| Show flooding of illinois coal mine many years ago developed a boiling spring the flooding of a mine near pinckneyville in 1880 caused a temporary phenomenon in the nature of a true geyser probably the only occurrence of this kind in the recorded history of illinois resea research ach workers of the federal writers project have found an account of this event in a pinckney ville newspaper of the time notes a correspondent correspond erit in the chicago daily news flood waters on beaucoup Beau coup creek had covered a tract of land above the coal mine of bernhard blume A break in the roof of the mine suddenly admitted the flood water in great volume for a short time almost diverting the current of the swollen creek carrying away whole sections of the rail fence which stood near a bank of the creek many of the rails as well is as other limber timber and driftwood being caught in in the maelstrom and whirled down the capacious throat of the gaping crevasse the sudden inrush of the water compressed the air in an extraordinary degree and the rebound was such that the descending flood was forced back as in the action of a geyser and for several minutes time heaved skyward in vast quantities to the height of at least feet this upheaval of water dirt and drift was succeeded by a few minutes of quiet during which the floods again poured down the funnel the air was again compressed and again the geyser like reaction occurred higher than before this process was twice more repeated before the mine had been entirely flooded all but one of the miners had escaped before the break in the roof occurred the blume mine remained flooded for nearly 39 years in 1918 the body of joseph deising Ne ising which had been preserved by the mineral laden water was finally recovered it lay face down on the floor of his room and conditions indicated that he had his working place in order A sack of tobacco and a small clay pipe with a heel of tobacco tapped tightly in it were found in the pockets |
