1898 - Coalmininghistorypa.org

420 REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF MINES. Off. Doc.air bridges or crossings, with good aiitiglit stopping on the route toprevent leakage. I am warranted in saying that this is the onlyway, because the law retjuires that the air currents be split, so thateach division of work shall have a fresh current, and experience hasdemonstrated that, except in very rare cases, this can be accomplishedin no other way. This system does away with doors, which havebeen the cause of more suffering in the past and present, than anyother one source, because they are not attended to properly.In factthey are often left without an attendant, or get out of repair and arepermitted to stand oi)en, thereb}' cutting oft" the air supply from themen.The draiimge of the mines throughout the district is exceptionallygood upon the whole, as special attention is paid to it in most ofthe mines. Yet there are some few workings that require more careupon that subject.Report of Mines by Groups.Somerset County Mines.—Five of the mines in Somerset countyare located on the Somerset and Cambria branch of the Baltimoreand Ohio Railroad. Four of these are ventilated by furnaces andkept in a very fair sanitary condition. The fifth, located at Listie,is now ventilated by a fan, which, on the occasion of my last visit,had just been put in to re])lace a furnace and which had wroughtsuch a change that it seemed like a new mine. The air was crisp andclear all through the workings, making it healthful and comfortablefor the employes. There is another mine on the S. & C. branch, butit is located in Cambria county. Ventilation there is by furnace,which is adequate for the work if properly attended to as only abouttwenty-five men are employed. The remainder of the mines in Somersetcounty ai'e located at Seal]) Level or "SMndber, and are operatedby the Berwind-White Coal Mining Company. At present thereare six in operation. A general description of one of these workingswill suffice for all, as tlie same methods of mining and haulingare used in each. The mining machines are driven by com]»ressedair, and electricity is used for hnuiing. For each heading in the minethere is a separate current of air produced by fans, all being of the"Capell" type but one, that being a ^'Stine.'' Each main heading isdriven 16 feet wide, giving room for iwo roads, one for empties, oringoing trips, and the other foi' fiill loads, or outgoing ones. Themotors run in each cross heading and collect the coal a( liie mouth ofeach room, thus doing away with mules entirely. Two of the mineshave a capacity of fiom 70 to SO railroad cars per day each already,and yet the first coal was shipped from this new field only a year agolast September. In and about these mines the company employs