History of the big bonanza

by Dan De Quille

ACCIDENTS IN THE MINES.

They were at work sinking the shaft below the 1700-foot level, and had drilled and charged four holes, all of which they intended to fire at once. All being in readiness, they pulled the bell-rope, striking five bells at the surface, which was the signal for the engineer to lower the cage to the bottom. The signal was answered by the cage coming down to where they stood. They now set fire to the fuses leading into the four blasts in the bottom of the shaft, and then hastened to place themselves upon the cage, when they gave the signal to hoist—this signal being one bell. To their consternation the cage did not move. As each second passed—seconds were long then—they expected to feel the cable taut and the cage start up, but it remained stationary. The fuses were spitting fire and smoke as they burned down toward the powder; still the cage moved not. The signal was again given, but the cage remained as steadfast as before.

The fire was now just boring its way down through the fuses toward the four charges of powder tightly tamped deep in the rock, while the men were standing helplessly over the fearful spot. One of the men, as a forlorn hope, ran to the charges and wrenched away two of the fuses before they had burned down into the rock below his reach, but when he came to the others he found to his consternation that the fire had passed down into the rock. Rushing back to the cage, he shouted to his companions to save themselves by climbing the cable and timbers.

A fierce struggle for life then ensued. The men scrambled, by means of the cable and the timbers, to get as far up the shaft as possible, each moment expecting the stunning explosion and shower of rocks which they knew must soon come. One of the men, who, it would seem, was completely paralyzed by the terrors of the situation, had hardly made an attempt to move when the explosion came. The three others managed to flatten their bodies against the walls, and screw themselves among the lower timbers of the shaft, and escaped unhurt; but the man below was struck in the forehead, above the right eye, by a small piece of rock which crushed in his skull.

The charges in the bottom of the shaft were usually fired by means of an electrical machine stationed above, but this being out of order at the time, the men took the responsibility of firing the blasts in the manner described, and with the result stated. The trouble in regard to the giving of the last signal was that the bell-rope—one thousand seven hundred feet in length—had got foul on a timber, and no stroke was given on the bell above; thus the engineer knew nothing of the thrilling scene that was being enacted below. Strange to relate, the man who was hurt got well. A surgeon took out a number of pieces of bone, and though a large hole was left in the skull, the man soon regained his senses and complained but little about his injury.

In February, 1874, they had a new blasting experience at the Belcher mine, Gold Hill. They had this experience at the 1200-foot level at a point where a patent drill run by compressed air was being used. It was the practice to drill a number of holes, charge them all with giant-powder cartridges (without any tamping), and explode the whole series at once by means of an electrical battery. On the occasion of the accident, the men on the forenoon shift had fired a number of holes in this way, but one of the holes, it seems, did not explode, the wire thrust into it having slipped out. When the afternoon shift came to work, they supposed this hole was one that had not been finished, and, inserting the drill, began working in it. The concussion of the drill fired the cartridge, and a terrific explosion followed.

At the moment of the explosion there were five men standing about the drill, all of whom were more or less injured. The man who was guiding the drill was struck by a shower of small pieces of rock, which cut his face, and badly cut and bruised his arms and hips, and, in short, peppered him over the whole body. Another man had the bridge of his nose broken, was cut about the head, and had his eyes filled with gravel, and all the others injured were somewhat similarly cut and bruised. Scores of ordinary blasting accidents might be mentioned—accidents that occurred from the premature explosion of blasts; by trying to drill out blasts; by blasts being discharged as the wires from the electrical battery were being inserted; by persons coming unawares upon blasts at the moment of their explosion; and powder and blasting accidents of every conceivable nature—but they can all be imagined.

The caps used in exploding giant-powder and nitro-glycerine are filled with a powerful fulminating powder, and are very dangerous. They explode with the slightest scratch upon their contents. They are about half an inch in length, and their interior diameter is sufficient to admit the end of a piece of ordinary blasting fuse. Persons unacquainted with their uses always appear to be overcome by an ungovernable curiosity in regard to the nature of their contents, the moment they by any means get hold of any of these caps. The first thing they do is to begin probing and scratching in the interior of the little copper cylinders, in order to get out and examine a sample of their contents. It invariably happens that at about the first or second scratch the cap explodes, and the person engaged in prospecting it loses the ends of two fingers and the thumb of the left hand.

In Virginia City and Gold Hill, about one boy per week, on an average, tries this experiment, and always with the same result. In the two towns there must now be scores of boys who lack the ends of the thumb and first and middle fingers of their left hands. On one occasion a boy created quite a sensation in one of the public schools by prospecting the interior of one of these giant-powder caps. The report startled the whole school, frightened the school-teacher nearly out of her wits, and spattered blood and bits of flesh and bone over the faces and books of half a dozen of the pupils. Miners very frequently carry these caps loose in their pockets, often mixed with their tobacco, and thus occasionally get them into their pipes. Several favorite meerschaums have been lost in this way, and the ends of a few noses.