety, formed at a much 
 later period than the true coals. Lignite is another of these coals, and 
 is largely found and used throughout the -Rocky Mountain region, and 
 elsewhere. It is also of more recent origin and formation. It is what is 
 known as carbonized wood, and retains the form of the original wood. 
 Jet is a more compact form of lignite. Alhcrtite is a pitch-like substance 
 found in Albert mine, New Brunswick ; Grahamitc is a similar sub- 
 stance found in West Virginia. Peat is partially carbonized vegetable 
 material imperfect coal formed in boggy or marshy places, and is of 
 quite recent formation is forming now, indeed, in some places. Peat 
 is largely used as fuel, where it is found, the peat-bogs of some countries 
 being noted for their extent and value." 
 
 VII. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA'S COAL-FIELDSANTHRACITE 
 AND BITUMINOUS REGIONS. 
 
 "And now, a few general statements in regard to the Pennsylvania 
 coal fields, which we are to visit. 
 
 As already stated, the Appalachian coal field is the greatest in the 
 world notwithstanding the fact that the area given for the Western field 
 is considerably greater than for the Appalachian, as you must have noticed. 
 But it is not alone the extent of a coal field, but also the number and thick- 
 ness of its beds, and the quality of the coal they contain, which form 
 the basis for estimating its real value ; and it is the possession of the 
 greatest beds of the finest coal which places the Appalachian first in the 
 list of the coal-fields of the world. It is the great beds of the upper or 
 northern part of the great Appalachian field which are especially noted ; 
 and it is these beds of both anthracite and bituminous coals which 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COAL FIELDS. 21 
 
 make Pennsylvania the great coal-producing State of the Union. Let us 
 look first at the bituminous region, as naturally coming before the other 
 anthracite, as has already been stated, being a changed form of bitum- 
 inous coal; both having once belonged to the same widespread beds, 
 though now separated by the Allegheny mountains. 
 
 One of the first points to be noticed one which those of last year's 
 party will recollect is, that the rock strata of Western Pennsylvania, in 
 which part of the State the bituminous coal-beds are located, lie flat and 
 evenly, one upon the other, just as they were originally deposited. This 
 condition of things is found in all bituminous coal fields as indeed over 
 a great part of the globe and is of much importance to coal-workers, 
 as adding to the ease with which the coal can be mined and taken to the 
 surface. A bituminous coal-bed may cover hundreds of miles in one 
 unbroken extent. 
 
 The bituminous coal region covers a large portion of the western 
 part of the State, though the southwestern section contains the most val- 
 uable beds. The reason for this difference in the matter of the coal 
 deposits may be readily explained. Those of you who were among the 
 oil wells of this same region, last winter, will also remember what you 
 saw and were told about the dip of the rock strata, the coal-beds in- 
 cluded how all the strata dip or sink toward the southwest. Suppose, 
 Ned, you see if you can make a picture a diagram showing this dip of 
 the rocks. That's it ; well done, my boy ! I see you have n't forgotten 
 some things learned a year ago, at all events. Here he has shown us 
 this dip, very nicely, so that we can all readily understand the matter. 
 We see the strata getting farther below the surface toward the southwest, 
 
 HOW THE STRATA DIP. 
 
 and coming to the surface and 'running out, ' toward the northeast. Many 
 of the coal-beds which are found in the southwestern corner of the State have 
 thus 'run out' toward the north, and are not found far beyond Pittsburgh. 
 
22 ANTHRACITE AND BITUMINOUS COAL. 
 
 There are, altogether, quite a number of coal-beds some thick, others 
 too thin to be mined lying at various depths. These beds seem to be 
 in two groups, called the upper and lower coal-measures^ separated by a 
 great thickness of other strata containing no coal and therefore called 
 the barren measures. The beds of each group are also separated by 
 various, and often considerable, thicknesses of other strata limestone, 
 sandstone, slate, shales, etc. It is the beds of the lower group or series 
 called the Allegheny series which are found and mined north of Pitts- 
 burgh, the beds of the upper series having ' run out.' From Pittsburgh 
 southward, the beds of the upper, or Monongahela series beginning with 
 what is known as the Pittsburgh bed, as the lowest are being mined now; 
 the beds of the lower series being, on account of the dip, far below the 
 surface and, therefore, not likely to be disturbed until the higher beds 
 have been exhausted. 
 
 Just here it will be well to state that the beds of rock and coal are 
 not everywhere of the same thickness, but may vary, somewhat, in this 
 particular at points but slightly separated. These slight variations are 
 probably due to the washing about of the deposits of sediment, etc., and 
 also especially in the case of the coal-beds to a difference in the depth 
 of the deposits, long ago made. But while these differences may be but 
 slight in any particular locality, there may be very great differences 
 between widely separated parts of the great fields, and especially 
 between the fields themselves. For instance, the thickness of all the 
 rocks of the carboniferous age is 14,570 feet at the Joggins in Nova 
 Scotia, while in Pennsylvania the total thickness is but 9,oooTeet. Again, 
 that portion of the strata of this age which constitute the coal-measures 
 proper, is over 8,000 feet thick in Nova Scotia ; 4,000 feet at the greatest, 
 in Pennsylvania; and from i,ooodown to 100 in the Mississippi valley 
 fields showing a much greater depth of deposits in the East than in the 
 West. 
 
 The great bed known as the Pittsburgh bed, is one of the most 
 valuable coal-beds in the world being of great thickness, of the best 
 quality and of great extent. Beginning in the neighborhood of Pitts- 
 burgh, where the dip has caused it to * run out ' it covers all the south- 
 western part of the State, and extends as far east as Cumberland, 
 Maryland where in the ' Cumberland basin, ' it is 12 to 1 6 feet thick 
 and southward and westward into West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky, 
 varying in thickness in different localities. It appears near the top 
 of the great river hills, opposite Pittsburgh, and can be seen as a black 
 belt along the rocky hill-sides for many miles up the Monongahela river. 
 Above the Pittsburgh bed, in the highlands of the extreme southwestern 
 corner of the State, there are other, but less important beds, which are 
 mined at many places. , 
 
 I think I mentioned a while ago that there were a number of kinds or 
 grades of coal, of each of the two general classes, anthracite and bitum- 
 inous ; just here it may be well to speak of this matter more fully. While 
 
ANALYSIS OF COAL. 23 
 
 all bitumfnous coals, as you have learned, are softer than anthracite, they 
 are not all of equal hardness or softness by any means ; there is a wide 
 range in this particular between the coals of different sections of the same 
 field. The coal of the Monongahela valley, for instance, is quite hard, as 
 compared with coal of the same bed mined in other sections. The coal of 
 the wonderful coke-region is No, no, no, Miss Question-box, I can't do 
 it now; but you'll learn all about coke, and the coke-region, before 
 you're much older, as we shall visit the cokeries in the course of our 
 travels. As I was about to say, the coal of the coke-region is much softer 
 than that just mentioned; and so, throughout the whole region, there 
 are differences in this particular. 
 
 Special names are given to certain kinds of bituminous coal. Cannel 
 coal is what I may call a very fine-grained variety, of a dead black color, 
 that is, having but very little, if any, luster; and I may add, just here, that 
 all coal is more or less lustrous, or 'shiny,' they are diamonds, you 
 know. Cannel coal can be cut with a knife very readily, and if we find 
 any in our travels,you boys may try your jack-knives on it, carving figures 
 or making rings, as I used to do Oh, no, Bess; I haven't any of them 
 now, I'm sorry to tell you. Candle coal was the name really given this 
 variety, on account of the fact that it burned with a candle-like flame, but 
 the Welsh miners pronouncing candle without the d, thus, can'el, it came 
 in time to be called cannel coal. Torbanite is a variety of cannel coal, 
 from Torbane Hill mines, in Scotland. Block coal, found largely in In- 
 diana and neighboring States, and in smaller quantities elsewhere, is of a 
 nature indicated by its name. It is especially valuable to iron-workers, 
 as it does not cake that is, melt and soften in burning, and afterward 
 harden or cake over, and therefore will sustain the great weight of iron, 
 etc., resting upon it, in furnaces. Such coals are known as non-caking 
 coals; while coals that so cake are known as caking or coking- coals. 
 
 By analysis (that is, such a method of examination as will tell us of 
 what a substance is composed how many separate substances it con- 
 tains, and the quantity of each of these) by analysis, the composition of 
 the various grades of coal has* been learned. Let us see what this shows, 
 taking the average composition of a number of specimens of each kind, 
 * and giving the quantity of each separate substance of which coal is com- 
 posed that is, how many parts of each separate substance there are in, 
 say, every 100 parts of coal. Single specimens, from various sections, 
 may differ considerably in their composition ; but we will take the aver- 
 age of a large number of specimens. We have, then, the following : 
 carbon, 65^ parts ; oxygen and hydrogen, 28^ parts ; ash, 6^ parts, 
 as the average composition of the bituminous coals of the region which 
 we are to visit ; other fields will differ from this. Ordinarily, bituminous 
 coal contains from 25 to 35 parts of oxygen and hydrogen gases the vol- 
 atile combustible substances, as they are termed. Some coals contain as 
 much as 50 or 60 parts of oxygen and hydrogen. The larger the quan- 
 tity of these gases, the more combustible, or free-burning, is the coal. 
 
24 PENNSYLVANIA COAL FIELDS. 
 
 The name bituminous is given to this kind of coal because it burns 
 by reason of the tar, oil and gas which it gives off when heated like bitu- 
 men an entirely different substance, not contained in the coal at all. 
 
 Semi-bituminous coal is, as its name indicates, a half-bituminous 
 variety or grade that is, much less like the true bituminous coal of 
 which we have been speaking,and approaching more nearly the anthracite 
 varieties. The average composition of the semi-bituminous coal of Penn- 
 sylvania is: carbon, 72^ parts; oxygen and hydrogen, i6 T 8 /ir parts; ash 
 I0 i%% parts. The semi-bituminous region is situated in the mountainous 
 part of Pennsylvania, between the bituminous and anthracite regions, 
 large quantities of the coal being mined. 
 
 The ash of coals, the part left after the coal is burnt and with which 
 some of you, who help mamma, may think you are entirely too familiar 
 is made up of the impurities contained in the coal, and which are not con- 
 sumed. These impurities are, in part, elements contained in the coal 
 plants themselves silica (mainly), alumina, lime, magnesia, potash, soda, 
 sulphur, oxide of iron, etc., but a very small quantity of some of these 
 being present. Besides, the waters washed into the beds of vegetation 
 earthy matter. Sulphur is the enemy of metal as you may discover 
 by carrying a bit of it in your pocket, among your coins and its presence 
 in some coals is in quantity sufficient to unlit them for use in the 
 working of metals. 
 
 The anthracite region lies east of the Allegheny mountains, in what 
 may be called the central part of the State. As I have already told you, 
 the area of anthracite beds is very small as compared with the bitumin- 
 ous beds. The Pennsylvania region is by far the largest and most valuable 
 of the anthracite fields of the world. There are thirty beds in the anthra- 
 cite region of Pennsylvania, though not all present in any one field. 
 
 In this region the condition of the rock strata is wonderfully different 
 from that noticed in the bituminous region* There, all is order ; here, all 
 is confusion. There, the strata are unbroken, and lie smoothly one 
 upon the other; here, they are broken, crushed, tilted and jammed to- 
 gether, standing upon edge, turned over on their faces, and doubled up in 
 every imaginable way. While the region beyond the mountains has re- 
 mained undisturbed, great earthquakes or other forces have at some time, 
 hough long ago, produced the confusion we here find. In some sections, 
 the strata have been lifted to great heights ; in others, they have been 
 sunken, so as to form great basins, as they are called. The coal-beds, of 
 course, shared in this disturbance, and instead of being found, as in the 
 bituminous regions, spreading out unbrokenly over great areas, they are 
 found in long, narrow, widely separated basins, and at varying and some- 
 times great distances from the surface. There are three great basins or 
 fields; the Northern, the Middle, and the Southern, the middle field be- 
 ing again divided into Eastern Middle and Western Middle. 
 
 The very disturbances which produced this confusion, were largely 
 if not wholly the means of producing the hard anthracite variety of coal 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COAL FIELDS. 25 
 
 changing ft from the bituminous. The coal-beds- being broken up and 
 turned upon edge, in many places, permitted the escape from them of 
 the gases so largely present in bituminous coal, this escape being 
 further helped by the heat and squeezing resulting from the enormous 
 pressure brought to bear upon the beds during the period of disturb- 
 ance and afterwards. The force of the squeezing to which they were 
 
 ROCK STRATA, IN ANTHRACITE REGION. 
 
 subjected, and which has left the coal so hard and compact, is shown by 
 the fact that at some places the coal disappears entirely, the other strata 
 closing together, while in other places the coal-beds swell or bulge to 
 two or three times their usual thickness ! The heat and pressure drove 
 out of the once bituminous coal a large part of its oxygen and hydrogen, 
 leaving it nearly pure carbon our anthracite coal. 
 
 Let us, just here, compare anthracite with the bituminous coal, and 
 learn the extent of the change, as shown by the difference in the quantity 
 of oxygen and hydrogen contained in each. We have already seen that 
 bituminous coal usually contains of oxygen and hydrogen, taken together, 
 from 25 to 35 parts in every 100, and, sometimes, as high as 50 to 60 parts 
 in TOO ; in anthracite these elements have been driven out until there is 
 left but from 2 to 5 parts in 100, in the purest kinds, and but from 10 to 12 
 at the most, in the less pure varieties. Quite'a difference, you see. It is 
 this difference in the quantity of oxygen and hydrogen contained in the 
 coal which makes the marked difference always noticed in the burning 
 the two kinds of coal the bituminous kindling quickly and burning very 
 freely and rapidly, and with a mass of bright yellow flame, so cheerful 
 looking on a cold day; and anthracite both kindling and burning slowly, 
 with but a very feeble, bluish flame. A quantity of bituminous coal, burn- 
 ng so freely and rapidly, is consumed or burned up far more quickly 
 than the slow-burning anthracite. 
 
 As in the case of bituminous coals, so with anthracite there are 
 different qualities or grades of hardness, etc. In the more eastern parts 
 of the region the coal is very hard and flint-like, indeed; this is the purest 
 anthracite. But in the western part of the field it becomes less hard and 
 
26 . PENNSYLVANIA COAL FIELDS. 
 
 more free-burning containing more oxygen and hydrogen ; this is called 
 semi-anthracite. 
 
 The average composition of several specimens of anthracite and semi- 
 anthracite, showing the number of parts in 100 of each substance, as de- 
 termined by a number of analyses, is as follows : 
 
 Anthracite, carbon 89 T W oxygen and hydrogen, 3 T Vff5 ash, 6 T %V 
 
 Semi-anthracite " 82 iW; - "9 i 9 <fa'> u 7 T W 
 
 A single pure specimen may often contain several more parts of carbon ; 
 while the semi-anthracite varieties often run the other way, approaching 
 the composition of the semi-bituminous so closely that it is often hard 
 to distinguish between them. The hardest anthracites contain from 91 
 to 98 parts of carbon. 
 
 The nature of the anthracite region the strata so displaced and 
 broken makes mining operations very different, in many cases, from 
 those of the bituminous region. But we'll go to the mines, that you may 
 see these operations for yourselves; I've told you, now, all the main 
 facts about coal up to the point of the actual mining or digging of it, and 
 as soon as you can get ready say, day after to-morrow we'll be off to 
 the mines visiting first, I think, for a special reason, the anthracite re- 
 gion. Good bye, then, until we meet to start. 
 
 Oh, yes ! hold there, a minute. Here ! come back, everyone of you; 
 I almost forgot to tell you to especially prepare yourselves for certain 
 features of our excursion. Provide yourselves with an extra pair, each, 
 of good stout shoes with heavy soles, or with rubber boots, which would 
 be better ; a coal mine is a bad place for fine leather, you'll find. And 
 bring your waterproof coats and cloaks, too. That's all ; good bye." 
 
 VIII. 
 
 IN THE ANTHRACITE REGION. 
 
 " Well, here we are in the anthracite region and ready for sight-see- 
 ing. As we cannot afford to lose any time, we'll Oh, Miss Inquisitive ! 
 Just hear her! what's that big, queer looking house over there? and 
 what's that odd-looking, big, black hill over yonder? Two questions at 
 once ! Really, young lady, I'm afraid I shall have to give up if you are 
 going to continue at that rate. However, I can answer you this time. 
 The one is a coal breaker, and --hold, hold ! no more questions about it 
 now and the other is a culm or rock dump. We'll learn all about 
 both after a while ; but just now we will give our attention to other matters, 
 for, as I was about to say a moment ago, we have no time to waste, and 
 should make our rounds so as to see and learn the most possible in the 
 least time. 
 
 We might begin, as I think our question-asker, here, would like to 
 have us, with what we see first, on the surface the breakers, etc., but 
 
IN THE ANTHRACITE REGION. 27 
 
 these things, as you will find, really come, in order, last instead of first. 
 The breakers are for the preparation of coal for market, but of course it 
 can't be so prepared until it is taken from the beds ; and so all the opera- 
 tions of opening a mine and digging the coal must go before the use of the 
 breaker. We'll follow the natural order of operations and thus reach the 
 breakers and culm dumps by and by. 
 
 It being so late, now, we will not go into any of the mines to-day, but 
 making an early start in the morning, we will put in perhaps, the whole 
 day under ground. What ! afraid ? Oh, but it will never do to come so 
 far to see the coal mines and then have to say, when you get home again, 
 that you only saw them on the outside. It is true that a coal mine is a 
 place full of danger of many kinds ; and I never should so much as think 
 of taking you into one. trusting only to my own knowledge of such a 
 place, to take you through it a-nd bring you out again in safety. But we 
 will put ourselves under the care of the 'mine boss,' or some other per- 
 son who may be given charge of us, and I trust we shall have both an en- 
 joyable and profitable underground experience. We will spend, now, a 
 few hours in visiting some of the works, or collieries, as they are called, 
 and arrange for our tour of to-morrow at the same time picking up, no 
 doubt, some valuable bits of information by the way. 
 
 Suppose we go first to that one over there the one whose breaker 
 caught Miss Inquisitive's eye so quickly. It seems, viewed from here, to 
 be a shaft or slope col At it again, I declare ! However, y.our question 
 is a fair one, and one that must be answered, not alone for your benefit, 
 but for that also of the whole party. I will not answer it now, however, 
 further than to say that the openings made in the earth to enable the 
 miners to get at the coal have different names according to the how they 
 are made ; ' shaft' and ' slope,' the words just used, being the names of 
 two kinds of such openings. A full explanation would bring up other 
 points connected with the same matter, so I will not undertake it now ; 
 but we will devote the evening to a talk about these things. 
 
 Well, here we are at the colliery. Ah ! look yonder ; see that group 
 of grimy, black-faced men, just coming from the doorway. They are the 
 miners, or colliers, who dig the coal from the beds, hundreds of them 
 often working in the same mine. These have just been brought up from 
 the workings, below, having finished their turn, and are now going home. 
 They are drawn up, where the opening into the mines is steep, as here 
 this being a shaft in what is called a 'cage,' a certain number only being 
 brought up at a time. I believe ten is the greatest number the law allows 
 to be brought up at one time. Look ! there is another group now. Ha, 
 ha, young lady, that's good ! How these men would laugh if I should tell 
 them your question. Those little things on the front of the miners' hats 
 and caps, and which ' look so much like litttle coffee-pots,' ha, ha ! are 
 lamps. Each miner carries his lamp, securely fastened to his hat, the 
 light from which is all he has to enable him to see to work. They have 
 just blown them out upon reaching the surface ; but had you been at the 
 
28 IN THE ANTHRACITE REGION. 
 
 bottom of the shaft and have seen these men coming through the long 
 passageways of the mine, I just know you'd have had a question or two 
 about a torchlight procession. 
 
 This building here, part of which is placed over the opening into the 
 mines the shaft is where the machinery is placed which is used to raise 
 and lower, by means of strong steel wire ropes or cables, the cages carry- 
 ing the men, as also the mine cars which are brought up full of coal, and 
 are sent down again empty, after another load. Let us take a peep in- 
 side. Here is the powerful steam engine and over there is the winding 
 machinery those big iron cylinders, or drums, as they are called, around 
 which you see the wire cable wrapped or coiled. Tap ! tap ! tap ! goes 
 the gong-bell ; that's were you scared, Bess ? that's to signal the engin- 
 eer that is, to tell him what to do, a man at the bottom of the shaft hav- 
 ing tapped the bell by pulling a wire which runs all the way down. Now 
 see ! the engineer has started the machinery. Do you notice that the 
 cattle is winding itself around one drum while it is unwinding and spin- 
 ning off the other ? I hadn't told you yet that the opening or shaft has 
 places for the passage up and down of two cages or mine-cars at once ; 
 this is the case, and while the cable winding around this drum is bringing 
 up a full cage, the unwinding of that on the other drum is letting an 
 empty one down. Ah ! there it comes but not a rage- with men this 
 time, but a car loaded with great, rough lumps of coal. Away it goes, now, 
 off to the big breaker building but we will not follow it. Here is an 
 empty car to take its place, you see. The engineer is reversing the machin- 
 ery, so that the winding and unwinding will change about on the drums 
 this time. Tap ! tap ! tap ! goes the bell again the man at the bottom 
 tells the man at the top that he is ready. Around go the big drums 
 again this one unwinding with the empty car ; the other, winding and 
 drawing up the full one, this time. And so it goes on all the time. Let us 
 go, now, to yonder colliery, and then around to our home or what we 
 shall call our home, for the present. \Ve must hurry, too, as it will take 
 us half an hour to reach the colliery ; and this, with the time we may 
 spend there, will occupy what time we yet have before starting home. 
 
 Quite a tramp that, wasn't it? It was a longer one than I thought it 
 would be, and has taken us much more than half an hour to make it, I 
 find. We will, then, have but little time to spend here. This, I notice, 
 seems to be even a more busy place than the one we have just left. By 
 the way, we have not made our arrangements for to-morrow's trip ; this 
 should be done this evening yet, if possible, so that we shall lose no time 
 in the morning with such matters. Wait here a few minutes, watching 
 the miners coming and going, while I call upon the superintendent and 
 learn whether we may be allowed to visit the mines here, to-morrow, or 
 must try some other colliery. 
 
 Good news for you, youngsters ! We are to be kindly permitted to 
 go down into the workings to-morrow, and will have in charge of us a 
 man familiar with every part of the mine, and who will be instructed to let 
 us take our own time at sight seeing. Now for home." 
 
DRIFTS AND TUNNELS. 29 
 
 IX. 
 
 DRIFTS AND TUNNELS. 
 
 "Let's see ! there's some work laid out for us for this evening, isn't 
 there? Well, gather round the fire here, and we will get at it. Oh ! by 
 the way, some of you never have seen an anthracite fire, I believe. 
 Come close, then, and see how anthracite burns, as shown by the fire in 
 this big stove. There is very little flame you see, and that flickering and 
 blueish in color. This notice, also, is where the coal is just kindling, or 
 has been burning but a little while ; out here, however, where the coal 
 has been burning for some time, it no longer gives off any flame. No 
 smoke is made either, you notice, a great point of difference between 
 anthracite and bituminous coal fires. The coals lie there bright and red, 
 it is true, but dead-like, it seems, to one acustomed to deal with the 
 free-burning, roaring, bituminous coal fires, especially as seen in the 
 open fire-places or grates. Anthracite, I may state, is not suited for 
 open grates, as is bituminous coal, though sometimes so burned ; and 
 so, wherever it is used, stoves for heating as well as stoves for cooking, 
 are in general use. While users of bituminous coal love their roaring, 
 cheerful open fires, those who use the anthracite enjoy some advantages 
 which the others, with their roaring fires, do not. The anthracite fires 
 do not require so much attention as do those of the other kind, in the 
 way of replenishing, a small quantity of anthracite continuing to give 
 out heat long after an equal quantity of the other kind would have 
 burned up and died out. Indeed, many anthracite heating stoves are 
 made as is this one, I see, to be self-feeding, and enough coal is put in 
 at one time to last all day. The coal is put in at the top, filling that 
 cylinder you see running down inside, and as the coal burns be- 
 low, fresh supplies from the cylinder reach the fire. These fancy col- 
 ored lights set in the stove are thin plates of mica, which are not af- 
 fected by the heat. Besides enabling one to see the fire through them, 
 thus saving the opening of doors, they add to the appearance of the 
 stoves, and also give the room a more cheerful appearance than do those 
 made without them. In the matter of cheerfulness, however, the bitum- 
 inous people, as we might call them, certainly have the advantage. But 
 to partially offset this, again, the anthracite people are free from the 
 clouds of black smoke and soot, which fill the air where bituminous coal 
 is burned. 
 
 But now to our work the promised explanations. Miss Inquisitive 
 wants to and, of course, you all want to know something about 
 
30 DRIFTS AND TUNNELS. 
 
 shafts and slopes. Well, I will try to explain in regard to these things, 
 then, but beginning, however, with some other points which should first 
 be considered. 
 
 First, then, I would say that the coal operators the individuals or 
 companies owning the collieries, secure the coal territory in much the 
 same way that the oil operators secure their territory, as explained last 
 year to some of you that is, by buying or leasing the land containing 
 the coal-beds. But the coal operator enjoys a great advantage over the 
 oil operator in the certainty of finding what he is after. The oil man can 
 only hope, or, at the most, expect, to find oil in the land he has bought 
 or leased, since there cannot be any certainty of its existence there ; but 
 the extent of the coal-beds is so well defined, in general, that in securing 
 territory for mining: purposes, the operators know that their land con- 
 tains coal. But the expense of opening up a mine and of taking out the 
 coal, far exceeds that of sinking an oil well and securing the oil if there 
 happens to be any at that point to secure. It requires a large amount of 
 money for the erection of the necessary buildings, the purchase of ma- 
 chinery, coal cars, etc., the opening of the mine by a shaft, or in some 
 other way, and to pay the large number of miners and other workmen that 
 must always be employed. In the caseof oil operations, the expense after 
 the well is completed is but small the well perhaps flowing of itself at a 
 wonderful rate for a long time, and after this ceases requires but one man 
 to keep the pump going. But in mining, while the expense of opening 
 the mine and getting everything ready to handle the coal produced is 
 very great, indeed, yet the expense does not end here, by any im.-uns. 
 The coal does not flow out of itself, hundreds or thousands of dollars 
 worth of it a day when the bed is reached; oh, no; it can only be even 
 then secured at a great cost of time, labor and money, as we shall see. 
 As large capital is thus required, the business of mining is, for the most 
 part, in the hands of wealthy companies, who own, or have leased, large 
 tracts of coal land. 
 
 The cost of opening and operating a colliery depends upon several 
 things, but more largely than anything else upon the position of the coal- 
 bed or beds to be opened up, requiring this or that kind of an opening 
 to be made to reach the coal to be mined. You see how rough and 
 rugged the country is, and you have been shown too, how the rock and 
 coal-beds are twisted and wrinkled and jumbled up ; in some places 
 being flat, in others standing on edge, or doubled back upon themselves, 
 and so on. All this affects the cost of operating a colliery. 
 
 Let us see, then, how mines are opened up which will soon bring 
 us to the answer to Miss Inquisitive's question. There are four ways of 
 opening a mine, each of which we will examine, beginning with the one 
 .the least difficult and expensive. With some of these we may not meet 
 in this locality, however, perhaps not at all, during our brief stay in the 
 anthracite region. This being the case, the present explanation should 
 be listened to the more carefully. 
 
DRIFTS AND TUNNELS. 31 
 
 The method to be employed in the opening of a mine is not always 
 a matter of choice on the part of the owners, but is indicated by the po- 
 sition of the coal-bed or beds in relation to the surface of the land em- 
 braced within the territory of the company. The conditions may vary 
 so much in adjoining properties as to require a different plan of opera- 
 ^ions in each. The simplest and cheapest form of opening, and the one 
 employed wherever possible, is what is called the drift. Drift mining, 
 however, is possible only where the coal-bed is flat, or nearly so, and 
 ' crops out ' along a hillside. What do I mean by ' out crop ?' Why, the 
 'out crop ' of a coal-bed, or of any rock bed, is where it appears along 
 the face or side of a hill. It Here, Nell, hand me that piece of paper ; 
 Ned, lend me your pencil. Now, I'll show you what I mean. Here we 
 have a hill. Now, I'll make some rock strata, and just here I'll make a 
 coal-bed making it ' black as coal,' as the boys say. Now, where the 
 rock and coal-beds show on the side of the hill, as you see they do, they 
 
 DRIFT " MINE. 
 
 are said to ' crop out. ' They may not always be seen thus cropping out, 
 as they are generally covered with a thin coat of soil where the hill is not 
 very steep ; but along steep hillsides, where the soil cannot gather to 
 hide them, they can be seen that is, their edges just as you may have 
 seen them in cuts and quarries. 
 
 Since I have this picture, I may as well use it to explain more clearly 
 drift mining. Here, then, on the side of the hill, where the coal crops 
 out here at the left, Bess the opening would be made right into the 
 coal-bed, or ' seam,' as it is commonly called, and carried back along it 
 into the hill. I'll rub out the pencil mark, along here, and the white 
 streak made in our coal-bed will show how far back the mining has been 
 carried on. Oh, no ; the mining is not carried on along just a single 
 opening, but branches out from it, right and left as we shall see to-mor- 
 roW. The coal in such a mine can be hauled right out, in little cars, by 
 horses or mules, without the use of the expensive winding machinery we 
 saw in operation this afternoon ; tracks upon which the cars run being laid 
 on the bottom or floor of the mine. Right here we will put the breaker, 
 which is always as near the mouth of the mine as the nature of the ground 
 will permit. There! now we have a very fair representation of a drift 
 
32 DRIFTS AND TUNNELS. 
 
 mine. Much of the earlier mining in the anthracite region was done in 
 this way ; but not much of it is now done, as nearly all the coal that 
 could be so reached has already been taken out. 
 
 Our picture does not, of course, show us what a mine is like inside ; 
 this we will see to-morrow. I will say, here, however, that the opening 
 into a mine, as well as all the other openings throughput the mine the 
 gangways, airways, breasts Hold ! hold ! one at a time, and I'll try to 
 answer you. No ; I won't, either. We'll leave these questions unan- 
 swered for the present and go straight ahead with the matter already 
 in hand. To a greater or less extent, in different localities, all important 
 openings made in the coal seams, by mining the coal, must be ' tim- 
 bered 'that is, have great numbers of strong posts set up and beams 
 otherwise placed, to hold up the roof or sides. In some mines the roof 
 may be of such a nature as to need no propping in some places ; but as 
 a rule, timbering is necessary. To leave the roof unsupported, would be 
 
 ' Tl NNKI." MINI-,. 
 
 to have it constantly falling down, killing or injuring the miners 
 and blocking up the mines. In such an opening as this I have shown, 
 as in other similar passages, a row of heavy posts lines each side, while 
 heavy beams rest upon the upper ends, running ' cross ways ' of the open- 
 ing. Other lighter timbers or planks are placed behind the posts and on 
 top of the cross-beams, (running lengthwise, that is,) and thus the roof 
 and sides are kept in place. 
 
 Now for another kind of opening the tunnel. As in drift mining, 
 the opening is made from the side of the hill, but it is made not in the 
 coal seam, but in the rocks, through which it is carried in order to reach 
 the coal, which is so situated that a drift opening cannot be made. Let 
 me make another picture in order to show you how the coal-bed lies 
 where a tunnel, instead of a drift, opening must be made. The coal, 
 you see, does not lie flat, or nearly so, as in the drift mine I have 
 just pictured, but runs that's it, exactly, Nell 'every which way.' Now 
 in such a case, an opening would be made here at the right and carried 
 in through the rocks until the coal seam would be struck just here. 
 
SLOPES AND SHAFTS. 33 
 
 From this point mining would be carried on, an opening being made 
 through the coal and the work extended to each side. The tunnel 
 would also be carried further ahead until the coal would again be struck 
 here and mining would then be commenced at this point. The tun- 
 nel would again be driven forward, and at each point where it struck 
 the coal, mining operations would be begun the coal being hauled out 
 through the tunnel to the breaker. These white spaces in the coal seam 
 show where the coal has been taken out, as in this other picture no 
 mining having been done in the solid black sections appearing between 
 the ends of the white spaces. Where the coal-beds lie about as here 
 shown, tunneling is the best way to reach them. 
 
 In neither drift nor tunnel workings is it necessary to use machinery 
 in hauling the coal from the mines. We come now, however, to open- 
 ings of another kind those through which the coal can be taken out 
 only by the use of machinery. Such openings are either slopes or shafts. 
 And now for the answer to Miss Inquisitive's question ; poor girl ! how 
 long she has been waiting for it ! " 
 
 x. 
 
 'SLOPES" AND "SHAFTS." 
 
 "Slopes and shafts are necessary where the coal-beds are found, not 
 in the hills, but deeper ; that is, at a considerable depth beneath the gen- 
 eral surface of the land, and can only be reached by sinking an opening 
 to them. The points of difference between a slope and a shaft we will 
 now consider. 
 
 A slope opening is made where a coal-bed, while lying, in general, 
 some distance below the surface, is, by reason of an upward turn of the 
 strata, brought to the surface, or very close to it, at least, at some point 
 on the company's property. It is at this point that the opening the 
 slope is made. It is made in the coal-rocks having to be passed 
 through for a short distance at the top, in some instances, however, and 
 runs directly down the sloping seam, the name slope being, therefore, 
 exactly descriptive of its general character. One or more railway tracks 
 are laid on the bottom of the slope, and the coal as it is mined, far out on 
 either side, is put into cars and drawn to the surface by hoisting, or wind- 
 ing machinery, as it is called, such as we have already seen. I will make 
 a picture of a slope, also ; there, that will do. This white streak repre- 
 sents the slope, of course. Away down here, you see, I have made the 
 coal-bed nearly flat, as it may be for some distance before again rising. 
 
 The pitch or slant of a slope will depend, of course, upon the steep- 
 ness of the dip of the coal seam down which it runs. In some mines the 
 3 
 
34 
 
 SHAFTS AND SLOPES. 
 
 slope is very steep, indeed, while in others it has but a slight pitch, and 
 the miners can readily walk up and down it. How high ? Usually about 
 seven feet between the railway tracks and the roof-timbers ; sometimes 
 more, however. Slopes, as a rule, require most substantial timbering 
 sides and roof throughout. They are, too, divided into three or more 
 compartments throughout their whole length. Two of these compart- 
 ments have tracks laid in them, being used for the drawing up of the coal, 
 etc. The third compartment is occupied, in part, by the pump pipes 
 used in keeping the mine free from water, and by other fixtures, in some 
 instances. It is used at some collieries as an airway, also. 
 
 . We now come to the fourth kind of opening, the shaft. Shaft col- 
 lieries are the most expensive of all. But there is no help for it; in many 
 places if the coal is to be taken out at all, it must be through a shaft. 
 
 "SLOPS" MINE. 
 
 Shaft openings, then, are made where the coal-beds lie beneath the sur. 
 face, and without coming close to it at any point, as it does where slopes 
 are made. Much of the coal is thus situated, lying at different depths, 
 in different localities. A shaft differs from a slope in that it is sunk ver- 
 tically* or, as we commonly say, straight down instead of slanting; 
 also in that it is, of necessity, sunk through the rock strata, until the coal 
 seam is reached, instead of in the coal seam itself. I will make a picture 
 of such a colliery, also. Here is the coal-bed, lying, say 500 feet from 
 the surface. Here is the shaft, running down through the rocks overly- 
 ing the coal. When the shaft has been sunk down into the coal, open- 
 ings are made in the seam at each side, as in the other instances, and 
 mining is begun, the coal being lifted from the mine through the shaft by 
 
 * In the anthracite region, " shaft " is understood to mean such a vertical opening. In 
 some other localities the name is given to a sloping opening similar, in general, to the " slope " 
 of the anthracite region (as already described), but sunk of necessity entirely in rock to the 
 deep-lying coal, instead of down the sloping coal seam itself. 
 
SHAFTS AND SLOPES. 
 
 35 
 
 the heavy and powerful machinery at the top. These white spaces, as 
 before, show the extent of the ' workings ' where the coal has been mined. 
 A shaft may be made to reach several beds, at different depths, of course, 
 and mining be done in each. 
 
 How large? Oh, of various sizes. They are from 10 to 12 feet wide, 
 but vary greatly in length, according to the number of compartments it is 
 desired to have. For two compartments they are from 16 to 20 feet 
 wide ; for three compartments, 22 to 26 feet ; 30 to 38 for four; and 44 to 
 52 for the extra large ones having six compartments ; only a few, how- 
 ever, are made of these large sizes. Where two hoisting compartments 
 are used, one is for an up, and the other a down cage, as you already 
 know, the same' openings being used for the hoisting of both men and 
 coal. As one of the laws of the state, for the protection of miners, forbids 
 the hoisting or lowering of more than ten men at a time, and as no coal 
 
 " SHAFT" MINE. 
 
 may be raised during the time of the passage of the men, up or down, a 
 loss of one or two hours of coal hoisting every day is occasioned by the 
 coming and going of the miners and other workmen. This loss is pre- 
 vented in the case of large shafts with four or more compartments; one of 
 them being used for the men and two for coal exclusively. Others are 
 used as airways, etc. The quantity of coal, by the way, which some ol 
 the largest collieries put out, is very large a thousand or more tons per 
 day. To do this, the cages are kept fairly flying up and down the shaft 
 as rapidly as an express train ! a wonderful contrast to the methods em- 
 ployed and the results obtained, by our grandfathers. 
 
 Dig them ? Oh, no, excepting at the top where soil and clay cover 
 the rocks. Shafts, slopes and all the openings I have mentioned are 
 made by blasting. Deep holes, an inch or two in diameter, are sunk into 
 the rock by means of drills, (bars of steel, with an edge at one end, or 
 machines which are made to bore into the rock,) and these holes are filled 
 with powder which is then exploded, blowing loose the rock or coal. In 
 
$6 SHAFTS AND SLOPES. 
 
 shaft-sinking a method of deep drilling has been employed successfully. 
 A large number of holes, distributed over the surface embraced within 
 the shaft, are drilled by means of machinery to a depth of 200 or 300 feet. 
 
 and are then filled with sand. When 
 a shot is to be made, five or six feet of 
 the sand is taken from each hole, and 
 the space left is filled with powder, 
 which is exploded at the same instant 
 in all the holes. When the broken 
 rock has been removed, another shot 
 is fired, and so on to the bottom of the 
 holes. The depth of shafts, here, is 
 from 400 to 600 feet; 800 in some other 
 places; while a depth of nearly 1,600 
 feet has been found necessary in some 
 localities. These depths, you will un- 
 derstand, represent the distance of the 
 coal-ln-ds be-low UK- surface, in differ- 
 ent plact-s. 
 
 Tin- opening of miiu-^, i-sprrially by 
 means of large shafts, is very slow and 
 expensive work, 200 to 300 feet per 
 year being ordinarily the depth made. 
 Hut besides the main opening, a law 
 of the state makes it necessary that a 
 set ond opening he made at a distance 
 of not less than 150 feet from the first. 
 This is for the protection of tin- miners, 
 logivr them a double chance to escape 
 in case of accidents, explosions, fires, 
 etc., in the mine. These second open- 
 ings, however, are smaller than the 
 main ones. Some shafts, because of 
 the nature of the rocks through which 
 they pass, require complete timbering. 
 Inside this are placed, running from top 
 to bottom, the strong wooden ' guides' 
 against which the sides of the cages 
 rest, sliding up and down. Where 
 complete timbering is not required, 
 timbers or beams are placed across 
 the opening, the ends resting in niches 
 or pockets cut into the walls of rock, and to these the guides for the 
 cages are made fast. 
 
 You notice that I have made the white spaces representing the work- 
 ings in the heart of the coal seam ; perhaps I should explain in regard to 
 
 YE OLDEN TIME. 
 
SHAFTS AND SLOPES. 37 
 
 the location of the main openings, and of others inside the mines. The 
 beds which are now being mined are the best in the anthracite region 
 the greatest in thickness. There are about thirty coal-beds or seams in 
 the anthracite region, although only part of them may be found in any one 
 of the great basins. These beds range in thickness from the very light 
 or shallow ones, not now made use of, to the great Mammoth bed, which 
 at different points is from 30 to 50 and even 60 feet thick. At some 
 points this bed is completely doubled back upon itself, giving TOO feet of 
 coal in one thickness. But the coal-beds are very seldom 
 composed entirely of coal, but are divided up into parts of 
 various thickness by seams or * partings ' of dirt, slate, 
 bone, ' as it is called, etc. These partings, which in 
 thickness are from an inch or less, in some instances, to a 
 foot or more, in others, make the refuse material, or 'gob,' 
 in mining, and give no direct return in money for the 
 expense incurred in digging and handling it. However, 
 a heavy parting in a thick coal-bed is often a very great 
 help to mining operations. The separate parts of a coal- 
 bed thus divided, are called ' benches ' and it is much 
 more easy to mine out one bench after another, between 
 the partings, than it would be to take out a great thick- 
 ness of coal without such partings. 
 
 These partings usually make up, as taken together, a 
 considerable portion of the thickness of a coal-bed, and 
 often much of the coal in a bed may be left untouched at 
 the bottom or the top, as the case may be, because it is so 
 divided by these ' dirt ' seams as to make it unprofitable 
 to mine it. In driving the main openings in the very 
 thick beds, they may be made at the bottom, or higher, 
 as mining experience shows to be the most advantageous 
 under the circumstances surrounding each case the coal 
 lying higher being taken out, later, as the work goes on, 
 opening out at each side. Where the beds are not too 
 deep, the whole thickness of good coal from floor to roof 
 is taken out at the one operation, as is commonly the 
 case in the bituminous regions. 
 
 Now I have explained the various methods of opening 
 a mine, so far as the making of the main opening, from 
 which others branch, and through which all the coal is 
 brought to the surface, is concerned. But it is through the other openings, 
 gangways, etc., alluded to a while ago, that the great body of the coal 
 is reached and taken out. As it is yet early, let us learn something 
 about these other openings and how the coal is mined, so as to become 
 somewhat familiar, in a sense, with these matters, before seeing them to- 
 morrow. The less time spent in explanations at each point, the more we 
 can see in a certain time, you know." 
 
3 8 GANGWAYS, SHUTES, HEADINGS, BREASTS, ETC. 
 
 XI. 
 
 PLAN OF "WORKINGS" GANGWAYS, SHUTES, 
 HEADINGS, BREASTS, ETC. 
 
 "When the opening, of whatever kind, has been carried far enough 
 for the purpose, the work of extending the mine, on each side of the open- 
 ing, is begun. The principal opening of those within the mine, and the 
 one first made, after the shaft or slope has been carried far enough, is the 
 gangway. It is carried off from the shaft or slope on each side, nearly 
 level, and extends far out through the coal. It is the passageway for the 
 bringing of all the coal mined throughout a large part of the seam to tin- 
 shaft or slope, tp be raised to the surface. It is the main street, we may 
 lay, of the mine, into which all the travrl and traffic of the side and cross 
 streets is carried. It must, therefore, be made wide enough, high enough 
 and level enough, to accommodate this travel and traffic, and must be 
 well protected, where necessary, from being blockaded by the failing of 
 the roof or sides. It is, then, usually made from 9 to 10 feet high, and 
 from 10 to 14 feet wide, at the bottom, or floor, of the mine. The sides 
 slope inward toward the top, which is, then, of course, less wide than 
 the bottom, or from 9 to 10 feet. Timbering in some gangways is needed 
 on both sides and at the top ; in others, especially where the coal-bed 
 dips steeply, the upper side only, or the upper side and roof, will need 
 such support. But whenever and however used, the timbering must be 
 heavy and well built in, as it is of the greatest importance, as you can 
 see, to keep the gangway from being obstructed by falls of coal or slate, 
 which would, if they occurred, stop all travel through the gangway and stop 
 also a great part of the work, inside and outside, until the track should 
 be cleared for the passage of the mine cars, again. For some distance on 
 each side of the slope, as we will say it Is, the gangway is made wider, to 
 give room for the passage of the cars, loaded and empty, which center 
 here from all parts of the mine the loaded ones to be raised, the empty 
 ones as sent down to be carried back into the mine, to be again filled. This 
 wider part is called the 'turn-out.' Double-track gangways are some- 
 times made, which are, of course, wider than the kind I am describing 
 single-tracks which is more generally employed. 
 
 The gangway is made, or driven, we will say, by blasting the coal 
 as is the case with other passageways. Either the upper part a ' bench ' 
 it may be, above a dirt or slate parting is first removed, by blasting with 
 
GANGWAYS, SHUTES, HEADINGS, BREASTS, ETC. 39 
 
 powder, again and again, and the lower part afterward blown up; or, the 
 lower part is first blasted out for a short distance, and the upper part is 
 then blown down. 
 
 Ah, Miss Inquisitive, here you come again. Want to know how long 
 a gangway is, eh ? Well, that's a very innocent question, to be sure, and 
 one which I will answer for you, straightway. Gangways vary in length, 
 and for more than one reason. First, the length must be limited by the 
 extent of the territory owned or leased by the company operating the 
 colliery. They must not, of course, be carried across the line into the 
 coal of a neighboring company, as one at a time ! please, one at a time ! 
 even if you do all ask the same question. Yes, indeed, the company 
 knows perfectly well just when it has reached the limit of its land, as 
 measured on the surface, though the 
 surface may be hundreds of feet above. 
 How? you all ask. Well, in the seam 
 way, in general, that measurements 
 are made and distances found at the 
 surface by surveying. Underground 
 surveying? Yes, indeed ; and it is so 
 successfully and accurately done that 
 the limits of the company's coal-beds 
 are found to a nicety. But to proceed : 
 In the second place, a gangway is lim- 
 ited in length by the nature of the roof 
 and sides, and the expense necessary 
 to keep them up, and the track clear. 
 Where the roof is of such a nature that 
 but little if any trouble and expense is 
 incurred in keeping a gangway open, 
 it may be carried several miles from 
 the shaft or other opening ; but in 
 other cases, where the roof is so poor 
 as to be a continual source of annoy- 
 ance, requiring much outlay for repairs, 
 in order to keep a gangway open, throughout a great length, the distance 
 to which the gangway is carried is much less than under different circum- 
 stances perhaps not more than a mile, if so far. In such a case, a new 
 slope or other opening may be made, and new gangways started, as being 
 less expensive, and otherwise preferable to keeping a long gangway open 
 under such difficulties. 
 
 But we are ' ahead of developemnts, ' as the oil men say of the 
 'wild-cat' operations. Long before the gangway has reached such 
 distances as those mentioned, indeed, before it has been carried more 
 than a comparatively short distance from the slope, other openings are 
 being made. You all know how necessary it is for you to have air, fresh 
 air, and plenty of it. Well, the miners are just like you and everybody else, 
 
 DRIVING" A GANGWAY. 
 
40 GANGWAYS, SHUTES, HEADINGS, BREASTS, ETC. 
 
 in this respect. They must have fresh air, and enough of it. But hundreds 
 of feet below the ground fresh air is not to be had for the asking, or the 
 taking as here above ground ; in fact, it is not to be had at all, we may 
 say, under ordinary circumstances. To overcome this difficulty, and to 
 make the air of mines such that men can work in comfort, so far as 
 breathing is concerned, fresh air is sent down the mine from the top, and 
 carried in airways to every part of the mine. The airway is not nearly 
 so large as the gangway. One of the mine laws of the state says that it 
 must not be less than 20 square feet in area, which would be 4 feet one 
 way and 5 feet the other ; but they are commonly made even larger than 
 this, I believe, by considerate and careful mine owners. The air is forced 
 down in the mine from the top by immense fans wheels with blades or 
 wings to gather the air. At the bottom, it follows the airways made for 
 it. The airway is usually made alongside the gangway, and rather at its 
 top, and on the upper side, when the coal seam dips. As the air is to be 
 carried to the farther end, and then made to flow back through all the 
 parts of the mine where the miners are at work, it is necessary to confine 
 it, to prevent it from mingling with the air in the gangway, or other 
 openings ; a certain quantity of it, only, being allowed to get into the 
 gangway, through holes made for the purpose. To thus confine the air, 
 the side of the gangway is made air-tight by planking it. This plank par- 
 tition is called a ' brattice. ' The airway is carried back along each gang- 
 way, as the gangway is extended. 
 
 To get at the main body of the coal, other passages and openings 
 are made, some running off from the gangway at a right angle to it, and 
 others connecting these again, running parallel with the gangway. To 
 help you understand the arrangement of these openings, 1 think I would 
 better make you a picture of the inside of a mine, showing tlu-sr 
 openings. While I am drawing it, you may talk, or sing, or play, as you 
 please. 
 
 Here, now, is our picture representing a slope colliery', and one in 
 which work has been carried on for quite a long while, already. This is 
 the slope running down here, the center of the workings ; you see I 
 have marked it, as well as some of the other openings. This is the 
 surface where the coal crops out up here, at the right; and the breaker 
 and other buildings would be placed just here. Over here, and run- 
 ning parallel with the slope, from the surface, is an airway smaller than 
 the slope you see. These large white spaces, here, one on either side of 
 the slope, are old workings where the coal has been taken out, the 
 work now being carried on farther down the seam. 
 
 Of this matter of workings, let me speak more fully. Mining carried 
 on as I have here shown it, is called 'lift '-mining. When the slope has 
 been carried down, say, 100 yards from the surface, (it may be from 75 to 
 125 yards in different collieries,) a gangway is opened out on each side, 
 and the coal is taken out on the upper side of the gangway, toward the 
 top ; this is called tf\e first lift. I have shown the first lift here, as having 
 
GANGWAYS, SHUTES, HEADINGS, BREASTS, ETC. 41 
 
42 GANGWAYS, SHUTES, HEADINGS, BREASTS, ETC. 
 
 been finished, the coal all having been taken out, as you see, except- 
 ing this row of nearly square blocks, along here. These blocks are 
 called stumps gangway stumps and are left to hold up the roof of the 
 mine, in order to prevent a 'crush ' or 'squeeze.' No, not now ; I'll tell 
 you about these things at another time. Here is the gangway, you see, 
 between the stumps and this thick strip of coal on the lower side. The 
 gangway, you see, extends on either side, to the limit of my picture, 
 which we will suppose is also the limit of the company's property in these 
 directions. 
 
 Here, again, another 100 yards lower, we find other workings the 
 second lift. The thick strip of coal left unmined between the first and 
 second lifts, and which, I may add, is always left between any 'two lifts or 
 workings, is called the chain pillar. It is of considerable thickness, and 
 is left to firmly support the roof; if taken out a 'crush' or 'squee/r' 
 would follow, perhaps destroying the whole or a very great portion, at 
 least, of the workings throughout the mine. You notice, too, that similar 
 strips of coal, though not so thick as the chain pillars, are left standing 
 along the sides of the slope, between it and the workings. These are 
 called slope pillars, and protect the slope from lx in- rlosrd by the 
 falling of the roof, assisting the chain pillars in preventing serious ac- 
 cidents of this kind. A strip of coal is also left above the first lift, next 
 to the surface, as you see. 
 
 Let us examine the workings here, in the second lift. First, here is 
 the gangway, at the lower side. Ha ! ha ! you couldn't stand it any 
 longer, young lady; could you? I know you must be fairly aching to 
 ask me about those white and black patches, as you call them. \\V11, 
 I'll satisfy your curiosity, at once. These are the other side openings to 
 which I alluded a few moments ago. The gangway having been carried 
 back some distance from the slope, in opening up a new lift, the mining 
 of the coal on the upper side is begun the gangway, at the same time 
 being driven still further back. When I say 'upper side,' I mean upper side ; 
 in this picture, the side to the right. Always keep in mind the fact that 
 we are now speaking, not of a flat coal-bed, but of a tilted or pitching 
 one, the slope coming down the seam, like a road down a hill, and the 
 gangways running the other way, like roads running along the side of the 
 hill. The gangway is made at the lower side of a lift to save labor in 
 handling the coal, after it is mined ; the coal being taken out above the 
 gangway further up the hill, we will say it is allowed to slide down 
 along the floor of the workings into the cars standing in the gangway to 
 receive it. If the gangway were made at the upper side, with the work- 
 ings below, all the coal, as mined, would have to be raised up, instead of 
 sliding down of itself, as now, to be put into the gangway cars. A vast 
 amount of labor is saved, then, you see, by following the plan first 
 described, and which, I think, you all understand. 
 
 All the coal on the upper side of the gangways is not taken out, as 
 you can see by the picture. Strips of coal, as pillars or stumps, must be 
 
GANGWAYS, SHUTES, HEADINGS, BREASTS, ETC. 43 
 
 left at certain distances throughout a mine to keep up the roof. The 
 gangway itself must be so protected ; and so a considerable thickness of 
 coal, 6 to 12 yards, is left at the upper side. The real workings, then, do 
 not begin at the gangway, but at another smaller opening, running 
 parallel with the gangway, at the upper side of the strip of coal to be left 
 standing along the gangway. This opening is the heading here and 
 is usually 4 to 6 feet wide and 6 feet high. From this are opened up the 
 breasts or rooms in which the real mining is done. But as the coal 
 mined is to go to the cars in the gangway sliding down, as I have stated 
 there must be openings, corresponding with each breast, made in the 
 strip of coal between the gangway and heading, through which the loose 
 coal can pass. These openings are called shutes, and are made 4 to 6 
 feet wide and 4 feet high. Here they are, these narrow openings which 
 connect the gangway and heading, and in some of which I have made an 
 S for shute. By means of a platform built in the lower end of the 
 shute, to a height equal to that of the mine cars, the coal slides down 
 the shute and drops into the car standing on the gangway track. In 
 very steep-dipping beds, the loose coal comes tumbling down at a great 
 rate, while in those where the dip is comparatively slight, it must be 
 pushed along. These shutes divide the strip of coal left standing into a 
 number of blocks, as you see ; these are the gangway stumps the same 
 as you saw yet standing in the first lift. I was not careful, enough, I notice, 
 in making my picture. Some of the shutes appear wider than others, 
 and the same is true of the stumps, as also of some of the other openings 
 and pillars. We can correct this in our minds, however. 
 
 Now for the breasts the real mining places. These white spaces 
 above the heading represent the breasts, the black strips between being 
 the pillars left standing to support the roof. Breasts are commonly 
 about 8 yards wide, but sometimes, are made 12 yards wide the width 
 varying in different mines, depending upon the nature, to some extent, 
 of the roof. The pillars between the breasts are usually equal in thick- 
 ness to the width of the breasts. Where the roof is poor, they are not 
 so thick as in other cases, but are more numerous, the rooms being less 
 wide. These pillars, however, are not to remain permanently, the coal 
 in them thus being lost ; but when all the breasts have been mined out, 
 up to the chain pillar, like these nearest the slope, the pillars are re- 
 moved ' robbed out ' beginning at the farther end, and coming toward 
 the slope, as has been done in this first lift, you see. 
 
 These first breasts or rooms, nearest the slope, have been worked 
 entirely out, that is, they have been carried up to the point where the coal 
 is to be left as the chain pillar. Farther on, you see, they are not com- 
 pleted, having been begun later, as the gangway was driven farther out. 
 Away out at the farther end of the gangway, they are but fairly started. 
 These narrow openings which connect the breasts, or rooms, and which 
 cut the pillars between them, are cross-headings. They are made for 
 the passage of the currents of fresh air, from breast to breast; LS it is 
 
44 GANGWAYS, SHUTES, HEADINGS, BREASTS, ETC. 
 
 necessary, and required by law, that a good supply of fresh air be kept 
 constantly passing through every breast or room in which work is being 
 done, close up to the end of the breast, where the miners are working. 
 
 Down here, now, 100 yards farther, is another lift the third. Not 
 quite so much work has been done here, as in the second, you see. 
 Work may be carried on in three or four lifts at the same time, all the 
 coal going up the slope, landings for the cars being made at each lift. The 
 arrangement of gangways, breasts, headings, etc., is the same here, as 
 in the other lift, you notice ; ajid so it would be found in other lifts farther 
 down. In shaft-mining, where several coal seams are passed through, 
 two or three or four of them may be worked at the same time, just like so 
 many lifts in a slope mine. 
 
 Where the seam dips steeply, as we have supposed it does in the 
 mine which we have pictured, the mining operations are carried on as 
 
 WAGON BREASTS IN FLAT WORKINGS. 
 
 here shown, the work being done on the upper side of the gangway, 
 the loose coal sliding down to the gangway. Where the dip or pitch is 
 not very great, another method is employed. As the coal cannot slide 
 down, the dip being too slight, it is sent down from the breasts to the 
 gangway, as fast as mined, in buggies Hold! hold! I'll explain, 
 straightway. Didn't expect to hear of buggies in a coal mine, did you ? 
 Well, there are buggies in the coal mines, and many of them, but rather 
 different from the buggies you have in mind. A coal-mine buggy is an 
 iron box, on small wheels you'll see some of them to-morrow, perhaps. 
 They are smaller than the cars which run in the gangway, and made as 
 light as possible, to make it more easy to move them about. The miners 
 
GANGWAYS, SHUTES, HEADINGS, BREASTS, ETC. 45 
 
 pull them from the gangway, through the passages made, up into the 
 breasts, load them with the coal mined, and then run them down to the 
 gangway, where the coal is dumped on to a platform and then shoveled 
 into the mine cars, or, it may be, dumped directly into the cars from the 
 buggy. Breasts from which the coal is sent to the gangway thus, in bug- 
 gies, are called ' buggy breasts. ' 
 
 Then there is another method, employed where the coal seam lies 
 flat or level, or very nearly so, as is largely the case in the bituminous 
 coal region. In such mines there is no upper and lower sides along the 
 gangways, you can understand; and so breasts may be opened out on both 
 sides, instead of on but the one. From these breasts the coal is taken 
 
 ''BEARING IN." 
 
 out in small mine-cars, or wagons, as they are here called. A track a 
 switch from the main track, in the gangway is laid right into the breasts, 
 and the cars are hauled in, loaded and hauled out again. The breasts 
 may not always be opened straight off the gangway ; but in order to 
 bring the grade right, or for some other reason, may sometimes run off 
 how shall I say it ? Here ! I will make a picture of it. These are the 
 breasts, you know ; here are the tracks into them ; and here I'll make a 
 wagon in this breast. As the miners loosen the coal they load it into the 
 wagons, beside them, throwing the refuse, or 'gob, ' to one side, against 
 the pillar, where it is out of the way. 
 
46 DOWN IN A COAL MINE. 
 
 The coal, 1 should have told you earlier, is not found in pieces or 
 1 lumps, ' as we buy it. It is all one mass, and must be broken up to get 
 it out. In this, the anthracite region, this breaking and loosening of the 
 coal is accomplished by means of blasting, drilling holes into the solid 
 bed, and exploding powder in these holes. This method is made neces- 
 sary by reason of the very great hardness of the coal, digging or pick- 
 ing it, as in the bituminous region, being out of the question. In the 
 bituminous region, where the coal is not so hard, you know, the miner 
 gets down upon the level, or nearly level, floor of the mine, in a half- 
 lying position, and with his short miner's pick and with only the light 
 from his little lamp to guide his operations digs back under the face of 
 the coal bed, before him, as far as he can reach three or four feet ; 
 this he does across the full width of his breast r room. It is slow work, 
 as but a little of the hard, black rock before him flies off at each blow, 
 as dust or very small bits, and thousands of blows must be struck. 
 This work is called ' bearing in. ' The sharp bits of flying coal strike him 
 in the face ; the dust fills his eyes, and blackens his hands and face ; and 
 his back may ache ; but he must keep steadily on until he has carried the 
 opening under the coal clean across his room. Not a pleasant occupa- 
 tion, that of a coal miner, is it? Next, he must cut, or pick, if you please, 
 a similar opening, to the same depth, at one side of the coal, along the 
 pillar left between him and his neighbor of the next room. These open- 
 ings are about a foot wide at the start, but run to a point at the farther 
 end, in the coal. Having made these openings, to give the coal a chain v 
 to fall, he then drives wedges between the top of the coal and the over- 
 lying slate or other strata, and down comes the huge block of coal, for 
 which he has been so long and so steadily picking away. A little blast- 
 ing is sometimes done in the bituminous region. 
 
 Now, to bed. " 
 
 XII. 
 DOWN IN A COAL MINE." 
 
 " Whew ! What a ride ! Rope break ? Well, let us trust that it won't; 
 but if it should, as there are safety catches provided for just such emer- 
 gencies, we should probably come to a sudden stand-still, unharmed. 
 Ah! here we are at the third lift. Out with you! Here ! this side, out of 
 the way of the cars; you see, this is a busy place, with the cars coming 
 and going. Here comes a train of mine cars. One, two, three, four, five 
 mules pulling it. How odd they look, tramping along one behind the 
 other, single file, the leader with his lamp fastened to his breast! Proud 
 of it ? Who knows but he is, as much so as his owner is of the diamond 
 
DOWN IN A COAL MINE. 47 
 
 which flashes upon his breast. Sometimes the lamp is fastened to the 
 leader's head. See how well trained they are, how intelligent, indeed; 
 how nicely they turned off upon the proper switch pulled the cars up as 
 far as they could stepped off the track one after the other, while the 
 driver unhooked the train wheeled and went over upon that other track, 
 in front of the empty cars and marched off again, when hooked to them, 
 all without a word ! Never let me hear one of you making fun of a mule, 
 after this. Why, they would hardly know how to get along in coal mines 
 without mules, many thousands of them being thus employed. Some 
 horses are used, but mules are much more desirable. Small locomotives 
 are also used in some instances, but there are so many serious objections 
 to their use that the mules are not likely to soon be displaced. Here are 
 their stables just back of us, being placed close to the slope that the 
 mules may be quickly taken out of the mine in case of fire or other acci- 
 dent. The stables, you see, are well lighted, and are quite clean and dry, 
 and comfortable in every respect, and the mules may be as well con- 
 tented, down here, as are their friends and relations outside. Here, too, 
 is the blacksmith shop, where the mules come when they want a pair of 
 new shoes or two pairs, it may be. 
 
 Ah! here are our lamps one for each. The boys can easily arrange 
 theirs, but I don't know how it will be with the girls, as the lamps were 
 never made for such hats, or for hoods and bonnets. By the way, I am 
 reminded that I once read and saw a picture, too, I think of the em- 
 ployment of women and young girls in the coal mineS of one of the for- 
 eign countries. Whole families lived in the mines, many persons going 
 outside but once in a long, long time ; just think of that ! Their condition 
 was most wretched, too, even the women and girls being barefoot, 
 and, indeed, half naked, only a coarse skirt being worn, in many cases. 
 The husbands and fathers mined the coal, while the women and larger 
 girls drew it from the rooms in wagons, (which were fastened to them by 
 means of chains around their naked waists !) often crawling upon hands 
 and knees, over the rough stony floor, where the coal seam was so thin 
 as to have left but a small space between roof and floor. Dreadful ! 
 dreadful, indeed ! But there is nothing of this kind in our day, I believe ; 
 so you needn't look as if you would like to get out of here as soon as 
 possible, you girls. 
 
 Well, if you all have your lamps arranged, we'll be off. We will fol- 
 low the gangway, some distance, first. Here comes another train, the 
 driver's lamp, and that of the leader, shining like twin stars in the dark- 
 ness. Away ahead yonder are the lights bobbing about, as workmen 
 move from place to place. There ! see that one suddenly, why, there's 
 another, and another, and another, and just look at them ! It is a gang 
 of miners coming from the workings, and hid from us by the wall of the 
 gangway, until they suddenly appear, coming from a shute. An odd 
 and pretty sight, indeed ! the lamps looking like so many stars. As they 
 come nearer, however, the forms of the men will begin to be seen, and 
 
4 8 DOWN IN A COAL MINE. 
 
 the illusion of stars will disappear. I suppose our party presents the 
 same appearance to them. 
 
 We will turn off, here, and go up into the workings, through the 
 shute ; all the rooms lying off from the gangway, this far out, have been 
 worked out, our guide tells me. These shutes are used as manways, as 
 well as for the passage of coal. Pretty steep, youngsters, and hard 
 climbing, but I think we can make it. Ha ! what's this, blocking up the 
 way? Oh, yes, brattice-cloth. Brattice, Miss Inquisitive, brattice-cloth. 
 Eh ? You b-r-a-t-t-i-c-e, there, now, did you get it? Oh ! that's it, eh? 
 Laugh away, youngsters, for the laugh is certainly against me this time. 
 I beg your pardon, young lady, for not waiting until I found out exactly 
 what you were going to ask. Why, it is thick, heavy material, as you 
 see, and is hung across openings throughout the mine, as it is here, to 
 keep the fresh air current up in the breasts where the miners are. If the 
 passages were all open, the fresh air sent down from above, instead of 
 flowing along in the places where it is wanted, and where it must be 
 sent, would go off into all parts of the mine. All through the mine you 
 will meet with these brattice-cloths, in some places ; with wooden doors, 
 in others ; while in yet other places you will find that former openings, 
 which are never likely to be needed again, are closed up with solid 
 masonry. To more fully insure the proper ventilation, or airing, of mines, 
 the law requires that a man or boy be stationed at each important door, 
 whose only business it shall be to open the doors, as necessity requires 
 for the passage for cars, etc. and, particularly, Ariose than again, 
 properly. When coal is to slide down one of these shutes, to the gang- 
 way, the brattice cloth is raised at the bottom just enough to let the coal 
 pass under. We vviH go under it, too, but; in the opposite direction, and 
 proceed. 
 
 Here we are in the heading the passage from which the rooms all 
 open. As these breasts, along here, are all carried far up toward the 
 chain pillar, we will not make the long climb necessary to get into t lie- 
 breasts where the work of mining is going on, but will see that work, 
 after awhile, in some of the breasts just opened, farther out. The miners 
 reach their working place by going up this passage, between the pillar 
 and these timbers, the manway, it is called. This timbering posts and 
 planks you will find on both sides of the breast, and extending through- 
 out its entire length. Sometimes the posts stand straight up, between 
 floor and ceiling ; but, more commonly, they are placed slanting, like 
 these, the upper end resting against the pillar, and the lower end on the 
 floor, both ends held in holes made to receive them. The planks are 
 then put on, making the manway, as you see, a kind of three-cornered 
 tunnel. The miners have to drag all the timbers and other supplies, 
 from the gangway cars, up through the shutes and manways to where 
 they are needed not very easy work, on such a very steep-pitching 
 seam as is this. The timbers are put in as the work of mining goes for- 
 ward, or upward; only a small space at the top being left open for the 
 
DOWN IN A COAL MINE. 
 
 49 
 
 passage of the miners, and for other purposes. Aha ! those are just the 
 questions I've been looking for, why is the timbering placed here ? and 
 where 'is the loose coal? If you could see through this plank partition, 
 you would find the space inside full of loose coal; and that is just what 
 these partitions are built for, up each side of the breast, to hold the coal, 
 as it is mined. 
 
 You see but let me draw you a picture, which will help me in my ex- 
 planation. Stand close together so I shall have enough light to draw the 
 
 TO THE SLOPE) GANGWAY 
 
 CHAIN 
 
 LA ft 
 
 BREAST BEING WORKED. 
 
 picture, and you enough to see it. Here is the gangway, which we have 
 just left ; here are the shutes, through one of which we passed in coming 
 from the gangway ; here is the heading ; and here are the breasts above 
 it, with the pillars between, and the stump, here, beside us, where the 
 timbering begins. Now, we will make the partitions up each side of the 
 
50 DOWN IN A COAL MINE. 
 
 breasts. The round spots will represent these heavy posts, to which the 
 planks are made fast. I can't show them, in this picture, as leaning 
 against the pillar at the top, but we'll understand them to be thus placed, 
 and also that the manways here at the side, I'll mark them which ap- 
 pear to be square openings, are really three-cornered openings, up under 
 the slanting partitions. I have made the breasts of different lengths, you 
 see, as corresponding with the difference in the times of their being 
 opened up, as the gangway and heading were driven further. But we 
 will imagine, however, that these rooms have not been opened up, as 
 here shown, at all, but that the work is just to begin, all being solid coal 
 above the heading here. In opening a breast the miners first make narrow 
 openings, on each side, up along the pillars, exactly across the heading 
 from the shutes, you see leaving a section of coal the stump, here 
 stand, for a short distance; then they open the breast clean across, just 
 above the stump, keeping it that way, afterwards, throughout its whole 
 length. In some mines, another plan is employed; no stumps are left, 
 but the breasts are made the full width from the start, at the heading. 
 All the coal taken out thus far, as the work proceeds, slides down the 
 opening between the pillar and stump, across the heading, and on down 
 the shute to the gangway. Once the breast is fairly opened out above 
 the stump, the miners must begin to put in the timbers and line them 
 with plank, so that they will hold all the loose coal taken out. Why ? 
 Don't you see why? The pitch of the seam is so steep that miners are 
 not able to stand on the floor of the breast while they peg away at the 
 hard wall of coal, in front of and above them; it would be like a man 
 trying to stand on a very steep roof while he should work away, with 
 heavy tools, at something fastened to the roof above him ; he couldn't 
 do it, of course. And so the miners, in steep-pitching seams like this 
 one, (and some are even much steeper than this very steep one,) cannot 
 work without something to stand upon, which will enable them to keep 
 up to the wall of coal, before them. So, beginning on the stumps, they 
 build these partitions, as they go ahead, allowing the loose coal to fill up 
 the space, behind and beneath them, from which the coal has been 
 taken. But they make more loose coal than they need under them, so 
 they may pitch that not needed into the manways, above the end of the 
 partitions, and it goes rattling and bouncing down the manway, (under the 
 partition you know,) and on through the shute, to the gangway. Or, the 
 loose coal filling the breast may be kept at the proper height to suit their 
 work, by letting a part of it out, as circumstances require, through door- 
 ways made in the partition, at the bottom, just at the stump. This ar- 
 rangement of the partitons thus built to hold the loose coal, or part of it, 
 until the breast is completed, is called a battery. 
 
 I'll make the batteries, in our picture, full of loose coal there ! to 
 show you how the breasts look, thus filled. Up in this one, on the top of 
 the loose coal, I'll make a miner at work, as we would find them if we were 
 to climb up these steep manways to where they are now working. Down 
 
DOWN IN A COAL MINE. 51 
 
 at the bottom we will open the door to let out enough coal to give him 
 more room to work, at the top ; here it goes, down the shutes to these 
 cars which I have made standing in the gangway. This first breast, we 
 will suppose, is completed, the coal all taken out up to the chain pillar. 
 The breast now is full of the loose coal. We will open the doorways and 
 let it all run out, so much at a time, down the shute and into the cars, to 
 be taken to the slope, and up to the surface. These lines across the 
 shutes and heading represent the brattice -cloths and doorways, which 
 keep the air current on the right road. I will make another little picture, 
 now, in which I will show the timbers leaning against the pillars, there. 
 Now, these three-cornered white spaces are the manways running up 
 under the timbers, between the pillars and the loose coal in the breasts. 
 You may keep these pictures, and show them to the other boys and 
 girls, when you get home. 
 
 I may as well explain, now, how the air currents are kept up to where 
 the miners are at work and I can use my picture, in explanation, too. 
 These narrow openings, running across the pillars, from breast to breast, 
 
 PILLAR BREAST. 
 
 are the cross-headings, pointed out in last night's picture. Cross- 
 headings, from breast to breast, are frequently opened, you notice; but 
 as each is opened, farther up, the one below it must be closed by doors 
 or masonry. The fresh air is driven through the air-way, adjoining the 
 gangway, to the farther end of the workings, where it is turned up into 
 the breasts. These partitions, forming the battery, are made air-tight in 
 planking them up, so that the air, as it is turned into a breast, must fol- 
 low up along the manway, around above the ends of the partitions (which 
 carries it across the breast where the miners are working, just what is 
 wanted,) down the other manway to the first cross-heading it finds, 
 through this to the next breast, and then up the manway and across the 
 breast, at the top, as before, and so on, untils it gets back to the slope 
 or other opening through which it passes up to the surface again. These 
 arrows will show its course through headings, along manways and across 
 the breasts, at the top, where the work is going on. If an accident 
 occurs, through the falling of the roof, for instance, by which the passage 
 of the air through the proper course is checked, thereby cutting off the 
 supply from the breasts beyond, it is, by properly arranging doors and 
 
52 DOWN IN A COAL MINE. 
 
 brattice-cloths, made to pass down around the breast or breasts in which 
 the accident may have occurred, and up into the next breast and then on, 
 as usual. 
 
 Let us move on, now, along the heading, and see what is being done at 
 yonder point, where the lights are. Ah, yes ; here you can see what I 
 have been showing in my picture the running of the loose coal out of 
 the battery, through the openings at the stump. A considerable loss is 
 occasioned in the passage of the coal to the gangway by reason of the 
 pounding and crushing and grinding of the pieces, which makes a lot of 
 dust and very fine coal, for which but little use has as yet been dis- 
 covered ; so it is thrown upon the waste dump, those odd-looking black 
 hills, which first caught Miss Inquisitive's eye. All the gob, too, (the 
 slate, bony coal, etc., forming the partings in the coal seam,) is mixed with 
 the coal, where the pitch is so great as- to necessitate mining by this 
 method. If there were enough gob in the seam to alone fill the battery 
 it would be left there, the good coal being thrown off into the manway as 
 
 A "FAULT." 
 
 fast as broken up, and sliding down it to the shute as already men- 
 tioned. In flat workings, buggy or wagon breasts, the gob, as picked 
 and broken loose from the coal, can be thrown to one side, and be left 
 there, as we have seen, the coal being sent out as fast as made ready. 
 But here, gob and all must be sent out, as there is no way to separate 
 them, that work being left to the boys and men in the breaker. 
 
 Here we are, now, nearly to the end of the gangway, which is still 
 being driven further ahead. Sometimes the straight-ahead order of 
 things, in the way of working, is seriously interfered with, or even stopped, 
 by the changed position or arrangement of the strata as in a 'fault' or 
 other displacement of the coal-bed. In the case of a fault, the miners un- 
 expectedly find the coal-bed at an end, and in front of them a wall of 
 some kind of rock, instead, as I will show you by a picture. The 
 strata, you see, have been broken squarely off, by some old-time earth- 
 quake, or other great movement, and the ends have slipped upon each 
 other one up or the other down, or both so as to carry the strata out 
 
DOWN IN A COAL MINE. 53 
 
 of their regular order of continuance, and "to bring the ends of entirely 
 different strata together. In such cases, the forward work must either 
 be stopped entirely, or openings be made, through the rocks, until the 
 coal-bed is again found, when work may again go forward. 
 
 Sometimes, too, a slate or other parting in a 'coal bed may increase 
 from a few inches to several feet in thickness, dividing the bed into two 
 more or less widely separated parts, or benches, each thick enough to be 
 worked alone. In such a case, the owners of the mine would prefer to 
 have the parting separate the two benches by a considerable distance, 
 40 or 50 feet, as then each bench could be mined separately ; whereas, if 
 they are not separated by more than a few feet, this cannot be done, and 
 all the rock found between the two benches, must necessarily be taken 
 out, too. Again, the coal may gradually grow thinner, from the top 
 downward, and come to end, not by reason of a fault, but because the 
 beds of vegetation which formed the coal, after once having been de- 
 posited, were swept away by strong currents or waves. It is thus some- 
 times missing, (other strata taking its place,) over a greater or less area. 
 Then there are the 'squeezes,' which, occurring before the beds of vege- 
 tation became hardened into the solid coal, brought the rock strata 
 above and below the coal close together, squeezing the coal out at these 
 points, entirely or partially, and causing it to swell or bulge, at other 
 points, to two or three times its usual thickness. These thick and thin 
 places are often met with in mining. All these variations in the position 
 and condition of the strata, affect the work of mining, as you can see. 
 Sometimes, too, the coal at points in the seam will be found all crushed 
 and ground up, and looking like so much black sand. This has been 
 caused by some great movement of all the strata, the coal being at some 
 points thus reduced to this fine condition by reason of the tremendous 
 crushing and grinding force of the movement. 
 
 Let us go up into one of these breasts but recently opened up, and see 
 what it looks like. We must go up the manway and get into the breast 
 above the end of the partition. Give me your hand, Bess ; now, up we 
 go! and here we are. It is in these places that the regular mining is 
 done, day after day, until the limit of the breasts is reached, in each 
 case ; new ones being opened up as the old ones are completed. Drilling 
 and blasting, drilling and blasting, with what picking is necessary to 
 pull down the loosened coal, and to break off the pieces of slate, etc., it 
 is thus the work goes on. In very many mines, or parts of mines, it is 
 not necessary that blasting be constantly kept up throughout the whole 
 length of the breast, in order to loosen the coal and take it from the 
 beds ; but the coal, once the breast is opened up, and the loosening 
 fairly begun, continues to 'run,' as it is called, of itself, breaking loose 
 frgm the seam, without blasting or other work, and continuing this, to a 
 greater or less extent, throughout the length of the breast. Where the 
 coal is very free- ' running ' precautions must be taken to prevent the 
 ' running ' process from extending into.and destroying the pillars between 
 
54 
 
 DOWN IN A COAL MINE. 
 
 the rooms, and the chain pillar, above, which would probably lead to 
 such a general falling in of the roof, or other movements of the overlying 
 strata, as would destroy all the workings. 
 
 Let us make another picture, a side-view along the seam, to take 
 away with us, with these other two, to show how mining is done on a 
 steep pitch, like this. Here is the gangway, this wide opening down 
 here; and up here is the heading. Here we will have the shute, be- 
 tween the two, with the raised platform at the bottom (to carry the coal 
 over the side of the mine car, you know) and with the timbering, look- 
 ing like a fence, along the side only I have made it too high, by half, I 
 see, to be right. Now, up above the heading here, is the breast, which 
 we will make full of loose coal. On top is a miner, pulling down 
 the coal which he has loosened by a blast. Suppose, too, we represent 
 the door at the bottom of the breast, or battery, as being open, with the 
 coal running out and sliding down the shute into a car, which we will 
 
 show standing in the gangway. There ! 
 we have our picture finished. 
 
 When all the breasts are completed 
 ^^A throughout the whole length of the 
 ^k lift, and the workings are to be 
 ^ abandoned, the work of ' robbing 
 out' the pillars is begun, as 
 k they will no longer be needed, 
 Ik and the coal in them may as 
 HV^ well be saved. The work 
 Qk is begun back at this end, 
 uul carried toward the 
 slope, the whole of the 
 
 dangerous work, V IJM A P^ar, or as much of 
 
 owing to the fall- ^SfgllNi Hk h as k is P ossible to 
 
 ing in of the roof, ^H8V^ ^^ secure., being taken 
 
 as the pillars which V&A^M BC^>\ <)llt - This is very 
 
 hold it up are removed. 
 At the best, very much 
 coal is lost, at every colli- 
 ery. Much is left in the 
 mines, untouched, for vari- 
 ous reasons, and much is so 
 ground and crushed in mining 
 it, and in preparing it for mar- 
 ket, in the breaker, as to render it 
 unsalable, for the most part. At 
 many collieries not more than half 
 the coal is saved if even that much. 
 The miners are paid either so much per 
 car for the coal taken out, or at a certain 
 
 m 
 
 MINING ON A STEEP PITCH. 
 
MJNE ACCIDENTS : EXPLOSIONS AND FIRES. 55 
 
 rate for the distance mined; either method of payment being employed 
 as the circumstances require. 
 
 Let us, now, go down this shute to the gangway, and go back to 
 the slope a down-hill walk, all the way, I may say, for the benefit of 
 you tired girls. Oh, no! the gangway is not perfectly level, but falls 
 (though but very slightly i foot in, say, 150 feet, only) as we go toward 
 the slope ; this is to make it easier to pull the loaded cars to the slope, 
 and also to cause the water to flow, readily, in the ditch, at the side. The 
 water (and it is found in perhaps all mines, ) is collected in what is called the 
 'sump,' at the foot of the slope, or shaft, as the case may be, to be pumped 
 to the surface, by big steam pumps. 
 
 Well, here we are at the slope, again. Let us now go farther down 
 where the seam is nearly flat, and buggies are used, I am told, by our 
 guide. Don't want to go down ? Well, you must be pretty tired, as we 
 have had a long tramp, winding in and out, as we have done, and a hard 
 tramp, too. So, if you think you understand, from last night's explana- 
 tion, how mining is done in flat seams, as we would find below, we will 
 not go down. We will sit here a little while, resting, before goin the 
 surface again, and watch the trains coming and going, with the funny 
 mule teams in front. We can watch, too, the loading and unloading of 
 the cars at the slope, as the full ones are sent up, and the empty ones are 
 brought down." 
 
 XIII. 
 
 MINE ACCIDENTS: EXPLOSIONS AND FIRES. 
 
 ' 'That man, over there, directing the moving of those cars, is the 
 'mine-boss, ' who has general charge of the mining operations. He has 
 his assistants, or other ' bosses, ' having each his especial duties ; as the 
 ' stable-boss ' and ' fire-boss. ' The fire-boss ? Why, his duty is to keep a 
 careful watch throughout the mine, to prevent accidents which might 
 otherwise occur, through the firing of gases which collect in parts of the 
 mine. It is his duty to inspect every part of the mine, and to take prompt 
 measures to clesr the workings of large and dangerous accumulations of 
 the ' fire-damp, ' as the explosive gas is called, and to put out, or confine 
 to a particular quarter, at least, any fire which may occur. Did you see 
 that black board with the figures and white crosses on it, as you came in, 
 this morning ? That is the fire-board, as it is called. The fire-boss must 
 examine every breast before the men come to work, to see if there is any 
 fire-damp present. He makes notes of the search, and then prepares the 
 fire-board, accordingly. He places on the fire-board the number of each 
 breast, (they are all numbered, I should have told you before, and the 
 
5 6 MINE ACCIDENTS: EXPLOSIONS AND FIRES. 
 
 miners are spoken of by their numbers, very often, instead of by their 
 names,) he places on the board the number of each breast in which he 
 has found fire-damp, and places opposite the number one or more crosses 
 indicating the quantity of fire-damp present. Each miner goes to the fire- 
 board, when he comes to work, and there learns whether or not any fire- 
 damp is in his breast, and if there is, how much. One cross means that 
 there is a little present, and he must drive it out before going to work ; 
 two crosses mean that there is a considerable quantity present, and that 
 extra precaution must be exercised ; while three 
 crosses mean that there is a dangerously large 
 quantity present, and the miner must not enter 
 his room, until given permission to do so by the 
 fire-boss. Of course, if a miner's number is not 
 on the fire-board, he understands that his breast 
 is free from the dreaded fire-damp. 
 
 Frightful explosions sometimes occur, by 
 which many lives are lost. The force of the 
 explosion is very great, carrying everything 
 before it, throwing the men flat upon the floor, 
 and hurling them about, with mules, cars and 
 timbers, also, as the terrific rush of air sweeps 
 through the gangways and other \ >assa^es. Fre- 
 quently, too, the mine takes fire from the burn- 
 ing fire-damp, and a large part of the workings 
 may be destroyed before the fire can be checked. 
 Fires often occur in piles of gob, and from 
 the gob may reach the coal. The loose coal, in 
 breasts, and elsewhere, is often destroyed in 
 mine fires, but the solid seam of coal, itself, may 
 not be much injured, as it is too compact to burn 
 freely. A fire cannot make much headway where 
 it has only the solid coal before it no gob, loose 
 coal or timbers. The smaller fires may be put 
 out by the use of water, or, when in a pile of gob 
 or loose coal, by removing all that is not already 
 burning, out of the reach of the fire. When 
 these methods do not avail to put out the fire, 
 it may be confined to a certain quarter, and 
 smothered, by closing up all openings leading to it, thus cutting off the 
 air ; for fire, you should know, cannot long continue without fresh sup- 
 plies of air. 
 
 The fires following a great explosion are the most to be dreaded, 
 and sometimes the whole colliery, including the shaft or slope, and even 
 the buildings at the top, are destroyed, though the shaft or slope, with 
 buildings, may be thus destroyed, too, by fires starting in the stables or 
 blacksmith shop. By the explosion of fire-damp another, and very 
 
 FIRE BOARD. 
 
MINE ACCIDENTS: EXPLOSIONS AND FIRES. 57 
 
 poisonous gas, called the ' white-damp,' or c after-damp,' is produced, and 
 renders an attempt to enter the workings a very dangerous undertaking. 
 ' Black-damp, ' or ' choke-damp, ' is another gas to be feared. When a 
 fire in a mine is too large to be extinguished by the ordinary methods, 
 and the whole mine is threatened, other methods are employed in the 
 hope of checking it. The mine is ' sealed ' that is, all openings into it 
 are closed up with masonry; and then steam is poured into the mine 
 through pipes from the boilers. When all other plans fail, 'flooding ' is 
 resorted to ; in other words, the mine is filled with water. Flooding is 
 only resorted to when all other plans fail, as I have said, because it is a 
 very costly operation of itself, while the damage to the mine by the 
 water, is also very great. The flooding of mines, not counting the damage 
 to the mine, has cost as much as $150,000 ! And then, too, after the fire 
 may be put out, all the water poured into the mine a vast quantity, of 
 course must be pumped out again ; and by the time this is done, and all 
 the damages to the mine repaired, many months have been lost and vast 
 sums of money spent. 
 
 So, you see, the fire-boss has a great responsibility resting upon him, 
 as, indeed, has every man working in the mine ; a little carelessness may 
 cause a very great loss. These little lamps of ours are the ones gen- 
 erally used in the mines, and you can see how easily the gas could be 
 fired, by a miner carelessly going into a part of the mine containing it in 
 considerable quantities. Old and abandoned workings are often full of 
 the gas ; and to avoid accidents, the openings into these places have been 
 tightly closed. The proper circulation of the air-current through the 
 mines, prevents, to a large extent, the collection of the gas in the work- 
 ings in which mining is in progress. There are lamps made with a fine 
 wire-gauze covering the flame, to prevent the gas from coming in contact 
 with it. Such lamps are called ' safety-lamps, ' but, I understand, they are 
 not reliable safe-guards, the miners, and the mine-owners preferring the 
 ordinary lamps. 
 
 Other mine accidents occur, too. There are mine-car accidents 
 of various kinds ; powder explosions ; accidental explosions in blasting, 
 before ready ; roof-falls ; ' crushes ' ; and other lesser accidents of many 
 kinds. A ' crush ' is a serious affair, and is always guarded against, 
 but sometimes not sufficiently. It occurs when there is not sufficient 
 support to the rock strata, above, in the way of heavy chain pillars, 
 and other pillars. It is not a simple falling of the roof where the sup- 
 port is not good, but it is. a sliding out of its place of all the rock 
 strata above the coal, crushing the pillars and everything else by the enor- 
 mous weight and pressure, and ruining, beyond hope of repair, the whole 
 mine, or a large part of it. 
 
 Some of the mine accidents are attended with unpleasant conse- 
 quences to outsiders, too, occasionally. It is not unusual to find in the 
 papers an account of the sinking of a considerable area of land, overlying 
 a coal mine, parts of mining towns often being included. The surface 
 
58 A COAL BREAKER. 
 
 may sink several feet, in some instances, the people flying from their 
 homes in fear that the houses may be thrown down. Usually these sink- 
 ings occur over old workings from which the pillars have been ' robbed.' 
 
 Taking it altogether, the life of a miner is not one to be envied. His 
 work is hard, and the pay for it does not seem to be always satisfactory, 
 if we are to judge by the numerous strikes occurring in the coal regions. 
 He is surrounded by dangers there are dangers on every hand. We 
 should hold in thoughtful remembrance, as we sit at our ease by our 
 comfortable fires, the hard-working, danger-daring men, whose labor 
 makes such enjoyment possible to us. 
 
 Now, if you are quite rested, we will go up the slope, again, and pay 
 a visit to the breaker and the rock and dirt dumps ; it is coming, at last, 
 Miss Inquisitive." 
 
 XIV. 
 A COAL BREAKER. 
 
 "Back to daylight, again ! and how good it seems. What a contrast 
 to the gloomy place we left, a moment ago. I don't believe any of you 
 would enjoy living in a coalmine; eh ? 
 
 Well, as it is growing late, we must go over to the breaker, without 
 delay, and after looking through it, we will go out upon the dumps, and 
 then trudge home, again. We will follow this car, and see what becomes 
 of the coal it contains. 
 
 Now, watch the car, as it reaches the end of the track. Tip ! over 
 she goes, almost upon end, the front end down. Out goes the coal in a 
 jiffy, down upon this sloping iron grating, which lets the smaller pieces 
 fall through, as it all slides along, while the large lumps go on down. We 
 needn't try to follow this particular car-full any further, you see, as it 
 has already been divided, and been mixed with other car-loads which were 
 just ahead of it. 
 
 These immense buildings, called breakers, (for a reason which you 
 will shortly learn,) are erected for the purpose of carrying on in them, 
 properly, the work of preparing the coal for sale for market, we usually 
 say. As it comes from the mines, it is, as you have already seen, quite 
 unfit for use, being full of slate, etc., and at some mines very wet and dirty 
 looking ; besides, pieces of all sizes are mixed together, many lumps be- 
 ing entirely too large for general use. In the breaker, all these matters 
 are set straight, the slate, and other impurities are removed, the wet and 
 dirty coal (where it is so), is washed, the big lumps are broken up Yes, 
 Miss Inquisitive, you've guessed it; that is why it is called a breaker. 
 
A COAL BREAKER. 
 
 59 
 
60 A COAL BREAKER. 
 
 The big lumps are broken up, as I was saying, and the coal is finally so 
 assorted as to bring all pieces of the same size together. 
 
 I do not know how high this breaker is, but some of them are as 
 much as 115 feet in height. Few are less than 80 feet high. They cost, 
 with the necessary machinery for properly carrying on the work of clean- 
 ing and separating the coal, a very large amount of money more or less 
 of course, in proportion to their size, and the amount of machinery in 
 use. The smaller ones cost $25,000 ; larger ones, $50,000 to $80,000 ; 
 while the immense structures at the largest collieries, cost as much as 
 $100,000! Some of these large breakers can prepare 2,000 tons per day, 
 'though perhaps never actually doing so, as yet. 
 
 What a rattle and clatter is being made, inside, there ; let's go in and 
 see what is going on. Whew ! the coal dust, it's nearly as dark in here, 
 because of it, as it is down in the mine, even if the breaker is nearly all 
 windows. Some breakers are, indeed, veritable 'glass houses, ' but the 
 people who live in them (during working hours) do not seem to regard 
 the advice addressed to people occupying such houses, namely, that tin -y 
 ' should not throw stones ;' indeed, hundreds of them, you will find, spend 
 the whole day in doing nothing else but throwing stones or, at least, 
 pitching them. What do I mean? Just follow me, and I'll show you. 
 
 Here, now, are the 'slate-pickers, the people who, as I said, throw 
 stones all day long. Here, you see, is the coal the larger pieces as it 
 conies from the mine cars. This long iron trough into which the coal 
 slides from the iron bars which separated it, is called a shute. It carries 
 the large pieces of coal to this platform, you see, where it is looked over 
 and assorted by these 'platform men,' as they are called. They pick out 
 the slate and rock, and throw them into this hole, which is the mouth 
 of a shute carrying the slate, etc., to cars, to be taken to the rock-dump. 
 As no slate is to be allowed to go into the coal, as pn pand for sale, 
 these men must examine every lump, and any slate found in any of them, 
 must be taken out by the~use of pick or sledge. Good, smooth lumps, ot 
 the proper size, are thrown into this opening the 'lump shute' to go 
 to the railroad cars for shipment this size being called 'lump. * Rough 
 lumps go down this opening, as you notice, being carried to the 'crushers;' 
 while all the small and fine bits go down here. So you see, now, these 
 men, as are others in other parts of the building, are kept busy throwing 
 stones, as it were, all day long. Now, let us go below the platform, to 
 the crushers. 
 
 If the crushers were not in motion you would see that these iron or 
 steel cylinders, or 'rolls,' have strong points 'teeth,' they are called 
 sticking out, all over them, and which break the lumps as they fall into 
 the crusher. These large crushers or rolls are also called 'steamboat 
 rolls,' 'steamboat' being the name of the size of coal next to 'lump,' in 
 selling ; it is, however, a size not made at all at many breakers. Where 
 made, as at this one, the steamboat coal goes to the cars, through the 
 shute, here, without further preparation. These rolls over here, are 
 
A COAL BREAKER. 61 
 
 the 'prepared-coal rolls.' They are smaller than the steamboat rolls, and 
 are used in prepai ing smaller sizes of coal commonly used. The smallest 
 rolls are called the 'pony rolls' or 'monkey rolls.' How the lumps disap- 
 pear before those strong teeth! reappearing, over here, in many pieces. 
 What an appetite for coal these rolls seem to have, greedily eating up all 
 that comes into their mouths and, like Oliver Twist, always asking for 
 more ! Let us next go and see how the pieces are separated, so as to 
 get all the pieces of any one size away from the] rest and into a heap by 
 themselves, which is done by 'screening.' 
 
 Here, now, are the 'screens,' those great, long cylinders, covered 
 with holes, and turning round and round. Oh ! oh, they are hung length- 
 wise, this way, or, flat, as you call it, (turning on that iron shaft, which 
 runs through their whole length,) because they could not do their work if 
 standing on end. One end, you "notice, is a little lower than the other, 
 which causes the coal to slide slowly along, as the screens turn round 
 and round. In this first screen, up here, the holes at the upper end are 
 very small ; those nearer the middle, a little longer ; and those at the 
 lower end, still larger. The next screen has three or four sizes of holes, 
 too, all being larger than those in the upper one. All the screens are 
 thus made. Only the dust and very fine particles go through these 
 small holes or meshes here, you see, the rest sliding over them to the next 
 size, where slightly larger bits fall through, and the .rest again going on, 
 as before, to the lower part of the screen, where the next size falls 
 through, while all the larger pieces run out the open end and through 
 that shute, into the next screen. Here the same operation is repeated, 
 each size falling through as it finds holes large enough, until all has been 
 separated. You see the different sizes dropping out, each at its place, 
 all along. All these screens separate the coal in the same way. The 
 sizes here made, cover all those in general use, the smallest being 'buck- 
 wheat,' (not separated at some breakers, but going with the dust to the 
 dump, as slack ;) the next, 'pea ;' then 'chestnut;' 'small stove ;' 'stove,' 
 and 'egg. ' It is to supply the demand for these various sizes, smaller 
 sizes that the lunips are broken up, as we have just seen, by the rolls. 
 Here we meet again with the smaller pieces of coal which we lost sight of, 
 you recollect, as it fell through the bars, when dumped out of the mine 
 cars ; all that smaller coal, and there is much of it, goes through these 
 screens, to be separated. 
 
 But the pieces of slate must yet be taken out of the coal that has just 
 been screened, as it has not yet passed through the hands of pickers, as 
 has the large coal, at the platform. The slate is removed by hand-pick- 
 ing or by running the coal through the 'jigging' machines, over yonder. 
 These machines have water inside, and as the coal goes in through the 
 hoppers, the dirt, slate and other impurities nearly all go to the bottom, 
 and are carried off, while the clean coal runs out into the shutes, around 
 here. Each size goes through a separate machine, of course. Some 
 pieces of slate may slip through with the coal, but this man, here, removes 
 
62 A COAL BREAKER. 
 
 all such intruders as they appear, and the clean coal runs down the 
 shutes, into great bins, or 'pockets,' each size into its own pocket. If 
 not thus 'jigged,' the coal, as it comes from the screens, is run through 
 long shutes, called 'telegraph shutes,' lined with old men and boys, 
 who pick out the slate as the whole slides along ; here they are, you see, 
 some sitting astride the shutes. Sometimes, the picking is not done in 
 the shutes, but on tables upon which the coal runs ; in either case, the 
 coal, when picked over, runs down to the proper pockets. Let us go 
 down to the pockets. 
 
 Here they are, great bins, into which the coal from above is con- 
 stantly rattling, coming down through the shutes. Around on the other 
 side of these pockets are the railroad tracks. They are lower than the 
 bottom of the pockets ; and the coal pours into the queer, hopper-bot- 
 tomed railroad coal-cars from the pockets, over a broad shute, or 
 ' apron, * it is called, in this case. But let us go around and see the load- 
 ing in progress. Here we are ; now, you can see how it is done. This, 
 of course, is where the work of shipping the coal is carried on. The 
 breaker is always so located that tracks can be easily run into the lower 
 side, from the nearest railroad. As fast as filled, you see, the cars are 
 moved on a little, or run out, and others take their places. The weights 
 are taken ; a card, showing where and to whom the coal is to go, is 
 tacked to the side of each car ; a number of the cars are made up into a 
 long train ; and off they go, some to owners of factories, and some to 
 coal-dealers, in distant cities and towns. 
 
 The breaking of the coal, while necessary, in order to reduce it 
 to the sizes most in demand, is a very wasteful operation, much of the 
 coal being crushed into fine particles, which go to the slack dump. Let 
 us leave this busy, noisy, dusty place, and go out to the dumps. 
 
 * Regular mountains, ' you think ; yet there are dumps, in other 
 places, which are much larger than these, covering many acres, and 
 being of great height. Indeed, it is a serious question, what to do with all 
 the waste material from the mines, one-fourth to one-half of the material 
 taken from the mines, being refuse, I have seen it stated. Formerly, all 
 refuse slate, dirt and the fine coal, or slack, was thrown in one heap ; 
 but it is common practice now to keep the slack in a separate heap. 
 This is now done because it is not unlikely that some ready method ot 
 using the slack may be discovered, so that it may all be sold, at a fair 
 price, perhaps, instead of lying, unused, in these heaps. The sale of the 
 slack, at a fair price, would add largely to the cash receipts of the coal 
 companies, as immense quantities of slack are being heaped up at every 
 large colliery. Some methods of using the slack, in connection with 
 bituminous slack and tar, have been successfully employed, the mixture 
 being pressed into rounded pieces of any size desired. This compound 
 makes a very good fuel, but it has not yet come into general use. The 
 distance from which the bituminous slack must be brought, adds largely 
 to the cost of manufacturing this compound fuel ; a mechod wmch would 
 
ON THE MONONGAHELA. 63 
 
 avoid this would be very acceptable to the coal-operators, you may be 
 sure. Some forms of furnaces, for burning it in locomotives, are in suc- 
 cessful use. It will be a long time, however, before the now waste slack 
 of the anthracite region is all utilized. 
 
 What a fine view we get, from here, over the town ! Quite a num- 
 ber of collieries are in view, too, all at work, sending out the ' black 
 diamonds, ' to make cheerful thousands upon thousands of homes, and 
 to keep fires roaring in blast furnaces and iron mills, and the wheels and 
 spindles flying in factories. What a vast army of men, and women, and 
 children, too, are dependent for their employment their daily bread and 
 home comforts, in effect upon the hard, black substance coming from 
 these mines ! What a wise provision has been made for us, in the storing 
 up, in the form of coal, of the sunshine of other ages ! 
 
 The anthracite region is a busy part of our country. The mining in- 
 dustry gives employment to thousands upon thousands of men and boys, 
 and has caused to] spring up a large number of cities and towns. We 
 have here seen but a small part of the region, but we cannot extend our 
 visit to other parts of it, unfortunately. As we have now seen all the 
 operations connected with mining in the anthracite region, and as our 
 holiday time is limited, we cannot stay here, longer, or go to other parts 
 of the region; but we will be off to the bituminous coal-region, in the 
 morning. 
 
 Now, for a lively scramble down the side of this mountain of slack, 
 and then homeward. " 
 
 xv. 
 
 ON THE MONONGAHELA TOW-BOATS AND 
 COAL-BOATS. 
 
 " Isn't this a great way to visit coal mines on a steamboat? Seems 
 funny, to be sure ; and yet, no better plan could be followed, to enable 
 one to secure a good general idea of the Monongahela Valley coal mining 
 and shipping operations. One must needs go to the Pennsylvania 
 region to see anthracite mining operations, as extensively carried on ; 
 but we might have gone to other parts of Pennsylvania, or into Ohio, 
 Indiana, Illinois, or any one of a number of other States, to see bitum- 
 inous coal mines. I have brought you here, however, to the Mononga- 
 hela Valley, because I wanted you to see what you can see nowhere 
 else, so well, the method of shipping coal by river, instead of by rail, as 
 it must be shipped from other fields. That you will be pleased with 
 
64 ON THE MONONGAHELA. 
 
 your visit here, I feel certain; the beautiful scenery along the rugged 
 shores, to say nothing of the many strange sights of other kinds, upon 
 and along the river, should certainly please you, very much. 
 
 While we are waiting for our boat to start, I may as well tell you 
 something about the history of the Monongahela river and coal mining 
 industry. 
 
 Do you see that black band along the hillside away up there near 
 the top ? That is what is known as the Pittsburgh coal-bed which I have 
 before mentioned. It is from this bed that all the coal along this river, or 
 at least, for a long distance up, is taken. The river is lined with coal 
 mines, their black mouths being seen, in the hillsides, at short intervals, 
 all the way up, for a hundred miles. They are all drift mines, too, the 
 openings being made straight in from the face of the hills, on a level, or 
 nearly so. Remember, we have left the tossed and tumbled-up anthra- 
 cite country, and that here, on this side of the Allegheny mountains, the 
 coal-beds and all the other strata, lie smoothly spread out, though dip- 
 ping slightly, as you know, toward the Southwest, and being arranged 
 in a series of several great waves, with wide troughs or basins, several 
 miles across, lying between the anticlinals and synclinals of which 1 
 told some of you, a year ago, when we were among the oil wells, now 
 not far distant from us. 
 
 The fine quality of this coal was known away back a hundred and 
 twenty-five years, or more, ago, when Pittsburgh wasn't Pittsburgh yet, 
 but was only a lonely French fort and Indian trading post Fort Du 
 Quesne, in command of Colonel Boquet. Yes ; quite a funny name, to us. 
 We find frequent mentions made of the coal and coal mines, at that day. 
 With the increasing settlement of this part of the country, by the white 
 people, the use of the coal increased and mines multiplied, of course. 
 With the opening up of steamboat navigation on the western rivers, in 
 1811, the increase in population and manufacturing was rapid, and, of 
 course, increased the demand for coal. In 1817 the carrying of the coal 
 in flat-boats was commenced. The coal would be mined during the 
 winter, and sent down the hill and piled up along the shore, to await 
 the breaking up of the ice and the coming of the freshets in the spring, 
 when the coal would be loaded into flat-boats called 'French Creeks,' 
 (because built on French Creek,) and sent down the river. They were 
 simply allowed to float with the tide, and pretty much at its mercy, too, 
 though the men in charge of each boat could guide its course by means 
 of the great sweep or guiding-oar attached. 
 
 After this fashion the coal was floated to points down the Ohio river, 
 for many years, the business steadily increasing all the while, as the 
 towns and cities grew and multiplied, mining operations being gradually 
 extended up the Monongahela. During the dry seasons, however, that 
 stream was often reduced to a mere creek, interfering with the floating 
 of the coal away from the mines, which could be accomplished only at 
 certain times. To remedy this, a company was formed to build dams 
 
ON THE MONONGAHELA. 65 
 
 across the river, with locks through which the flat-boats could pass. Two 
 locks were ready in 1841, and since then six or eight more have been 
 added. They are from 10 to 15 miles apart, and each dam backs the 
 water as far up as the next one, keeping it deep enough in each 'pool' 
 for the passage of the boats. This has greatly helped the coal business 
 ever since, you may be sure. 
 
 It was not until 1845, however, that the idea of ' towing ' the coal-boats 
 by steamboats built for the purpose, was put in practice. Like other 
 progressive ideas, it was ' pooh-poohed ! and laughed at, and those who 
 advocated it were called fools. But a successful trip was made to Cin- 
 cinnati, and from that time to this, the towing of coal has been a steadily 
 increasing business, until now there are great numbers of tow-boats, and 
 thousands of the box-shaped vessels in which the coal is carried barge, 
 coal-boat and flat being the names given to the different kinds of these 
 coal-carrying boats. 
 
 The coal tow-boats, as you have seen, are not like the fussy little 
 4 tugs ' which some of you have seen at Chicago, or New York, or else- 
 where, pulling the great vessels after them, by means of a cable ; but are 
 very large and powerfully built vessels, with tall smoke-stacks, and with 
 a great paddle-wheel behind. Barges are large, flat-bottomed and 
 straight-sided vessels, 130 feet long by 25 feet wide, and 5 or 6 feet deep, 
 and holding 13,000 bushels of coal oh, my ! no ; coal is not ' measured 
 out ' by the bushel, though it is sold by the bushel ; being weighed, in- 
 stead of measured, however, to find the number of bushels in a wagon- 
 load, or car-load, or boat-load, as the case may be. In the anthracite 
 region, all sales are in tons, you know ; but here, while there are sales 
 by the ton, of course, nearly all sales are by the bushel. The law says 
 that 76 pounds of coal shall make a bushel ; and so, all we have to do is 
 to weigh our coal, to get at the number of bushels. In loading railroad 
 cars or coal-boats, each mine carload is weighed before being dropped 
 into the car or boat ; and so, by taking the weight of all the loads 
 emptied into it, we can tell how many bushels are in a car or boat, you 
 see. Families buy this coal by the bushel, as weighed, the price here, for 
 best coal, bring five to six cents per bushel. But to proceed: The flats 
 are much like barges, but smaller, holding 4,000 bushels. Barges and 
 flats are carefully and substantially built, and may be used for nine or ten 
 years unless sooner sunk or mashed to pieces by some accident. They 
 are always brought back to the mines, after the coal is unloaded where 
 sold. Down^the river, perhaps at New Orleans, over 2,000 miles away, 
 by river, boats are the largest, holding 24,000 bushels. They are in- 
 tended for just the one trip, being more cheaply built, than the others, 
 and are sold with the coal, down the river. Then there are the fuel-flats, 
 (holding about 7,000 bushels,) which carry the coal to be used by the tow 
 boat, itself, while making a trip. 
 
 Just now, as you see, there are quite a large number of tow-boats, 
 lying, 'tied up,' along the shore, here in the harbor, waiting for a rise in 
 5 
 
66 
 
 ON THE MONONGAHELA. 
 
ON THE MONONGAHELA. 67 
 
 the river ;* for, while the dams and locks permit of constant passage up 
 and down the Monongahela, they, of course, cannot help the condition 
 of things in the Ohio, which is now at a low stage. Besides the boats 
 lying here, there are many more scattered at various points down the 
 Ohio, unable to come up, with their 'empties/ until there is more water. 
 Then, too, there are others, lying at the mines up along the Monongahela. 
 You see, there are two classes of tow-boats. The smaller ones are for 
 use on the Monongahela, only, taking the loaded barges, etc., from the 
 mines to the harbor, af the head of the Ohio, at Pittsburgh, and taking the 
 'empties' up to the mines again, from the harbor, as brought back from 
 'below,' as it is termed, that is, down the Ohio and Mississippi. 
 The larger boats take the coal from the harbor to the cities and 
 towns down the Ohio and Mississippi ; some going, as I have 
 already intimated, as far as New Orleans. Much of the coal is brought 
 down from the mines, during the times of low water in the Ohio, and is 
 made fast 'tied up' to the shore, or to the piers of bridges, by great 
 chains and cables, to await the coming freshet. There it lies, you see, 
 acres and acres and acres of it, along the shore, in the barges and other 
 craft. Besides these, large numbers of loaded barges, etc., are lying at the 
 different mines, up the river, to be hurriedly brought down, when the 
 rise begins, and turned over to the larger boats, for the trip 'below.' 
 
 The greatest feat on record in boating was that performed by one of 
 the largest tow-boats, the W. W. O'Neil, in May, 1886. The tow of 
 this boat consisted of forty-one barges and other boats, loaded with coal 
 to the amount of 796,820 bushels, and two other barges, loaded with 400 
 tons each of hay, etc. , forty-three pieces in all ! The tow was 302 feet 
 wide and 640 feet long, covering an area in the water of nearly four and 
 one-half acres ! the coal thus being towed along representing the quantity 
 (pillars, etc., being left) from nearly eight acres of the Pittsburgh bed. To 
 give you an idea of the quantity of coal in the tow, let us have Ned figure 
 it out for us, supposing it were to be hauled by railroad. Each car, we 
 will say, will hold 300 bushels of coal, and each locomotive can haul 
 twenty-five cars; now, how many trains will be required to haul it? Ah ! 
 let's see, that's right, 2,656 cars ! or 106 trains of twenty-five cars each ! 
 Quite a load of coal for one boat, you see. 
 
 The system of towing coal is most novel, and is peculiar to itself, in 
 the principles involved and the methods employed. As a recent writer 
 
 * As a matter of fact, up to the date of this writing, December 27th, there has been no 
 general " run " of coal down the Ohio since early in the summer a condition of things without 
 precedent in the history of coal-boating, and having been brought about by the drought which 
 has been so general throughout the Union. Even the dams on the Monongahela have failed 
 to afford a sufficient depth of water, and an additional height of 18 inches was given them, by 
 means of a temporary arrangement of planks, in order to run the coal from the various works 
 down to the harbor, at Pittsburgh where 13,000,000 bushels of coal, in barges, etc., are waiting 
 the long-deferred rise; all barges, flats, etc., on hand being full. A "coal-boat stage" of 
 water is from 10 to 12 feet above low-water mark, and a number of " runs," of from 6,000,000 
 to 10,000,000 bushels, each, are usually made each year. No system of transportation, it may be 
 stated, can compare in cheapness with the towing of coal, as here practiced. The cargoes 
 handled by the tow-boats comparatively small vessels are greater than any ever carried by 
 that famous ocean steamship, the " Great Eastern." 
 
68 DAMS AND LOCKS. 
 
 says, 'No other transport service in the world is based upon similar prin- 
 ciples of construction or navigation; and he further adds, that it is a 
 striking fact that the ablest general in the British army, intended, in an 
 approaching expedition to the upper waters of the Nile, to employ two 
 stern- wheel boats, built upon the ideas underlying the construction of 
 these tow-boats. We shall, no doubt, have an opportunity to see a tow- 
 boat with its tow of barges, etc., 'under way,' before we go elsewhere ; 
 indeed, we may be fortunate enough to see many of them. 
 Ah ! our boat is backing off from the wharf, I notice." 
 
 XVI. 
 
 UP THE RIVER: COAL WORKS DAMS AND 
 
 LOCKS. 
 
 " Off we go ! at last. And what a cloud of the blackest smoke, we 
 leave behind us, as the coal is thrown into the furnace under the great 
 boilers ! No such a display of smoke as this, in the anthracite region ; 
 was there ? And after all, while the smoke and soot of the bituminous 
 coal soils and makes dingy everything white, one likes to watch the great 
 billows of it pouring from the smoke stacks of steamboats, and locomotives 
 and factories, and the smaller columns of it rising from the chimneys of 
 the houses. How the paddle-wheels swish and swash as they go round 
 and round in the water, shoving our boat forward. We have two of 
 them, one on each'side of our boat, while the tow-boats have but one, 
 behind ; our boat is a * side-wheeler, ' while all the tow-boats are ' stern- 
 wheelers, ' you notice. Some passenger boats, however, are stern-wheel 
 boats, instead of side-wheel boats, like this one. 
 
 Yonder comes another boat, down the river, meeting us. Run 
 together? Oh, no Bess, you needn't be afraid of that; they will pass 
 each other, safely. No, indeed, no danger of that either ; each knows 
 which side to take. How? Well keep your ears open now; Listen 
 our boat is whistling. She gave one blast, you notice. Now the other 
 boat is whistling ; one blast, too, so no, there's another, making two 
 blasts. Our boat is whistling again ; two blasts, this time. Now, see, 
 both boats are turning out of their course, a little, and will soon pass. 
 Don't understand, Ned ? Well, the pilots were talking to each other by 
 these blasts of the whistles. Our pilot told the other one when he blew 
 the first blast, which side he wanted to take, in passing ; or, we may say, 
 he was asking the. other pilot if we might take that side. You see, when 
 boats meet, the boat going down the river always has the ' right of way ; ' 
 
DAMS AND LOCKS. 
 
 69 
 
70 DAMS AND LOCKS. 
 
 that is, the pilot of the boat going down has the choice of sides, in pass- 
 ing. The boat going up whistles one or two blasts, as the case may be, 
 to tell the other which side it wants to take. If it suits the other boat, it 
 answers by giving the same number of blasts, and the arrangement is 
 settled ; if not, it gives the opposite number, and as it has the right of 
 way, the boat going up has to answer the upper, giving the same number, 
 and pass to that side, accordingly. The law requires this exchange of 
 signals, so that collisions cannot occur. The boats must answer each 
 other until both blow the same number of blasts, which shows that they 
 understand each other. There she goes by us a tow-boat, but without 
 a tow. What waves she piles up in her wake, as her big wheel churns the 
 water ! In passing, where one boat has a tow of coal with the barges 
 loaded down until the top is but little above the water, it is necessary for 
 the other boat to go very slowly, lest the waves from her wheel should 
 sink some of the other boat's barges. 
 
 COAL PIT MOUTH SCENE ON THE MONONGAHELA. 
 
 Yonder is a colliery, or coal-works, they call it, here, on the 
 western shore. Away up yonder, near the top of the hill, you can see 
 the mouth of the mine 'pit- mouth,' we say, here, 'coal-pit' or 'pit,' in- 
 stead of 'coal-mine' being most generally used. Some cars are just being 
 hauled out, you see, from the 'pit,' following a track laid out along the 
 hillside to the check-house that dingy -looking building perched against 
 the hillside. You see there is a railway an 'incline' from the check- 
 
DAMS AND LOCKS. 7* 
 
 house down to that building on the shore. In the check-house is wind- 
 ing machinery, drums, etc., similar to that which we saw at the an- 
 thracite collieries. When the loaded cars from the mine reach the head 
 of the incline, at the check-house, the wire cable is attached to them, and 
 
 PIT, CHECK-HOUSE, INCLINE AND TIPPLE. 
 
 they go flying down the incline, some empty cars going up the other 
 track at the same time there go some, now. That house, built out 
 the river, is the tipple. The loaded cars run into the tipple, 
 
 over 
 
 where they are tipped up, the end opens, and out goes the coal. It 
 falls upon screen bars like those we saw at the breaker, the smaller pieces 
 'going through, and the lumps sliding down into that large swinging iron 
 
72 DAMS AND LOCKS. 
 
 pan, we will call it, which you can see, from which it is dumped into the 
 river? Oh, no; but into that big barge, which you see lying under 
 the outer end of the tipple. The smaller pieces fall upon another set of 
 bars, or screen, and are again divided, the larger pieces, called 'nut' coal, 
 going into another barge or flat, and the slack into yet another, you see 
 the two, further under the tipple. While being filled, the barges or other 
 boats are held in place by great cables, made fast to posts in the shore. 
 As the vessel is filled at one point it is allowed to float down a few feet, 
 being then again made fast while the coal is emptied into it. When full, 
 it is floated to a point below the tipple, and made fast alongside of other 
 loaded ones, another one being floated into its place at the tipple. 
 
 The breaker? Oh, there are no breakers in the bituminous region. 
 This coal does not have to be broken for use, as the lumps thrown upon 
 the fires burst into a blaze, at once, and in a few minutes, when slightly 
 warmed, can be split and broken, if it is necessary or desirable, by a 
 blow of the poker. For the open fireplaces grates everywhere seen 
 here and wherever bituminous coal is used, lumps as large as your head, 
 or even larger, are preferred to the smaller coal. And what a beautiful 
 .and cheerful fire they do make, as we saw, last night, the yellow blaze 
 roaring up the chimney, and the gas-jets pouring out of the cracks of the 
 lumps, some as long plumes of soft white smoke, like little volcanoes, 
 blazing like miniature gas wells ; others, and but I'm running clean 
 away from the subject in hand. There are no breakers, as I said, and 
 all the separation of coal that is practiced is into slack, nut and lump ; 
 the nut coal is about as large as unshucked walnuts, while lump coal in- 
 cludes every size from this up to the great big pieces which you couldn't 
 lift. Sometimes there is no separation, at all, all going together. Mining 
 here, with drift mines, and with no breakers, is not so expensive as 
 in the anthracite regions. 
 
 But look ahead, yonder. Aha ! what is it, indeed ? Yes, it does look 
 like a waterfall Ned, sure enough ; and it certainly is one; but not a 
 natural one. It is one of the dams I told you about, stretching across the 
 river and blocking our way, it seems. Oh, we'll get up, Miss Inquisitive, 
 somehow. We are heading toward the shore now, you notice, where 
 those walls are ; that is the lock, and it is there that we will find a way to 
 get up over the dam. Now, see how it is done. The lock-keeper has 
 heard our whistle and is getting ready for us. See those two great doors 
 at the lower end of the walls, opening back against them ; now they are 
 back and our boat can run in for that is where it is heading. There is 
 another pair of gates, you see, at the upper end, kept closed, now, to 
 keep the water from the dam from pouring in between the walls. Now, 
 carefully in we go ! the top of our boat only level with the tops of the 
 walls ! Now they are closing the big doors, again, behind us ; we are 
 shut in, sure enough. But look yonder; they are opening the upper 
 doors, and oh, no, no we won't be drowned, Bess, you goosey ; have 
 you forgotten that our boat floats on the top of the water, always ? Come 
 
DAMS AND LOCKS. 73 
 
 and see how we get out of this trap. The doors are opening slowly, 
 you see, and the water is, of course, coming in. Higher? Ha, ha ! how 
 astonished you look ! Of course we are rising ; the water from above is 
 pouring in, and filling the space between the walls, for it can't get out, 
 below, now, you see and we go up as it rises. There now, the lock is 
 full, up to the level of the dam ; all we have to do now is to run on up 
 the river which we are already doing ! For boats going the other way 
 the plan is reversed. The upper doors are opened, the lower ones being 
 kept shut, until the boat runs in off the dam between the walls, the 
 tops of the walls, that is the remainder being hidden, as when we ran out 
 
 RIVER COAL TIPPLE. 
 
 just now. Then the upper doors are closed, and the lower ones opened. 
 The water between the walls runs out, the boat getting lower as the 
 water falls, until it is where we were when we first ran in. It is then at 
 the level of the water below the dam, and runs out and goes on its way ! 
 Without these dams, which hold the water and keep it deep enough for 
 the boats, we could not be boat-riding now, as the river, on account of 
 the dry weather, would be without them a mere creek. 
 
74 
 
 DAMS AND LOCKS. 
 
DAMS AND LOCKS. 75 
 
 Coal-works, you notice, are numerous, on both sides of the river. 
 They are all alike, in general, too, having the incline down the steep, 
 rocky, hillside from the pit, the tipple at the river, and the barges, loaded 
 and empty, lying along the shore, with one or more tow-boats with them. 
 See what a slack-dump at that one ; it runs, you see, from the pit, almost 
 at the top of the hill, down to the railroad track, at its foot. 
 
 Suppose we go ashore here now, as the boat is going to land to take 
 on some passengers ; we can stay here, to-night, and to-morrow visit one 
 of the mines. 
 
 Off with you, quick ! but don't fall off the plank, into the river. 
 ' Rain, rain, rain ! ' This will please the coal-shippers, I know. It 
 has been raining since about ten o'clock, last night, and if it continues at 
 this rate until to-morrow morning, we'll see busy times on the river, sure. 
 Now, put on those waterproof coats and cloaks, and we'll visit yonder 
 mine, if it is a bad day. 
 
 Whew ! that was a climb, sure enough ! Steep as a ladder, I've 
 heard people say ; and though I don't know just how steep that is, I 
 suppose this must be about what is meant. But let us go into the mine ; 
 it isn't raining in there. 
 
 No shaft or slope to ride down, here ; on the contrary, we just walk 
 in, as upon a floor, its a little rougher, of course, but nearly as level. And 
 so we would find it, throughout the mine, were we to go all over it. By 
 the way, I may say that in some of the older mines here, along the river, 
 the coal has all been taken out, long ago, and the coal which one sees 
 coming from the pit-mouth now, comes from mines back in the other 
 hills, sometimes quite a distance away, the old mine opening now serv- 
 ing as a tunnel to get the coal from the new mine to the river. 
 
 All through this region, and not alone upon the river, there are 
 coal mines, nearly all being drift mines, in hillsides ; but there are some 
 shafts at points where the coal has dipped below the hills. Coal-works 
 line the railroads, and a great shipping business is carried on. The rail- 
 road tipples are like these river tipples, the coal lump, nut and slack 
 being loaded into cars just as it is here loaded into barges and flats. 
 
 The miners here are not paid as in the anthracite region ; but all 
 their coal is weighed, and they are paid accordingly, the rate now being 
 three cents per bushel, that is, 76'pounds. All the coal is weighed in the 
 tipple, before going into the barges or railroad cars. Each miner is 
 known by his number the number of his room, that is and is provided 
 with a lot of short pieces of wood bearing his; number. One of these 
 pieces he puts in each car of coal he sends out of the mine. At the tipple, 
 this numbered piece of wood is taken out, and the owner is credited with 
 the weight of coal in the car. When pay day comes, at the end of the 
 week or month, he is paid for the amount mined, as shown by the tipple 
 records. In order to protect the miners, there are two weighmen in the 
 tipple, one the company's clerk, and the other, called a 'check-weigh- 
 man' representing the miners. 
 
76 A COAL-BOAT RISE. 
 
 The miners are of many nationalities Americans, Englishmen, 
 Welshmen, Scotchmen, Irishmen, Frenchmen, Italians and others. There 
 are more foreigners than Americans, by far. There are many thousands 
 of miners in these coal fields. 
 
 Now, we are getting back to the workings. Not much work is being 
 done, now, however, (and, indeed, none at all, at some mines,) as all the 
 barges on hand are loaded, and empty ones cannot be brought up from 
 down the Ohio, until the river rises. Here are breasts or rooms, they 
 are more often called here on both sides of the gangway, or entry, as it 
 is commonly called. The pit-cars are run right into the rooms to be loaded, 
 you see, and there are no shutes nor batteries as in the anthracite mines. 
 We are now at the end of the workings in this direction, I find though 
 they are still being pushed forward. Here is a room just being opened, 
 the miner working his way with a pick instead of a drill, for blasting, as 
 in the other coal-region. He is ' bearing in,' now, along the side of that 
 block of coal, having already cut back under, at the bottom. It is only 
 little by little, indeed, that he cuts his way into the black mass before him ; 
 but, once he has finished the bearing in, he can, by wedging at the top, 
 bring down a great mass of coal. As, however, we have already seen in 
 the anthracite mines practically the same operations we would see here, 
 we will not stay longer, but will go to the surface, again. 
 
 Still it pours ! Once down this slippery path and at home, we will 
 sit by the fire for the remainder of the day. To-morrow will bring us some 
 sights." 
 
 XVII. 
 A COAL-BOAT RISE. 
 
 " Oho ! look at the river, this morning ! That flood of yellow water 
 means all coal out for ' below.' We will catch the first boat, and be off 
 down the river. 
 
 All aboard, again ! Be quick, Ned. Off we go, this time down the 
 river. Now keep your eyes open, and see what the coal-men are about. 
 Away up the river, yonder, are two or three boats in sight, each with a 
 tow of barges and flats. Others are following them, as those great clouds 
 of smoke beyond the bend testify. Look over here, at this landing. 
 These two boats are busy making up their tows from the barges lying 
 here, the boats backing and pushing and choo-chooing, and the men 
 shouting and running about like mad. Everybody is in a hurry, you see ; 
 and boat rises don't come every day. We are slowing up now, to pass 
 this boat with its tow. And here is another, just in front, too. Notice 
 
A COAL-BOAT RISE. 
 
 77 
 
7 8 A COAL-BOAT RISE. 
 
 how the tow is made up. On either side of the tow-boat is a flat the 
 fuel flats while the main part of the tow is in front of the boat, one set of 
 barges in front of the other, making it two barge lengths in depth, and 
 spreading out two or three times the boat's width, too. Those cables 
 crossing from one to the other, hold the barges together side by side and 
 end to end. 
 
 Here is another boat, with its tow, just getting under way, and here 
 is another to be passed ; we can travel faster than they, you see. See the 
 smoke beyond that bend ; there must be several boats close together, just 
 ahead. Look ! there must be half a dozen, or more ! And they do not 
 seem to be moving ! Oh, I have it ; we are at the lock, and the boats are 
 waiting their turn to go through, ' First come, first served ' is the rule at 
 the lock. It takes some time to get a boat and tow through, as there is 
 room for but so many barges, etc., at a time ; and then, besides the time 
 taken to pass them through, other time is lost in separating them break- 
 ing up the tow and in getting them properly rearranged after the passage. 
 Before double locks were made at the lower dams, all the boats and 
 tows having then to pass through one, instead of being divided between 
 two, as now, there were some lively scenes at this lock. The river would 
 be fairly filled with boats, all wanting to get through as soon as possible, 
 lest the water should begin to fall again before the tows could be started 
 down the Ohio. Some had to wait a day and night before their turn 
 would come, and quarrels sometimes occurred, caused by some captain 
 trying to steal for his boat another one's turn. 
 
 Now we are through, and away, with plenty of company, in the way 
 of tow-boats, around us. Here we are in the harbor again. What a dif- 
 ferent scene from that which we left, two days ago. The river is alive with 
 boats, pulling and 'pushing, running in and out and up and down and 
 whistling ! Well, you never heard the like ; did you ? And smoke ! you 
 never saw the like, either. Coal-fleet is in motion; the smaller boats bring- 
 ing down the coal, as we have seen, and the big fellows, here, getting it 
 into shape for a start when the water rises yet a little higher, as it will do 
 when the full effect of the far-up streams is felt. See that large lot of coal 
 lying over there, with the three big tow-boats lying alongside. They are 
 getting up steam in the boats, you see, to get their tows ready and big 
 ones they'll be, too, to include all those barges and flats. We will go to 
 dinner, as soon as we land, and come back this afternoon in time to see 
 them go out. 
 
 Just in time ! they are beginning to go. See yonder fellow, bravely 
 tugging away to get the tow past that pier. Ah ! too late ! crash it goes ! 
 and is crushed like an egg-shell by reason of the tremendous momentum 
 or force, of the huge field of coal. Down it goes, to the bottom ! See 
 the men cutting the cable to let it loose ; now, the rest swing under the 
 bridge, and away they go ! The company may charge the lost barge to 
 'profit and loss' ; and maybe there'll be some others to be entered on 
 the books thus, before they all reach their ports. Mishaps often occur, not 
 
A COAL-BOAT RISE 
 
8o A COAL-BOAT RISE. 
 
 only one, but sometimes many, barges are lost, or delay is occasioned 
 the striking of bridge piers, collision with other tows, 'swamping' of barges, 
 running upon sand-bars and sticking fast, etc. Great skill and equal 
 coolness must be possessed by the pilot. He must know every foot of the 
 river, so as to be able to follow the often narrow and tortuous channel 
 the deepest part of the river, where the boats must run as it shifts from 
 shore to shore, and must carefully calculate his steering as he swings past 
 obstructions or between the piers of bridges. Ice is a source of danger 
 to the coal men, at the time of a general break-up. When suddenly- 
 breaking away before the pressure of the dammed-up water, after having 
 been gorged for miles, perhaps, it sweeps everything before it, even de- 
 stroying or greatly damaging the strong dams. A few years ago, the ice 
 in a few minutes crushed thirty steam-boats and many barges and other 
 coal-boats ! 
 
 Away they go, one after the other, as their tows are made up. The 
 dwellers in the far-away cities will welcome them, as it means lower 
 prices for coal than they have been paying for some time. Let us see 
 another off, and then go ; we can't see all off, for some may not get away 
 before midnight. Here she comes, the largest tow-boat in the service. 
 too. And what a tow she has ! A great island of coal ! I do not know 
 how much coal she has this time, but one of her former tows was the 
 largest ever taken out. 
 
 I read, the other day, a fine description of the handling of one of these 
 immense tows of coal, and I cannot do better than give it to you. The 
 writer says: ' The " driving," (for such it almost seems to be, in its hand- 
 ling by the deft pilot who, with sinewy arms, whirls and revvhirls the wheel 
 that guides the boat 'and this mass of coal,) is a task to which only those 
 brought up to the trade are competent. Skill, judgment, nerve are all 
 called into play as this ponderous bulk, borne along on a river at flood 
 height, running at a current of eight to ten miles an hour, sweeps onward. 
 Through narrow channels, round sharp bends, between the stone piers of 
 bridges, where a mis-turn of the wheel, a failure of judgment, a miscalcu- 
 lation of distance means disaster and wreck, the pilot guides the tow ; now 
 backing, now flanking, now pushing, now floating, watchful and cool, the 
 pilot does his work. There is probably no such boatmanship shown any- 
 where else in the world as is displayed by the Pittsburgh coal tow-boat 
 pilot. Watching one of these ponderous tows surging down the river 
 with the tow-boat of but perhaps 90 to 100 feet in length and 20 to 25 feet 
 in width at its rear, turning it round bends, flanking it past points, back- 
 ing and checking it in narrow channels, one cannot but think of the old 
 joke of the tail wagging the dog, and here it does it, and does it well. It 
 is a wonderful exhibit of skillful navigation, the thus handling by the 
 nervy grip of one man on a wheel, a bulk of 30,000 tons, moving at a 
 speed of from 12 to 15 miles an hour down such a tortuous stream as the 
 Ohio, and with perhaps not five feet to spare of channel width or two feet 
 of water depth.' 
 
 Now, let us go home. To-morrow we will visit the coke-region." 
 
IN THE COKE REGION. 81 
 
 XVIII. 
 IN THE COKE REGION. 
 
 ' ' Here we are in the great coke region one of the most wonderful 
 regions of our country, in many respects ; one certainly not having its like 
 anywhere. It is in this part of the coke field, known as the Connellsville 
 region, which is only about fifty miles long by three miles wide, that the 
 business of coke-making is carried on most extensively ; but a very large 
 coke business is carried on at various points in the extension of this field 
 to the north and east, along and upon the Allegheny mountains and far 
 up toward the northern and central part of the State this region being, 
 you know, in the southwestern part. 
 
 See those great clouds of smoke, rising skyward, beyond that hill- 
 top ; we will make for that point, as that smoke is a sure indication that 
 we shall find there what I want you to see coke ovens. Oh, no, young 
 lady, I hadn't forgotten those long-standing questions, and I may as well 
 answer them now, as we walk along. 
 
 Coke is made from coal bituminous coal by burning it in ovens, 
 built for the purpose, of stone and fire-brick. These ovens are usually of 
 the shape of the old-fashioned bee-hive (which you may have seen in 
 pictures, if no where else), and are, therefore, called ' bee-hive ' ovens. 
 Never saw one ? Well, if you were to cut that orange into halves, and lay 
 the pieces down, on the flat part, you would have the shape of the ovens, 
 pretty nearly. That is, the inside of them is of that shape ; outside, you 
 only see stone walls, with a flat top, scores of ovens being built together 
 in a 'range.' There are other forms of ovens in use, but the bee-hive is 
 the most common one. 
 
 While coke can be made, and is made, at many points outside the 
 coke region (any bituminous coal, with the exception of the 'block' coal, 
 being used), yet the coal of this region is peculiarly adapted to the making 
 of coke. The coal of this region is very much softer here than elsewhere in 
 the same bed ; so soft indeed, as to unfit it, before being coked, for many 
 manufacturing purposes. It can, therefore, be very easily mined, it being 
 a lighter task for the miner to pick it loose from the bed, than to shovel 
 it into the pit cars, afterwards. Not much like anthracite, you see. When 
 the coal is brought ah ! now the ovens are in sight ; let us go closer, 
 climbing yonder bank, where we can have a good view, and be in nobody's 
 way. 
 
 Now, we have the whole cokery spread out before us, and an odd 
 scene it is, too and a busy one. Yonder are other ranges of ovens, too, 
 6 
 
82 
 
 IN THE COKE REGION. 
 
 frfj 
 
 ^ Jim!, * 
 
IN THE COKE REGION. 83 
 
 off to the right. We might go for miles along the railroads (which, 
 unfortunately, we do not have time to do), and everywhere find these 
 long ranges of ovens. They are always built along the railroads, or 
 where switches can be run into them, to provide for the easy and rapid 
 loading of the coke, as fast as made. 
 
 Yonder is the mine from which the coal for these ovens is taken ; 
 there come some cars, now, down the incline to the ovens. The men 
 yonder, empty them all, as that one is being emptied, now, into those big 
 hopper-like iron cars called ' larries' which run on the track laid on the 
 top of the ovens, being drawn by horses or mules, and at some places, by 
 small locomotives. Each of those little doors in front opens into a sepa- 
 rate oven, as is the case with those openings on top, from many of which 
 the smoke and flames are pouring. The ovens are n or 12 feet in diame- 
 ter and 5 or 6 feet high, and are entirely separated from each other, by 
 thick walls. Yonder, now, is one being filled, the coal running out of 
 the larry, through a door just opened at the bottom, and directly into the 
 oven through the hole at the top. About 100 bushels which is 7,600 
 pounds, you can see is put into each oven for one 'charge', being spread 
 evenly on the floor. It is made two feet deep when it is to burn for two 
 days 48 hours and 2^ feet deep when it is to burn three days 72 hours 
 as when in over Sunday. One-day, or 24-hours, coke is sometimes 
 made, but the average time of burning is 48 hqurs, this giving about 
 the best coke. 
 
 Whew ! the smoke ! how it is pouring out the top. You see, the first 
 coal put into an oven, as in this case, takes fire from the heat left by the 
 charge just removed, and which you can see lying on the platform, below 
 the door. As fast as an oven is emptied it is filled, again ; and thus it is 
 kept going all the time. The front opening, you notice, has been almost 
 entirely closed up with bricks coated with wet clay, to shut off the air ; as 
 the coking goes on, the opening is entirely closed, and later, the one on 
 top, also. 
 
 Yonder is one just being opened, the coking having been completed. 
 What a white-hot furnace it is, inside ! Now watch that man as he throws 
 water upon the coke in the oven, by means of that hose and pipe for it is 
 cooled before being taken out. What a cloud of steam it makes ! Now, 
 the man with the long rake is getting ready for his part of the work and 
 out comes the coke, tumbling upon the platform. In a little while the 
 larry will be brought up, and that oven filled again. Everywhere along 
 the range you can see these different operations going on for one oven 
 is opened, when ready, regardless of the others. Some are being filled, 
 others emptied, you see, and other men are busy loading the coke into 
 cars to be sent north, south, east and west. 
 
 That tall building ? That's the crusher, not so large as the anthra- 
 cite breakers, but serving much the same purpose. Those great pieces 
 of coke are what are wanted at blast furnaces, and at other such places, 
 and it is for their use that the great bulk of the coke is made ; but of late 
 
84 SOME FIGURES. 
 
 there is a demand for coke for household uses, and it is to properly sup- 
 ply this demand that the crushers are built, to break the coke into smaller 
 pieces. 
 
 The especial value of coke lies in its great firmness. The coal from 
 which it is made, and all bituminous coal, excepting the block coal, melts 
 down when burning, and cakes; while coke will bear, without crushing. 
 an enormous weight of iron ore, iron, etc., in blast furnaces and iron mills. 
 In coking, the oxygen and hydrogen escape from the coal, leaving the 
 coke nearly pure carbon, like anthracite, nearly 90 parts in 100 being 
 carbon. It is of a beautiful silvery color, as you can see, and look at 
 this little piece full of very small openings. It has a sharp clink or ring, 
 as you notice when the men move it about. 
 
 There are many thousands of coke ovens, built this way, in ranges, 
 and a night ride th rough the coke region affords a novel sight. The indus- 
 try, as you here see it carried on, gives employment to thousands of men, 
 millions of tons of coke being turned out yearly. Coke was made IK-IV 
 seventy-five years ago, but it is only within the last twenty or twenty-five 
 years that its especial value has become known and the business has 
 grown to such art extent. Coke is made at many mines outside of what 
 is known as the coke region, the slack, which would othenvise be wasted, 
 being used in its manufacture. Coke is made in some foreign countries, 
 also. 
 
 Coking, as now carried on, is a wasteful process. An enormous 
 volume of gas gqes up into the atmosphere every day, in the clouds of 
 smoke everywhere rising. So great is this volume of gas, that tin-re has 
 been serious talk of forming great companies to lay immense pipes to carry 
 it to the eastern cities Philadelphia, New York and others. It is esti- 
 mated, too, that |2o,ooo, ooo is lost yearly in this district, in tar, ammonia 
 and sulphur given off by the coal, and which might be saved by the use 
 of some other process of coking. 
 
 Talking of gas suggests an idea. We will not stay here until to-mor- 
 row, but will take a train back to town, and close our sight-seeing by vis- 
 iting the gas-works to-night." 
 
 XIX. 
 SOME FIGURES. 
 
 " How much coal mined this year? I'm sorry, Ned, that I can not 
 tell you ; the year is just out, you know, and the figures covering the 
 amount of its business, in any line, may not be published for many weeks 
 or months, as it seems to require a very long time to get them together. 
 I can, however, give you the figures for 1886, which, of course, will be 
 reasonably near those for this year though perhaps a million or more of 
 tons less. 
 
SOME FIGURES. 85 
 
 The following figures for 1886, for our whole country, are given by our 
 Government officers : 
 
 Tons. Value at mines. 
 
 Anthracite (Pennsylvania) 39,035,446 $73,706,957 
 
 Bituminous (all fields) 76,119,120 78,481,056 
 
 Totals 115,154,566 $152,188,013 
 
 More than one-third of all the coal mined, and worth nearly half the 
 total value, came from the anthracite region, you notice. And, would you 
 believe it? the first coal shipped from that region to Philadelphia, in 
 1803 was pronounced worthless, as they had not then learned how to 
 properly burn it ! 
 
 By the way, the first coal-mining in ,'our country was at Richmond, 
 Virginia, coal being sent to Philadelphia, New York and Boston, in ships, 
 as early as 1790. Anthracite was first used in 1768, by blacksmiths. Reg- 
 ular mining of anthracite was begun in 1820. 
 
 We need not be afraid of running out of coal soon. It is estimated 
 that the anthracite field can supply us for 200 years with 100,000,000 tons 
 per year ! while the Pittsburgh bituminous bed is estimated to contain, in 
 its 3,000 square miles, 20,000,000,000 ! enough for 2000 years !" 
 
 "Although the electric light is already so largely taking the place of 
 gas for lighting our streets, stores and houses, as you see, we cannot yet 
 get along without the gas and, of course, then we, must have gas-works. 
 As I told you yesterday, on our way back from the coke region, gas that 
 we burn to make light is made from coal bituminous coal. In natural 
 gas regions, it is true, the natural gas is burned for light, to a large ex- 
 tent, as well as for heat ; but very largely, even in such regions, and en- 
 tirely so, in others, the gas used for light illuminating gas is made from 
 coal by burning it as you shall see, up this street now, a few steps. 
 Here we are ; we will pass first into the retort-room, at the left. 
 
 How smoky and dingy ! and what a queer looking place generally. 
 Those odd-shaped iron things, sticking out of the brick wall and with 
 pipes running up from them, Miss Inquisitive, are the ends of the retorts 
 all of which are now closed. The retorts? They are the places in 
 which the coal is burned, to make the gas as you will see later. These 
 square doors at the bottom are furnace doors fire being kept in the 
 furnaces, below the retorts, to heat up the coal when the retorts are fresh- 
 ly filled. The but let us watch that man yonder, who is about to 
 open one of the retorts. The door,"you see, lifts entirely off, being held 
 in place by latches and that screw-arrangement. What a beautiful, white 
 glowing mass is lying in the retort ; it is coke, such as we saw made in 
 the ovens, to-day. These retorts, you see, are, in effect, little coke ovens. 
 Now he is pulling out the coke with his long iron hook ; hot work, you 
 may be sure. Now we can see the shape and size of the retort ; it has a 
 flat bottom and rounding, or oval, sides and top. It is, I should think, 
 about a foot high and runs back about eight or ten feet into the brick- 
 
,, SOME FIGURES. 
 
 (O 
 
 work Here he comes with an iron wagon full of coal ; we will watch 
 him fill the retort again. Whew ! how quickly the coal bursts into a 
 blaze as he shovels it in ! and look at the smoke pouring out the door ! 
 The retorts hold about 200 pounds of coal each, which will yiel 
 
 IN THE GAS-WORKS. 
 
 i ooo cubic feet of gas, 1,000 cubic feet being such a quantity as would 
 fill a room or space ten feet wide, ten feet long and ten feet high ; that is 
 it is a space ten feet in every direction. Now he has filled the retort and 
 is about to put onthedoor-using another door, however which has beei 
 prepared for the purpose by having clay spread over, 
 make the retort air-tight, which it must be. 
 
SOME FIGURES. 87 
 
 By the action of the heat, as the coal is burned in the retorts, it is 
 separated into the [different substances of which it is composed. The 
 solid part remains in the retort as coke, just like what we saw made, to- 
 day ; for these closed retorts act like the coke-ovens. The other sub- 
 stances the gas, tar, ammonia, etc., in more or less liquid or vaporous 
 form, leave the retorts and pass up these large pipes, here in front, and 
 into that big, sooty cylinder, upon the top of the brick-work, and which 
 is all the time about half full of tar. From this cylinder the gas, tar and 
 liquids containing ammonia, etc., pass out through that pipe you see run- 
 ning from the farther end of the cylinder through the wall and which we 
 will follow. Here, you see, it comes down into this little room, and goes on 
 through the floor. There is a hole or well under the floor, called the 
 tar-well, and the tar and much of the ammoniacal liquors are left in this 
 well, while the gas, being very light, rises to the top of the well and then 
 passes out through a pipe to the condensers in here ; there they are, 
 those big pipes doubled up and down in a long row, against the wall. 
 The gas must pass through all these pipes, around the bend at top and 
 bottom, and as it does so, it becomes cooled and some of the liquids which 
 have still remained with it, as vapor, are condensed like steam, the vapor 
 of water, when it touches a cold surface and run down into the box at 
 the bottom of the pipes, to be drawn off. The gas itself, now more pure, 
 passes on through the whole length of the condensers, and then by a 
 pipe into the purifiers these big square chests where the remaining im- 
 purities are removed. Here is one open ; it has, you see, a great lot of 
 slatted shelves, smeared with lime, while lime covers the bottom also. 
 Into one of these purifiers the covered ones I mean, though the gas 
 pours, as it comes from the condensing pipes/ and winds in and out 
 among these shelves before it passes out again, through a pipe, into the 
 n,ext one. The lime on the shelves takes from the gas the sulphur and 
 some other impurities, and it is thus left fit for use in our houses and 
 stores and on the streets. 
 
 But it doesn't go straight to the places where it is to be burnt, how- 
 ever ; it is first all collected in the big iron tank or gas-holder incorrectly 
 called a gasometer -, meaning a gas measurer, which the tank is not. But 
 on the way to the gas-holder, as we'll call it, the gas does pass through a 
 measurer the meter. The meter, you see, is a sheet-iron box. It is 
 partly filled with water in which is placed two cylinders divided into a 
 number of long, three-cornered spaces by" partitions running lengthwise 
 through it You will have to imagine this, as we cannot see it through 
 the box. As the gas comes into the meter, through the pipe, it enters 
 the spaces in the cylinder, and as it fills them turns the cylinder round 
 and round. Each space in the cylinder holds so many feet of gas, 
 together holding ten feet. Every time the cylinder goes round, ten 
 feet of gas has gone through; this the meter shows by the pointer on this 
 dial; and every tenth time.it is turned (or hundred feet measured, that 
 is) the pointer on this next dial is turned to show the fact ; and so on, for 
 
88 SOME FIGURES. 
 
 thousands, ten thousands and hundred thousands of feet. So, you 
 see all the gas made is here measured. As it is carried around by 
 the cylinder, it passes out through another pipe and into the w big gas- 
 holders, out here. 
 
 They are, you see, big, round, covered iron tanks, like the oil tanks, 
 only, instead of standing on the ground, each is floating in the water, 
 in a big, deep, round, brick-walled hole, Did I say floating ? Yes, ma'am, 
 floating ; you see, the gas pouring into them, which it does through a pipe 
 coming up from the bottom, and standing above the water holds them 
 up, and as more and more pours in, lifts them up until the top reaches 
 the catches on these strong iron pillars, standing beside each one. No, 
 they are not so high, now ; you are right. But, you see, the burning of 
 thousands of lights on the streets and in the houses has drawn out much 
 of the gas, and so the tanks have been lowered ; by morning they will be 
 much lower, as the gas, by that time, will have been nearly all used out. 
 By the pressure of these great iron tanks, or gasometers, the gas in them 
 is forced out through all the streets in great iron pipes, or mains, and from 
 these into the houses and stores, through small pipes, and is ready, at the 
 striking of a match and the turning of the stop-cock, to blaze away, to our 
 great convenience and comfort. Between the big street pipes and the 
 burners in the houses usually in the cellars is placed a meter, like the 
 big one we just saw, only sm.illri , which measures and records the num- 
 ber of cubic feet of gas burned in each house, and which the people in 
 the house must pay for, at so much for each 1,000 cubic feet. 
 
 Now, let us go home, passing through the retort-room again. Another 
 retort is being filled, you see ; and so the work goes on a steady stream 
 of gas flowing from the retorts to the condensing pipes and purifiers, and 
 on through the meter into the big gasometers, and then, as needed, out 
 to houses and stores. This man is shoveling some of the coke into the 
 furnaces under the sets of retorts ; what is not so used is sold. A consider- 
 able quantity of ammonia hartshorn is also produced in gas-making, 
 and is sold ; as is, too, a smaller quantity of sulphur. There is not so 
 much waste at gas-works as at coke-works, you see. Even the black, 
 sticky, bad-smelling tar has its uses, and several of them ; among them, 
 one of which none of you would ever suspect it of being guilty, I'm 
 sure. It is of no use to have you guess ; so I will tell you. From this 
 tar there is made the beautiful and brilliant aniline colors ! the discovery 
 of which has been of untold value to the world. Why, some of the tar in 
 this very barrel, here, may furnish the substance which shall color the 
 royal robes of some queen or princess, or the gay ribbons of Miss Ruffle- 
 ton, here ! Astonishing, indeed. But come, we must be off. 
 
 Well, here we are at our lodging place again. We cannot stop to 
 talk longer, now, as we must start for home early in the morning ; I'll 
 answer your questions on the way, Miss Inquisitive. 
 
 Good night, then all of you." 
 
CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 
 
 m&n 
 
 After piloting the " Boys and Girls of America" 
 through localities where coal is mined and prepared 
 for market, and explaining everything that pertains 
 
 thereto (within the prescribed limits of a useful Christmas story), would feel as if he 
 had failed to perform his entire duty, if he neglected to call their attention to a few 
 additional important facts. He would state before bidding them a final adieu for 
 the year 1888, that they are indebted to what is popularly known as 
 
 "THE GREAT ROCK ISLAND ROUTE," 
 
 or its General Manager, for the pleasure they have derived from the perusal of this and 
 previous Christmas and New Year Annuals; an enjoyment (he trusts) to be realized 
 with the advent of every coming year. This Souvenir (like those which have preceded 
 it) is a compliment intended not only for the youth of our Country, but for their 
 parents, aunts, uncles, older brothers, sisters and grown up relatives all in fact who 
 are kindly disposed to the ROCK ISLAND system, who have traveled over any of its 
 main liuet, branches or extensions, or contemplate doing so at any future time. 
 
 would remind such friends and would-be patrons, 
 that on no other railway in the world can such 
 
 ---* -^ .- ^^^ ^ ! incomparable, elegant, v convenient, luxurious and 
 beautiful Day Coaches, Dining Cars, Pullman Palace Sleepers and 1 Reclining Chair CarS 
 be found; that at all terminal points including Council Bluffs, St.'josephi'Atchisoh, 
 Leaven worth, Kansas City, Minneapolis and St. Paul, transfers are made in splendid 
 Union Depots; that the ROCK ISLAND offers a choice of routes to California, the 
 Pacific Coast and intermediate towns and cities west, northwest and southwest from 
 Chicago, and in corresponding opposite directii ns; that it traverses the finest culti- 
 vated portions of the Middle West, including the great states of Illinois, Iowa, Min- 
 nesota, Dakota and Missouri, and has opened up new avenues of travel and traffic 
 to all parts of southern Nebraska, interior Kansas and points beyond ; that its Fast 
 Express Trains move with uniform speed and regularity on a smooth, steel track, 
 crossing mighty rivers over bridges of stone and iron ; that its facilities and accom- 
 odationsare unsurpassed; that its employes are polite, attentive and trustworthy, 
 and that ladies traveling alone or even children, are as safe from harm (and always as 
 comfortable) as in their own parlors at home, while under their protecting care. 
 Hoping you will not forget these suggestive facts to which he briefly invites your 
 considerate attention, all that now remains for 
 to do, is to tell you, (if you desire to be more 
 thoroughly posted), that you can obtain tickets, 
 maps, folders, copies of the Western Trail, or whatever information you want in regard 
 to rates, routes or connections by applying in person or by letter to 
 
 E. ST. JOHN, 
 
 General Manager. 
 
 CHICAGO, ILL. 
 
 E. A. HOLBROOK, 
 
 Gen'l Ticket & Pass. Agt. 
 
 OR- 
 
 G. L. RHODES, City Passenger Agent. 104 Clark 
 
 St., Chicago. 
 S. S. STEVENS, General Agent, 1305 Farnam St.. 
 
 Omaha, Neb. 
 
 MATT CLAIR, Traveling Agent, Omaha, Neb. 
 A B. FARNSWORTH, General Eastern Passen- 
 ger Agent, 257 Broadway, New York City. 
 W. J. LEAHY, Traveling Agent New York State 
 
 257 Broadway, New York City. 
 E. W. THOMPSON, New England Passenger 
 
 Agent, 296 Washington St., Boston, Mass. 
 JOHNT DOUGLASS, Travelin Passenger A g't. 
 
 296 Washington St., Boston, Mass. 
 I. L. LOOM1S, Passenger Agent, Middle District, 
 
 111 South Ninth St., Philadelphia, Pa. 
 JOS. A. SHEPPARD, Southeast Passenger Ag't. 
 
 Chicago, 111. 
 H. S. PHILPS, Traveling Passenger Agpnt for 
 
 Quebec and the Maritime Provinces, 154 St. 
 
 James Street, Montreal. P. Q. 
 D. L. CAVEN, Traveling Passenger Agent for 
 
 the Province of Ontario, 35 Yonge Street, 
 
 Toronto, Ontario. 
 
 C. H. HOLDRIDGE, N. E. Passenger Agent, cor. 
 
 Lamed and Griswold Sts., Detroit, Mich. 
 M. P. WASHBDRN, Passenger Agent for the 
 
 Northwest, Chicago, 111. 
 CLINTuN JONES, General Agent, 36 Mont- 
 
 gomery St., San Francisco, Cal. 
 F. W. THOMPSON, Traveling Agent, 36 Mont- 
 
 gomery St., San Francisco, Cal. 
 J. F. FUGAZI, Italian Passenger Agent, 5 Mont- 
 
 gomery Ave, San Francisco, Cal. 
 CHAS. KENNEDY, General Agent, Rock Island 
 
 and Albert Lea Routes, 3 Washington St., 
 
 Portland, Oregon. 
 A. H. MOFFET, General South-western Pass- 
 
 enger Agent, 632 Main St.. and 1042 Union 
 
 Ave., Kansas City, Mo. 
 W. H. FIRTH, Traveling Passenger Agent for 
 
 the Southwest, 532 Main St., Kansas City,Mo, 
 JOHN T. SMITH, Trav. Pass. Ag't, 532 Main St., 
 
 Kansas City, Mo., & 9 Windsor BPck.Denver 
 C. C. STOWELL, Traveling Agent, Chicago, 111. 
 WM. RICKEY, Passenger Ag't,Davenport,Iowa. 
 
 , ,,. 
 
 W. l. CHEEVER, Passenger Agent, Central 
 District, Peoria, 111. 
 

n'58RUP 
 DEC 17 1952 L 
 
 1974* 
 
 
 
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THE UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA LIBRARY