Over the mouth of the shaft stands a frame, made of very large and strong timbers, which is called the gallows-frame, probably from the huge cross-beam it supports. On this cross-beam are fastened the great iron wheels or pulleys over which pass the cables that extend down into the shaft and raise and lower the cages. These cables are not, as might be supposed from the name, round hempen ropes, like the cables of a vessel. The cables used in hoisting from the shafts of mines are flat, like a piece of tape, and are braided of the best quality of steel wire. They are five or six inches in width and about three-quarters of an inch in thickness. As they are constantly exposed to dripping water in the lower part of the shaft, the cables are all kept covered with a coating of tar to prevent their rusting.
Near the engine is what is called the hoisting-reel, and on this the cable is wound up or unwound, in raising or lowering the cage, just as a piece of tape would be wound upon a spool. The steam-engines revolve the huge reels, and the cage is let down into the shaft or is hauled up from its bottom just as is required.
The cages work independently of each other. One may be going down while another is coming up, or one may be in motion while the others are standing still. When there is no living freight on the cages, they are often raised and lowered at a frightful rate of speed, but with men on board they are moved less rapidly.
Owing to the intense heat prevailing in many places in the lower levels of the mines, visitors must divest themselves of every stitch of their ordinary attire, as the first step toward their underground journey. This being the case, a comfortable and commodious dressing-room is fitted up in the works.
Hanging upon the walls of this room will be found a great number of clean suits for the accommodation of visitors. A suit for the journey into the lower regions is neat but not gaudy. It consists simply of a pair of blue flannel pantaloons, a grey or blue woollen shirt, a pair of heavy brogans for the feet, and a felt hat, with a narrow brim, for the head. In a suit of this kind even the greatest dignitaries present a very ordinary appearance. A minister of the gospel of meek and lowly aspect, when in his suit of black, becomes such a desperate-looking villain on donning[donning] blue woollen pantaloons and shirt, brogans, and felt hat, that you would not meet him alone on a mountain trail for all the wealth of the big bonanza; a pompous railroad president to whom you would almost fear to speak while in his upper-world attire, upon presenting himself before you in lower-level rig looks so much like a sneak-thief that you feel strongly impelled to kick him out of the room.
Fat men have the advantage in dressing for a trip to the lower levels, as nearly all of the pantaloons appear to have been selected for the special accommodation of men of Falstaffian proportions. In thus dressing for a trip into the mine there is always great merriment; each man laughs at his friend, unconscious of the ridiculous, mean, or insignificant figure he himself is cutting.
In the dressing-room will be found a bath-tub, hot and cold water ready to hand by the mere turning of the cocks, an abundance of clean towels and all the convenience for taking a bath on coming up from the sweltering lower levels.
HOISTING CAGE.