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

264 REPORT OF THE INSPECTORS OF MINES. Off. Doc.
my first visit, I
found some mines in which they had been sadly neglected.
However, I have called the attention of those in charge to
this matter and am pleased to note that several have complied with
my request, but am sorry to say that there are a few m ho seem somewhat
slow to act in this regard. Why they do not, I am unable to say.
Another very bad practice prevails in some mines in the district,
and that is the use of what are known as mixed lights in mines where
fire-damp is being generated, especially when it is found and reported
on rib falls by the fire boss in the morning, and safety lamps
are given to the men who work in these places.
This would be proper
not al-
if the safety lamps were allowed to remain there, but this is
ways the case, as, very often, another examination of the place is
made b}' the mine foreman or fire boss after the men have commenced
work, and if no fire-damp is then found, the safety lamps are taken
from the men and they are allowed to work with open lights,
notwithstanding that in manj^ j)laces where pillars are being drawn,
the fall has closed the place up until it is impossible to tell whether
or not there is any fire-damp two feet above the level of the root.
This kind of management I am positively opposed to, and the managers
of such mines are well aware of the fact, as I have given them
my opinion on each visit made to their mines.
Three parties were convicted in the quarter session court of Allegheny
county, June session, 1897, for violation of section 1, article
XXI, of the bituminous mining laws of 1893. There had been a dispute
between the owner of the surface, and the lessee of the Ocean
mine, in Wilkins township, about the right of the latter to ventilate
through the surface. The defendants were sons of the owner of the
surface, and about the 28th of March, 1897, they obstructed the air
shaft by throwing boards and dirt over the mouth of it, and so obstucting
the ''outcast,'' that the smoke from the furnace was driven
back into the rooms, and some of it was seen coming out of the pit
mouth.
This vitiated the air all through the mine, but as it generated no
noxious gases, no accident occurred.
In order to bring the case under the provisions of the mining laws,
it was necessary to prove that at least ten persons were employed in
the mine on the date of the offense, and this was done by calling some
of those who were working in the mine on that day, and by those who
could testify to having seen that number in the mines that day.
During the trial, the defense offered proof bearing on the civil phase
of the issue, but this was ruled out by Judge Stowe, who held that
this phase of the case should be settled in the equity courts, and
that the only question at issue was whether or not the defendants
had obstructed the air course.