A Burning Coal Mine
A RAGING FIRE IN A VEIN OF ANTHRACITE – THE NATIONAL MINE
NEAR SCRANTON THREATENED BY FLAMES – WORKMEN COMBATING THE ELEMENT DAY AND
NIGHT
Scranton, Pa., Sept 26, 1875
The sensation of knowing that beneath ones’ own house, at a
depth of about 100 feet, a fierce fire is raging fed by acres of anthracite and
bidding defiance to all human efforts employed to extinguish it, it is not
calculated to excite emotions of the most tranquil nature, and yet this is the
precise position of the people of Minooka, a mining suburb of Scranton, for
more than a week past.
About two weeks ago a clump of straggling brushwood, on the
side of a ravine some eight feet in depth caught fire, and exhausted itself in
the flames. The fact did not attract attention at the time, as the burning of
the clump of brushwood was nothing uncommon in that vicinity. A branch railroad
connecting with a coal breaker runs along the brink of the ravine at the point
where the brushwood burned, and the employees of the coal train were somewhat
surprised to see smoke emanating from the embankment without an indication of
fire being present. A few days later smoke was observed escaping from a crevice
in the rising ground about one hundred feet north of the ravine, at night a red
glare of light was visible where the coal fire caught from the burning brushwood.
The news soon spread in the vicinity and the fact the “vein” of coal in the
National Mine was on fire created considerable alarm. The attention of Mr.
William Connell, one of the proprietors of the mine living at Scranton, was
called to the circumstance, and he, at once realizing the threatening character
of the conflagration sent a force of one
hundred men to extinguish it, working in gangs of fifty, day and night.
The extent of the fire had been greater (than) they
anticipated. It has penetrated and was rapidly pushing forward through the
first vein, devouring “top coal” and pillars in its progress. This “top vein”
had been worked out several years since, but, according to the custom dictate
to safety by the lives of the miners as well as those whose homes are on the
surface of this property, a large portion of coal was left in the roof and in
the supports. On this the devouring flames were feasting, fanned by the quick
currents sweeping through the underground chambers of the worked out mine, and
receiving an impulse to their fury from the long accumulated gases that
traversed those dreary passages. After the men had been at work some four or
five days, they found that their foe, instead of becoming vanquished, grew more
formidable, and threatened to defeat all of their efforts. Its course lay
against arising ground, in the direction it has taken the vein in which it
raged had been worked out for more than a mile ahead of it and beneath the most
thickly populated portion of Minooka. Already portions of the surface, over
where it had devoured the pillars began “caving in,” and this intensified the
fear of those living on the surface who began to think it could not be
extinguished.
The nearest available source from which water could be
directed effectively against it lay about one thousand yards distant, at the
Meadow Brook Breaker, and engines were set to work and kept constantly pumping
streams upon it through hose of sufficient strength and capacity to keep up a
continued powerful flow. After working
for some time at the face of the burning vein the workmen found it a futile
task to follow the fire, and so they adopted another plan. A body of men were
sent into the mine through the main entrance and they went to cutting down the
pillars and placing all the obstructions possible in the path marked out for
the flames. This was a most perilous task. The chambers were surcharged with
noxious gases and sulphurous vapor, generated for years previous, and it took
but a short time to exhaust each of the workmen. Having removed a good portion
of the pillars, the exact location of the first was ascertained, and the heaviest
undertaking of all set on foot. It was to surround the spot by digging a deep
trench around it from the surface, and thus isolating and leaving it to wear
itself out. The task was undertaken, however, and pushed vigorously on.
Additional hands were set to work, and are still employed day and night cutting
their way through the hill and endeavoring to environ the irrepressible fire.
Already in some portions they have penetrated as deep as a hundred feet through
hard-pan and rocks, and cut off a portion of the burning mountain, and the
remainder of the work is in a fair way of being accomplished. When I visited
the scene this afternoon some sixty men were employed there. An old miner
informed me that he worked in the vein where the fire rages eighteen years ago,
and that it extends for more than a mile across the country covered by the
village of Minooka. At one time he said, they did not think they could arrest
the fire, but now it is nearly under control, and will probably be extinguished
this week.
A portion of the hill where the men are at work presents an
onerous spectacle. It is completely honeycombed by caves and fissures, some of
the latter large gaping cracks nearly a hundred feet long and looking into the
most dense capacity. About a quarter of a mile from the scene a most singular
sight is presented. It is a large fissure in the surface, which occurred about
a week ago in the vicinity of a school building where the mine began to “cave
in.” It is about eighty yards long, extending across the main road and
immediately under a frame dwelling, which the strange convulsion in the earth
tipped upon an angle of about 36 degrees. This house belonging to a miner, and
when the phenomenon occurred, his wife and four children were within it preparing
for dinner. A shower of bricks from the chimney shattered the stove by which
they were seated, and yet, by a most miraculous circumstance, they escaped
almost unhurt. The doorstep had suddenly risen to a height of nearly four feet,
and the floor assumed a steep incline, making it a difficult matter for the frightened
family to escape. They did, however, after a hard struggle, and were sheltered
in a neighboring house. I make this digression to show the neighborhood in
which the mine fire exists. From several of the caves and crevices to which I
have alluded a most disagreeable smoke is belched forth, making an atmosphere
decidedly unpleasant. The men are working pluckily day and night, and will
doubtless completely conquer the flames this week.
N.Y. Herald
Note: The National Mine was owned by William Connell and was located in the 20th Ward.
Note: The National Mine was owned by William Connell and was located in the 20th Ward.
Contributed by Maria Montoro Edwards
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