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

No. 10. FIRST BITUMINOUS DISTRICT. 237
the absence of check doors was also noticeable.
On one of the entries,
four places were being worked in advance of the air current;
these 1 ordered stopped until properly ventilated. I notified the company
operating tlie mine to comply with the act as regards ventilation.
Gastonville No. 2.—Parts of this mine, as regards ventilation, was
also a matter of complaint. A new company has taken charge of
these mines, and I have reason to believe they will be put in proper
condition without delay.
Hackett.—Owing to the condition of this mine and the neglect of
the parties in charge to comply with the law as regards ventilation, T
entered suit against Superintendent J. E. Boyle and Mine Foreman
liobert Oochi'an under the act of May 15, 1893, relating to bituminous
coal mines, but before this reached the proper authorities, the suit
was held in abeyance on the promise being given that they would immediately
comply with the act. A shaft has been sunk and a firebasket
placed in position which has materially increased the ventilation.
Mines Located on the Monongahela Division of the Pennsylvania
Railway.
Shoenberger.—This is a new drift opening, located about one-half
mile north of Baird station. Ground was broken for the plant on
the 8th of April, 1897, under the immediate direction of Mr. A.
G. Mitchell, C. & M. E., of Monongahela, Pa. The mine consists of
two main entries driven south 20 degrees east, and directly toward
the center of a field of coal of 447 acres.
These entries have a pillar
of coal of forty feet between them—that of the butts being thirty-two
feet. A line air course—which can also be used as a water way—is
being driven on the west side of the coal field. The butt headings on
the right of the mains will intersect this as they are driven. Some
twelve hundred feet from mine entrance, near tipple, a ravine will
be met, which will nearly separate the coal field, and as the main
body of coal lays on the other side, the main entries will, as a necessity,
cross it. The workings at present are in the first hill, the ventilatii)n
being produced by a "grate surface," which is placed at the
bottom of a shaft 20 feet deep and 6 feet in diameter—the shaft being
capped by a stack 18 feet in height. The mine is opened on the
double entry system. The first room in each butt heading is being
driven parallel with the main headings so as to leave a uniform
pillar of fifty feet between them. All rooms (excei)t the first one
on each entry) are opened thirty-five feet from center to center—the
road being on one side. The rooms are twenty feet wide, leaving a
pillar of fifteen feet to be withdrawn. The outside improvements at
present consist of three railroad sidings with frame ti])ple, the latter
being covered by a building 28 feet wide and 113 feet long. The tipple
is equipped with all the modern improvements. The inside workings
are under the supervision of W. J. Mollison.