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- 68 VICTORIA ILLUSTRATED.
hauling from the mines is all done by means of a tail rope, its capacity being only limited by the power applied to it. The present engine
and machinery are equal to 2,000 tons in ten hours, the rope extending from the hauling drums to a distance of at least two miles, and
penetrating the different branches of the mine. One of the special advantages of this system of hauling is that the question of grades is
of very little importance, it being possible to follow a seam of coal anywhere, thus creating an immense saving in pushers and mules, only
about seven of the latter being employed in the mine. In every department the most modern appliances are used, the pumping, coal cutting,
and a considerable amount of the lighting being done by electricity. The electric power house is situated about 450 feet from the mine, the
dynamos being of eighty horse power, 250 volt pressure, and 300 ampires force, the engine being the " Ideal," built in Illinois specially
for electric work. It is 100 horse power, high speed, and a self oiler. Before long all the stalls will be lighted with electricity, as
well as the main workings, in which the men are engaged in possession of all the facilities and appliances that it is possible to supply.
No 1 slope contains a four feet seam of the same quality of coal as No. 4. It is worked in the old style of mining, is ventilated by a
Murphy fan, and has a daily output of 230 to 250 tons. There have been some difficulties and delays caused by faults in the seam, which
have all disappeared, and the production bids fair to be considerably increased.
In No. 1 tunnel no hoisting machinery is required, everything being on the level. It is worked by Chinese entirely, under the direction of
the overman, Mr. Allan. The Chinese work well, are good, careful miners, and produce here about sixty tons per day. This seam, which is
only about three feet deep, is about 300 feet above the level of the other mines, and contains a different quality of coal. The tunnel goes
in about 250 yards, and is ventilated from the furnace.
At No. 3 slope, which is very promising, they are clearing at the pithead in order to start operations next month. The seam is one of four
feet, the coal being of excellent quality. They are now down about 300 yards,and expect to get out coal very soon. There is here one of the
finest outcroppings, which is only equalled by that of a similar mine in Nova Scotia.
A railway of 12? miles connects these mines with the Union wharves, to which the coal is conveyed on cars of twenty-five tons capacity,
fifty more of which are being built to meet the existing demand. At these wharves the largest vessels can load. The Messrs. Dunsmuir own
half the Union mines, and Messrs. Stanford, Cook and Huntington, the other half. The Southern Pacific Railway have a standing contract for
all the coal the mines can produce, and would take very much more if they could only obtain it. It is conveyed to San Francisco by the
capacious steamers San Bonito and San Pedro. Mr. W. Little is manager of the mines.
ROBURITE MANUFACTORY.
At Union a local company has established, under the management of Mr. Adam Hogarth, a factory for the production of the comparatively
new explosive known as roburite. It is one of the most powerful agents, nevertheless it is inflammable and perfectly inactive and harmless
until connected with the detonator. It can be fired in gas or water, and for the purposes of coal cutting particularly its effectiveness
is said to be as 4 to I compared with ordinary powder. The headquarters of the original Roburite Co. , from which manufacturing rights for
British Columbia have been obtained, are in London, the works being at Gathurst, near Wigan, Lanarkshire. So little productive of danger
was the manufacture regarded as being, that the factory was allowed to be put up and operated alongside the Lancashire and Yorkshire
railway at Gathurst. One portion of the factory, which employs about 250 hands, is just across the Leeds and Liverpool canal, the product
being very considerable, two tons on an average being daily exported. At Union the capacity of the works are about 2,000 pounds in the
ordinary working day of eight hours. The machinery and appliances at Union are in every way complete. The company have numerous
certificates from Old Country mining companies and miners' organizations that roburite is unsurpassed, if, indeed, it is equalled by any
other explosive for strength, smokelessness, and, at the same time, safety.
RESIDENCE OF THE LATE A. A. GREEN.
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