Reports of the Inspectors of Mines of the anthracite and bituminous ...

No. 12.] Seventh Antheacite District. 253
furnished from Wilcox & Babcock boilers, the capacity being 500-horse
power. Those boilers g-ive entire satisfaction. The outside improvements
are all first-class in every particular, they are substantially built,
well-planned and nicely laid out. The breaker is a double one, and contains
all the latest improvements in the way of machinerj'^ to clean and
prepare 1,800 tons of coal perclay without any trouble. The coal is washed
from the top of the breaker until it is loaded out into the railroad cars.
All sizes are made from lumps to wash dirt or No. 2 culm. Three tracks
are laid up the plane to breaker, two from the main, or No. 2 slope, and
one for the purpose of taking- the water level tunnel coal. A new water
level tunnel was opened 2,000' east of the breaker; 1,000' of railroad track
was laid, and a short tunnel driven to No. 1 water level to bring the coal
from No. 2 water level out through No. 1 water level gangway to the foot
of breaker plane. Both these water level tunnels are opened on the Mammoth
vein and will give the colliery a very large quantity of coal above water
level. The plan is to drive a tunnel from east No. 2 water level back to
Buck Mountain vein which will give a water level gangway on Buck Mount-
ain vein the entire length of the lease if desired. Blacksmith and carpen-
ter shops and supply house, boiler house, tanks, fan house, engine house
are all built and painted of uniform color a dark red. The lines of steam
pipe are all boxed and filled in with mineral wool and hung- up in a regular
and systematic way and painted throug-hout their entire leng-th. No
money has been spared to make the plant first-class in every way, and
in fact to make it one of the model colleries of this reg-ion. The breaker
was put in operation February 16, 1891, and has been running- regularly
ever since. The output for year is nearly 100,000 tons and if nothing
unforeseen happens, the year 1892 ought to double this. In addition to
their mining plant, the Midvalley Coal Company have built a town of
their own for their employes, naming- it Wilburton. The town is built
on top of the mountain about one-fourth mile east of the breaker and
overlooks it and the valley below. It is nicely and regularly laid out
with streets and alleys, and each block of houses is surrounded with a
large plot of ground, giving opportunities for gardens and preventing
crowding. The houses are first-class in every particular and painted
inside and out, plastered and Avainscoted, with neat porches, cellars
under all houses, properly drained, with out-houses, coal houses and
a small barn combined. It is certainly the model town of the anthracite
coal region. There are several classes of houses, large, medium and
small, to suit different sized families. The streets of the town are
cleaned up and graded, water pipes run throug-h the town supjDlyinggood,
pure water to all, right at their doors. This water is pumped by
the company from their water supply dams in the valley below. There
is already a school house with two school rooms, graded and ungraded
schools. The headquarters of tlie coal company are in large and com-
fortable rooms in the company building in town. This is a busy, pros-