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April 2005: Down in the Mine
Awhile back I related to you, a story about the Cherry Mine disaster with a tenuous link to my own family. Mining, as you may recall, was the chief focus in Hampton from 1870 to the turn of the century. Disasters, the Cherry one among many others, have played a major role in this industry.
Mining goes back to the beginning of written history. Underground mining began some 4000 years ago when Egyptian slaves mined for gold beneath the Red Sea. At this time it was a matter of breaking rocks with stone hammers (you had to hope your hammer was harder stone than the rock).. It was incredibly difficult and only slaves were engaged in it. The Dawn of the Iron Age improved the job somewhat but the first major advance in technology came when traders introduced black gunpowder to Europe from the Middle East. By burning it in a confined space we had the rapid burning experience we call an explosion. Mining was still labor intensive. Hours of labor were required to produce a few holes a foot or two deep. Packing the hole with black powder and igniting it broke up more rock than previously. Actually this combination of drilling and blasting is the basic mining operation to this day.
By the 1700s European miners went to animal or water driven boring systems. Light was supplied by oil lamps and candles. Some mines were 1000 feet deep and several miles long. Imagine working in such a place!
Steam came into use in the late 1700s and was a great help. Partly because they had an efficient way to pump out the water that accumulated in a mine. It was hoped that a machine could be developed that could drill through rock but that required complex engineering and extreme durability of materials. An American produced the first effective drilling machine. I doubt if many of you could guess that the delicate sewing machine inventor Isaac Singer, made the first mining drill. Singer’s drill had the disadvantage of only being able to drill straight down. In 1866 another American, Charles Burleigh designed one that would work horizontally.
These machines made it easier to create mine shafts but there was a down side. The steam exhausted directly into the cramped underground workings, created unbearable heat and humidity. Also, since open fire boilers produced the steam and could not be operated underground, considerable heat and energy was lost in the long lengths of poorly insulated pipes that conveyed the steam into the mine. They frequently ruptured making scalding steam another mine hazard (as if there weren’t already enough). Some years later, this problem was solved by operating the machines by compressed air instead of steam, engineered so that the drill turned with each piston stroke. But, again, there was a down side. Durability was the problem. Many drill heads had to be on hand to exchange when one broke or wore down. A crew of blacksmiths had to be around to sharpen or repair the drills. Also, though these advances in technology reduced the back-breaking labor, they also created hearing problems from the ear-splitting noise, they made, and there were frequent eye injuries from flying rock particles, as well as frequent explosions. It took awhile to recognize that the rock dust affected the miner with what they called “miner’s consumption”, debilitating respiratory problems.
Drilling a hole was one thing, another was bringing down a huge mass of rock . For years the old black gunpowder was used, the best thing they had but not very effective. In 1846 an Italian chemist, Ascani Soreno, had developed the chemical compound nitroglycerin, a clear, oily liquid with 13 times the power of black powder. Unfortunately it could not be used in mining because the slightest shock or even a change in temperature would set it off.
In 1862, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel experimented with nitroglycerin. He mixed it with diatomaceous earth to produce a solid explosive less shock-sensitive than nitroglycerin. Nobel named the new explosive “dynamite” after the Greek word “dynamis” (power). Another advantage in the use of dynamite was it didn’t have to be packed in a container to explode. Though better than nitroglycerin, dynamite was still rather shock-sensitive so one more danger was added to the life of the miner. My wife’s great grandfather, William Cook of Coal Valley was a victim. He set the charges after the days work was done. That way the dust would be settled by the next morning. One evening in 1895 he went down to set the charges, accompanied by his son Abraham (Jane’s grandfather). They exited the mine after setting the charges. Nothing happened. The elder Cook went back to see what was wrong. You can guess what happened. The charges went off, killing William Cook. Abraham didn’t go back with him. If he had, you readers wouldn’t have a Jammin With Jane column to read..
As the 20th century dawned, electricity was introduced in the mines. It was a great improvement. Better lighting was an obvious advantage. Also electric locomotives began to replace mules in the mines. If you read my Cherry disaster column, you may remember the mine caught fire in the hay being brought down for the mules. As per usual in mining there was a down side to the use of electricity. The wet conditions and poor insulation introduced electrocution to the list of things that could happen to a miner.
The 20th century brought some much needed mine reforms to the industry. The reforms were not because of the benevolence of mine owners, but because they were dragged in, kicking and screaming, by the miners themselves through organizing arguably the strongest Unions.in the country. Today mining is still no bed of roses but it is much better and safer than anytime in the past, with the welfare of the miner as a top priority.