THE MINER AT WORK.
The number of persons employed in a single mine in the anthracite
regions varies from a dozen in the newest and smallest mines to seven
hundred or eight hundred in the largest and busiest. The average would
probably be between two hundred and three hundred. In the bituminous
districts the average is not so large.
First among those who go down into the mine is the mine boss, or, as
he is sometimes called, the “inside boss.” It is his duty “to direct
and generally supervise the whole working of the mine.” All the workmen
are under his control, and everything is done in obedience to his
orders. He reports to, and receives instructions from, the general
superintendent of the mines.
Next in authority is the fire boss. It is his duty to examine, every
morning before the men come to their work, every place in the mine
where explosive gas is evolved or likely to be evolved, and to give
the necessary instructions to the workmen regarding the same. He also
has general oversight of the ventilating system, and sees that all
stoppings, doors, brattices, and airways are kept in proper condition.
The driver boss has charge of the driver boys and door boys, and sees
that the mules are properly cared for and are not abused. Each driver
boy has charge of a mule, and the mule draws the empty cars in along
the gangway and up to the faces of the chambers, and draws the loaded
cars out to the foot of the shaft. The door boy must stay at his post
all day and open and close the door for the cars to pass in and out.
The use and necessity of these doors will be explained in a subsequent
chapter. Then there are the footmen, carpenters, blacksmiths, masons,
and tracklayers, whose occupations in the mines are apparent from the
names which indicate their several callings.
Finally we have the miners and the miners’ laborers, and it now becomes
a matter of especial interest to inquire into the character of their
work and their manner of performing it. To drive a gangway or airway
is much the same as driving a chamber, except that the gangway is
only about one third the width of a chamber, and must be driven on a
slightly ascending grade. Gangway driving is special work, for which
the miner receives special wages, it being impossible in this work to
send out as much coal with the same amount of labor as can be sent out
in chamber work. And since the great bulk of coal is taken from the
chambers, it will be better to observe in one of them the processes of
mining.
There are usually four workmen, two miners and two laborers, employed
in each chamber. The miners are employed by, or are under contract
with, the coal company, and the laborers are employed by the miners,
subject to the approval of the mining superintendent. The two miners
divide their profits or wages equally with each other, and are called
“butties.” A miner’s butty is the man who works the chamber with him on
halves. A laborer’s butty is the man who is associated with him in the
employ of the same miners. Between the miner and the laborer there is
a well-defined and strictly observed line of social demarcation. The
miner belongs to the aristocracy of underground workers; the laborer
is of a lower order, whose great ambition it is to be elevated, at an
early day, to that height on which his employer stands.
Now as to the work done by these four men. Before the chamber has
progressed a pillar’s length above the airway, propping will usually
be necessary to sustain the roof, so large an area of which has been
left without support. Hardwood props about nine inches in diameter
are used for the purpose. They are purchased by the mining companies
in large quantities, and are usually cut and hauled to the railroad
in the winter time to be shipped at any season to the mines. By the
law of 1885 the person or company operating a mine is obliged to
furnish to the miner, at the face of his chamber, as many props of the
required length as he may need. Having received the props the miner
himself sets them on each side of the middle line of the chamber at
such points as he thinks require them, or at such points as the mine
boss designates. He drives the prop to its place by means of a large
flat wedge inserted between the top of it and the roof, thus making
the stick tight and firm and also giving it a larger bearing against
the roof. Some chambers require very few props; others must be well
lined with them. Their necessity depends upon the character of the
roof. If it is soft, slaty, and loose it must be supported at frequent
intervals. It very rarely occurs that a chamber, worked to its limit,
has needed no propping from its foot to its face. Usually a good part
of the miner’s time is occupied in setting props as his work at the
face advances.
Every seam has its top and bottom bench of coal, divided about midway
by a thin slate partition, and one bench is always taken out to a
horizontal depth of four or five feet before the other one is mined.
If the upper bench contains the best and cleanest coal, with the
smoothest plane of cleavage at the roof, that is first taken out; but
if the choice coal lies at the bottom, then the lower bench is first
mined. The reason for this is that a shot heavy enough to blast out
effectually the section of rough, bony, or slaty coal which sticks to
the roof or floor would be heavy enough to shatter the adjoining bench
of clean brittle coal, and make a large part of it so fine as to be
useless.
Let us now suppose that the miner has a clean, vertical wall of coal
at the face of his chamber in which to begin work. Making sure that
his tools and materials are all at hand, he first takes up his drill.
This is a round or hexagonal iron bar about one and an eighth inches in
diameter, and about five and a half feet long, tipped at the working
end with steel. This end is flattened out into a blade or chisel,
having a slight concave curve on its edge, and being somewhat wider at
its extremity than the diameter of the bar. At the other end of the
drill the diameter is increased to one and a half inches, forming a
circular ridge at the extremity of the bar, in one side of which ridge
a semicircular notch is cut into the face of the drill. The use of this
notch will be subsequently explained. This, then, is the tool with
which the miner begins his work. Selecting the bench to be first mined
he chooses a point a few feet to the right or left of the middle line
of the face and delivers upon it the first stroke with the sharp edge
of his drill; and as he strikes successive blows he rotates the drill
in his hands in order to make the hole round. The drill is never struck
on the head with sledges. Its cutting force depends on the momentum
given to it in the hands of the miner, and the stroke made by it is a
jumping or elastic stroke.
Instead of the bar drill, which has been described, many of the miners
use a machine hand-drill for boring holes. This machine works upon the
same principle that the jackscrew does. It is operated by hand by means
of a crank, and an auger-like projection forces its way into the coal.
The work of turning the crank is more laborious than that of drilling
with the bar-drill, but the extra labor is much more than compensated
for by the greater speed at which boring is done. It is probably due
to the spirit of conservatism among miners that this machine is not
in general use by them. Coal-cutting machines, working by steam or
compressed air, are not used in the anthracite mines. The character of
the coal, the thickness of the seams, and the inclination of the strata
make their employment impracticable.
When the hole has been drilled to a depth of about four and a half
feet it is carefully cleaned out with a scraper. This is a light iron
rod with a handle on one end of it and a little spoon, turned up like
a mustard spoon, on the other end. Then the cartridge is inserted and
pushed in to the farther extremity of the hole. The cartridge is simply
a tube made of heavy manila paper formed over a cartridge stick, filled
with black powder, and folded at the ends. Dynamite and other high
explosives are not used, because they create too much waste. Ready-made
cartridges in jointed sections are largely used, but as a rule the
miner makes his own cartridge as he needs it.
The miner’s needle is an iron rod about five and one half feet in
length, with a handle at one end. It is about five eighths of an inch
in diameter at the handle end, and tapers to a point at the other end.
When the cartridge has been pushed in to the extreme end of the bore
hole, the needle is inserted also, the point of it piercing the outer
end of the cartridge. The needle is then allowed to rest on the bottom
or at the side of the drill hole while the miner gathers fine dirt from
the floor of the mine, dampens it slightly if it is dry, and pushes
it into the hole alongside. This dirt is then forced in against the
cartridge with the head of the drill. More dirt is put in and driven
home, and still more, until, by the time the hole is filled to its
outer extremity, the packing is hard and firm. This process is called
tamping. It can now be seen that the semicircular notch on the rim of
the blunt end of the drill is for the purpose of allowing the drill
to slip along over the needle, which still retains its position, and
at the same time to fill the diameter of the hole. The tamping being
finished the miner takes hold of the needle by the handle, turns it
once or twice gently in its bed, and then slowly withdraws it. A round,
smooth channel is thus left from the outside directly in to the powder
of the cartridge, and into this channel the squib is inserted. The
squib is simply an elongated fire-cracker. It has about the diameter
of a rye straw, is about four inches in length, and its covering
projects an inch or two at one end and is twisted up for a fuse. The
covering of the squib may indeed be of straw, sometimes it is of hempen
material, but more often, in these days, it is made of paper. It is
filled with powder and is then dipped into a resinous mixture to make
it water-proof, to coat over the open end so that the powder shall not
run out, and to make the wick at the other end mildly inflammable. If
the bore hole should be very wet an iron or copper tube, through which
the needle is run, is laid to the cartridge before the hole is tamped,
and when the needle is withdrawn the squib is inserted into the mouth
of the tube. If inflammable gases are exuding from the coal through the
bore hole, or if for any other reason it is feared that the cartridge
will be exploded too quickly, a short piece of cotton wick, dipped in
oil, is attached to the fuse of the squib to lengthen it, and this
extra section of fuse is allowed to hang down from the mouth of the
bore hole against the face of coal.
When all is ready the tools are removed to a safe distance, a lighted
lamp is touched to the fuse, the men cry “Fire!” to warn all who may
be in the vicinity, and, retreating down the chamber, they take refuge
behind some convenient pillar. The fuse burns so slowly that the men
have ample time in which to get out of harm’s way, if ordinary care is
taken. When the fire reaches the powder in the squib the same force
that propels a fire-cracker or a rocket acts upon the squib and sends
it violently through the channel or tube into contact with the powder
of the cartridge. The explosion that results throws out a section of
coal from the face, breaking it into large pieces. So soon as the
place has settled after the firing of the shot the men go back to the
face to note the result. The broken coal is pushed to one side, and
preparations are made for drilling the next hole. It usually takes five
shots to break down a single bench. When both benches of coal have been
blasted out the length of the chamber has been increased by five or six
feet. In blasting, the miner must take advantage of such conditions as
are presented to him at the face of the working, and he will bore his
hole and fire his shot where, in his judgment, the best result will
be attained. He cannot always take one position at his drilling; it
is rarely that he finds a comfortable one. Sometimes he must hold the
drill at arm’s length above his head, at other times he must rest on
his knees while working, still oftener he is obliged to lie on his back
or side on the wet floor of the mine, and work in that position, with
occasional respite, for hours at a time.
In nearly every chamber the miner has a powder chest which he keeps
locked, and which is stored at some safe and convenient place, not too
close to the face. In this chest he keeps, besides his powder, his
cartridge paper, cartridge pin, squibs, lamp-wick, chalk, and such
other little conveniences and necessaries as every workingman must
have at hand. The other tools are usually at the face. He has there a
mining pick. This pick is straight and pointed, and from the head or
eye, where the handle enters, it will measure about nine inches to each
end. It is used for bringing down slate and coal from roof, ribs, and
face. The bottom pick is used by the laborer for breaking up the coal
after it is down. This pick measures about two feet from tip to tip,
and is curved slightly upward at the points. Each miner has two drills,
and perhaps a hand machine-drill. He has also a steel crowbar for
prying down loose portions of the roof, and for turning heavy pieces of
slate or coal. He has an eight-pound steel hammer, with a handle two
feet and four inches in length, which he uses in setting props; and he
has a heavy sledge for breaking rock and coal. The list is completed by
three large scoop shovels, used generally to shovel the smaller pieces
of broken coal from the floor of the chamber into the mine car.
[Illustration: MINER’S TOOLS.]
The miner must furnish his own tools. His powder, fuse, and oil he gets
from the company that employs him, and they are charged to him in the
account that is stated between them monthly. It will not do to omit
the miner’s lamp from the list of appliances used in his calling; it
is too great a necessity. Without it he could do absolutely nothing;
he could not even find his way to his chamber. Formerly candles were
much used in the mines; in Great Britain they are still common; but the
anthracite miner invariably uses a lamp. This is a round, flat-bottomed
tin box, about the size of a small after-dinner coffee cup. It has a
hinged lid on top, a spout on one side, and a handle shaped like a hook
with the point down on the opposite side. By this hooked handle the
lamp is fastened to the front of the miner’s cap, and he wears it so at
his labor, removing it only for the purpose of renewing the material in
it, or of approaching the powder chest, or of examining more closely
some portion of his work. In the lamp he burns crude petroleum, which
is fed from a cotton wick emerging from the spout. Very recently
electricity has been introduced into the gangways of some large mines,
for lighting purposes, and has given great satisfaction. Perhaps the
day is not far distant when an electric light will swing from the roof
at the face of every working chamber.
When the coal has been blasted down and the props have been set the
miner’s work is done; the rest belongs to the laborers. They must
break up the coal, load it into the cars, run it down to the gangway,
pile up the refuse, and clear the chamber for the next day’s work. The
mine carpenters have laid a track, consisting of wooden rails set into
caps or notched ties, as far up the chamber as the working at the face
would permit. Up this track the mule and driver boy have brought the
empty car and left it at the face. The laborers throw into it first
the smaller pieces of coal which they shovel up from the floor of the
chamber, then huge chunks are tumbled in and piled skillfully on top
until the car is almost overbalanced with its load. It is then pushed
out to the gangway to await the coming of the driver boy, who attaches
it to his trip of loads and takes it to the shaft.
The mine car is usually but a smaller edition of the coal cars that can
be seen any day on the surface railways of the country. The running
portion is of iron, and the box is stoutly built of hardwood, braced
and stiffened by iron tie-rods, bolts, and shoes. At the end of the car
is a vertical swinging door, hung from the top by an iron rod, which
crosses the box. This door is latched on the outside near the bottom,
and the coal is dumped from the car by tipping it up and letting the
unlatched door swing outward. The size of the car depends greatly on
the size and character of the workings in which it is used. Perhaps
an average size would be ten feet long, five feet wide, and five feet
high from the rail. Such a car would contain about one hundred cubic
feet, and would hold from two and one half to three tons of coal. The
track gauges in common use vary by three inch widths from two feet and
six inches to four feet. The miner and laborer start to their work
in the morning at six o’clock. If they enter the mine by shaft they
must go down before seven o’clock, for at that hour the engineer stops
lowering men and begins to hoist coal. Immediately after arriving at
the face of his chamber the miner begins to cut coal. If the vein is
thick and clean, if his shots are all effective, and if he has good
luck generally, he will cut his allowance of coal for the day by ten
or eleven o’clock in the forenoon. It will be understood that by the
system in use by most of the coal companies not more than a certain
number of carloads may be sent out from each chamber per day. And when
the miner has blasted down enough coal to make up that number of loads
his day’s work is done. It is very seldom indeed that he is not through
before two o’clock in the afternoon. But he never stays to assist the
laborer. It is beneath his dignity as a miner to help break up and
load the coal which has been brought down by means of his judgment and
skill. So the laborer is always last in the chamber. His work is seldom
done before four or five o’clock in the afternoon. He has just so much
coal to break up, load, and push down to the gangway, no matter how
successful the miner may have been. He consoles himself, however, by
looking forward to the time when he shall himself become a miner.
Blasting is always a dangerous occupation, and the law in Pennsylvania,
embodied in the act of 1885, has recognized its especial danger in the
mines, by making certain provisions concerning it for the protection
of life and limb. The rules laid down are strict and complete, yet,
in spite of them, accidents from powder explosions and premature
blasts are frequent and destructive. But it must be said that these
accidents are due, in most part, to violations of these rules. It is
impossible for colliery authorities to keep constant watch over the
workmen in every chamber. The conduct of these men must be largely
governed by themselves, and the frequency of accidents, both serious
and fatal, as a result of carelessness on the part of workmen, does
not seem to deter other workmen from constantly running the same
risks. The most prevalent and the most serious source of danger to
the miner is not, however, in blasting, but in falls of coal, slate,
and rock from the roof, ribs, and face of the chamber. Material that
has become loosened by blasting is pulled down carelessly, or falls
without warning. In many cases the roof is insufficiently propped,
and large sections of it give way. Men are caught under these falling
masses every day, and are either killed outright or seriously injured.
Yet, as in the case of blasting, their injuries are largely the result
of their own carelessness. Any one who reads the reports of these
cases cannot fail to be convinced of this fact. The mine inspector’s
reports of Pennsylvania show that during the year 1887 there were in
the anthracite district three hundred and thirteen fatal accidents
which occurred in and about the mines. Of this number one hundred and
forty-seven were due to falls of roof and coal, while only twenty-one
were caused by explosions of blasting material. These figures indicate
plainly the direction in which the skill and supervision of operators
and the care and watchfulness of workmen should be exerted for the
protection of life.