At one of the mines near Scranton, not long ago, two miners were ascending in this way, and a block of stone fell from the wall, killing one of them, and injuring the other so that he lived but a few days. In some of the English mines they used to have a system of descent something like the Polish one. Two men were side by side, each of them passing a leg through an iron chain, which was fastened to a rope, and formed a seat. Accidents in this mode of descent frequently occurred, sometimes from carelessness, and sometimes from a man coming in contact with some unexpected obstacle. This mode is never used at the present day, excepting in very shallow pits. Frequently the man would be thrown to the bottom of the shaft and dashed to pieces, full in the sight of his terrified companions, who could not render the least assistance.
In old times coal was taken out of the mines, not by means of hoisting apparatus, but by bearers. Carrying a staff, and with their feet bare, they were obliged every day to carry a certain number of loads up the inclined road leading to the surface, supporting their burdens on the staff while stopping to rest. The roads were slippery and rough, and the employment was very dangerous.
In some English and Scotch mines, and also in some of the French mines, where the seams of coal are thin, boys, who are called “putters,” are employed to draw small carts along a railway. They fasten themselves to the cart with belts around their waists, and draw it along, going sometimes on their hands and feet where the road is wet and rough. Sometimes one of them pulls the cart while the other pushes it. In some of the Scotch mines girls formerly performed this work; but of late the laws do not allow women to work under ground.
GIRLS IN SCOTCH MINES.
Girls used to carry on their backs a basket fastened to a leather strap which passed around their foreheads. A lamp was attached to the strap, and in this way they carried their loads up the long ladders and through the inclines, sometimes a distance of several hundred feet. If a strap broke, a block of coal fell, or a bearer missed her footing, those below were seriously hurt, and many fatal accidents occurred. This primitive mode of raising coal was abolished by law. The owners of the mines had become so careless in regard to the management of their laborers that the government was obliged to interfere.
| COAL SEAMS | A CREEP AND THURST |
| WOMAN DRAGGING COAL | THE TRAPPER BOY |
| OLD WOMEN AT WORK | CHILDREN PICKING UP |
| MINER AT WORK | MINER AT WORK |
| THE STABLE | PUTTERS AT WORK |
For the past forty or fifty years movable ladders have been used in many mines both in Europe and America, though less extensively in this country than in the former. In England they are called “man-engines,” and are constructed on a principle of reciprocal motion of two parallel rods. The rods are placed about fifteen inches apart, and steps and handles are so arranged as to be at about the ordinary height of a man. By the action of the steam engine one of the rods is raised to a certain height, while the other is lowered for the same distance. During the movement of the crank over its turning point, the miner goes from the step on which he stands to the opposite step. Another stroke of the engine is made, and the rod moves in the opposite direction, and is followed by a fresh movement of the miner. Whether he goes up or down, the man rises or descends without any fatigue, and the journey is made in a very short time.
Many of these engines have been abandoned for the safety cage. The rate at which the men were lifted by them was seventy-two feet a minute, or a little less time than would be required for ascending by the rope. Another machine in use in Belgium and France is a single rod, and in place of the steps there are fixed platforms holding two men each. The length of stroke of the machine is about nine feet, and it will make twelve or fifteen strokes a minute.