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Page 4
MODE OF WORKING.
The cost of working having thus been given, I wish now to lay before you
an explanation of the method of working and bringing the coal to the
surface. It may not be uninteresting to mention how many men are
employed in this work, as the number is very large. Coal was not
formerly excavated by machinery, but it is so now, and therefore hands
must be had. The number of men employed in the mines of county Durham in
1854 was 28,000; of these, 13,500 were hewers, winning several thousand
tons of coal daily. Of the remainder, 3500 were safety-staff men,
having, besides, 1400 boys belonging to their staff; 2000 were off-hand
men, for bargain work or other duties; 7600 lads and boys, working
under the various designations of "putters," or pushers of coal-tubs,
underground "drivers," "marrows," "half-marrows," and "foals," these
latter terms being local, and significant of age and labour. For
Northumberland must be added 10,536 persons, and Cumberland 3579, making
a total for these three counties of upwards of 42,000 persons labouring
in and round our northern collieries. The average that each hewer will
raise per day is from two to three tons in thin, and three to four tons
in thick seams. The largest quantity raised by any hewer on an average
of the colliers of England is about six tons a day of eight hours. The
mode of working is very laborious, as the majority of seams of coal
being very thin--that is to say, not more than two feet thick--the
worker of necessity is obliged to work in a constrained position, often
lying on his side; and you can fancy the labour of using a pick in such
a position. To get an idea of the position, just place yourself under a
table, and then try to use a pick, and it will give you a pretty clear
idea of the comfortable way in which a great part of our coal is got,
and this also at a temperature of 86� in bad air. The object, of
course, of the worker is to take nothing but coal, as all labour is lost
that is spent in taking any other material away. The man after a time
gets twisted in his form, from being constantly in this constrained
position, and, in fact, to sit upright like other men is at last
painful. Then an amount of danger is always before him, even in the best
regulated and ventilated pits. This danger proceeds from fire-damp, as
one unlucky stroke of the pick may bring forth a stream of carbureted
hydrogen gas, inexplosive of itself, but if mixed with eight times its
bulk of air, more dangerous than gunpowder, and which, if by chance it
comes in contact with the flame of a candle, is sure to explode, and
certain death is the result--not always from the explosion itself, but
from the after-damp or carbonic acid gas which follows it.
Upwards of 1500 lives are yearly lost from these causes, and not less
than 10,000 accidents in the same period show the constant danger that
the miner is exposed to. It would appear that England has more deaths
from mining accidents than foreign countries, as Mr. Mackworth's table
will show:--
Prussia 1.89 per 1000
Belgium 2.8 "
England 4.5 "
Staffordshire 7.3 "
This statement shows that more care is wanted in this last-named county
especially, as I find that the yield of coal in Belgium is half as much
as in England. Long working in the dark, if one may so speak, is a cause
of serious detriment to the sight, and the worker also suffers much from
constantly inhaling the small black dust, which in course of time
affects the lungs, causing what is known as "miner's asthma." Without
going further into the unhealthy nature of the miner's work, it may be
interesting to mention something of the actual process, and having
myself been an eye-witness of it, I will explain it as shortly as I can.
The workers having arrived at the pit-mouth at their proper hours--for
the pit is worked by shifts, and consequently is generally worked day
and night--the first operation is for each to procure his lamp from the
lamp-keeper, receiving it lighted and locked; this is found to be
necessary, as from the small light given by the Davy-lamp the men are
often tempted to open them, and some are even, so foolhardy as to carry
their lamp on their cap and a candle in the hand, and hence a terrible
explosion may take place. A few words on the Davy-lamp, which came into
use about sixty years ago, may not be out of place here. This
safety-lamp of the miner not only shows the presence of gas, but
prevents its explosion. It is constructed of gauze made of iron-wire
one-fortieth to one-sixtieth of an inch in diameter, having 784 openings
to the inch, and the cooling effect of the current passing through the
lamp prevents the gas taking fire. If we pour turpentine over a lighted
safety-lamp, it will show black smoke, but no flame. Provided with his
lamp, the miner takes his place with others in the tub, which conveys
him with great rapidity to the bottom of the shaft. Here landed, he
takes his way to the workings, some of these, in large pits, being two
miles from the bottom of the shaft. To a novice this is not easy, as you
have to walk in a crouching manner most part of the way. Once there, he
begins in earnest, and drives at his pick for eight hours, the monotony
only relieved by his gathering the products into small railway waggons
or tubs to be removed. This is done mostly by boys, but in the larger
mines by ponies of the Shetland and other small breeds. The tubs are
taken to a part of the mine where, if one may so speak, the main line is
reached, and then formed into trains, and taken to the shaft by means of
an endless rope worked by an engine in the pit. In accomplishing all
this work, great care has to be taken that the current of air is not
changed or stopped. This is effected by means of doors placed in various
parts of the mine, so as to stop the current and drive it in the
required direction. These doors are kept by boys, whose duty it is to
open and close them for the passage of the coal tubs. Those boys are
often allowed no light, and sit in a hole cut in the side of the road
near to the doors. Upon their carefulness the safety of the mine in a
great measure depends, as if they neglect to shut the door the current
of air is changed. I have been told that these boys are subject to
accidents no less than the workers, for, sitting in the dark, and often
alone for hours, they are very apt to go to sleep. To ensure being awoke
at the proper time, they frequently lie down on the line of rails under
the rope, so that when the rope is started it may awake them by its
motion, but at times so sound is their sleep, that it has failed to
rouse them in time, and a train of coal waggons has passed over them,
causing in most cases death.
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