6
TIIE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, NOVEMBER 9, 1919.
EARS AGO THIS FIRE STARTED AND IT STIL
A Comforting Blaze for Frosted Finqers and Toes Grows Into Devouring Monster
Defying World's Best Engineers to Check Its Devastating "March By D. Hiram Morgan
ONE February morning In 1859
a miner entering slope No. 1
of the Lehigh Coal & Naviga
tion Co.'s mine stopped to warm his
chilled fingers at a fire burning 1 a
heap of rubbish. That fire Is still
burning, throwing off heat enough
to warm well, it's hard to say Just
how many cities like Philadelphia,
97 miles away, or New York, 129
miles distant, that 'fire would com
fortably heat.
Between Summit Hill, one of the
oldest towns of Carbon county, and
Coaldale, the monster la steadily eat
ing ton after ton of fuel; gorging
Itself on coal coal for which almost
everybody is clamoring. engineers,
generations of them, have fought the
fire and it breathed Its sulphurous
breath into their faces, probably
chuckled a little and went on de
vouring coal. Any one who can
throttle this rapacious fire may spend
the rest of his days, if he feels so
inclined, saying, "How much is it?"
and drawing checks for the amount,
for the Lehigh Coal & Navigation
Co. certainly does want that tire put
out and the stockholders are willing
to pay roundly for the services of
the suffessful fireman.
Many schemes to check the fire
have been tried, and the latest is
simplicity itself; that is, on paper.
It is just taking the fuel away from
the fire by means of a tunnel which
will cut through the vein being con
sumed. When the fire arrives at
the tunnel there will, naturally, be
no coal, and no coal, no fire. That's
really all there Is to it, but some
of the best engineering talent in the
world is busy on that tunnel, which
is considered one of the most gigantia
undertakings of its kind.
Strange It is that the world's great
est mine fire should break out in the
very locality in which coal was dis
covered and in the first coal mine to
be opened.
Near the site where coal was dis
covered the Lehigh Coal & Naviga
tion Co., which developed the coal
field in Carbon county, slope No. 1,
was sunk in the year 1847 on the
south side of the Mammoth vein,
which was 50 feet thick and dipping
at an angle of 25 degrees.
Officials of the coal company insist
the fire, which was discovered Febru
ary 5, 1859, was of incendiary origin.
In the year 1860 it was decided to
make an open cut at a point 3500
feet west of No. 1 slope from the
surface between Summit Hill and
Lansford, down to the lowest level
of No. 2 slope workings. This slope
had been sunk by 'the company in
1850 on the south dip of the Mam
moth vein, where the coal measured
5 feet in thickness and had a dip
of 21 degrees. It was finally extended
to the sixth level.
The company in 1861 sought to
drive an open cut into the blazing
main. Bight thousand dollars was
expended on the work. In the fol
lowing year $13,000 was expended;
in 1863, (18,500; in 1864, $16,000, and
in 1865, 22,000 spent. Tho company
was not in the financial condition
to continue this cut and it was aban
doned in 1865.
In 1866 the fire was apparently
making no progress. Watchmen were
employed day and night to report
any new outbreak. In fact, the fire
seemed to make no progress west
ward from 1867 to 1805, the officials
reported, and in 1867 a thorough un
derground examination of the fire
at the old No. 1 slope was made and
it was reported that to all appear
ances it was dying out.
In 1883 what is known as the
Davies slope was sunk by George M.
Davies. In 1895 the east gangway
of this slope was extended to a point
where it broke into a fire that had
been smoldering in the old work
ings for years. The extension of this
gangway gave vent to the fire and
it commenced to spread rapidly. The
gangways and headings were im
mediately closed to shut off the air
and steps were taken to confine the
fire zone. Pumping machinery was
erected at the mouth of No. 9 tun
nel, the nearest available point where
water in sufficient quantity could
be obtained, and two lines of column
pipe 10 and 12 inches in diameter,
6700 feet long, were laid to drill holes
that had been made directly over the
fire. The pump cuud not be used
until December, owing to a prevail
ing drouth. Culm was shipped from
the Hauto washery and flushed into
the "burning area through the drill
holes.
In 1895 a plan was adopted to fill
the north outcrop full of culm, a pro
cess which is going on in the anthra
cite towns today to fill up the space
occupied by the millions and per
haps billions of tons of coal taken
out. This flushing of culm was in
tended to shut off the air and make
a fire barrier of culm.
The officials of the company were
chagrined in 1900 to find that, during
the summer, the fire was gaining
headway and was spreading rapidly
to the west. As the appliances for fur
nishing water to wasn the culm into
the burning mine were inadequate,
it was decided to provide another
pump of larger capacity and it was
installed at the mouth of No. 9 tun
nel. During the winter months the
culm often froze in transit from the
collieries to the drill holes, making
it difficult to unload from the cars,
and to overcome this trouble two
plants had to be erected for the pur
pose of providing hot water to thaw
the culm. In 1901 57 six-inch holes
were drilled a combined length of
6414 feet and 91,000 tons of culm
flushed into the old workings. The
following year 22 were drilled and in
1903 58 six-inch holes were drilled
and 28,000 tons of culm flushed into
the burning area. Drilling and flush
ing continued until 1908, when 750
holes had been driven and thousands
of tons of culm flushed into the burn
ing4hass. This line of drill holes was
250 feet east of the old open cut. This
barrier of culm failed to stop the
fire's westward spread, for in 1908
smoke and steam poured out of the
open cut. Another examination of No.
2 slope was made and it was found
that the fire had advanced to within
100 feet of the slope.
Everything ingenuity could devise
was brought into play against the
subterranean monster. The officials of
the company at the Coaldale colliery
No. 9, in the Lansford basin, had the
No. 9 water-level tunnel extended
west around the nose of tho anticlinal
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l rP j-1? VN V iiiel lt' J of the world. A fortune awaits tha snan who can smother the flames.
ft Wft U W ( from 100 to 150 degrees. It was not tlre 8ubauea, they jia.yQ only sue- f Gazette blames unscrupulous film
jV i 'Si WI ) thought the fire had found Its way ceeded In checking it. producers for "the plague" and at the
It J?t j$T'. ff V-S5 'V across the barrier, but that it was copyrisht. mis, the Public Ldger Co.) same time says the decent producer
"A ft S?-Vl 3Ce.5l 5 K burning fiercely on the east side and .' is under tremendous pressure because
1 tWWs &f ril ."V fii lX - thdheathaa Uentransmittedthrougli nrtonnfnin liMlTrn he simply cannot make his decent
s VvV SS I -ft ' J I the clay to the west aide. As a pre- NLIVI LCNoUnonlr WHIM I LU films marketable, and is inevitably
v'-f V-li fcy t ' "YcL. caution, the company again resorted drawn by the generally prevailing
Vf ill 1 ?L lV ltj&l t to drilling- holes on the west side Germany Said to Be Flooded With tendency for salacious pictures, which,
2 W WV ffej If VAf?A of the barrier and commenced Hush- Indecent Motion Pictures. the writer terms as a spot of shame
V I ytr 1114 M - iv fX v-4 ns; the old workings adjoining the , on German public life.
VI t M iSJ, lf& ISf-U clay barrier with culm, thus increaa- BERLIN. (6y the Associated Judge Hellwig in the Conservatlv
If 5 'vNl;--S WvKjtLi V V ' "K the width of the fire barrier. The Press.) Some relief from the "en- Monthly declares that children and
li raL t " tfj temperature In the holes was found Hghtenmenf or "explanation" films youns people are learning familiar
1J V?tVv-. XKTvff ? VSAA to range from 85 to 240 degrees. that have been deluging Germany since ,ty wtth subject, which they never
II NS . ;'s, iA Mining on the west third level was the revolution is coming, though even dreamed of a few years ago.
II frVvi Nt-'tVVV euspended October 11. 1915. and water slowly, from an unexpected source Bnd that the situation is an "exampls
R PZ& Zff- ,XfS v was turned Into the drill holes the "om boys and girls in a great many of the benefits of the revolution."
U ff fSZ, T-'iVWS3 earns way! Weir measurements were ""a11 cltie havo one or Dr. Hellwlg despairs, however, of
k VSA 'J tlTi ViVVV 4 taken every hour to ascertain the more of the films and who have accomplishing much except by law,
I ir - - x
into the Summit Hill basin, and the
east gangway from No. 11 Foster's
water-level tunnel had been extended
east and connected with No. 9 west
gangway. These gangways were at
the elevation of 1003 and the overflow
of water (torn the Summit Hill basin
passed out through them. This was
part of the open-cut plan to isolate
the fire, started in . 1903, and was
virtually finished by December, 1909,
at an expenditure of 8470,000.
The fire was again found spreading
to the westward along the south out
crop. A railroad was constructed into
the outcrop and the vein was flushed
full of culm for a distance of 400
feet to seal it up at this point.
But the company felt some other
means might be employed to prevent
further destruction of valuable coal,
pot to speak of the; expense which
had already accumulated In fighting
the greatest and most stubborn of
all mine fires. So in November, 1913,
they decided to make an open cut on
the south outcrop to cut off the fire
in its march toward the Springdale
tunnel workings. It was 1915 before
the work of constructing the open
cut was completed.
It was In the year 1912 that the
coal company constructed cross sec
tions to maKe an estimate of the
amount of coal remaining on the anti
clinal and on the south dip of the
Summit Hill workings, west ef the
clay-fire harrier, The veJn averages
E5 feet thick
south.
Such an excavation averaged 90 feet
In depth with four feet of clay and
88 feet of sandstone overburden. In
this way all coal could be removed
down to the level of the water at the
west end. By so doing the danger of
the fire getting into the Lansford
basin may be removed.
One hundred feet of stratum had
been left between the face of the
stripping and the clay barrier, and
this was broken and cracked from
old mining activities. In August, 1915,
steam was discovered coming out of
the crevices on the west side of the
clay hairier, the temperature ranging
flow Into the mine was 1160 gallons
per minute.
After 39 days of flooding opera
tions were resumed in the west third
level.
As another precaution to prevent
the fire's spread, a tunnel is being
driven from the west water level.
Buck mountain vein, gangway No. 9
colliery, south through the anticlinal
to the Summit Hill basin. This tunnel
will be driven to the Skidmore vein
with 30 feet of sandstone between.
'And so, while mine officials since
the days of 1859 have longed for the
day. when they might see the treat
Such organizations have been formed
in Lelpslc, Hamburg and In such Ber
lin suburbs as Friedenau, Lichter
felde and Lankwitz.
Tet such Isolated protests against
the evil cannot do much to put down
the entire system, and. a. the Prus
sian minister president announced
yesterday, there is no legal way of
stopping the films except under the
law against lewd pictures and draw
ings. A conservative writer In the Kreus
queues of girls and young men wait
ing to get Into the "explanation"
films and shunning the few theaters
where decent films are displayed.
Trappers Beyond Arctic Circle.
FORT YUKON', Alaska. All of Fort
Yukon's white trappers have left for
their winter tran lines scattered over
hundreds of miles of Arctic moun
tains and plains. The men will spend
the entire winter in the white lands
beyond the Arctic circle, and will re
turn, when, the winter breaks.