| Show N A YEAR W I 1 N A COAL MINE by copyright 1910 by the JOS JOSEPH atlantic Aln tic Mo moodily mahly company com HUSBAND the author CHAPTER 11 II loading coal with a ork greek buddy N the tie drat first days of coal mining as la in ninny mines today where 0 modern byda have cot not BU an pers eded those of min rain em a man did all the work with his hand drill he bored into the face of the cool con I 1 at tit the bead head of bis his room or entry a and nil truss frum bi hh kee keg of powder t te e mado mada long cartridges and inserted them into bla its drill holes then w hen the coil wax was blasted down and he had broken it with a pick be loaded it with tile his shovel into a car rod ral trim bring wing square qua re the face of the tunnel propping when necessary nece esary be pushed on o 0 and until he lie broke through and ud joined the next tunnel or con coup ell the required ired length of that gil el entry but today theme conditions la 10 most instances t changed TL MW ork kuttin woe with the men nien who K 4 operate the chain machines in or A tor der that the blast may dia lodee by A gravity an even block of coal the dl di of at the cross section of at the mad time these men cut with their ma a a sump cut or in other vaa ft a carro carve out an opening level with t P the boor door about alx lx inches high and six ix tea wt deep at the end of the tunnel the machines which are propelled by consist of a motor and a imm oblong disk about which travels as euAl ests chain containing harp teet steel afi or pl it t the machine Is 1 brae brac ed 94 curf t q turned oo 00 and thi th molt advanced the coat cost calr advancing as the betm 1 renil out the tb coal aa an soon own as an the mach ranch 0 baa has tiered laened to the anil six feet the disk Is 1 withdrawn and the cut continued until it extends across the entire face I 1 la a the evening the dri driller liers with tbell powerful air a lr drulia bore a series of at dye or ali alx lx foot ahot shot hole holes four alone the rw and awn on each ride side for the rib ts abets it H third crew of men tbt that bat darers nil nit the deep drill hol hole TAM tona of 0 coarse black powder and blast down the roal cool which tso broken to n nd d lota iota the cut th hy bi th e machine inn men la in the tile carol cc rol etien tie the ever moving eur ur entac ent of ale forced into the colne tolne by the th fm tm at the th month mouth or the air shaft ba vleary away he the dumit and flat wom enter tae the mine 1 and all day long ton lead ad into abo th ever ready car cars the coal that baa apen bloated down until tha th alaf lis k cleaned up and heir their work f i samir then they giove on tonn tu othet taace and ao so the work goes on in i a ayten of rotation AF ly companion bad had told me as we walked from doeu the mine bottom that bla his swo waa was billy wild I 1 call me BU bil ly 17 be te aid said and aa an we walked down tte like to the madu entry he be turned abad celled ever hia his shoulder rh youre re te be roan at 2 third west auth south wt 0 yes are tf it you want to know 31 6 octet la in my lamp was low and I 1 sat down on an a pile of at coal coat bede bebide bide 00 track lifted fitted it out ot of the aock sock et N my cap and pried up the wick ifft a all 0 which one of the wen on toi toll had girau atie in for the purpose 1 tu to the walet and beean began to load lead after each lifted brur feit fett and turned into the walting par car for two lone long hour hours ti till ong to break breal with my pick greet blocks block of coal roal that were ero too laree large to lift even with will my hands then fierily culps of coal began to show abote the ede edge of the car and I 1 trim ili I 1 sl 15 j A ok r i I 1 i A i on ia waft call me billy he h aid said nied med it lifting souie of the larket larget pieces to ny my knees then against my chest and then throwing them up on the top of the pile the bolge of the tb shovel sc rapin 1 az adust tbt tho floar boor and the altet of th coal as the great pile slid 4 down and filled tilled each bole that I 1 dug out ont at tit its foot filled the tunnel with friendly sounds tut but when the car was loaded and I 1 11 all II oed wd on my coat and eat sat down on w pe plo of fiao flue coal duet dust beside the tbs 1 ik k to 10 wilt elleace suddenly sub tred oie me I 1 could bear lay my hearl bearl t and curious noises eang sang in ny my r 3 up in the roof under the stratum etra of slate state above the coal came a trickling trick llna so sound und like running water ito ft bound sound of gas a seeping out through the crevices in the coal I 1 was net et with sweat and my face hands and body were black where the great cloud of dust which my hovel shovel bad had created bad had smeared my wet kin skin dull pains in the email small of my back caught roe me when I 1 moved and every muscle in my body ached acha in a week my banda bad had blistered the bits all ten ter had broken aud and then over tr 0 crackow flesh desh InTal ingrained ned with coal dust just healing calloused cal louses had begun to form i then far for olt oft in the distance came a muffled ed grinding sound that grew loud er r and louder a sound that almost ter toy rifled A dull yellow light far down in the mouth of 0 the room outlined the square of the tunnel und and the then n around the tomer canie come the headlight hendl leht of the electric gathering I 1 or switching locomotive and nod above it t the h e bobbing yel yet low flames games of two pit lamps with a grinding roar the motor truck struck the up grade and came looming up the tunnel filling oiling it with its bulk there wae was sound and the silence was gone the coupling of the locomotive locked with the coupling of tho the car and they rumbled awty aw ty once more the tbs locomotive came this time wit with h ao an empty to be tilled in the od old days anul 1 were used to gather the load ed can cars and in fact are suu employed in most mined mines today bet but electricity permits bigger loads and the dozen ot 1 l two of mule mul that lived la in the th mine were used only where it was bi ble to run the locomotive at the end of the week I 1 was given a companion or I 1 buddy our lock era ers in the wash washhouse home were near together and we usually went down on the tb annie hoist but morne mornings morning 1 I would find jim ahead of me waiting by the cale hou jim rarely took the full till benefit of the wash washhouse bouse firlie and morning found him witia the dirt and nj grime of the work of or the previous day still till on hit face facil he was it firrel short with a thin black olli stAi lie which drooped down into iota two rat rot tall points around each yc a heavy black line of coal dust war wap led as its though by an actors cray croy on oil film 1 toru torn black working clothes cloth with oil dripped from his pit lamp nn nil him win tike like rags on a 2 scarecrow cart crow from pron the a leheRe we walked up tip the tb now familiar entries la to third weal vest i to tb room where ve worked and dug out our picks and shovel 4 from under tinder a pile of coal when we had hidden them the night before then in the still clou close air of the silent bile n I 1 room f r beann each morning to nil all the firma car 0 don in the he when the pars cars i ere hulled oto r the net pet to the crnek wore 1 t kins on dumped into the bins between the rails old man nian davia davis took the tights and when the loade re num numera lra r a arnall brasa tag fth hia his camped tamped ailion it was civen alven to bini him he be marked down ill I 1 0 bilte it the pound 4 of coil coll to the loa deris credit and so tali day un on tile gnat sheet with his dusty hands stood a record of each idaus strength lucan ared in iii tons of coat coal lieu jim and I 1 worked together we took turn turns hautine haut lne our number numbers inside thu the car and each night we bowl to chime credit th tb last car had been and the tile next iia t ang if tn in bad been bung hung in the last car of the day before jim im bould pull one of his tags out of bi bli and hat t it oa on the hunk hoi just inside the edge of the empty tar lar then he lie on one elde alde und and I 1 on oil the other ne worked or ked shore shovel fill after until the coal show ed above the wige edge and nil then came the trimming with the great blocks that had to be lifted and pushed with our chests and arms up on the top of the tilled car time went slowly lowly then for we could load lond a tar together in ices it sa than that an hour and anti sometimes roine tImM it took ook an hour an ani I 1 a half halt before tho the gathering motor would come grinding up into the rin r in to give us an till empty in IV those ion long half halt hours we woul I 1 sit together on a pile of c 11 1 dint beside the track ami anti try to talk tu to eat h other jim jini wn w n a grew grev and anti from what 1 ivis wn able to rather be I 1 came from some it li re in the luthern part of tile 11 ie if clr ir I 1 remembered a little er T and I 1 often tried stray borig on him hini but my pronunciation of or tin the I 1 re k of ancient was not the brcek of jim and althou although thile tiff rex attempts atte a at his 1 own tongue and oftentimes the meaning of the nord ord L it wat not until we 1 a system of writing that we biegan to get moor mixed in with th the e f that had bieu blasted down b by r the shot borers the night before we vre occasionally I found strips of white paper from the cartridges IN e always saved bayed these and laid them beside palta palk and wim the car 1 wr 1 filled nife a una a we w had tat at down alain la in the quist baddo the track we would take our pit bucce out of our caps and rubbing our fin on gers la in the amany cum gum of oil and coil dust that formed auder the lamp poat spout we would write greek worda words alth with out lingers on the white strips of paper jim knew some english the wont word I 1 for coal car loader and he be learned that my name was joe and called me we ray my friend and buddy then ome some times after the fal of 0 writing words had worn away we would alt sit still till and ihlen to the gas or for the app apro roub wi of the motor and seu times when the tile N nicks icks in ur or lamps ind had burn bum ed taw low I 1 would take out of in m pocket the round ball af olamp wick and like old women with a skein of yam yarn we would wind back and forth from hia his to my own sixteen strands of lamp nick and nud then tying the end in a rude knot and br breaking eakin it off air stick the skein of wick down the spout of 0 the lamp only the end remained in sight next ext lifting the little lid on the top we would fill the body with oil shaking it until the wick wae was thor hughly seabed soaked so that it would burn to be continued |
