Chapter XVI: Miners and Their Wages

A good miner may be called a “skilled workman,” and, as such, he is entitled to greater compensation for his labor than an ordinary workman. He expects it and gets it. There are two principal systems by which payments are made to miners. The first is according to the number of cubic yards of coal cut, and the second is according to the number of tons of coal mined and sent out. The first, which is prevalent in the regions of steep-pitching seams, is followed because the coal may remain in the chamber for an indefinite time after being cut. The second, which in the Wyoming region is almost universal, is somewhat more complicated. A chamber is taken by two miners, but the account on the books of the coal company is usually kept in the name of only one of them, who is held to be the responsible member of the firm. For instance, “Patrick Collins & Co.” work a chamber in Law Shaft, and the firm is so designated. The first thing they do is to adopt some distinctive mark which may be chalked on the sides of their loaded cars to distinguish them from the loaded cars from other chambers. The letters of the alphabet are frequently used by miners, but, in default of these, some simple design that cannot readily be mistaken for any other is put into service. The triangle ∆ is a very common symbol with them, so is the long, horizontal line, crossed by short vertical ones, thus: ――|――|――――|――. The miners call this a candle. When a car has been loaded the symbol is chalked on the side of it, together with a number which tells how many cars have been sent from the chamber during the day. For instance, when a mine car appears at the surface marked “∆ 5” it means that the car is from a certain chamber designated by that symbol, and that this is the fifth car which has been sent from that chamber during the day. On its way from the head of the breaker to the dumping cradle, the loaded car passes over the platform of the weighing scales and registers its weight on the scale beam. This weight is quickly read by the weigh-master, is transferred to his book, and goes to make up the daily report. In some districts a system in which tickets are used instead of chalk marks is in vogue, and in other districts duplicate checks are employed, but everywhere the general features remain the same.

In order to get a chamber from any of the large mining corporations, a miner must apply in person to the mining superintendent. He must come well recommended, or he must be known as a skillful, industrious, and temperate workman. The responsibility of driving a chamber properly is not a small one, and mining companies choose to take as little risk as possible in the selection of their men. Having accepted an applicant for a chamber, the company makes a contract with him, usually a verbal one, to pay him at a certain rate per ton or yard for the coal mined by him. The rate, though not wholly uniform, on account of the greater or less difficulty of cutting coal at the different collieries, is practically the same throughout an entire district.

A miner working at full time and in a good seam will send out enough coal each month to amount, at the contract price, to $150. But his expenses for laborers’ wages, powder, oil, fuse, etc., will amount to $75 per month, leaving him a net income of $75 per month. The laborer is also paid according to the number of tons of coal sent out, and his wages will probably average $2 per day. It is not often in these days of thin seams that these rates of income are exceeded. And when the mines are in operation only a portion of the time, as is now often the case, these figures are seriously reduced.

The subject of wages frequently has been under discussion between miners and operators, and the differences of opinion on it have been prolific of many strikes. By some corporations and at some collieries a sliding scale has been adopted. That is, the miner has been paid, not at a fixed rate, but at a rate which constantly adjusts itself to the market price of coal. The objection to this method is said to be that the great companies who practically control the anthracite coal business form syndicates, fix the market price of their coal for a certain period of time, and then limit the output of each member of the syndicate to a certain number of tons during that period.

It is certain that no scheme of payment has yet been devised which is perfectly satisfactory to the great body of workers in the mines. But it is true also that employer and employee are working together more harmoniously now than they have worked at any time in the past, and that long and stubborn strikes of miners are growing, year by year, less frequent. It is to be hoped that the time will come when even the strike will not be considered necessary as a weapon of defense for the workman. As a rule strikes result in loss, and in loss only, to both capital and labor; and, as a rule also, labor suffers from them more than does capital, and this is the saddest feature of the case. Hon. Carroll D. Wright, the National Commissioner of Labor, has compiled the statistics of miners’ strikes in Pennsylvania for the years 1881 to 1886 inclusive. His tables show that of 880 such strikes, which was the total number that occurred during the period named, 186 succeeded, 52 partly succeeded, and 642 failed. The loss to employers resulting from these strikes was $1,549,219; the loss to employees was $5,850,382; and the assistance given to the strikers during the periods of suspension amounted to $101,053. These figures form the best commentary to be had on the subject of strikes; they are eloquent with tales of hardship, of suffering, and of despair.

In those regions which have had long immunity from strikes, and in which work at full time has been the rule, the mine-workers are not only comfortable, but frequently are prosperous. They rarely occupy rooms in the cheap tenement houses of the towns, even if such occupancy would be to their convenience. They prefer to live in the outlying districts, where they can have homes of their own and gardens that they may cultivate. In the colliery villages the lots are usually laid out and sold or rented by the mining company to its workmen. Rent is not high, and, in case of sale, a long term contract is given, so that payments are in easy installments. The miner prefers to own his house and lot. Such ownership has a tendency to impress any man with the importance and responsibility of his duty as a citizen, and the miner is no exception to the rule. He is apt to waste neither his time nor his money when he has property and a family to care for. He tries, too, to lay by something for a rainy day; he knows that the probabilities are that either he or his family will eventually need it. As his hours of labor are comparatively short he has considerable leisure which he may spend profitably or foolishly as he will. Many of the men spend this leisure working in their gardens or about their premises. It is seldom that any of them go so far as to have regular extra employment to occupy their time while out of the mines. Indeed the prevailing tendency among miners is to do as little work as possible outside of the mines. The opinion seems to be prevalent among them that when a miner has cut his coal he has done his full duty for the day, and is entitled then to rest and recreation. He does not take kindly to other kinds of work. He rarely deserts his occupation of mining to take up any other calling, and it may be said that after he has passed middle age he never does. There is a fascination to the old miner about the dark chambers, the black walls, the tap of the drill, the crash of falling coal, the smell of powder smoke in the air, a fascination that is irresistible. He would almost rather die in the familiar gloom of the mine than live and toil in the sunlight on the surface. Years of walking under the low mine roofs have bent his back, have thrown his head and shoulders forward, have given him that long swinging stride characteristic of old miners. His face is always pale; this is due, no doubt, to the absence of sunlight in his working place; but, as a rule, his general health is good; except when he has worked for a long time in dry and dusty mines. In that case he is apt to find himself, sooner or later, a victim to the disease known as “miner’s consumption.” The miner’s appearance, as he passes along the street or road on his way home from his work, is, to eyes unaccustomed to the sight, anything but favorable. He wears heavy, hobnailed shoes or boots, flannel shirt, coarse jacket and pantaloons, all of them black with coal dirt and saturated with oil. He has a habit, when he comes from his work, of throwing his coat loosely about his shoulders, and wearing it so as he goes to his home. He usually wears a cap on his head, sometimes a slouch hat, rarely the helmet or fireman’s hat with which artists are accustomed to picture him. This latter is too heavy and clumsy for common use; he only puts it on when working in places where water comes down freely on his head. Hooked to the front of his cap is the little tin lamp already described. When he goes to or comes from his work in the dark he allows it to burn and light him on his way. His face and hands are also black with coal dirt and powder smoke, and his features are hardly recognizable. The predominating race among the mine workers is the Irish, next in point of numbers comes the Welsh, then follow the Scotch and English, and, finally, the German. Of late years, however, Hungarian, Italian, and Russian laborers have come to the mines in large numbers, especially in the southern districts. These people can hardly be compared with the English or German speaking races; they do not become citizens of the country, have in the main no family life, and are, in a certain sense, slaves whose masters are their own countrymen.

In speaking of the characteristics of the mine workers as a class, it may be well, and it certainly is just, to correct a misapprehension concerning them which has become prevalent. From reading the descriptions given by newspaper correspondents and by certain writers of fiction, many people have come to think that all miners are little less than outlaws, that they are rude, ignorant, brutal in their instincts, and blind in their passions and animosities. This is very far indeed from the truth. Mine workers, as a class, are peaceful, law-abiding, intelligent citizens. That they are economical and industrious is well attested by the comfortable appearance of their homes, and the modest deposits that are made, in large numbers, in the numerous miner’s savings banks of the different districts. There are, indeed, among them those who are intemperate, those who are coarse and violent, a disgrace to themselves and a menace to society. These are always the ones who come to the surface at a time when strained relations exist between employers and employees, and by their harsh language and unlawful conduct in the name of oppressed labor call down just retribution on themselves, but unjust condemnation on the true mine workers, who compose ninety-nine one hundredths of the class, but who do not go about drinking, ranting, destroying property, and inciting to crime. The proportion of “good-for-naughts” among the miners, however, is no greater than it is among any other class of workmen having the same numbers, and the same advantages and disadvantages. With the exception of the Hungarians, Russians, Italians, and Poles, of whom mention has already been made, the miners and their families compare favorably with any class of workers in the same grade of labor in America. Many of them indeed attain to prominent and responsible positions in business and society. Not a few of the clerks, merchants, contractors, mining engineers, bankers, lawyers, preachers, of the coal regions of to-day have stepped into those positions from the chambers of the mines, and have filled them admirably. The miner is fond of his family; his children are dear to him, and, whenever the grim necessities of life permit, he sends them to the schools instead of to the mines or breakers. He wishes to prepare them for a larger enjoyment of life than he himself has had, even though that life should be spent in the occupation which he himself has followed. And, indeed, there are few other occupations in which the possibilities of advancement are so great and so favorable. There must be mine bosses, mine inspectors, mine superintendents, and many of them, and they are, as a rule, promoted from the ranks. Young men of character, skill, and judgment are almost sure to step into the higher places.

If it were not for two evils that constantly menace and hamper him, the coal miner of to-day would be the most favored of workmen. These twin evils are strikes and lockouts. Abolish them and there would be no more comfortable, happy, and generally prosperous class of people in America than the workers in the coal mines.

GLOSSARY OF MINING TERMS.

_After damp._ The mixture of gases resulting from the burning of fire damp.

_Air shaft._ A vertical opening into a mine for the passage of air.

_Airway._ Any passage in the mine along which an air current passes; but the term is commonly applied to that passage which is driven, for ventilating purposes, parallel to and simultaneously with the gangway.

_Anticlinal._ A fold of strata in which the inclination of the sides of the fold is from the axis downward.

_Barrier pillars._ Large pillars of coal left at a boundary line, or on the outskirts of a squeeze.

_Basin._ The hollow formed by a fold of the seam; any large area of included coal.

_Battery_. In steep-pitching seams, a wooden structure built across the shute to hold the mined coal back.

_Bearing in._ Cutting a horizontal groove at the bottom or side of the face of a breast.

_Bed._ Any separate stratum of rock or coal.

_Bench._ A horizontal section of the coal seam, included between partings of slate or shale.

_Black damp._ Carbonic acid gas; known also as choke damp.

_Blossom._ Decomposed coal, indicating the presence of an outcrop.

_Blower._ A forcible and copious discharge of gas from a cavity in the coal seam.

_Bony coal._ Coal containing in its composition slaty or argillaceous material.

_Bore-hole._ A hole of small diameter drilled or bored, either vertically or horizontally, through the measures or in the coal; usually, a hole drilled vertically for prospecting purposes.

_Brattice._ A partition made of boards or of brattice cloth, and put up to force the air current to the face of the workings.

_Breaker._ A building, with its appliances, used in the preparation of anthracite coal for the market.

_Break-through._ A cross-heading or entrance, used in the bituminous mines.

_Breast._ The principal excavation in the mine from which coal is taken; known also as chamber.

_Broken coal._ One of the regular sizes of prepared anthracite.

_Buckwheat coal._ One of the regular sizes of prepared anthracite.

_Buggy._ A small car or wagon used for transporting coal from the working face to the gangway.

_Buntons._ The timbers placed crosswise of a shaft down its entire depth, dividing it into vertical compartments.

_Butt._ In bituminous coal seams, the vertical planes of cleavage at right angles to the face cleavage.

_Butty._ A comrade; a fellow-worker in the same chamber.

_Cage._ See Carriage.

_Carriage._ The apparatus on which coal is hoisted in a shaft.

_Cartridge pin._ A round stick of wood on which the paper tube for the cartridge is formed.

_Cave-hole._ A depression at the surface, caused by a fall of roof in the mine.

_Chain pillars._ Heavy pillars of coal, lining one or both sides of the gangway, and left for the protection of that passage.

_Chamber._ See Breast.

_Chestnut coal._ One of the regular sizes of prepared anthracite.

_Choice damp._ See After-damp.

_Cleavage._ The property of splitting on a certain plane.

_Collar._ The upper horizontal crosspiece uniting the legs in the timbering of a drift, tunnel, slope, or gangway.

_Colliery._ All the workings of one mine, both underground and at the surface.

_Conglomerate._ The rock strata lying next beneath the coal measures.

_Counter-gangway._ A gangway which is tributary to the main gangway, and from which a new section of coal is worked.

_Cracker boss._ The officer in charge of the screen room in a breaker.

_Creep._ A crush in which the pillars are forced down into the floor or up into the roof of the mine.

_Cribbing._ The timber lining of a shaft, extending usually from the surface to bed-rock.

_Crop-fall._ A caving in of the surface at the outcrop.

_Cross-heading._ A narrow opening for ventilation, driven through a wall of coal separating two passages or breasts.

_Crush._ A settling downward of the strata overlying a portion of an excavated coal seam.

_Culm._ All coal refuse finer than buckwheat size.

_Dip._ The angle which any inclined stratum makes with a horizontal line.

_Door boy._ A boy who opens and shuts the door placed across any passageway in the mines to control the direction of the ventilating current.

_Double entry._ One of the systems by which openings into the bituminous coal mines are made.

_Downcast._ The passage or way through which air is drawn into a mine.

_Drift._ A water-level entrance to a mine, driven in from the surface on the coal.

_Drill._ Any tool used for boring holes in the rock or coal.

_Driving._ Excavating any horizontal passage in or into the mines.

_Drum._ A revolving cylinder, at the head of any hoisting-way, on which the winding rope is coiled.

_Egg coal._ One of the regular sizes of prepared anthracite.

_Entrance._ See Cross-heading.

_Entry._ The main entrance and traveling road in bituminous mines.

_Face._ The end wall at the inner or working extremity of any excavation in or into the mines. In bituminous mines the vertical plane of cleavage at right angles to the butt cleavage.

_Fan._ A machine used to force a ventilating current of air through a mine.

_Fault._ A displacement of strata in which the measures on one side of a fissure are pushed up above the corresponding measures on the other side.

_Fire-board._ A blackboard, fixed near the main entrance of a mine, on which the fire boss indicates each morning the amount and location of dangerous gases.

_Fire boss._ An official whose duty it is to examine the workings for accumulations of dangerous gases.

_Fire clay._ The geological formation which is usually found immediately underlying a coal bed.

_Fire damp._ Light carbureted hydrogen.

_Fissure._ A separation of rock or coal across the measures.

_Floor._ The upper surface of the stratum immediately underlying a coal seam.

_Gangway._ An excavation or passageway, driven in the coal, at a slight grade, forming the base from which the other workings of the mine are begun.

_Gas._ Fire damp.

_Gob._ The refuse separated from the coal and left in the mine.

_Guides._ Narrow vertical strips of timber at each side of the carriage way in shafts, to steady and guide the carriage in its upward or downward movement.

_Gunboat._ A car used for hoisting coal on steep slopes.

_Head-frame._ The frame erected at the head of a shaft to support the sheaves and hold the carriage.

_Heading._ Synonymous with gangway. Any separate continuous passage used as a traveling way or as an airway.

_Hopper._ A feeding shute or pocket in a breaker.

_Horseback._ A small ridge in the roof or floor of a coal seam.

_Inside slope._ An inclined plane in a mine, on which coal is hoisted from a lower to a higher level.

_Jacket._ One of the sections or frames of wire mesh of which a revolving screen is made up.

_Keeps._ Projections of wood or iron on which the carriage rests while it is in place at the head of the shaft.

_Lagging._ Small timbers or planks driven in behind the legs and over the collars to give additional support to the sides and roof of the passage.

_Legs._ The inclined sticks on which the collar rests in gangway, tunnel, drift, and slope timbering.

_Lift._ All the workings driven from one level in a steep-pitching seam.

_Loading place._ The lowest extremity of the breaker, where prepared coal is loaded into railway cars.

_Lump coal._ The largest size of prepared anthracite.

_Manway._ A passageway in or into the mine, used as a footway for workmen.

_Mouth._ The opening, at the surface, of any way into the mines.

_Needle._ An instrument used in blasting coal, with which a channel is formed through the tamping for the entrance of the squib.

_Nut coal._ One of the regular sizes of bituminous coal.

_Opening._ Any excavation in or into a mine.

_Operator._ The person, firm, or corporation working a colliery.

_Outcrop._ That portion of any geological stratum which appears at the surface.

_Output._ The amount of coal produced from any mine, or from any area of country.

_Parting._ The layer of slate or bony coal which separates two benches of a coal seam.

_Pea coal._ One of the regular sizes of prepared anthracite.

_Picking shute._ A shute in the breaker from which the pieces of slate are picked out by a boy as they pass down with the coal.

_Pillar._ A column or body of coal left unmined to support the roof.

_Pillar and breast._ The name of a common mining method.

_Pinch._ See Crush.

_Pitch._ See Dip.

_Plane._ Any incline on which a track is laid for the purpose of lowering or hoisting coal.

_Pockets._ Receptacles at the lower ends of shutes, in breakers, from which coal is loaded into railway cars.

_Post._ A wooden prop to support the roof in bituminous mines.

_Prop._ A timber set at right angles to the seam, in anthracite mines, to support the roof.

_Prospecting._ Searching for indications of coal on the surface, and testing coal seams from the surface.

_Pump way._ That compartment of a shaft or slope down which the pump rods and pipes are extended.

_Rib._ The side of an excavation as distinguished from the end or face.

_Rob._ To mine coal from the pillars after the breasts are worked out.

_Rock tunnel._ A tunnel driven through rock strata.

_Rolls._ In breakers, heavy iron or steel cylinders set with teeth, used for breaking coal.

_Roof._ The stratum immediately overlying a coal seam. The rock or coal overhead in any excavation.

_Room._ Synonymous with breast or chamber; used in bituminous mines.

_Safety lamp._ A lamp that can be carried into inflammable gases without igniting them.

_Scraper._ A tool used for cleaning out bore holes in blasting.

_Screen._ Any apparatus used for separating coal into different sizes; usually, the revolving cylinder of wire mesh in a breaker.

_Seam._ A stratum of coal.

_Separator._ A machine for picking slate.

_Shaft._ A vertical entrance into a mine.

_Sheave._ The wheel in the head-frame that supports the winding rope.

_Shift._ The time during which a miner or laborer works continuously, alternating with some other similar period.

_Shute._ A narrow passageway through which coal descends by gravity from the foot of the breast to the gangway; an inclined trough, in a breaker, down which coal slides by gravity.

_Single entry._ One of the systems by which bituminous mines are entered.

_Slack._ The dirt from bituminous coal.

_Slate picker._ A boy who picks slate from coal. A machine used for the same purpose.

_Slope._ An entrance to a mine driven down through an inclined coal seam. Inside slope: a passage in the mine driven down through the seam, by which to bring coal up from a lower level.

_Slope carriage._ A platform on wheels on which cars are raised and lowered in steep slopes.

_Smut._ See Blossom.

_Split._ A branch of a ventilating air current.

_Spread._ The bottom width of a slope, drift, tunnel, or gangway between the legs of the timbering.

_Squeeze._ See Crush.

_Squib._ A powder cracker used for igniting the cartridge in blasting.

_Steamboat coal._ One of the regular sizes of prepared anthracite.

_Stopping._ A wall built across an entrance or any passage to control the ventilating current.

_Stove coal._ One of the regular sizes of prepared anthracite.

_Strike._ The direction of a line drawn horizontally along any stratum.

_Stripping._ Mining coal by first removing the surface down to the coal bed; open working.

_Sump._ A basin in mines entered by a slope or shaft, in which the water of the mine is collected to be pumped out.

_Swamp._ A depression in the seam.

_Synclinal._ A fold of strata in which the inclination of the sides is from the axis upward.

_Tipple._ In the bituminous regions, a building in which coal is dumped, screened, and loaded into boats or cars.

_Trapper._ See Door boy.

_Traveling way._ A passageway for men and mules in or into the mines.

_Trip._ The number of cars less than enough to constitute a train drawn at one time by any motive power.

_Tunnel._ An opening into a mine driven horizontally across the measures.

_Under-clay._ See Fire clay.

_Underholing._ See Bearing in.

_Upcast._ An opening from a mine through which air is taken out.

_Vein._ Used (improperly) synonymously with seam, bed, or stratum.

_Wagon._ A mine car.

_Waste._ Gob; coal dirt.

_Water level._ An entrance into or passage in a mine, driven with just sufficient grade to carry off water.

_White damp._ Carbonic oxide.

_Wings._ See Keeps.

_Work._ To mine.

_Working face._ A face at which mining is being done.

_Workings._ The excavations of a mine, taken as a whole; or, more particularly, that portion of the mine in which mining is being done.

INDEX.

Accidents resulting from falls, 126;
to boys, 218.

Act of 1885, 88.

After damp, composition of, etc., 167.

Air currents in mines, 148, 149.

Air, deterioration of, in mines, 147, 152.

Airways, beginning of, 95.

Allen, Nicholas, 49, 62.

Ancients, use of coal by, 35.

Animal life of Carboniferous era, 18.

Anthracite coal, analysis of, 6;
commercial sizes of, 181;
description of, 8;
ignition of, 59;
of bituminous origin, 25;
skill in mining, 192.

Anticlinals, 25.

Appalachian Range, 3.

Archean time, 3.

Areas of coal measures, 31;
of Pennsylvania coal fields, 33, 34.

Avondale Mine, disaster at, 173.

Baltimore vein, 75.

Basin in a coal seam, 29.

Battery in steep chambers, 108.

Bearing in, in bituminous mines, 197.

Benches in coal seams, 23–115.

Bituminous coal, analysis of, 7;
description of, 8;
process of mining, 194.

Black damp, composition, etc., 169.

Blasting in mines, 119, 120, 125, 131.

Blossom of coal, 77.

Blower of gas, 160.

Boys, accidents to, 218;
amusements of, 219;
at tipple work, 202;
characteristics of, 217;
duties of, at breaker, 215;
in British coal mines, 205.

Boy door-tenders, duties of, 214.

Boy drivers, duties of, 210.

Braddock’s road, 40.

Brattice at face of chamber, 103.

Breaker, description of, 179;
location of, 178, 183;
passage of coal through, 185;
picking shutes in, 186;
structure and appearance of, 184.

Break through, in bituminous mines, 195.

Breast. See Chamber.

Bryden, Alexander, 143.

Bryden, Andrew, 140, 168.

Buildings at mouth of shaft, 176.

Buntons in shaft, 89.

Butler, Col. Lord, 56.

Butt cleavage in bituminous mines, 194.

Butty, 114.

Calamites, 17.

Candles, use of, in mines, 162.

Cannel coal, 6, 13.

Carbondale Mines, fall in, 140.

Carboniferous age, 3.

Carboniferous era, animal life of, 18.

Carboniferous plants, 14–16.

Carriage in shaft, 90.

Cartridge, how made and used, 117.

Cave holes, 137.

Cenozoic time, 4.

Chain pillars, 109.

Chamber, car track in, 103;
description of, 100;
length of, 102;
scene at face of, 131.

Charcoal, process of formation, 10.

Charles, John, 50.

Chest, miner’s, 120.

Choke damp, 169.

Cist, Charles, 48.

Cist, Jacob, 52, 58.

Coal, classification of, 7;
originally all bituminous, 12;
origin of, 8;
production, by corporations, 70;
specific gravity of, what is it? 6.

Coal dust, explosive quality of, 172.

Coal lands, division of, 69;
investments in, 68;
leasing of, 71;
value of, 70.

Coal mining by corporations, 72.

Coal plants, age of, 3.

Coal seams, number and thickness of, 22, 23.

Coal-waste, heaps of, 191.

Conglomerate, 76.

Conifers, 17.

Corve, in British coal mines, 205.

Cost of different methods of entry, 92.

Counter-gangway, 105.

Crahan, Martin, story of, 220.

Creeping pillars, 136.

Creuzot Mine, accident at, 170.

Crop falls, 139.

Cross-headings, 95.

Crowbar, miner’s tool, 121.

Crust of earth, subsidence of, etc., 24.

“Cry of the Children,” Mrs. Browning’s, 207.

Culm, its disposition and use, 190.

Curr, John, 90.

Davy, Sir Humphrey, experiments of, 162.

Decapitation of coal seams, 29.

Delaware and Hudson gravity railroad, 66;
canal, 66.

Diamond drill, 79.

Dip of strata, 29.

Door boy, duties of, etc., 149, 214.

Doors in mines, 149.

Drainage in mines, 154.

Drift, as a mode of entry, 80.

Drilling, by diamond drill, 79;
by hand, 78;
by rope method, 78;
by spring pole method, 78.

Drill, machine hand, 116;
miner’s, 116.

Driver boss, his duties, etc., 113.

Driver boy, duties of, etc., 113, 210, 213.

Dump shute bars in breaker, 185.

Eagle Shaft, disaster at, 168.

Early mining methods, 94.

Eastern middle coal field, 33.

Electricity in breakers, 217;
in mines, 105, 122, 127, 213.

Enaliosaurs, 20.

Entrances in mines, 101.

Entries in bituminous mines, 195, 196.

Evans, Oliver, 52.

Experiments with anthracite, 52, 53.

Face cleavage in bituminous mines, 194.

Face of chamber, 101.

Falls of roof and coal, 125, 135.

Fan for ventilation, 151.

Fault in strata, 26.

Felling Colliery, disaster at, 162.

Fell, Judge Jesse, 53.

Females in British coal mines, 206.

Ferns of coal era, 16.

Fire boss, duties of, etc., 112, 166.

Fire damp, characteristics of, 160;
explosions of, 161;
in abandoned workings, 166.

Fishes, age of, 3;
of Carboniferous age, 19.

Fissures in strata, 26.

Flanigan, John, 94.

Flowers in Carboniferous age, 21.

Gangways, beginning of, 95;
description of, 97;
direction of, 98;
driving, 113;
length of, 104;
walking in, 129.

Gases not confined to coal measures, 159.

Germany, mining of coal in, 37.

Ginther, Philip, 47.

Girls in British coal mines, 205.

Gore, Obadiah, experiments of, 45.

Graff, Frederick, 52.

Great Summit Mine, 57.

Guibal, inventor of fan, 152.

Guides in shaft, 90.

Hammer, miner’s, 121.

Head-frame at mouth of shaft, 177.

Health of mine workers, 153.

Hennepin, Father, explorer, 38.

Hillegas, Michael, 48.

Hoisting apparatus at shaft, 177.

Hollenback, Colonel George M., 56.

Horsebacks in coal seams, 28.

Hosie, John, adventure of, 145.

Hurrier in British mines, 205.

Inclined planes in mines, 105.

Indians, coal known to, 37, 43, 44.

Inside slopes, 106.

Invertebrates, age of, 3.

Investments in coal lands, 68.

Jenkins, Henry, 180.

Laborers, duties of, etc., 114, 122.

Lackawanna region, early coal trade in, 65.

Lagging, its use, etc., 82.

Lamp, miner’s, 121.

Laplace, astronomer, 1.

Lehigh coal, early trade in, 57, 58, 62.

Lepidodendrids, 17.

Leschot, inventor, 79.

Lift mining, 85, 107.

Light carbureted hydrogen, 159.

Lignite, 6, 11.

Loading place in breaker, 189.

Localities in which coal is found, 31, 32.

Locomotives in mines, 199.

London, burning of coal in, 36.

Long wall mining system, 110.

Loyalsock coal field, 31.

Lump coal, bituminous, 202.

Machine for mining soft coal, 197.

Mammals, age of, 4, 12.

Man, age of, 4.

Marsh gas, composition of, etc., 160.

Mellen and Bishop, experimenters, 64.

Mesozoic time, 4.

Mine, anthracite, number of employees in, 112.

Mine boss, duties, etc., 112.

Mine car, 123.

Mine, darkness in a, 133;
in an abandoned, 134;
silence in a deserted, 132.

Mine law of 1870 and 1885, 208.

Miner, Charles, 58.

Miner, appearance of, 227;
character and ambition of, 230;
clothing of, 228;
duties of, etc., 114, 122, 124;
home and outside occupation of, 226;
nativity of, 228.

Mines, flooding of, 156.

Miocene period, 12.

Mules in mines, 212.

Nanticoke, accident at, 157.

Nebular Hypothesis, 1.

Needle, miner’s, 117.

Newcastle, carrying coals to, 37.

Nobles, David, hunter, 65.

Northern coal field, 33.

Nut coal, bituminous, 202.

Open quarry mining, 80.

Outcrop of strata, 29, 75.

Paleozoic time, 3.

Pannier women in British mines, 205.

Paris, burning of coal in, 37.

Partings in coal seams, 23.

Peat, 6, 11.

Pennsylvania, coal fields of, 32, 33, 34.

Picking machine in breaker, 187.

Picking shute in breaker, 186.

Pick, miner’s, 121.

Pillar and breast mining system, 99.

Pillars at foot of shaft, 95;
creeping, 136;
robbing of, 133;
slipping, 136.

Pinch in a coal mine, 28.

Pittsburgh, coal beds near, 193;
coal trade of, 42;
discovery of coal near, 41.

Pittsburg, Kansas, disaster at, 172.

Pockets in breaker, 189.

Props, use and setting of, 114.

Prospecting for coal, 75.

Pump mining, 155.

Pumpway in shaft, 155.

Putter, in British mines, 205.

Rats in mines, 212.

Reptiles, age of, 4, 12.

Rhode Island, coal in, 32, 40.

Rib of coal, 101.

Richmond coal field, 38.

Robbing pillars, 133.

Robinson, John W., 58.

Rocky Mountains, 20.

Rolls in breaker, 179.

Rolls in coal seams, 28.

Rooms in bituminous mines, 195.

Run of mine, bituminous coal, 202.

Safety carriage, 91.

Safety lamps, how to use, 165;
invention of, 163.

Schuylkill region, early coal trade in, 62, 64.

Scotland, mining of coal in, 37.

Scraper, in bituminous mines, 198.

Scraper, use of, 117.

Screen, revolving, in breaker, 180.

Semi-anthracite coal, 8.

Shaft, compartments of, 89;
descending a, 128;
foot of, 128;
in bituminous mines, 199;
in steep-pitching seams, 109;
location and depth of, 86;
sinking of, 87;
water in, while sinking, 154.

Sheaves in head-frame, 177.

Shoemaker, Colonel George, 62.

Shovel, miner’s, 121.

Sigillariæ, 17.

Slack, bituminous waste, 202.

Slate picker’s duties, etc., 186.

Sledge, miner’s, 121.

Slipping pillars, 136.

Slope, dimensions of, 85;
entrance by, 84;
in steep-pitching seams, 85.

Smith, Abijah, 56.

Smith, John, 56.

Smut of coal, 77.

Southern coal field, 32.

Sphagnum, 11.

Splits of the air current, 148.

Squeeze in a mine, 28, 136.

Squib, use of, 118.

Stair shaft in bituminous mines, 200.

States in which coal is found, 31, 32.

Steep-pitching seams, raining in, 107.

Stigmaria, 18.

Stockton Mines, accident at, 139.

Strike of strata, 29.

Strikes among miners, 225.

Summit Hill Mine, 80.

Sump in mine, 96.

Surface, disturbance of, by falls, 138.

Susquehanna River, coal trade, 41.

Swamp in mines, 29.

Symbols marked on cars, 223.

Synclinals, 25.

Tamping, process of, 118.

Temperature in mines, 210.

Terrace in coal outcrop, 77.

Theophrastus, 35.

Tipple, at the bituminous mines, 201, 203.

Tunnel, entrance by, 82.

Tunnels in mine interiors, 84, 106.

Turnbull, William, 58.

Ventilation by fan, 151;
by open furnace, 150;
in bituminous mines, 199;
principle of, in mines, 97, 148.

Von Storch, H. C. L., 65.

Wages of miners, 224;
computing and payment of, 222;
of boys, 213–215;
sliding scale for computing, 224.

Waste in coal mining, 134;
of the coal measures, 28.

Water, driving workings toward, 155;
in mine, 96;
tonnage of, hoisted, 155.

Weighing coal, 223.

Weiss, Colonel Jacob, 48.

Western middle coal field, 33.

West Pittston, disaster at, 175.

White & Hazard, coal trade of, 62;
experiments of, 60.

Wilcox, Crandal, 56.

Wings in shaft, 91.

Woodward breaker, 121.

Working pillars, 136.

Wright, Joseph, 56.

Wurts, William and Maurice, 65.

Wyoming coal field, 33.

Wyoming valley, discovery of coal in, 45;
early coal trade of, 56.

Ziegler, Charles W., 188.

* * * * *

Transcriber’s Notes:

――Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). Superscripted
characters follow a caret (Fred^k, 11^th)

――Obvious printer’s, punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were
silently corrected.

――Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.

――Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.