MINERS AND THEIR WAGES.
A good miner may be called a “skilled workman,” and, as such, he
is entitled to greater compensation for his labor than an ordinary
workman. He expects it and gets it. There are two principal systems by
which payments are made to miners. The first is according to the number
of cubic yards of coal cut, and the second is according to the number
of tons of coal mined and sent out. The first, which is prevalent in
the regions of steep-pitching seams, is followed because the coal may
remain in the chamber for an indefinite time after being cut. The
second, which in the Wyoming region is almost universal, is somewhat
more complicated. A chamber is taken by two miners, but the account
on the books of the coal company is usually kept in the name of only
one of them, who is held to be the responsible member of the firm. For
instance, “Patrick Collins & Co.” work a chamber in Law Shaft, and
the firm is so designated. The first thing they do is to adopt some
distinctive mark which may be chalked on the sides of their loaded cars
to distinguish them from the loaded cars from other chambers. The
letters of the alphabet are frequently used by miners, but, in default
of these, some simple design that cannot readily be mistaken for any
other is put into service. The triangle ∆ is a very common symbol with
them, so is the long, horizontal line, crossed by short vertical ones,
thus: ――|――|――――|――. The miners call this a candle. When a car has
been loaded the symbol is chalked on the side of it, together with a
number which tells how many cars have been sent from the chamber during
the day. For instance, when a mine car appears at the surface marked
“∆ 5” it means that the car is from a certain chamber designated by
that symbol, and that this is the fifth car which has been sent from
that chamber during the day. On its way from the head of the breaker
to the dumping cradle, the loaded car passes over the platform of the
weighing scales and registers its weight on the scale beam. This weight
is quickly read by the weigh-master, is transferred to his book, and
goes to make up the daily report. In some districts a system in which
tickets are used instead of chalk marks is in vogue, and in other
districts duplicate checks are employed, but everywhere the general
features remain the same.
In order to get a chamber from any of the large mining corporations, a
miner must apply in person to the mining superintendent. He must come
well recommended, or he must be known as a skillful, industrious, and
temperate workman. The responsibility of driving a chamber properly is
not a small one, and mining companies choose to take as little risk as
possible in the selection of their men. Having accepted an applicant
for a chamber, the company makes a contract with him, usually a verbal
one, to pay him at a certain rate per ton or yard for the coal mined
by him. The rate, though not wholly uniform, on account of the greater
or less difficulty of cutting coal at the different collieries, is
practically the same throughout an entire district.
A miner working at full time and in a good seam will send out enough
coal each month to amount, at the contract price, to $150. But his
expenses for laborers’ wages, powder, oil, fuse, etc., will amount to
$75 per month, leaving him a net income of $75 per month. The laborer
is also paid according to the number of tons of coal sent out, and his
wages will probably average $2 per day. It is not often in these days
of thin seams that these rates of income are exceeded. And when the
mines are in operation only a portion of the time, as is now often the
case, these figures are seriously reduced.
The subject of wages frequently has been under discussion between
miners and operators, and the differences of opinion on it have been
prolific of many strikes. By some corporations and at some collieries
a sliding scale has been adopted. That is, the miner has been paid,
not at a fixed rate, but at a rate which constantly adjusts itself to
the market price of coal. The objection to this method is said to be
that the great companies who practically control the anthracite coal
business form syndicates, fix the market price of their coal for a
certain period of time, and then limit the output of each member of the
syndicate to a certain number of tons during that period.
It is certain that no scheme of payment has yet been devised which is
perfectly satisfactory to the great body of workers in the mines. But
it is true also that employer and employee are working together more
harmoniously now than they have worked at any time in the past, and
that long and stubborn strikes of miners are growing, year by year,
less frequent. It is to be hoped that the time will come when even the
strike will not be considered necessary as a weapon of defense for the
workman. As a rule strikes result in loss, and in loss only, to both
capital and labor; and, as a rule also, labor suffers from them more
than does capital, and this is the saddest feature of the case. Hon.
Carroll D. Wright, the National Commissioner of Labor, has compiled the
statistics of miners’ strikes in Pennsylvania for the years 1881 to
1886 inclusive. His tables show that of 880 such strikes, which was the
total number that occurred during the period named, 186 succeeded, 52
partly succeeded, and 642 failed. The loss to employers resulting from
these strikes was $1,549,219; the loss to employees was $5,850,382; and
the assistance given to the strikers during the periods of suspension
amounted to $101,053. These figures form the best commentary to be had
on the subject of strikes; they are eloquent with tales of hardship, of
suffering, and of despair.
In those regions which have had long immunity from strikes, and in
which work at full time has been the rule, the mine-workers are not
only comfortable, but frequently are prosperous. They rarely occupy
rooms in the cheap tenement houses of the towns, even if such occupancy
would be to their convenience. They prefer to live in the outlying
districts, where they can have homes of their own and gardens that
they may cultivate. In the colliery villages the lots are usually laid
out and sold or rented by the mining company to its workmen. Rent is
not high, and, in case of sale, a long term contract is given, so that
payments are in easy installments. The miner prefers to own his house
and lot. Such ownership has a tendency to impress any man with the
importance and responsibility of his duty as a citizen, and the miner
is no exception to the rule. He is apt to waste neither his time nor
his money when he has property and a family to care for. He tries, too,
to lay by something for a rainy day; he knows that the probabilities
are that either he or his family will eventually need it. As his hours
of labor are comparatively short he has considerable leisure which he
may spend profitably or foolishly as he will. Many of the men spend
this leisure working in their gardens or about their premises. It is
seldom that any of them go so far as to have regular extra employment
to occupy their time while out of the mines. Indeed the prevailing
tendency among miners is to do as little work as possible outside of
the mines. The opinion seems to be prevalent among them that when a
miner has cut his coal he has done his full duty for the day, and is
entitled then to rest and recreation. He does not take kindly to other
kinds of work. He rarely deserts his occupation of mining to take up
any other calling, and it may be said that after he has passed middle
age he never does. There is a fascination to the old miner about the
dark chambers, the black walls, the tap of the drill, the crash of
falling coal, the smell of powder smoke in the air, a fascination that
is irresistible. He would almost rather die in the familiar gloom of
the mine than live and toil in the sunlight on the surface. Years of
walking under the low mine roofs have bent his back, have thrown his
head and shoulders forward, have given him that long swinging stride
characteristic of old miners. His face is always pale; this is due, no
doubt, to the absence of sunlight in his working place; but, as a rule,
his general health is good; except when he has worked for a long time
in dry and dusty mines. In that case he is apt to find himself, sooner
or later, a victim to the disease known as “miner’s consumption.” The
miner’s appearance, as he passes along the street or road on his way
home from his work, is, to eyes unaccustomed to the sight, anything but
favorable. He wears heavy, hobnailed shoes or boots, flannel shirt,
coarse jacket and pantaloons, all of them black with coal dirt and
saturated with oil. He has a habit, when he comes from his work, of
throwing his coat loosely about his shoulders, and wearing it so as
he goes to his home. He usually wears a cap on his head, sometimes a
slouch hat, rarely the helmet or fireman’s hat with which artists are
accustomed to picture him. This latter is too heavy and clumsy for
common use; he only puts it on when working in places where water comes
down freely on his head. Hooked to the front of his cap is the little
tin lamp already described. When he goes to or comes from his work in
the dark he allows it to burn and light him on his way. His face and
hands are also black with coal dirt and powder smoke, and his features
are hardly recognizable. The predominating race among the mine workers
is the Irish, next in point of numbers comes the Welsh, then follow the
Scotch and English, and, finally, the German. Of late years, however,
Hungarian, Italian, and Russian laborers have come to the mines in
large numbers, especially in the southern districts. These people can
hardly be compared with the English or German speaking races; they
do not become citizens of the country, have in the main no family
life, and are, in a certain sense, slaves whose masters are their own
countrymen.
In speaking of the characteristics of the mine workers as a class, it
may be well, and it certainly is just, to correct a misapprehension
concerning them which has become prevalent. From reading the
descriptions given by newspaper correspondents and by certain writers
of fiction, many people have come to think that all miners are little
less than outlaws, that they are rude, ignorant, brutal in their
instincts, and blind in their passions and animosities. This is very
far indeed from the truth. Mine workers, as a class, are peaceful,
law-abiding, intelligent citizens. That they are economical and
industrious is well attested by the comfortable appearance of their
homes, and the modest deposits that are made, in large numbers, in
the numerous miner’s savings banks of the different districts. There
are, indeed, among them those who are intemperate, those who are
coarse and violent, a disgrace to themselves and a menace to society.
These are always the ones who come to the surface at a time when
strained relations exist between employers and employees, and by their
harsh language and unlawful conduct in the name of oppressed labor
call down just retribution on themselves, but unjust condemnation
on the true mine workers, who compose ninety-nine one hundredths of
the class, but who do not go about drinking, ranting, destroying
property, and inciting to crime. The proportion of “good-for-naughts”
among the miners, however, is no greater than it is among any other
class of workmen having the same numbers, and the same advantages
and disadvantages. With the exception of the Hungarians, Russians,
Italians, and Poles, of whom mention has already been made, the miners
and their families compare favorably with any class of workers in
the same grade of labor in America. Many of them indeed attain to
prominent and responsible positions in business and society. Not a
few of the clerks, merchants, contractors, mining engineers, bankers,
lawyers, preachers, of the coal regions of to-day have stepped into
those positions from the chambers of the mines, and have filled them
admirably. The miner is fond of his family; his children are dear
to him, and, whenever the grim necessities of life permit, he sends
them to the schools instead of to the mines or breakers. He wishes
to prepare them for a larger enjoyment of life than he himself has
had, even though that life should be spent in the occupation which he
himself has followed. And, indeed, there are few other occupations in
which the possibilities of advancement are so great and so favorable.
There must be mine bosses, mine inspectors, mine superintendents, and
many of them, and they are, as a rule, promoted from the ranks. Young
men of character, skill, and judgment are almost sure to step into the
higher places.
If it were not for two evils that constantly menace and hamper him, the
coal miner of to-day would be the most favored of workmen. These twin
evils are strikes and lockouts. Abolish them and there would be no more
comfortable, happy, and generally prosperous class of people in America
than the workers in the coal mines.
GLOSSARY OF MINING TERMS.
_After damp._ The mixture of gases resulting from the burning of fire
damp.
_Air shaft._ A vertical opening into a mine for the passage of air.
_Airway._ Any passage in the mine along which an air current passes;
but the term is commonly applied to that passage which is driven, for
ventilating purposes, parallel to and simultaneously with the gangway.
_Anticlinal._ A fold of strata in which the inclination of the sides of
the fold is from the axis downward.
_Barrier pillars._ Large pillars of coal left at a boundary line, or on
the outskirts of a squeeze.
_Basin._ The hollow formed by a fold of the seam; any large area of
included coal.
_Battery_. In steep-pitching seams, a wooden structure built across the
shute to hold the mined coal back.
_Bearing in._ Cutting a horizontal groove at the bottom or side of the
face of a breast.
_Bed._ Any separate stratum of rock or coal.
_Bench._ A horizontal section of the coal seam, included between
partings of slate or shale.
_Black damp._ Carbonic acid gas; known also as choke damp.
_Blossom._ Decomposed coal, indicating the presence of an outcrop.
_Blower._ A forcible and copious discharge of gas from a cavity in the
coal seam.
_Bony coal._ Coal containing in its composition slaty or argillaceous
material.
_Bore-hole._ A hole of small diameter drilled or bored, either
vertically or horizontally, through the measures or in the coal;
usually, a hole drilled vertically for prospecting purposes.
_Brattice._ A partition made of boards or of brattice cloth, and put up
to force the air current to the face of the workings.
_Breaker._ A building, with its appliances, used in the preparation of
anthracite coal for the market.
_Break-through._ A cross-heading or entrance, used in the bituminous
mines.
_Breast._ The principal excavation in the mine from which coal is
taken; known also as chamber.
_Broken coal._ One of the regular sizes of prepared anthracite.
_Buckwheat coal._ One of the regular sizes of prepared anthracite.
_Buggy._ A small car or wagon used for transporting coal from the
working face to the gangway.
_Buntons._ The timbers placed crosswise of a shaft down its entire
depth, dividing it into vertical compartments.
_Butt._ In bituminous coal seams, the vertical planes of cleavage at
right angles to the face cleavage.
_Butty._ A comrade; a fellow-worker in the same chamber.
_Cage._ See Carriage.
_Carriage._ The apparatus on which coal is hoisted in a shaft.
_Cartridge pin._ A round stick of wood on which the paper tube for the
cartridge is formed.
_Cave-hole._ A depression at the surface, caused by a fall of roof in
the mine.
_Chain pillars._ Heavy pillars of coal, lining one or both sides of
the gangway, and left for the protection of that passage.
_Chamber._ See Breast.
_Chestnut coal._ One of the regular sizes of prepared anthracite.
_Choice damp._ See After-damp.
_Cleavage._ The property of splitting on a certain plane.
_Collar._ The upper horizontal crosspiece uniting the legs in the
timbering of a drift, tunnel, slope, or gangway.
_Colliery._ All the workings of one mine, both underground and at the
surface.
_Conglomerate._ The rock strata lying next beneath the coal measures.
_Counter-gangway._ A gangway which is tributary to the main gangway,
and from which a new section of coal is worked.
_Cracker boss._ The officer in charge of the screen room in a breaker.
_Creep._ A crush in which the pillars are forced down into the floor or
up into the roof of the mine.
_Cribbing._ The timber lining of a shaft, extending usually from the
surface to bed-rock.
_Crop-fall._ A caving in of the surface at the outcrop.
_Cross-heading._ A narrow opening for ventilation, driven through a
wall of coal separating two passages or breasts.
_Crush._ A settling downward of the strata overlying a portion of an
excavated coal seam.
_Culm._ All coal refuse finer than buckwheat size.
_Dip._ The angle which any inclined stratum makes with a horizontal
line.
_Door boy._ A boy who opens and shuts the door placed across any
passageway in the mines to control the direction of the ventilating
current.
_Double entry._ One of the systems by which openings into the bituminous
coal mines are made.
_Downcast._ The passage or way through which air is drawn into a mine.
_Drift._ A water-level entrance to a mine, driven in from the surface
on the coal.
_Drill._ Any tool used for boring holes in the rock or coal.
_Driving._ Excavating any horizontal passage in or into the mines.
_Drum._ A revolving cylinder, at the head of any hoisting-way, on which
the winding rope is coiled.
_Egg coal._ One of the regular sizes of prepared anthracite.
_Entrance._ See Cross-heading.
_Entry._ The main entrance and traveling road in bituminous mines.
_Face._ The end wall at the inner or working extremity of any excavation
in or into the mines. In bituminous mines the vertical plane of cleavage
at right angles to the butt cleavage.
_Fan._ A machine used to force a ventilating current of air through a
mine.
_Fault._ A displacement of strata in which the measures on one side of
a fissure are pushed up above the corresponding measures on the other
side.
_Fire-board._ A blackboard, fixed near the main entrance of a mine, on
which the fire boss indicates each morning the amount and location of
dangerous gases.
_Fire boss._ An official whose duty it is to examine the workings for
accumulations of dangerous gases.
_Fire clay._ The geological formation which is usually found immediately
underlying a coal bed.
_Fire damp._ Light carbureted hydrogen.
_Fissure._ A separation of rock or coal across the measures.
_Floor._ The upper surface of the stratum immediately underlying a coal
seam.
_Gangway._ An excavation or passageway, driven in the coal, at a slight
grade, forming the base from which the other workings of the mine are
begun.
_Gas._ Fire damp.
_Gob._ The refuse separated from the coal and left in the mine.
_Guides._ Narrow vertical strips of timber at each side of the carriage
way in shafts, to steady and guide the carriage in its upward or
downward movement.
_Gunboat._ A car used for hoisting coal on steep slopes.
_Head-frame._ The frame erected at the head of a shaft to support the
sheaves and hold the carriage.
_Heading._ Synonymous with gangway. Any separate continuous passage
used as a traveling way or as an airway.
_Hopper._ A feeding shute or pocket in a breaker.
_Horseback._ A small ridge in the roof or floor of a coal seam.
_Inside slope._ An inclined plane in a mine, on which coal is hoisted
from a lower to a higher level.
_Jacket._ One of the sections or frames of wire mesh of which a
revolving screen is made up.
_Keeps._ Projections of wood or iron on which the carriage rests while
it is in place at the head of the shaft.
_Lagging._ Small timbers or planks driven in behind the legs and over
the collars to give additional support to the sides and roof of the
passage.
_Legs._ The inclined sticks on which the collar rests in gangway,
tunnel, drift, and slope timbering.
_Lift._ All the workings driven from one level in a steep-pitching
seam.
_Loading place._ The lowest extremity of the breaker, where prepared
coal is loaded into railway cars.
_Lump coal._ The largest size of prepared anthracite.
_Manway._ A passageway in or into the mine, used as a footway for
workmen.
_Mouth._ The opening, at the surface, of any way into the mines.
_Needle._ An instrument used in blasting coal, with which a channel is
formed through the tamping for the entrance of the squib.
_Nut coal._ One of the regular sizes of bituminous coal.
_Opening._ Any excavation in or into a mine.
_Operator._ The person, firm, or corporation working a colliery.
_Outcrop._ That portion of any geological stratum which appears at the
surface.
_Output._ The amount of coal produced from any mine, or from any area
of country.
_Parting._ The layer of slate or bony coal which separates two benches
of a coal seam.
_Pea coal._ One of the regular sizes of prepared anthracite.
_Picking shute._ A shute in the breaker from which the pieces of slate
are picked out by a boy as they pass down with the coal.
_Pillar._ A column or body of coal left unmined to support the roof.
_Pillar and breast._ The name of a common mining method.
_Pinch._ See Crush.
_Pitch._ See Dip.
_Plane._ Any incline on which a track is laid for the purpose of
lowering or hoisting coal.
_Pockets._ Receptacles at the lower ends of shutes, in breakers, from
which coal is loaded into railway cars.
_Post._ A wooden prop to support the roof in bituminous mines.
_Prop._ A timber set at right angles to the seam, in anthracite mines,
to support the roof.
_Prospecting._ Searching for indications of coal on the surface, and
testing coal seams from the surface.
_Pump way._ That compartment of a shaft or slope down which the pump
rods and pipes are extended.
_Rib._ The side of an excavation as distinguished from the end or face.
_Rob._ To mine coal from the pillars after the breasts are worked out.
_Rock tunnel._ A tunnel driven through rock strata.
_Rolls._ In breakers, heavy iron or steel cylinders set with teeth,
used for breaking coal.
_Roof._ The stratum immediately overlying a coal seam. The rock or coal
overhead in any excavation.
_Room._ Synonymous with breast or chamber; used in bituminous mines.
_Safety lamp._ A lamp that can be carried into inflammable gases
without igniting them.
_Scraper._ A tool used for cleaning out bore holes in blasting.
_Screen._ Any apparatus used for separating coal into different sizes;
usually, the revolving cylinder of wire mesh in a breaker.
_Seam._ A stratum of coal.
_Separator._ A machine for picking slate.
_Shaft._ A vertical entrance into a mine.
_Sheave._ The wheel in the head-frame that supports the winding rope.
_Shift._ The time during which a miner or laborer works continuously,
alternating with some other similar period.
_Shute._ A narrow passageway through which coal descends by gravity
from the foot of the breast to the gangway; an inclined trough, in a
breaker, down which coal slides by gravity.
_Single entry._ One of the systems by which bituminous mines are
entered.
_Slack._ The dirt from bituminous coal.
_Slate picker._ A boy who picks slate from coal. A machine used for the
same purpose.
_Slope._ An entrance to a mine driven down through an inclined coal
seam. Inside slope: a passage in the mine driven down through the seam,
by which to bring coal up from a lower level.
_Slope carriage._ A platform on wheels on which cars are raised and
lowered in steep slopes.
_Smut._ See Blossom.
_Split._ A branch of a ventilating air current.
_Spread._ The bottom width of a slope, drift, tunnel, or gangway
between the legs of the timbering.
_Squeeze._ See Crush.
_Squib._ A powder cracker used for igniting the cartridge in blasting.
_Steamboat coal._ One of the regular sizes of prepared anthracite.
_Stopping._ A wall built across an entrance or any passage to control
the ventilating current.
_Stove coal._ One of the regular sizes of prepared anthracite.
_Strike._ The direction of a line drawn horizontally along any stratum.
_Stripping._ Mining coal by first removing the surface down to the coal
bed; open working.
_Sump._ A basin in mines entered by a slope or shaft, in which the
water of the mine is collected to be pumped out.
_Swamp._ A depression in the seam.
_Synclinal._ A fold of strata in which the inclination of the sides is
from the axis upward.
_Tipple._ In the bituminous regions, a building in which coal is
dumped, screened, and loaded into boats or cars.
_Trapper._ See Door boy.
_Traveling way._ A passageway for men and mules in or into the mines.
_Trip._ The number of cars less than enough to constitute a train drawn
at one time by any motive power.
_Tunnel._ An opening into a mine driven horizontally across the
measures.
_Under-clay._ See Fire clay.
_Underholing._ See Bearing in.
_Upcast._ An opening from a mine through which air is taken out.
_Vein._ Used (improperly) synonymously with seam, bed, or stratum.
_Wagon._ A mine car.
_Waste._ Gob; coal dirt.
_Water level._ An entrance into or passage in a mine, driven with just
sufficient grade to carry off water.
_White damp._ Carbonic oxide.
_Wings._ See Keeps.
_Work._ To mine.
_Working face._ A face at which mining is being done.
_Workings._ The excavations of a mine, taken as a whole; or, more
particularly, that portion of the mine in which mining is being done.
INDEX.
Accidents resulting from falls, 126;
to boys, 218.
Act of 1885, 88.
After damp, composition of, etc., 167.
Air currents in mines, 148, 149.
Air, deterioration of, in mines, 147, 152.
Airways, beginning of, 95.
Allen, Nicholas, 49, 62.
Ancients, use of coal by, 35.
Animal life of Carboniferous era, 18.
Anthracite coal, analysis of, 6;
commercial sizes of, 181;
description of, 8;
ignition of, 59;
of bituminous origin, 25;
skill in mining, 192.
Anticlinals, 25.
Appalachian Range, 3.
Archean time, 3.
Areas of coal measures, 31;
of Pennsylvania coal fields, 33, 34.
Avondale Mine, disaster at, 173.
Baltimore vein, 75.
Basin in a coal seam, 29.
Battery in steep chambers, 108.
Bearing in, in bituminous mines, 197.
Benches in coal seams, 23–115.
Bituminous coal, analysis of, 7;
description of, 8;
process of mining, 194.
Black damp, composition, etc., 169.
Blasting in mines, 119, 120, 125, 131.
Blossom of coal, 77.
Blower of gas, 160.
Boys, accidents to, 218;
amusements of, 219;
at tipple work, 202;
characteristics of, 217;
duties of, at breaker, 215;
in British coal mines, 205.
Boy door-tenders, duties of, 214.
Boy drivers, duties of, 210.
Braddock’s road, 40.
Brattice at face of chamber, 103.
Breaker, description of, 179;
location of, 178, 183;
passage of coal through, 185;
picking shutes in, 186;
structure and appearance of, 184.
Break through, in bituminous mines, 195.
Breast. See Chamber.
Bryden, Alexander, 143.
Bryden, Andrew, 140, 168.
Buildings at mouth of shaft, 176.
Buntons in shaft, 89.
Butler, Col. Lord, 56.
Butt cleavage in bituminous mines, 194.
Butty, 114.
Calamites, 17.
Candles, use of, in mines, 162.
Cannel coal, 6, 13.
Carbondale Mines, fall in, 140.
Carboniferous age, 3.
Carboniferous era, animal life of, 18.
Carboniferous plants, 14–16.
Carriage in shaft, 90.
Cartridge, how made and used, 117.
Cave holes, 137.
Cenozoic time, 4.
Chain pillars, 109.
Chamber, car track in, 103;
description of, 100;
length of, 102;
scene at face of, 131.
Charcoal, process of formation, 10.
Charles, John, 50.
Chest, miner’s, 120.
Choke damp, 169.
Cist, Charles, 48.
Cist, Jacob, 52, 58.
Coal, classification of, 7;
originally all bituminous, 12;
origin of, 8;
production, by corporations, 70;
specific gravity of, what is it? 6.
Coal dust, explosive quality of, 172.
Coal lands, division of, 69;
investments in, 68;
leasing of, 71;
value of, 70.
Coal mining by corporations, 72.
Coal plants, age of, 3.
Coal seams, number and thickness of, 22, 23.
Coal-waste, heaps of, 191.
Conglomerate, 76.
Conifers, 17.
Corve, in British coal mines, 205.
Cost of different methods of entry, 92.
Counter-gangway, 105.
Crahan, Martin, story of, 220.
Creeping pillars, 136.
Creuzot Mine, accident at, 170.
Crop falls, 139.
Cross-headings, 95.
Crowbar, miner’s tool, 121.
Crust of earth, subsidence of, etc., 24.
“Cry of the Children,” Mrs. Browning’s, 207.
Culm, its disposition and use, 190.
Curr, John, 90.
Davy, Sir Humphrey, experiments of, 162.
Decapitation of coal seams, 29.
Delaware and Hudson gravity railroad, 66;
canal, 66.
Diamond drill, 79.
Dip of strata, 29.
Door boy, duties of, etc., 149, 214.
Doors in mines, 149.
Drainage in mines, 154.
Drift, as a mode of entry, 80.
Drilling, by diamond drill, 79;
by hand, 78;
by rope method, 78;
by spring pole method, 78.
Drill, machine hand, 116;
miner’s, 116.
Driver boss, his duties, etc., 113.
Driver boy, duties of, etc., 113, 210, 213.
Dump shute bars in breaker, 185.
Eagle Shaft, disaster at, 168.
Early mining methods, 94.
Eastern middle coal field, 33.
Electricity in breakers, 217;
in mines, 105, 122, 127, 213.
Enaliosaurs, 20.
Entrances in mines, 101.
Entries in bituminous mines, 195, 196.
Evans, Oliver, 52.
Experiments with anthracite, 52, 53.
Face cleavage in bituminous mines, 194.
Face of chamber, 101.
Falls of roof and coal, 125, 135.
Fan for ventilation, 151.
Fault in strata, 26.
Felling Colliery, disaster at, 162.
Fell, Judge Jesse, 53.
Females in British coal mines, 206.
Ferns of coal era, 16.
Fire boss, duties of, etc., 112, 166.
Fire damp, characteristics of, 160;
explosions of, 161;
in abandoned workings, 166.
Fishes, age of, 3;
of Carboniferous age, 19.
Fissures in strata, 26.
Flanigan, John, 94.
Flowers in Carboniferous age, 21.
Gangways, beginning of, 95;
description of, 97;
direction of, 98;
driving, 113;
length of, 104;
walking in, 129.
Gases not confined to coal measures, 159.
Germany, mining of coal in, 37.
Ginther, Philip, 47.
Girls in British coal mines, 205.
Gore, Obadiah, experiments of, 45.
Graff, Frederick, 52.
Great Summit Mine, 57.
Guibal, inventor of fan, 152.
Guides in shaft, 90.
Hammer, miner’s, 121.
Head-frame at mouth of shaft, 177.
Health of mine workers, 153.
Hennepin, Father, explorer, 38.
Hillegas, Michael, 48.
Hoisting apparatus at shaft, 177.
Hollenback, Colonel George M., 56.
Horsebacks in coal seams, 28.
Hosie, John, adventure of, 145.
Hurrier in British mines, 205.
Inclined planes in mines, 105.
Indians, coal known to, 37, 43, 44.
Inside slopes, 106.
Invertebrates, age of, 3.
Investments in coal lands, 68.
Jenkins, Henry, 180.
Laborers, duties of, etc., 114, 122.
Lackawanna region, early coal trade in, 65.
Lagging, its use, etc., 82.
Lamp, miner’s, 121.
Laplace, astronomer, 1.
Lehigh coal, early trade in, 57, 58, 62.
Lepidodendrids, 17.
Leschot, inventor, 79.
Lift mining, 85, 107.
Light carbureted hydrogen, 159.
Lignite, 6, 11.
Loading place in breaker, 189.
Localities in which coal is found, 31, 32.
Locomotives in mines, 199.
London, burning of coal in, 36.
Long wall mining system, 110.
Loyalsock coal field, 31.
Lump coal, bituminous, 202.
Machine for mining soft coal, 197.
Mammals, age of, 4, 12.
Man, age of, 4.
Marsh gas, composition of, etc., 160.
Mellen and Bishop, experimenters, 64.
Mesozoic time, 4.
Mine, anthracite, number of employees in, 112.
Mine boss, duties, etc., 112.
Mine car, 123.
Mine, darkness in a, 133;
in an abandoned, 134;
silence in a deserted, 132.
Mine law of 1870 and 1885, 208.
Miner, Charles, 58.
Miner, appearance of, 227;
character and ambition of, 230;
clothing of, 228;
duties of, etc., 114, 122, 124;
home and outside occupation of, 226;
nativity of, 228.
Mines, flooding of, 156.
Miocene period, 12.
Mules in mines, 212.
Nanticoke, accident at, 157.
Nebular Hypothesis, 1.
Needle, miner’s, 117.
Newcastle, carrying coals to, 37.
Nobles, David, hunter, 65.
Northern coal field, 33.
Nut coal, bituminous, 202.
Open quarry mining, 80.
Outcrop of strata, 29, 75.
Paleozoic time, 3.
Pannier women in British mines, 205.
Paris, burning of coal in, 37.
Partings in coal seams, 23.
Peat, 6, 11.
Pennsylvania, coal fields of, 32, 33, 34.
Picking machine in breaker, 187.
Picking shute in breaker, 186.
Pick, miner’s, 121.
Pillar and breast mining system, 99.
Pillars at foot of shaft, 95;
creeping, 136;
robbing of, 133;
slipping, 136.
Pinch in a coal mine, 28.
Pittsburgh, coal beds near, 193;
coal trade of, 42;
discovery of coal near, 41.
Pittsburg, Kansas, disaster at, 172.
Pockets in breaker, 189.
Props, use and setting of, 114.
Prospecting for coal, 75.
Pump mining, 155.
Pumpway in shaft, 155.
Putter, in British mines, 205.
Rats in mines, 212.
Reptiles, age of, 4, 12.
Rhode Island, coal in, 32, 40.
Rib of coal, 101.
Richmond coal field, 38.
Robbing pillars, 133.
Robinson, John W., 58.
Rocky Mountains, 20.
Rolls in breaker, 179.
Rolls in coal seams, 28.
Rooms in bituminous mines, 195.
Run of mine, bituminous coal, 202.
Safety carriage, 91.
Safety lamps, how to use, 165;
invention of, 163.
Schuylkill region, early coal trade in, 62, 64.
Scotland, mining of coal in, 37.
Scraper, in bituminous mines, 198.
Scraper, use of, 117.
Screen, revolving, in breaker, 180.
Semi-anthracite coal, 8.
Shaft, compartments of, 89;
descending a, 128;
foot of, 128;
in bituminous mines, 199;
in steep-pitching seams, 109;
location and depth of, 86;
sinking of, 87;
water in, while sinking, 154.
Sheaves in head-frame, 177.
Shoemaker, Colonel George, 62.
Shovel, miner’s, 121.
Sigillariæ, 17.
Slack, bituminous waste, 202.
Slate picker’s duties, etc., 186.
Sledge, miner’s, 121.
Slipping pillars, 136.
Slope, dimensions of, 85;
entrance by, 84;
in steep-pitching seams, 85.
Smith, Abijah, 56.
Smith, John, 56.
Smut of coal, 77.
Southern coal field, 32.
Sphagnum, 11.
Splits of the air current, 148.
Squeeze in a mine, 28, 136.
Squib, use of, 118.
Stair shaft in bituminous mines, 200.
States in which coal is found, 31, 32.
Steep-pitching seams, raining in, 107.
Stigmaria, 18.
Stockton Mines, accident at, 139.
Strike of strata, 29.
Strikes among miners, 225.
Summit Hill Mine, 80.
Sump in mine, 96.
Surface, disturbance of, by falls, 138.
Susquehanna River, coal trade, 41.
Swamp in mines, 29.
Symbols marked on cars, 223.
Synclinals, 25.
Tamping, process of, 118.
Temperature in mines, 210.
Terrace in coal outcrop, 77.
Theophrastus, 35.
Tipple, at the bituminous mines, 201, 203.
Tunnel, entrance by, 82.
Tunnels in mine interiors, 84, 106.
Turnbull, William, 58.
Ventilation by fan, 151;
by open furnace, 150;
in bituminous mines, 199;
principle of, in mines, 97, 148.
Von Storch, H. C. L., 65.
Wages of miners, 224;
computing and payment of, 222;
of boys, 213–215;
sliding scale for computing, 224.
Waste in coal mining, 134;
of the coal measures, 28.
Water, driving workings toward, 155;
in mine, 96;
tonnage of, hoisted, 155.
Weighing coal, 223.
Weiss, Colonel Jacob, 48.
Western middle coal field, 33.
West Pittston, disaster at, 175.
White & Hazard, coal trade of, 62;
experiments of, 60.
Wilcox, Crandal, 56.
Wings in shaft, 91.
Woodward breaker, 121.
Working pillars, 136.
Wright, Joseph, 56.
Wurts, William and Maurice, 65.
Wyoming coal field, 33.
Wyoming valley, discovery of coal in, 45;
early coal trade of, 56.
Ziegler, Charles W., 188.
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Transcriber’s Notes:
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――Obvious printer’s, punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were
silently corrected.
――Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.
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