Reports of the Inspectors of Mines of the anthracite coal regions of ...

Ex. Doc] Reports of the Inspectors of Mines. 193
Mr. Becroft, sworn, stated as follows :
Have been connected with coal mines and mining for twenty-four years ;
was general inside foreman at Stockton about three years, under superin-
tendent William Carr ; never witnessed a greater caving in than the one
at Harleigh ; after personal observations, I was convinced that the men
could not be rescued ; I believe that all possible attempts to rescue the
men have been made ; all the men were willing to help to get them out
was there the evening of the accident.
Mr. Llo3'd was again called on and stated that " he was satisfied that the
men could not be gotten out ; Mr. Becroft, at my request, accompanied
me into the mines for the purpose of rescuing the men ; went seven differ-
ent ways, but could do nothing ;
ble, but were forced to desist."
tried every way and everything imagina-
Explanations of Cross Section.
The intention of presenting this section is to demonstrate the positions
of the gangway's in the Harleigh collier}^, and that portion worked over the
boundary line. Gangway- F, on cross section, was driven from Harleigh
No. 1 and No. 8 sunk under or rather over it to work the coal at a point
lower in the "basin," as the same dipped very rapidly eastward, meets on
a level with the first lift west gangway worked from Ebervale slope. No. 2.
At this point a very substantial dam was built previous to the caving in
of the Harleigh mine, for the purpose of damming back the water from run-
ning into the Ebervale collieries, preparatory to the abandonment of the
Harleigh workings, as the coal had been nearl}^ worked out.
This dam cost about $4,000, and contained 48,000 feet of white pine
lumber, each stick of lumber was 12 feet long, 12"X12" diameter at one
end, and 10" X 1 2" at the other. The dimensions of the dam cut out of the
solid coal by pick work, was 12 feet long, 23.6 feet wide at the ouside, and
28.2 feet on the inside, equivalent to 2 feet of a hitch on the outside,
and 6 feet on the inside, so that the greater would be the pressure, the
tighter the dam would get, acting in the form of a wedge. At intervals one
of the sticks was left out, to serve as a key in closing the dam, and driven
in with a ram, and afterwards caulked with oakum, and wedges driven in
the end of the sticks on the inside of the dam, making it perfectly water-
tight. Sometime after the completion of this dam, preparations were being
made to build another in gangway A, on section, when the Harleigh mines
caved in, necessitating the abandoning of building the second, as both
were futile, owing to the barrier pillar being considered too weak to resist
three hundred and twenty feet head of water. The pressure on the dams
was calculated to be about sixty-five to seventy pounds per square inch.
The plan of the dam was gotten up by Thomas S. McNair, Esquire, civil
and mining engineer, and put in by Mr. Samuel H. Bateman, both of
Hazleton, Pa.
13_MiNE Rep.