| OCR Text |
Show GIANT POWDER IS STORED UNDERGROUND. Never in the history of precious meta! mining in the west was there a mine accident so destructive of human life as that now being chronicled, and during the forty years of progress of the industry in this state this is the first time that more than three men have lost their Hve3 in any one metal mine disaster. In the latter part of May, 1891, a cage broke loose from its fastenings to the cable in the shaft at the Daly mine, adjoining the Daly-West, and three men, including Chief Engineer Green-leaf, Green-leaf, were dashed to death in the bottom. bot-tom. That accident occurred within a few days after a thorough inspection of the cage and its connections to the cable had been made by the engineer who lost his life. . Numbers of accidents acci-dents have, of course,- occurred .in various metal mines in different parts of the state and many close calls and hair-breadth escapes have happened in nearly: all prominent properties. Fully realizing the dangers of delving delv-ing in the earth- for the precious metals, Utah's mine managers have been uniformly careful of the health and lives of the miners and probably no other feature of the business has received more attention than the question ques-tion of placing safeguards about the mysterious explosive known and designated des-ignated as giant powder. In Park City the question has long been a mooted one as to whether it is safer to keep powder Underground in quantity or whether- it would be better bet-ter to 3end it into the mines as occasion occa-sion demanded. That the former method has been generally adopted in the great mines of that camp is regarded re-garded as proof that it is considered the safer of the two. The basis of this opinion is found in the expression of James D. Murdoch formerly chief engineer at the . Ontario, who stated yesterday that it "was considered the better policy to always handle the stuff as little as possible. The danger in sending it down on the cages with the men has always been considered as a most risky business and when the mines became thoroughly opened the practice was abandoned in most of the mines. " ' "" The Ontario and Daly mines -each keep the bulk of ' their powder on, the Surface, a practice that was inaugurated inaugurat-ed at the time when the former mine .was not connected Iwith tunnel openings open-ings and when the "closing of its shaft through any cause would have. meant the inevitable drowning of every man Caught "Underground., These mines have not ; since . resumed the practice of storing powder beneath the surface, sur-face, but, generally speaking, it is the rule all over the state.' |
