MENTOR GRAVURES
FOSSIL FERN FROM COAL MINE · TIPPLE AT BITUMINOUS COAL MINE · COAL CAR DUMPER IN OPERATION · CHARGING COAL IN A MODERN GAS PLANT · SMOKE PROBLEM, SCENE IN PITTSBURGH BEFORE AND AFTER SMOKE CURE · RESCUE PARTY ENTERING MINE AFTER EXPLOSION
Entered as second-class matter March 10, 1913, at the postoffice at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Copyright, 1913, by The Mentor Association, Inc.
Were it possible for the lump of coal that we burn in our stove, grate or furnace to tell its story, it would take us back millions of years to a time when vast areas of the earth’s surface were covered with swamps, supporting a luxuriant vegetation. No human being, mammal or bird yet existed. Animal life included fish, shellfish and other aquatic species, besides reptiles and insects. The vegetal forms resembled our modern ferns, horsetails, club-mosses and evergreens. The atmosphere was heavily charged with moisture, and a mild climate prevailed even in the polar regions. Such were the conditions under which, during the great Carboniferous Age, most of the existing coal-beds were deposited in the earth.
FOREST SWAMP OF THE CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD (Coal Age). From a drawing by Potonié and Gothan
Coal is the litter of primeval swamps and forests. Year after year the débris of the humid jungles accumulated in shallow water or in the boggy soil, where it underwent partial decay, and was thus converted, first of all, into the slimy or spongy material known as “peat.” Similar deposits are in process of formation in the swamps of the present day, and the peat obtained from them is dried and used as fuel on an extensive scale in some parts of the world; especially Ireland, Holland, Germany and Scandinavia.
CONCRETE PORTAL OF A “DRIFT” MINE