COAL - Clpdigital.org

52 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
at all times while the mine was in operation or
while men were within the mines.
No regular flre boss was employed for night
duty, to examine and report on the outside of the
mine its condtion as is required by law, but there
had been employed a person whose duty it was,
after the men had come out of the mine in the
evening, to go through the mine and examine all
working places to determine if any fire had resulted
from the firing of the shots, and to report
any dangerous conditions found. Hollie Jarrett,
who was performing this duty, lost his life on the
ninth right air-course in the first explosion. A. C.
Young, who came out of the mine at 8 o'clock p. m.
on the night of the explosion, had been working
on the 11th right entry and air-course and just
before coming out had put off six blasts in the coal
and had gone back and examined, the places after
they had been discharged, and found no gas.
In Rush Run gas was known to exist on the 11th
left, the face of the main headings, and on the
9th right. After the air current had been reestablished
no gas could be found anywhere within
the mine with the use of a safety lamp. The 11th
left heading had remained without a current of
air from the time of the explosion until the 31st
day of March when the writer took a sample of
the air within a rubber bag and gave it a test
with a Shaw gas testing machine and found it to
contain 2 per cent, explosive gas. This is a quantity
ten times less than can be detected with the
common safety lamp and is not a dangerous quantity
within itself, since it requires 5iL> per cent.
of the gas with air to form an explosive mixture.
The mines having been in operation on the day
of the 18th of March, and the men working in the
mine on that night having worked for some time
that night in those places where gas had been
previously reported, and the conditions of the ventilation
having been good at those places as late
as 6 o'clock on the evening of the 18th, as reported
under oath of persons who had worked within the
mine on the 18th, it devolved upon us to look elsewhere
for evidence as to the primary cause or
point of ignition of the explosion.
Andrew Weir had taken into the mine 20 sticks
of dynamite but this seems to have had no part in
the explosion other than to have oeen consumed
by burning. Two full sticks were found and
pieces of burned wrappers of the other sticks and
the sack in which this dynamite was carried was
found under the two sticks and it was charred
and partially consumed.
It had been Weir's intention to lilast a large
piece of roof rock whicli had fallen across the 11th
left heading at the No. 1 room, but no evidence
was found that indicated that any dynamite had
been used on the fallen stone. The writer found
lying on this stone a glove which could not have
remained there had a charge of dynamite been exploded.
Weir and Percy Wood were found on the
left main intake airway at the mouth of the 11th
left entry, Weir within 30 inches of the two sticks
of dynamite. Weir was a contract miner and
worked on the 11th left.
The dust on the floor of the mine could be
easily detected but it is not on the floor of the
mine where all the dangerous dust is to be found.
The dust within this mine becomes exceedingly
fine and impalpable and collects on the sides and
projections along all the headings and rooms. It
is this form of dust and its position that makes the
mine dangerous, and the shoveling up of the dust
on the roadways only adds to the volume of this
fine dust which floats away in fhe air current to
find a lodging place elsewhere within the mine.
The sprinkling or wetting of this dust before
removal would be very beneficial.
As the liability of dust to explode depends upon
its degree of dryness and as this in turn is governed
largely by the temperature and humidity of
the air entering a mine, the danger point from
this source could only be determined by observations
made upon the atmosphere of the mine with
an instrument such as an hygrometer which enables
the percentage of moisture within the air to
be determined. However, during the warm
months of the year the moisture within the mine
may be observed by the presence of drops of water
clinging to the roof, due to what miners term
"sweating."
A month after the explosion the writer took observations
with a hygrometer within the Rush Run
mine and found the humidity of the air to be
variable in different parts of the mine, and that
standing bodies of water within the mine addea
moisture to the air current. The condition of
the mine, being very dry due to improper facilities
for sprinkling with water, with respect to dust,
was such as to be dangerous from a blown-out
shot or a blast of dynamite.
It was the practice within this mine to haul
water through the mine in a water ear
and with the use of a pail scatter the
water on the floor of the mine at irregular intervals
and at such times as was convenient to the
person employed for that purpose, and as this employe
had other duties to perform it is evident that
the work of allaying the dust with water was with
him a secondary consideration.
(To BE CONTINUED).
It is stated by a German mine inspector that
milk of lime proves very effective in extinguishing
mine fires. The emulsion, which can be
used with either hand or power pumps, runs into
and fills the crevices of the coal or mineral.