“Against the Collar” from the 1878 “Graphic”

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Sinking a Shaft

The Graphic 28 September 1878: 312

Source: Internet Archive web version of a copy in the University of Illinois Library.

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“We are now at the bottom of a partially constructed shaft, the upper portion of which has already been walled in, whilst the men are engaged in widening out the lower part to make room for a similar lining of brickwork. The wall already constructed rests upon a ‘curb’ entirely without support. The three men on the right are drilling shot hole, two of them striking with hammers whilst the other holds and turns the drill. One man is steadying the ‘hoppet’ in which a mate is about to ascend, and another is clearing the fragments of rock from the ‘sump,’ (the lowest part of the shaft where the water collects for the pump) which is also seen in the sketch. The men wear oilskin caps and caps to protect them from the water which is constantly pouring off throm the sides of the shaft, and putting them into the ‘hoppet’” (319).

Bibliography

Work at a Coal Mine, III.” The Graphic (28 September 1878): 311-12. Internet Archive online version of a copy in the Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana. Web. 25 July 2021.

Last modified 26 July 2021