“came to their death by suffocation caused by the burning of the Succor hoisting-works and part of the shaft, said fire having been caused by the combustion of giant-powder which was kept on the top of one of the boilers, and we strongly deprecate the custom prevalent in many mines of keeping giant-powder on the boilers about the works.”
And well they might find fault with this practice of cooking giant-powder on the tops of boilers; also, they might mildly suggest that the custom of thawing frozen giant-powder and nitro-glycerine on stoves and at the forges of blacksmith’s shops is a thing not to be encouraged. Several, however, have prospected about until they have found this out for themselves. It is now probably well known in the other world, as a few of those best informed on the point have gone there.
OFFICE OF THE CONSOLIDATED VIRGINIA MINE.
CHAPTER XXVI.
DESTRUCTION OF THE BELCHER SHAFT.
About 2 o’clock, on the afternoon of October 30, 1874, the air shaft of the Belcher mine took fire and was totally destroyed. The shaft was not completed at the time of the accident, but went down to a depth of 1000 feet below the surface. It was twelve by six feet in width, divided into two compartments, and substantially timbered from top to bottom. It had cost between $30,000 and $40,000, and was designed to ventilate and cool the lower levels of the mines—those at the depth of 1500 and 1600 feet.
As soon as the fire was discovered, the miners working below were notified, and all were safely hoisted out of the mine. It being found impossible to save the shaft, all connection between it and other parts of the mine was cut off and the fire allowed to have its way.
The fire was first discovered by persons down in the mine, but it soon made itself manifest on the surface, in the dense volume of smoke of inky blackness that rose from the mouth of the shaft and ascended to a perpendicular height of three or four hundred feet. This large column of smoke was one of the grandest sights imaginable. The air was perfectly calm, and the smoke assumed the form of huge balloons rolling upward, one over the other. This ominous cloud of smoke was visible for many miles in all directions and filled the hearts of all beholders with terror. The steam-whistle at the Belcher hoisting works, near at hand, sent forth its long-drawn wail—the fire signal—as soon as the first black puffs of smoke rose above the surface of the ground. Instantly, the whistles of dozens of mills and hoisting works joined in, and the whole air was rent for half an hour with their steady unceasing shrieks. All who saw the awful pall of smoke rise up and hang over the mine, feared the worst, and all who had husbands, fathers, brothers, or friends at work in the Belcher, hastened to the mine.
Firemen from Gold Hill and Virginia, with steamers and hand-engines, soon swarmed the place, but were not allowed to throw water into the shaft—the effects of this had been seen at the last fire in the Yellow-Jacket mine. There were houses to save, all about the shaft, and to this work the attention of the firemen was turned. To attempt to describe the wretchedness and despair of the women and children gathered round the shaft and looking upon the awful column of smoke, would be futile, and to the imagination of the reader may be left their joy on being told that all who had been in the mine were safe upon the surface.