A VISIT TO THE MINES.
Having rambled far and wide among the Piute Indians, I shall now ask the
reader to accompany me in a ramble far below the light of day, to the
underground regions of the silver-mines. During our trip through the
lower levels of the mines I shall endeavor to explain all that is seen.
As all of the leading mines in the Comstock lode are opened and worked
after the same general plan, a description of one mine will suffice for
all. In singling out a mine, a description of the machinery and
operations in which shall stand for all, I select the Consolidated
Virginia as that in which is to be found all of the latest and most
approved machinery, and in which all operations are conducted in a
systematic and scientific manner. It will also be more satisfactory to
the reader if he knows that what he is reading applies to a certain mine
the name of which is known to him.
In giving a description of the various operations of mining, and of the
machinery used, I shall find it necessary in but two or three instances
to go outside of the Consolidated Virginia mine. In these cases I shall
name the mine in which is to be seen what I am speaking of.
The popular idea of a silver-mine among most persons in the Atlantic
States, appears to be that a deep hole in the form of a common well has
been sunk somewhere on the side of a mountain, from the bottom of which
is dug the silver ore. As the ore is dug up from the bottom of the
shaft, they suppose it to be hoisted to the surface in buckets, by means
of an ordinary windlass, or some such rude contrivance. What really is
seen at the main shaft or entrance to one of the leading mines on the
Comstock lode is very different.
When we approach the main shaft and hoisting works of the Consolidated
Virginia Mining Company we find before us a main building of great size,
from which extend several large wings. One of these wings is the
boiler-house, in which are several sets of boilers, and from the roof
arise a number of tall, black smoke-stacks.
Another wing is the blacksmith shop, containing several forges at which
are sharpened the picks and drills used, and where is done a vast amount
of work of all kinds required in and about the mine.
Then there is the wing in which is the carpenter’s shop, where the
timbers used as supports in the lower levels of the mine are framed, and
where circular saws, run by steam, are used in cutting and shaping the
heavy square beams; also, a wing in which is a machine-shop containing a
steam-engine which runs planers, lathes, and other machines for working
iron. The main building is handsomely finished and painted with
fire-proof paint, as are all of the wings. Rows of windows are seen in
the several buildings, and from the roof of the main building and some
of the wings, arise pipes from which white clouds of steam are
constantly puffed.
In the mass of buildings before us we see nothing to cause us to think
of a mine. What we have before us more nearly resembles a large
iron-foundry or big manufactory of some kind. As we see on the grounds
surrounding the buildings a number of immense piles of timber and
lumber; in all, an amount sufficient to stock at least half a dozen
ordinary lumber-yards, we should be more likely to guess that we saw
before us a large planing-mill, or door, sash, and blind manufactory,
than that we were approaching the main working shaft of a great
silver-mine. Near the main pile of buildings, are detached structures,
which are occupied as offices; one being the assay office, where the
silver bullion is melted, moulded into bars, and assayed.
[Illustration: GRINDING AXES.]
Upon entering the main building, we are at once struck by the peculiar
style of dress worn by the men we see grouped or moving about. They all
wear grey or blue woollen shirts, caps, or narrow-brimmed felt hats, and
blue cotton or thin woollen overalls. They are all serious-looking men,
and their faces all seem bleached out to an unnatural and unhealthy
whiteness. The whole building is floored as handsomely as though it were
a church, and all the floors are scrupulously neat and clean. All
overhead being open to the roof, forty feet above, and there being no
partitions in the main building, the interior presents a most spacious
appearance.
Almost the first object that attracts our attention upon entering the
place, is the mouth of the main shaft. Toward this we are at once
attracted, for the reason that we see rushing up through several square
openings in the floor, great volumes of steam. This steam appears to be
hissing hot, and rushes almost to the roof of the building. We are
surprised to see men coolly ascending and descending the very heart of
these columns of steam.
Looking for the first time upon the rolling and whirling clouds of vapor
pouring up from the shaft, more than one dandy tourist, who but a few
minutes before was very enthusiastic in his talk about exploring the
lower levels, has wished in his secret soul that he had never hinted
that he had the slightest desire to descend into the dark and dismal
bowels of the earth.
Many back down squarely. They suddenly remember that they are subject to
vertigo, are threatened with apoplexy; or—which is a very common disease
at such times—palpitation of the heart. So many persons visiting the
mines, and seeing the mouth of the shafts for the first time, have made
serious mention of being greatly troubled with “palpitation of the
heart,” that the old miner standing near finds it a difficult matter to
keep a sober countenance upon hearing that ailment mentioned. Nothing
can induce some persons to venture into the steaming shaft after they
have taken one good look at it, while proper explanations speedily cure
others of their vertigo, apoplectic symptoms, palpitation of the heart,
or whatever disease it may be their fancy to affect.
When we inspect the mouth of the shaft more closely, we find before us
an opening in the floor about five feet in width and twenty feet in
length. This opening is divided into four lesser openings or
“compartments,” by partitions which run from the top to the bottom of
the shaft. Three of these are called hoisting-compartments, as in them
the hoisting-cages pass up and down, just us does the elevator in a
hotel. The fourth is known as the pump-compartment, as down it passes
the pump column, an iron pipe from twelve to sixteen inches in diameter,
through which the water is forced up from the bottom of the mine. The
pumping machinery is the most pondrous about a mine, and the largest
engine in the hoisting works of a mine is always that which drives the
pump. The pumping apparatus, balance-bobs, tanks down the line of the
shaft, the course of the water from the bottom of the mine to the
surface, and the working of the several parts from the surface down, all
are too complicated to be explained without the aid of many drawings.
The hoisting-engines, and all the hoisting machinery, are at the end of
the building opposite that occupied by the shaft and fifty or sixty feet
away. Here we find the alert and keen-eyed engineers constantly at their
post by their engines. Before them is a large dial, like the face of a
clock. On this dial are figures, and there is a hand like that of a
clock, which moves slowly round and tells the engineer exactly where his
cage is at all times after it has entered the shaft and passed out of
his sight. By watching the hand moving round the dial he can see exactly
when his cage is at the 900, the 1,000, 1,200, 1,500-foot or any other
station. Besides keeping his eyes upon the dial, he must also keep his
ears open for the signals struck upon his bell.
The bell stands near him and is his only means of communication with
those far down in the lower levels of the mine. A man 1,500 feet below
the surface strikes a signal upon the bell, and the engineer
unhesitatingly obeys it. By means of this bell the engineer receives
nearly all his orders. He is told when to start the cage up and when to
stop, if he is to stop short of the surface; is told to hoist slowly;
that there are men on board; and a great many other things which he
understands as readily as the telegraph operator understands the click
of his instrument. Each engineer has his bell and knows its sound better
than he knows the sound of his own voice.
[Illustration: CONSOLIDATED VIRGINIA HOISTING-WORKS]
The hoisting-engines and the engineers who run them, occupy a large
platform raised three or four feet above the general level of the floor,
and about this platform are placards inscribed:
“NO PERSON IS ALLOWED ON THE PLATFORM, OR TO SPEAK TO
THE ENGINEERS WHILE ON DUTY.”
The lives of the miners are in the engineer’s hands every minute of the
day and night. To turn his head to nod to an acquaintance might cost a
dozen lives. The man who is trusted at one of these engines is always a
man who is thoroughly known and who has a well-established reputation
for sobriety, “eternal vigilance,” and good qualities of all kinds. In
short, he is a man that can be trusted anywhere, and to say that Mr.
Jones is engineer at this or that mine is to say that Jones is a man
much above the average.
Over the mouth of the shaft stands a frame, made of very large and
strong timbers, which is called the gallows-frame, probably from the
huge cross-beam it supports. On this cross-beam are fastened the great
iron wheels or pulleys over which pass the cables that extend down into
the shaft and raise and lower the cages. These cables are not, as might
be supposed from the name, round hempen ropes, like the cables of a
vessel. The cables used in hoisting from the shafts of mines are flat,
like a piece of tape, and are braided of the best quality of steel wire.
They are five or six inches in width and about three-quarters of an inch
in thickness. As they are constantly exposed to dripping water in the
lower part of the shaft, the cables are all kept covered with a coating
of tar to prevent their rusting.
Near the engine is what is called the hoisting-reel, and on this the
cable is wound up or unwound, in raising or lowering the cage, just as a
piece of tape would be wound upon a spool. The steam-engines revolve the
huge reels, and the cage is let down into the shaft or is hauled up from
its bottom just as is required.
The cages work independently of each other. One may be going down while
another is coming up, or one may be in motion while the others are
standing still. When there is no living freight on the cages, they are
often raised and lowered at a frightful rate of speed, but with men on
board they are moved less rapidly.
Owing to the intense heat prevailing in many places in the lower levels
of the mines, visitors must divest themselves of every stitch of their
ordinary attire, as the first step toward their underground journey.
This being the case, a comfortable and commodious dressing-room is
fitted up in the works.
Hanging upon the walls of this room will be found a great number of
clean suits for the accommodation of visitors. A suit for the journey
into the lower regions is neat but not gaudy. It consists simply of a
pair of blue flannel pantaloons, a grey or blue woollen shirt, a pair of
heavy brogans for the feet, and a felt hat, with a narrow brim, for the
head. In a suit of this kind even the greatest dignitaries present a
very ordinary appearance. A minister of the gospel of meek and lowly
aspect, when in his suit of black, becomes such a desperate-looking
villain on donning blue woollen pantaloons and shirt, brogans, and felt
hat, that you would not meet him alone on a mountain trail for all the
wealth of the big bonanza; a pompous railroad president to whom you
would almost fear to speak while in his upper-world attire, upon
presenting himself before you in lower-level rig looks so much like a
sneak-thief that you feel strongly impelled to kick him out of the room.
Fat men have the advantage in dressing for a trip to the lower levels,
as nearly all of the pantaloons appear to have been selected for the
special accommodation of men of Falstaffian proportions. In thus
dressing for a trip into the mine there is always great merriment; each
man laughs at his friend, unconscious of the ridiculous, mean, or
insignificant figure he himself is cutting.
In the dressing-room will be found a bath-tub, hot and cold water ready
to hand by the mere turning of the cocks, an abundance of clean towels
and all the convenience for taking a bath on coming up from the
sweltering lower levels.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: HOISTING CAGE.]