Show an 0 P 01 37 I 1 an Q 6 Z 4 V I 1 I 1 if 1 I PF I 1 3 g 3 FM il 4 ap Z X A aca slate late pickers at work prepared by the national geographic society D C I 1 coal Is one ot of the vital factors in ili modern civilization that Is taken for granted it Is only when tile the priceless bluck block stream that flows to our cities and factories threatens thiea tens to dry up that the average person gives i bought to the importance magnitude rud complexity of the coal industry the first tiling thing that thai impresses one who studies the coal in america Is the hie well nigh hi inconceivable conceivable proportions ot of the nations demands for fuel tile the highest point in coal production was alas readied reached in 1918 the last year of the alie world war when nhen slightly more than tons were mined iset in tile the bear ear immediately preceding and in 1920 the production was little short of that amount so huge is this figure that it were almost as futile to use tons as units as to measure the distance around tile hie earth in inches about the only way in ID which one can visualize tills dersi demand dersiana and Is to build it a mental bin capable of holding enough to meet the national if tills this biu bin were made with each of its four sides measuring a thousand feet it would have to be more then than feet high almost twice as high as pikes peak or it if the fuel were put into a coal pile ot of normal slope with a base of 20 0 feet that pile would have to be nearly miles long more than three times around the earth A visit to a modern colliery in the anthracite region Is nn an impressive experience per peri lence ence depending on its size and the labor available it will bring from one to two full trainloads train loads of 0 coal up out of the bowels ot of the eurth earth every day put the coal through the breaker where the sheep of fuel are separated from the goats of slate and culm and load it luto into the cars ready for market colliery in anthracite region we shall be sate safe even it if N we c go down a thousand feet into tile the earth find and ro roam a in about in an underground kinuta plantation whose area may be judged by the tact fact that there are 85 miles of railroad track in ili it there are some things on top of the ground that will be even more interesting to us when we go below particularly ticul arly the hoisting engine and the ventilio vent ventilating ting fan for without the one we would not be able to ride back to daylight and without the other we would stand a chance of being gassed in times of peace the giant alani fans lly fly around with it iara speed of a nille mile LL minute e two of them with a third in ili reserve for emergencies gen cies cles it if it were not for those fans the air in tile mine would become so laden with alith gas and lust dust that if it did not explode and transform the whole mine into a channel house it would develop clio chokedamp choke ka damp and suffocated suffocate us its bery mine has two shafts tin the hoisting shaft and the lie air shaft in ili order to keep tin the air in the raine mine diee enough from gas to permit penult miners to work in safety enormous quantities titles of fresh air lie ile sent ill down the one shaft und and corresponding quantities gas laden drawn out of the other it may ery cry well lie ile Inin ginel that at a mine with enough tunneling funneling to call for 85 miles of railroad track need a n great deol deal of if air nod and that hint I 1 tills ills air to reach e aery cry part must cross crops its evl own it path many times limes jut jot ns as a man cohering till all four sides of every ilo block k in a city would liae haie to cross cros his own tracks in the mines tills Is a accomplished C coll plis lied like a oad crossing crosing by bridle instead of at grade when a 11 point is readied reached there Is a tunnel opened up through the solid rock above the roof of the mine and through tills this the air rushes rulies nt lit right angles to its former direction to get the clr properly distributed it Ls Is necessary to moke make splits so that the current can ile be divided and split sent in to different sections of f lie hie mine arti p air splits are doors aih permit only halt of the air coming their vay to pass the remainder must find some other way through we step on oil the cage or lift thi nine superintendent presses it a button bulton ind the hoisting engineer is notified noti lied i hat we are ready to go down don suil lenly the cage seems to drop is ii seems to stop and the walls of shaft appear fairly to fly upward past us up up up lip they fly disclosing tills this stratum of rock and then that planned like a city arriving at the bottom we soon find that a co coal al mine is planned like a ity there Is one main street or entry ind and it ilas has been laid out w N ith the nicety of 0 a grand boulevard parallel with t tills ills are the other entries ind and across these patties run other streets at right angles usually N hi h are called headings lining all these headings as houses line the streets are the chambers or rooms in which the miners work when WP we stop at the bottom w v e feel ourselves in ili a small sized hurricane it Is the air rushing down the shaft and starting through the mine on its III mission of purification setting out down the main entry along a railroad track we soon hear a clanging bell and a whistle tle and pre presently bently there looms out of the darkness a yellow light As it approaches we see the outlines of what appears to be it a long round boiler creeping along the rails but in reality it Is y P compressed air engine for compressed air rather than electricity Is the haulage power in tills this mine when the miners go down to their work in the morning they are checked in by the fire boss bosq lie he Is 13 a foreman who nho has charge of fire prevention and of the safety of the miners while lit at their several tasks during the night every section of the mine has been inspected to see whether there Is gas anywhere if there should bean be an entry a liea leading ding or a room that Is laden with fill gas the tact fact Is noted on a slate which is shown to the men as they file past the brass check of every miner who enters the workings Is taken and hung up on a board opposite the number of the room in which he be Is digging coal if he lias has a helper liel per his check somewhat different goes up too and it if there are two men working as part nears dears that the fact Is shown also we walk and walk until we begin to feel as though we might be coining out over in china or france and then wo we come to the rooms or chambers for all the coal in the neighborhood of the hoisting shaft has gone up in heat and smoke long before now and till this mine Is far flung where the miner works these rooms or chambers might be monks cells in some catacombs cata combs for the living here the miner bores nud and blasts and digs away the coal and loads it In mine min 1 cars it if lie has a u helper hc lir lie does not bot need to do the loading himself the car holds about 0 o pounds of nin af alie 11 e coal and a miner is supposed to fill two of thel bliem 0 a day when tile the car Is loaded the till miner ter puts ills his number on oil it and t ly ith enuch ado there comes up t the lie heading and into the passageway I 1 leading di to the hie chamber a 9 string of mules walking tandem or single tile rile and drugging dragging an all empty eat cm behl behind ild the pull out ont the loaded ear cur set I 1 the lie ento empty ine file where the miner wants it and go 0 o back with nith the load land of coal these are other strings of mules also and they distribute the ahe ei empties nilles and mobilize the loaded curs cars froin and tit at glen ghen points then the coul air engine comes come along and makes up u apin train of jordrd col anis after afler dropping 0 one e of empties ready for di distribution st dibut foil rile coal trains tire are pulled down to tile hOltIn hoisting 9 shaft and one by one tile hie cars go 91 to ile hie surface lit an empty corning coming down its as it loaded one goes up when we e reach tile the top again ve e note the layout of the breaker plant where tile the coal Is cleaned and sorted into tile the several s SIZ alues slues the first tiling thing that impresses Imp us Is that eliat the mine owners are almost I 1 ns as care careful fril in sailing roul coul as a miser is lit in hoarding ills gold going up to thi the top of the brea breaker brcik kor rr we ne see the coal as it 11 conns front UK mine with all its slate und and calm tile me han leally duni dumped ped it a tui at load oid ul at it time upon the oscillating boss which begil the process ot of separating the hie coul coal liin 1111 lie hie worthless tile i ing ill of the feinier into inlo groups bol aon ing ilig to size bize I 1 |