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Show MINE3 OF THE 8HAFT VARIETY. 8ome at Courrleres Extended Far Into H the Ground. Coal mines are divided Into two u kinds, tho drift mine and tho shaft mlno. The drift mlno Is dug into tho sldo of the hill and extends by very slow degrees downward. Tho coal is brought to the surfoco In little cars drawn on narrow gaugo rails by don-H don-H keys. H These mines sometimes extend in- H ward for over a mllo In ono direction. H Tho Courrleres mines aro mostly of H i the shaft variety, howover. Somo of H y theso shafts aro very deep. On the H day of tho explosion men wcro heard H calling for help from a depth of nearly H half a mile. H Tho miners Jn Franco do not use H tho safety lamps that many mining H concerns In tho United States now H compel their employes to use. These IB lamps 'aro llttlo metallic oil-burning m affairs afllxcd to tho miners' hats. The fin mo ignites from a cotton wick, and will burn hour aftor hour. Not oven tho eternal vigilance of the fire boss can prevent a holocaust If tho miners themselves becomo careless. care-less. In tho Courrleres mines, there are t. great many condemned "pockets," as they aro called. Theso pockets at ono time or another becomo filled with fire dump ami tho miners wcro warned not to go near them. Ono rumor ns to the cause of the explosion is that n miner, cither careless care-less or Ignorant of what he waB do- iing, opened a condemned pocket, mistaking mis-taking it for an nlr chambor. In such a caso there would bo an Instantaneous Instantane-ous explosion. Tho detonation would cause tho other pockets to cxplodo nnd tho explosions would continue whllo there was any fire damp in the X mine. Tho topography of tho stricken district dis-trict Is very Irregular and very much resembles that of Allegheny county, Pa. Tho district is thickly populated, nnd but a few miles out of tho line of travel of the multitude of tourists who throng northern Franco every year. , Tho mining population is not made up principally of Frenchmen nny more than tho mining population In the United States Is mado up of Americans. Ameri-cans. Poles nnd Hungarians, ns well as a liberal sprinkling of Italians and Russians, for the most part make up Courrleres' population. Tho town is gloomy, smoky and unsightly, un-sightly, nnd docs not offor much to tho sightseer to recompense him for his visit. It Is not mentioned In Daedokcr or In any of tho othor prominent prom-inent guldo books. It has ono ndmlr-ublo ndmlr-ublo statiio dedicated to .lean do Montmorency, Mont-morency, howover. |