Report of the Bureau of Mines of the Department of Internal Affairs of ...

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168 REPORT OF THE INSPECTORS OF MINES. Off. Doc.
iVoui both collieries with tlie shaft, the ])uiiip.s will be abandoiUHl and
the water hoisted in tanks holding- from 2,000 to 2,400 gallons each.
The shaft being divided into fonr compartments, four tanks can be
used if occasion requires it.
Two magnificent hoisting engines, 45x00 inch, are now in running
o-der and fitted up with all the most modern appliances. A steel
head frame has been built on top of shaft. The ropes are steel
wire, two inches in diameter.
Schuylkill Colliery, belonging to the Thiladelphia ;ind heading
Coal and Iron Company, has been permanently abandoned as a
shii)per, and the remaining coal to be mined will be prepared at the
neighboring North Mahanoy Colliery breaker which has been remodeled
and enlarged for that ])urpose. Connection between these
two colliery mine workings has been made from North Mahanoy seven
foot vein. No. 2 slope, to between the third and fourth lifts of the
Schuylkill Euck Mountain vein. This tunnel connecting the two
colliery workings is for water drainage as well as a transportation
a\enue through which the coal is hauled from Schuylkill workings
to the bottom of North Mahanoy No. 2 slope.
In May, the Springdale Colliery, operated by Lentz & Co., was indefinitely
abandoned, the rails and jnimiis
were brought to the surface
and the water allowed to Hood the colliery.
This colliery being
also in the same neighborhood with the Schuylkill Colliery, and the
workings having also been connected with each other in their early
days of operation, Mr. E. C. Luther, general superintendent for the
Philadelphia and Reading (\ial and Tion Company, decided not to
aih)w the water to rise vertically in Springdale shaft more than 20
f(H't and consfMiuently made prej)aratiringdale collieries a new j)ump slope was sunk 1,050 feet deei) in the
seven foot vein parallel with the North Malianoy No. 2 hoisting slope.
Two new du])lex i)umps. IS inch ])Iungers, 4S inch stroke and 'M'> inch
cylinders, maximum s]ie('d 75 strokes ])er minute, were ]»laced at the
fourth lift. Two IS indi c(>lnMiu ]»ip('S connect with the pum])s to
siu-face, and the water discharged by these jjumps is forced when required
to North Mahanoy bi'eakcM- to wash the coal, lietween these
two discharge l)ii>airs to the ]uimps and their attachments.
The |Miiup rooms are lined with a wall built of brick and ceuieut
14 inches thick; on top of these walls are laid 75 jxuind T ii-on rails
to suj»])ort the i-oof, thus jtreventing the coal from fractui'iug olT, and
also jireventiug mine tires from I dried timber which mostly is
used for roof supports.