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worked out?-Father: One mode is pillar, stoop, or roomworking; long-wall working another; bank or wide working another; and others work coal out in drifts, yet each and all the modes vary in the way of working.

Son: What am I to understand, father, by pillar, stoop, or room-working; that is, in what way is coal worked under those methods?—Father: Pillar-working is adopted in several mining districts, but universally so in the north of England. To get coal out in pillars narrow work is cut in the whole coal into square blocks, the narrow work being cut endways and crossways of the coal, by which square blocks of coal are formed. This mode will find room or places for a great number of miners -some in cutting narrow places, others in working out pillars, the pillars always being worked out next to the old gob or goaf; that is, one pillar worked out next to the last one worked out.

Son: Are the blocks or pillars square, and all of the same size in every mine?-Father: No, in some mines they are square, but in others they are not; neither are all the pillars of one size; they are cut large or small, to suit the seam of coal, roof, or floor, where such pillar-working is adopted. If you inspect plan No. 7 it will give you a better knowledge how or by what way pillar-working is adopted.

Son: I see by the plan that narrow places are cut in the whole coal, in two directions, which will, I see, make square blocks of coal to be worked out. Then this, father, is the plan of coal-working universally adopted in the north of England?Father: Yes, it is the mode they adopt, and plan No. 3, page 36, also shows pillar-working.

Son: Yet, the mode of ventilation on plan 3 is not the same

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as the mode shown on this plan ?-Father: No, this plan shows split winds, and not like plan No. 3, a mixture of winds. If you inspect this plan you will find four divisions for the number of works. See Nos. 2, 3, and 4, where the air is divided. The letter H shows the overthrows. The letters RR, regulators, and D D, show the position of the doors.

Son: I am glad, father, for the knowledge I have received from you. I think I can see, in my "mind's eye," how pillarworking is adopted; but how is coal got out by long-wall working?—Father: In long-wall there are many ways adopted. One is to work a great number of tram-roads, or narrow places, through the whole coal to the extremity of the block of coal to be worked out; after which, say 100 or 200 yards, or more, is brought back, and the gob, or goaf, left behind. Plan No. 8 is a representation of the said mode of working. You see the whole coal, and tram-gates cut through the said coal, and also the gob or goaf where coal is got out left behind. The mode of ventilating the said workings is to conduct the air in at No. 1 gateway, from there across the whole breadth of all the working faces to No. 12 gateway, and from there in one current to the up-cast. As before stated, a large quantity of gases are always collected by this mode. Yet, each part may be ventilated separately if overthrows are only fixed at the letters H H, and each separate division of air regulated at the letters RR. In this case, all the doors would have to be removed, except the one near the up-cast. Yet, this is not the only way of long-wall working, as others commence at the beginning to work out the large breadth of, say 100 or 200 yards of coal, the whole breadth being worked out to the extremity, the tramroads being made through the gob or goaf, to the working face, as the said face extends into the extremity of the mine.

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Son How, father, are tram-roads cut or made through the old gobs or goafs to the working face? Is there not great danger in so working coal out? And, also, are tram-roads made through the gobs a great distance to the working face?— Father: To make tram-roads through the gob a four feet stone wall, or thereabouts, is built upon each side of the road, as the coal or working face extends forwards. These stone walls prevent the roof falling in, until the great pressure causes the roof and floor to nearly meet, by which the floor is either cut up or the roof cut down in the roads to make them (as the roof and floor meet) of the proper area. When finished, they look like stone-drifts or tunnels, which will stand good a long time. As to danger, it is not so great as by many other modes of coal working; and the said roads may be and are cut a great distance through the old gobs or goafs.

Son: You say 100 or 200 yards, or more, of coal is worked out all in one breadth. Can this large breadth of coal be worked out in every mine where the said mode of coal working is adopted—that is, can you see all the men at work from one end of this large breadth of the face to the other?-Father: No, not in all, you cannot. The breadth of the face of coal worked out is in proportion to the strength of the roof. If you inspect plan No. 9, it will give you a knowledge of this mode of working. The whole coal or the face of the workings has to be got through the old gob. The mode of ventilating the workings is to pass the air fresh into every gateway, except at No. 6, at which place the whole of the air meets; after ventilating the said place onward, the air goes in one current to the up-cast. This mode of ventilation may be said to be similar to plan No. 2, page 32, by which pure air is mixed with impure

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