QUENCHLESS SUBTERRANEAN FIRES.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 2 May 1881, Page 2

QUENCHLESS SUBTERRANEAN FIRES.

(From the Albany Sunday Presßj The failure of all the attempts to extinguish the fire which has been raging in the Keeley Run Colliery, near Pottsville, Pa , for several weeks, it is I feared, will add another to the per* petually burning mines that now exist in the Pennsylvania anthracite regions. The greatest of these ,is probably that in the Jugular vein, near Coal Castle, This had been burning since 1835 ; Lewis F. Dougherty opened this in 1833. The upper drift of the mine was above water, level, and a huge fire was kept in a grate at the mouth of the mine in the winter to keep the water from freezing in the gutters. One night in the above year the lira* bers of the drift caught fire from the grate. When it was discovered the fire had been carried down the air hole to the lower drifts, and was beyond control. Two miners entered the mine, hoping to save their tools. They never came out. The mine was abandoned, No effort was made to mine any of the coal near thd burning vein, although it was considered tho best coal in the region until \So6 r Then John M'Ginnis put in a slope on the east side of it, below the wierlevel. He struck the vein at a vUv^

where the coal was so thick that two miners could keep a large breaker supplied. When 400 yards of gangway had been excavated the heat from the burning Dougherty mine began to bother the miners. M'Ginnis attempted to open an air-hole. The heat became so great that the men were paid double wages to induce them to work. They worked entirely naked, and were relieved every ten minutes, Finally the heat became so intense that the work was abandoned. The mine was flooded. After being pumped out men could again work a few days. The mine wag flooded nine times. M'Ginnis finally* failed, and the minegwas then abandoned. The fire has been raging in the vein ever* since. An area of half a mile in every direction has been burned. No vegetation grows on the surface. In places the ground has caved in, forming chasms 100 feet deep. There is a thin shell of earth over the pit of fire. At night blue sulphurous flames issue from the cervices in the ground. It is dangerous to walk across the spot. Several persons have mysteriously disappeared in the vicinity during the past twenty 'years,, It is belieyed that mfa majority of the cases they have fallen into the burning mine. Dougherty, the original owner of the mine, attempted to go across oricejSHe sank to his arm-pits through ]the crust,, and was only aaved by courageous friends who ventured to hU assistance. The stones on the ground are hot, and snow never rests there. Bain turns to vapour as fast as it falls on the roof of the burning mine. Millions of dollars worth of the best quality of coal have been consumed by the fire, The Summit Hill mine, near Mauch Chunk, has been burning twenty-five years. It is believed that this mine was set on fire by discpnteded miners. Thous* ands of dollars have been expended in fruitless efforts to extinguish the flames. The Butler Mine, near Pittaton, has been burning three' years. It was set on fire in the same manner by tramps, who built a fire in the mine in 1877 The fire is in the upper drifts : it is confined to sn area of forty acres by an immense ditch 40ft wide which was excavated between the burning drift and connecting ones. The digging of the canal cost, 50,000 dollars. But for that obstacle the fire would have communicated to some of the most extensive mines in the Lacka wanna Valley, and a subterraneous <j6nflagrst|b»n , would have swept under the whole of West Fitlston. Miners have worked in the lower drift of the Battler Mine since ue fire broke out, but tnere are about 40ft. of rock between them and the field of fire above. The water that trickles through the roof hi scalding hot, The temperature is so high that the men can wear but little clothing*