Chapter 7 Chapter Seven An Experience with Simon Ford

When the old wooden clock in the room struck twelve noon, James Starr and his two companions left the cottage. The light coming in from the ventilation shaft dimly illuminated the glade.The lamp in Harry's hand was useless then, but it would soon be, for it was to the very edge of the Dochart coal bunker that the old foreman was going to take the engineer. After walking two miles down the main lane, the three explorers--which, as you will see, involved a survey--came to the mouth of a narrow tunnel.It resembled a sort of side nave, with its vaults covered with a whitish moss on a tunnel trestle.It follows the course of the Upper Worth River almost 1,500 feet above it.

James Starr was less familiar with the labyrinth of Dochart's coal bunkers, and Simon Ford compared the layout of the general plan with the geographic lines of the ground to evoke his memory. So James Starr and Simon Ford walked and talked. Harry was leading the way ahead.He suddenly shone a strong light into the dark recess, trying to detect some suspicious shadow. "Are we going to go far this way, old Simon?" asked the engineer. "Half a mile to go, Mr. James! We used to go this way in mine-carts, on tractor-drawn trams! Those days are long gone!" "Then we are going to the very edge of the last mine?" James Starr asked.

"Yes! I think you are quite familiar with mines." "Hello, Simon," replied the engineer, "if I remember correctly, the road is hard to go on?" "That's right, Mr. James. There, our pickaxe dug the last coal from the deposit! I think of it as if I were back then! It was I who dug this last pickaxe, that one The sound of the pickaxe is stronger in my heart than it is on the rock! At that time, only sandstone or slate was left around us, and I looked at it as the dump truck drove towards the mining shaft. Watching a funeral procession of the poor! I think it's the soul of the mine that's being carried away by it!"

The seriousness with which the old foreman said these words moved the engineer so strongly that he almost felt it too.This is what a seaman feels when he abandons a ship he cannot steer after a wreck, and this is what a landowner feels when he sees his ancestors' house crumbling! James Starr had already shaken Simon Ford's hand.But the latter also stepped forward to grab the engineer's hand and held it tightly: "We were all lied to that day," said he. "No! The old mine wasn't dead! It wasn't a dead body the miners were about to give up, and I'm sure, Mr. James, it still had a beating heart!"

"Go on, Simon! You have found a new lode?" cried the engineer. "Your letter cannot refer to anything else! There is a tip for me, and it refers to the Dochart coal bunker! Besides the discovery of a mine containing Carbon deposits, can other discoveries interest me? . . . " "Mr. James," replied Simon Ford, "I would not like to tell you anything but you..." "Well done, Simon! But tell me how, by what detection, did you confirm it?  …" "Listen, Mr. James," replied Simon Ford, "what I have found is not a vein..." "what is that?"

"That's just the material proof of the existence of this vein." "Then this proof?" "Can you accept that gas is leaking out of the depths of the earth and there is no coal to make it there?" "No, never," replied the engineer, "without coal, there would be no gas! No results without reason..." "Like there is no smoke without fire!" "Have you verified the existence of primary carbonized oxygen again?" "An old miner won't be fooled up here," replied Simon Ford, "and there I recognized our old enemy, Gas!"

"But if it were another gas!" said James Starr, "the gas is almost odorless, it is colorless! Only an explosion would really reveal its existence!  …" "Mr. James," replied Simon Ford, "will you allow me to tell you what I did... James Starr knew the old foreman, and knew that it was best for him to speak. "Mr. James," continued Simon Ford, "there has not been a day in ten years when Harry and I have not thought of restoring the mines to their former glory--yes, not a day! If there is any seam left, we shall find it. By what method? Drilling? It is impossible for us, but we have a miner's instinct, and often, man reaches his goal more directly by instinct than by reason—at least, I think so..."

"I have no objection to that," replied the engineer. "Harry, however, observed once or twice during his long treks west of the coal mines. Some fires, which appeared a few times through the slate or fill at the end of the seam, then went out suddenly. How did those fires burn What? I couldn't tell then, and I can't now. But anyway, these fires are evident because of the presence of gas, and to me, gas, that's the vein of coal." "Didn't these fires cause any explosions?" asked the engineer anxiously. "Yes, some small local explosions," replied Simon Ford, "I have induced such explosions myself, when I wished to verify the existence of this gas. Do you remember, in our good genius Humphrey Da What did David think of preventing explosions in mines before he invented his safety light?"

"Remember," replied James Starr, "you mean 'friar'? But I've never seen him do his job." "Indeed, Mr. James, although you are fifty-five years old, you are still too young to see this. But I. I am ten years older than you, and I have seen the last ascetic in the coal mines. The reason for calling him that, Because he was wearing a baggy robe. His real name was 'Firefighter', the person who put out the fire. In those days, people had no other way to extinguish the dangerous gases, only when they gathered at the top of the alley because of their lightness. Many before breaking them down into little explosions. That's why the ascetic, with a mask on his face and a thick hood with only two holes for his eyes, huddled in a brown duffel robe, lay on the ground. Walking on all fours. He breathes in the lower part of the mine, where the air is clean, and with his right hand he moves a torch held high above his head. When the gas spreads through the air and forms a detonation mixture, the explosion occurs without Casualties occur, and by repeating this operation often, catastrophes can be prevented. Sometimes a friar dies from a gas explosion in his labors. Another takes over. And so on until all the coal mines adopt large Wei Deng. But I understand this method, and I used this method to confirm the existence of gas, so there is a new phosphorus-bearing ore layer in the Duocha coal bunker."

Everything the old foreman said about the ascetic was absolutely true.In former coal mines, this was done to clean the air in the alleys. Gas, another name is primary hydrocarbon or biogas, which has no color, almost no smell, and weak lighting ability, so it is definitely not suitable for inhalation into the human body.A miner cannot live in a place filled with this harmful gas - any more than a man can live in a gas tank filled with lighting gas.Moreover, as the latter comes from ethylene, the gas forms a detonation mixture once the air gets into it to eight percent or even just five percent.This mixture can be ignited by any cause, and an explosion is almost always followed by a terrible fire.

David's apparatus was designed to avoid this danger, by isolating the flame of the lamp in a tube of metal gauze, in which the gas was burned, and never allowed to spread outside.This safe light has been improved in 20 ways.If the lamp is broken, the lamp goes out.The lights also go out if miners try to turn it on despite a formal ban.Why did the explosion happen?This is because there is nothing to prevent a workman from still inadvertently lighting his pipe, or from sparks caused by the collision of tools. Not all coal mines are contaminated by gas.In coal mines that do not produce gas, ordinary lamps are permitted.Among them, this is the case of the Thiers coal bunker in the Angzan Mine.However, when the coal of the mined deposit is fat coal, it will have a certain amount of volatile substances, and the gas may escape in large quantities.Only safety lights can prevent the more terrible explosions and the danger of instant suffocation for miners who are not directly hit by the gas because they are placed in drifts full of toxic gases formed after combustion, that is, filled with carbonic acid. Along the way, Simon Ford told the engineer what he had done to achieve his purpose, how he had confirmed that there was a gas leak at the end of the drift west of the coal bunker, and what method he had used on the outcrop of the laminar schist. Several partial explosions, or rather some combustions, were set off, which established the nature of the gas beyond doubt, though the escape of the gas was insignificant.But the ejaculation continued. An hour after leaving the cottage, James Starr and his two companions had covered four miles.The engineer, full of longing and hope, did not feel that the journey was long at all.He thought about everything the old miner had said to him.He thought silently of the arguments which the latter had presented to him in support of his assertion.He shared his belief that this continued release of primary hydrocarbons definitely indicated the presence of a new carbon-bearing deposit.If it was just some kind of pocket full of gas, as he had seen several times between the laminae, the pocket would soon be empty, and the combustion would cease to occur.But not at all.According to Simon Ford, the hydrogen is constantly being selected, and it can be concluded from this that some important vein exists.According to this, the wealth of Dochart's coal bunker has not yet been exhausted.But does this concern a certain less productive seam, or a deposit with a large coal bed?This is a really big problem. Harry, who was walking ahead of his father and the engineer, stopped. "Here we are!" cried the old miner. "Thank God, Mr. James, you are here at last, and we shall know--" The old foreman's voice was so firm that it trembled slightly. "My good Simon," said the engineer to him, "be calm! I am as excited as you are, but time must not be wasted!" In this place, the coal bunker's alley ended in a dark cavern formed by an enlarged opening.No mine shaft has ever been drilled into this part of the rocks, and this passage, cut deep underground, has no direct line of communication with the surface of Stirlingshire. A keenly interested James Starr inspected his place gravely. On the rock wall at the end of the cave you can still see the last excavation marks of the pickaxe, and even several holes for blasting barrels used to blast the rock at the end of mining.The material of this kind of slate is extremely hard, and there is no need to fill the sunken ground, and the project had to be stopped at the bottom of the sunken place.Indeed, the phosphorous veins were exhausted there, between the slate and the sandstone.Here, on this very spot, the last fuel from Dochart's coal bunkers was mined. "Right here, Mr. James," said Simon Ford, raising the pick in his hand, "we will launch an attack here, because at a certain depth behind this rock wall, there must be a new vein of mine that I assert." "Is it on the surface of these rocks," asked James Venthal, "that you verified the presence of gas?" "There it is, Mr. James," replied Simon Ford. "I just held the lamp close to the lamellar outcrop and lit it. Harry did as I did." "At what altitude?" James Starr asked. "Ten feet off the ground," Harry replied. James Starr sat down on a rock, and after sniffing the air in the cave, he looked at the two miners as if he suddenly doubted their words.He said it with such certainty. That's because virgin hydrocarbons are not, in fact, completely odorless, which surprised engineers in the first place.His nose was good, but he didn't smell any explosive gas.Anyway, if this gas is mixed in the surrounding air, it's only in small amounts.So, with no explosions to worry about, it's safe to turn on the safety lights and try it out as old miners used to do. James Starr's worry now was not that there was too much gas in the air, but that there wasn't enough gas—or even that there wasn't one. "Could they be mistaken?" he whispered. "No! They know what to do! But! . . . " He therefore waited, with a certain anxiety, for the strange phenomena which Simon Ford pointed out to be realized before him.But at this moment, what he observed just now, that is, there is no special smell of gas, seemed to be noticed by Harry, because his tone changed, and he said: "Father, it seems the gas is no longer leaking through the laminae of the slate!" "No more leaks! . . . " cried the old miner. Simon Ford bit his lip hard, and took a few deep breaths through his nose. Then, suddenly, he made a rough gesture: "Give me your lamp, Harry!" he said. Simon Ford restlessly held the lamp in one hand.He removed the wire gauze covering the wick, and the flame burned in the circulating air. As they expected, there wasn't any explosion, but what's more, there wasn't even a slight pop that would indicate the presence of traces of gas. Simon Ford took the stick in Harry's hand, and fastening the lamp to the top of it, he lifted it into the upper layers of the air, where, by the light nature of gas, it should be more concentrated in so little quantity. . The lamp flame, vertical and white, did not show any trace of native hydrocarbons. "Put it on the rock face!" said the engineer. "Yes!" replied Simon Ford, setting the lamp on that part of the rock face from which he and his son had verified the next day that gas was leaking. The old miner's arms were trembling, and he was still trying to move the lamp here and there in the cracks in the lamellar grain of the slate. "Replace me, Harry," he said. With the stick, Harry placed the lamp in succession at different holes in the rock face where the lamellar seemed to be split in half...but he shook his head, because the slight crackling sound that only leaking gas had to his ears. Did not burn.So apparently no gas molecules seeped out through the rock wall. "Nothing!" cried Simon Ford, clenching his fists and giving the impression of frustration rather than anger. Then Harry let out a cry. "What's the matter with you?" James Starr asked anxiously. "Someone blocked the cracks in the slate!" "What you say is true?" cried the old miner. "Look, father!" Harry was not mistaken.The cracks can be clearly seen plugged under the light.A freshly plugged lime-fill had left a long white streak on the rock face, poorly concealed by a layer of soot. "It's him!" Harry cried. "It can only be him!" "He!" repeated James Starr. "Yes!" replied the young man, "this mysterious man often comes to our place. It is him. I have watched him many times but failed to catch him. Mr. Stahl, he has been trying to hinder you for some time. The author of the letter to my father's appointment, and finally, he, who threw that stone at us in the Yale Mine drift! Ah! There must be no more doubts! It all came from someone's hand! " Harry spoke so forcefully that the engineer was immediately convinced.As for the old foreman, there was no longer any need for persuasion.What's more, they were faced with an irrefutable fact: the cracks were blocked, and the next day, the gas was still flowing out of these cracks without hindrance. "Take your pick, Harry," cried Simon Ford, "and stand on my shoulders, boy! I am not strong enough to bear you!" Harry got it.His father leaned against the rock wall.Harry stood up on his shoulders, allowing his pick to make the obvious imprint of the sealant.Then he began to pound the pick at the part of the slate that was blocked by the sealant. Immediately, there was a soft crackle, like that of champagne spilled from a bottle - known in British coal mines by the onomatopoeia "puff". That's when Harry grabbed his lamp and brought it closer to the crack... There was a slight explosion, and a small red flame with a touch of blue at the edge flew up and down the rock face like a will-o'-the-wisp from St. Elm. Harry jumped to the ground at once, and the old foreman, full of joy, seized the engineer's hand and cried: "Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Mr. James! The gas is burning! So there's the lode!"

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