The methods and apparatus used in the underground beds and levels of coal are equally applicable to iron and all other ores. The railway wagons and horses are the same in the levels and galleries of all kinds of mines. The workings are conducted upon the same principle; the ventilation is afforded by the same means, and the surveys are accomplished in one case the same as in the other. The arrangements of the shafts are very much the same, and the buildings at the surface have a family likeness. There is, however, more animation usually about coal than about metal mines, for the reason that very few metal mines furnish in the course of a month as much weight of material as some coal mines do in a single day.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IRON AND OTHER MINES.
In metallic mines the work is generally harder than in coal mines, and a great deal of blasting work is required. The drills, hammers, and other tools used are like those used elsewhere, and sometimes the groups at work are very picturesque. Imagine three men stripped to the waist, one of them holding a drill and the others striking at alternate and regular intervals with large hammers. A single lamp burns near them, and makes a curious effect of light and shade. The perspiring skins of the men glisten beneath the rays, and as they swing their arms back and forth to wield the heavy hammers, they have an appearance not altogether human. A novice in mining, when taken to the locality where these men are at work, might easily be persuaded that he was looking at a group of gnomes and wizards engaged in some diabolical business.
REFRACTORY ORES.
In the production of iron it is generally found less expensive to transport the ore to the coal than to transport the coal to the ore. Most of the ores are carried to points where coal can be obtained at a cheap rate; and where coal mines and iron mines are found close together, the production of iron will be most profitable. For example, the ores that are obtained in Oneida County, New York, are transported to the anthracite regions of Pennsylvania, to be smelted in the great furnaces at Scranton, and the canal boats that carry the ore bring back coal for the furnaces near the mines. The reduction of iron ore is much more difficult, in most cases, than the work of obtaining the material from the earth. Sometimes the ore is of such a peculiar character that it will only yield to the hottest fires, and frequently the furnaces are run at considerable loss.
XL.
EXILES IN SIBERIA.
TOILING IN A SIBERIAN MINE.—A DARING ESCAPE.—HOW IT WAS PLANNED.—TUNNELLING TO LIBERTY.—DISARMING GUARDS.—WORKING IN THE DARK AND WITHOUT FRESH AIR.—A MURDEROUS ATTEMPT.—CUSTOMS OF THE SIBERIAN PEASANTRY.—CARE FOR THE EXILE.—A SURPRISE.—A NARROW ESCAPE FROM DEATH.—LIVING IN A MOUNTAIN GLEN.—HUNTING IN THE ALTAI MOUNTAINS.—KILLED BY AN ARGAL.—SEPARATION AND DEPARTURE.—HOW TO OBTAIN PASSPORTS.—SAFE ARRIVAL AT HOME.