THE COAL COUNTRY.
During the night we had passed by several important villages,
Manchester, Rome, Rockville, Portsmouth, Wheelersburg, Hanging Rock,
Burlington, and Proctorsville, in Ohio; and Concord, Vanceburg,
Greenupsburg, and Catlettsburg, in Kentucky.
The face of the country was still interesting, but that of the Kentucky
and Virginia side had become less so than the other. We had lost the
opportunity of seeing the mouths of the Scioto and Big Sandy Rivers, as
well as many other curious and interesting objects.
But what we regretted most was the loss of Portsmouth. This fine place
at the mouth of the Scioto River we had hoped to pass by daylight.
However, we could not expect to see every place we passed.
We were now approaching the coal country; and this morning we had a
fine opportunity of observing the method by which these huge steamboats
provide themselves with this important article. Some of them, I believe,
use wood for fuel; but not all, by any means.
They do not go to the wharves of the villages they pass and wait to have
some twenty, or thirty, or fifty tons of coal shoveled into the boat.
They have another and much simpler way, and one which does not hinder
them a moment.
Long flats or scows, deeply laden with this necessary article,
proceeding from the shore meet the steamer in the middle of the river,
and by means of chains or ropes are immediately lashed to her
sides--usually two of them--one on each side. The men on board the
flats, aided perhaps by the crew of the steamer, immediately fall to
work with their shovels and throw the coal on board when it is wanted.
When the flats are emptied, the ropes are loosened, and they are set
free to return to their place, now several miles down the river. The
steamer is thus supplied for twelve, eighteen, or it may be twenty-four
hours.
But what most struck me was the facilities which the miners possess for
procuring this coal from the hills: for the reader should know that the
hills between which we were now passing, all contain this useful
mineral.
This coal is in a layer, somewhat different in thickness in different
places, but varying from four to five feet. In the hills which the
Pittsburg was now passing, the layer, as I was informed, is about four
feet thick.
This layer, in countries west of the Alleghany, is horizontal, or nearly
so, and this without reference to the shape of the hill that covers it.
At the base of the hills it is usually found pretty near the surface;
but as you proceed inward its distance from the surface increases with
the ascent of the hill.
In Tallmadge, Ohio, last winter, I penetrated one of these coal mines,
accompanied by the workmen, nearly one thousand feet. I found the
stratum of coal at that place not far from four feet thick.
This coal is split out, by means of drilling and blasting, as in the
case of removing any other rock. They usually proceed in a narrow way at
first, perhaps eight or ten feet broad and as many high. As they go on,
they place props under the incumbent hill; or, what is more common, they
place at suitable distances a framework around the sides to prevent its
falling in.
When they have penetrated several hundred feet into these coal hills,
and the air does not circulate freely enough, and especially does not
carry away the smoke of their powder far enough, they sometimes dig a
well or hole from the top of the hill directly over the line of the
excavation till it meets it. This serves as a chimney and ventilator,
and is of great and lasting service.
To carry the coal, they have in general small cars drawn by one horse
each. For this purpose a railroad is made, as far as the excavation
extends.
When the coal is brought out of the excavation, there are many curious
ways of unloading it; but I have not time to describe them all. In some
instances the coal is slid down an inclined plane a long distance, by
means of ropes and pulleys, and the emptied cars brought back by the
same means.
I found the bases of the hills on the banks of the Ohio, especially on
the northern side, full of these excavations. The amount of coal which
is dug here yearly must be immense.
For myself, I can never think of this wonderful provision of God for
human wants without feelings of gratitude. In a few years only, the
native wood in many of these regions would in a natural course be used
up in houses, factories, steamboats, &c.; and what would the people do
then for fuel, had not the great Eternal filled the hills with this
never-failing substitute?
One region in particular attracted my attention. The villages of
Pomeroy, Coalport, and Sheffield, were so near each other as to seem to
form one continuous village, about three miles in length. And here, a
stranger would be apt to think, the people do little else but dig coal
and burn it. The houses were almost as black with soot as the hill-sides
themselves.
[Illustration: POMEROY COAL-MINES.]