the party so offending shall be subject to pay for the full amount of damage, and may be suspended or discharged for the same offense. General Rule. "All persons are hereby forbidden to enter any of the old workings without consent of the mine boss or fire boss, or ride upon the cars on any slope or plane, or send out tools upon a car of coal unless they follow them out and take them off the car before ascending the shaft or slope. Any person who opens a door must see that it is properly closed before leaving it. No person shall be allowed to travel upon a slope or plane while the same is in motion. Persons ascending or descending a shaft will not be allowed to enter upon or leave the carriage while in motion, nor shall they be allowed to step on after the signal has been given to hoist or lower the carriage. "Any person knowing of the unsafe condition of any place or of damage done to the doors, brattices, or stoppings or obstructions in the air-passages, shall notify the mine boss or fire boss as soon as possible after said damage has been done. "Any person found guilty of carelessly or wickedly injuring animals or other property shall be held liable for the full amount of damage done to the same. "All persons must familiarize themselves with the above rules, and any person violating any of said rules will be dealt with as the superintendent may direct. "I approve the above regulations. A clause prohibiting strangers and others not connected with the works, or employés off duty, from loitering in or around the mine and from trespassing upon the premises, is often included in the regulations. Fire-board.-At fiery mines the miner must learn the condition of his working place from the fire boss, the mine boss, or "gas-board," before going to work in the morn ing. At some collieries the "gas-board" is kept on the surface, at others at or near the office of the mine or fire boss underground in a conspicuous place. The gas-board or fire-board, is a black board on which the fire boss records the condition of each working place and heading. A copy of the record, shown by the gas-board at Hollenback colliery No. 2 on Sept. 19, 1881, is given below. One cross indicates a trace of gas, and the miner is allowed to proceed with his work, first providing for the removal of the gas (by brattice cloth, etc.); two crosses show that there is sufficient gas present to require the use of a safety lamp, and great caution on the part of the miner until the gas has been cleared out, which must be accomplished before the miner is allowed to continue his work at the face; three crosses signify that the amount of gas is so great that special precautions must be taken in driving it out to prevent the production of explosive mixtures in adjacent or other working places, and the miner is not allowed to enter his working place unless accompanied by the fire boss or an assistant fire boss to superintend the removal of the gas. Blacksmiths' shops and Stables underground. In the list of underground employès given on a preceding page we find blacksmiths included. Some large collieries are provided with a complete blacksmith shop underground. A forge fire and anvil are commonly needed for shoeing the mules at collieries where the mules cannot well be taken to the surface for this simple operation, but whether the maintenance of a complete blacksmith shop underground is advisable is a point upon which colliery managers do not agree. It is generally considered well to locate the smithy near (but not too close) the stables, so that the stable boss can keep a watch over the fire and thus decrease the risk of accident during the absence of the smiths. The stables, smithy, and office of the mine and fire boss are commonly located near the foot of the shaft or slope. Colliery book-keeping. The advantages derived from having minutely detailed accounts kept for each colliery, showing the exact cost per ton so divided that the cost of mining, development, haulage, winding, preparing, etc., can be readily ascertained, are thoroughly appreciated by many of our anthracite colliery managers and mining engineers; but there are still a large number who concern themselves about the results shown by the monthly or yearly balance sheets only in reference to the amount of net profit, without caring to make special inquiry into the relative importance or classification of the items that form the annual expense account. The total cost of mining and preparing as divided under different headings is usually expressed in cents and fractions of a cent (say to two decimal points), not in percentages of the total cost. The cost per ton may be divided under so many heads that the labor of keeping the accounts is too greatly increased, and much difficulty is experienced in attempting a very minute division. Thus the cost of preparing the coal, of pumping, of winding, and of ventilating all contain a portion of one item (viz: Steam making, which includes the cost of fuel, of firemen, of boiler water, wear and tear on boilers, etc.); but what portion of this expense should be added to the cost of preparing, of hoisting, of winding, or of ventilating is a problem that can be only approximately solved even after a most tedious investigation of the relative consumption of steam by these different portions of the mining plant. There are some items, however, that can be readily kept in separate accounts, thus the amount paid for ground, driving, Royalty, mining, mine timber, labor underlabor aboveground, gangway and airway other dead-work, rails, sills, etc., keepdrivers, door-tenders, engineers and headmen and footmen, repairs, cars, general supplies (oil, etc.), superintendence, clerks, ing live stock, pumpmen, wire rope, improvements, ing coal, office expenses, etc., etc. general prepar The following table is here reproduced from the report of the Susquehanna, Mineral R. & Min. Co., Summit Branch, and Lykens Valley Coal companies for 1882 : |