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

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INSi'KCTOKS OF .MINES. 121
Damages io PRorERTY.
All engine house burned down at Yorktown, f-Lipo No. 1. The hjss is
not considered very great, as the mine was about being aband(;ned, altliough
the machinery was considerably damaged.
A lire took place in No. 1 Stockton slope frpm tlie boiler iiue, which extends
\ip to No. 5 slope gangway. The tire was first discovered April 7,
1875, in the tlue near the boiler. On May 1, 1875, it had extended up to-
No. 5 gangway, thence through the return airway to a point 1,200 feet east,
at which place it was checked and fought back 1,200 feet to where the flue
came up from No. 1 to slope No. 5, Avest gangway. The present stopping
is erected 240 feet east of the flue. No. 1 workings connects by an inside
slope and by a pumpway with No. 5. Nos. 1 and 2 slopes are now partly
drowned owing to the fire. The diiference of elevaticui between the top of
No. 2, the highest point working, and the top of No. 4, the lowest point
working, is 38 feet. Perpendicular height from where the fire is in No. 5
to the top of No. 4 slope is 355 feet. The present method of extinguishing
the fire, by means of putting in stoppings, is a very tedious operation, and
cannot be successfr.lly accomplished unless those stoppings can be made
airtight, which is a thing of rare occurrence in connection with old workings.
I have visited these workiTigs twice to see that the necessary'' precaution
v.'as taken for the safety of the men, as there had been four suffocated
by working at the fire previous to the date of my commission. The nearest
point that 1 could get to the fire was 240 feet, where the stopping is erected
in the gangway, as before stated. It is evident that if the present mode
of extinguishing does not meet their expectation they can do so by drowning
No. 5. The extinguishing of the fire is under the supervision of Mr.
Lev.ns Jones and , from Wilkesbarre, both men of experience.
The fire in tunnel No. G, at Summit Hill, is still burning. The company
have spared neither labor nor expense in trying to extinguish this fire.
After trying the application of carbonic acid gas, &c., without success,,
and the filling up of the old fall ins on the mountain, it was deemed expedient
to discontinue the process and to resort to cutting oft" the fire by
driving a slope on each side of the fire, working the coal from the top rock
to the bottom as far down as practicable, then fill this space with clay leaving
the fire to burn out the part cut oft'. This did not prove satisfactory,
as the pillars on each side of the cut gave way causing the top rock to fall
in. After working at this sinking for about 2 years scarcely could it beobserved
what amount of work had been accomplished. So the company
thought it best to stop the sinking and resort to building a dam on a level
with the Nesquehoning tunnel to prevent the fire from coming in contactwith
the tunnel and to extinguish the same.
Eecapitulation of coal improvements in the South district of Luzerne and
Carbon counties during the year ending December 31, 1875.
Upper Lehigh, Luzerne county, on the e^^tate of Tench Goxe, operated by
the Upper Lehigh Goal Company —Have sunk tv.'o new slopes since 1873
on the north dip of the Buck Mountain vein, and have built a new breaker,
with all the modern improvements, to prepare the coal mined at Nos. 3 and
4 slopes.
Drifton, Luzerne county, on the estate of Tench Coxe.—-Have sunk a new
slope on the south dip of the Buck Mountain vein, and a new breaker has
been built, with all the necessary improvements, to prepare the coal mined