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

214 REPORT OF THE INSPECTORS OF MINES. Off. Doc.
An explosion of gas occuiTed at the Kaska William colliery, on the
afternoon of October 14, by which Patrick Sweeney was instantly
killed, and John Boner, Charles Mickens and Anthony Kice were fatally
burned, and died on the following day. Peter Paul and Patrick
Doyle w^ere also burned at the same time, but recovered.
Andrew Hornjak, a miner, was killed at the Oak Hil) colliery, on
October 22, by the premature explosion of a blast.
Fred. Hulzaman, shift leader in sinking the new Lytle colliery
shaft, was fatally injured on November 4. The shift was engaged at
timbering about thirty feet from the bottom of the shaft, where a
scaffold had been erected. About 7 o'clock P. M. the men had gone to
the surface for supper. In going down again, those on the bucket
with Hulzaman got off on scaffold. He went with the bucket to the
bottom, and detached the bucket to send the rope up to let timber
down. Wanting to get up to the scaffold, he took hold of the chain
with his hands only, without having any foothold on the hook, and ascended
in that way. When near the scaffold, he let loose and fell
back to the bottom of the shaft, sustaining injuries from which he
died at the Pottsville Hospital on November 25.
Improvements Made at Collieries in 1897.
^
Lytle Colliery.
A new shaft has been commenced about fourteen hundred feet
south and one hundred feet east of the top of the Primrose No. 2 slope.
This shaft is thirty-eight feet four inches long, north and south, and
thirteen feet wide, east and west, clear of timber, and is divided into
five compartments, each seven feet by thirteen, with buntous ten by
twelve inches between each compartment. At the No. 2 Primrose
vein slope, a new piece of slope has been sunk in the overlying strata,
a distance of 312 feet.
It commences about scvi'nty feet south of the
present slope, and connects with the slope below a flat or light grade
in slope, and was isnnk on a dip of forty-four degrees lo make the grade
of slope more uniform.
Albright Colliery.
An airhole was sunk from the surface lliroiigli
the sdata KiO feet
deep, having an area of 100 square feet, which connects with the Tunnel
Vein air-hole near the top of the saddle. The Salem vein fan was
connected to this new airhole, which makes an improvement, and
saves the air from escaping through the old workings. A new Cahall
boiler, having a capacity of 200 horse power, was installed, which
uses up the waste heat of eight ]>laiii cylinder boil(>rs. Pi-ejciralions
are being made to woi-k the upper lil'l of Die Tunnel \-ein fioni the
Salem slo])e.