The pictorial sketch-book of Pennsylvania : or, its scenery, internal improvements, resources, and agriculture, popularly described . o facilitate the operation of without tracing, in regular order, the introduction of each newfeature, as the present is contradistinguished from the past, we shallat once proceed to explain the modus operandi of mining, as observedin the present day. In the first place, it may be necessary to premise that the range ofall the coal veins in the Schuylkill basin is east and west, convergingto the eastward, and diverging westward, with such slight variati
The pictorial sketch-book of Pennsylvania : or, its scenery, internal improvements, resources, and agriculture, popularly described . o facilitate the operation of without tracing, in regular order, the introduction of each newfeature, as the present is contradistinguished from the past, we shallat once proceed to explain the modus operandi of mining, as observedin the present day. In the first place, it may be necessary to premise that the range ofall the coal veins in the Schuylkill basin is east and west, convergingto the eastward, and diverging westward, with such slight variationfrom the general rule, as not to be worthy of notice. The dip of theveins is to the south: and their angle of inclination from the horizonvaries from 30° to 40° parallel, in all cases, with the surroundingstrata. From 1833 the number of operations below water-level hasannually increased, in a regular per centage with the increase of thetrade. As they are the most extensive, and would, perhaps, provemost interesting to the stranger, we shall now describe the minutiaeof which they are comprised. ANTHRACITE COAL FORMATION. 185. FIG. 52.—VIEW OF A COAL SLOPE. When a vein of coal is being -worked below water-level, a steam-engine and pumps are necessary to raise up the accumulated water inthe mine ; for below water-level means, simply, that the coal is beingmined at some point below the bed of the adjacent river, creek, orrivulet. The first step to be taken at the commencement of an ope-ration of this kind, is to ascertain where the vein crops out to the sur-face, or so near to the surface as to be easily found, from a previousknowledge of the range of the vein. A favorable location must thenbe selected, twenty or thirty feet to the northward of the crop of thevein, for the location of a stationary steam-engine. This must bewhere a sufficiency of water can be had for the supply of the steam-boilers ; and if not near to a main railroad, prudence will dictate thatit must be so s
Size: 1908px × 1309px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade, booksubjectminesandmineralresources
