Scenes And Incidents From The Life Of A Practical Miner
With A Treatise On The Ventilation Of Coal Mines

29 labour is always viewed with an eye of envy by those lie leaves behind. It is some time before they can, or will submit to his authority. They say “what des he knaw, lie was a coal hewer only t’other day.” It re- qiues an extraordinary proof of his superior qualifications to establish the necessary ascendency, and subject them to his commands. Yet with me this was done to their satisfaction, through a long series of years. My name had become proverbial among them, and they had confidence in their man. But when they saw me doomed to mix with the oucasts of society, compelled to hew coals as a punishment to my feelings, stripped of my little authority, I stood disgraced and degraded in their estimation whose previous approbation 1 was proud to receive. They joined in the denunciation of my character and conduct. And thus I became disgusted with a life so thankless, which was, to a certain extent, the cause of this explosion. But, as strikes and contentions between master and the workmen are always injurious to both, through the evils they entail on the future—chief agents would do well to consider, and avoid coercion on subordinate agency. As the noble Byron says, “ Heads bow, knees bend, eyes watch round a throne, and hands obey—our hearts are still our own." Nothing offends the feelings of man more than the attempt to degrade him in the estimation of others. So easy was the prevention of explosions to me at that period of time that they required only a secondary consideration by the side of the many and varied dangers I had to encounter almost daily. Some of them I will introduce, although they may be considered out of place. We had serious contentions with water from the old workings of Kenton Colliery, after breaking up the arching, and destroying in a great measure the passage of the drift which extended to the Tyne side at Scotswood, known as Kity’s drift. This was an outlet for the water of Denton, Blakelaw, and Kenton Collieries in days of old. But some adventurers commenced to work the ironstone at Blakelaw Pit, and regardless of consequences, broke up the drift, and stopped the water’s passage, which forced all the water of Kenton old workings down to Coxlodge Colliery, amounting to 500 gallons per minute. This created many evils, attended with enormous expenses, and compelled, them to put up a second pumping engine to meet the exigency, and enable them to continue working the colliery. After a lapse of years, they at last, in 1829, sent a number of men up into this Kity’s drift, to open out the passage for the water again, if possible, by ridding the falls and timbering afresh, the upper strata where the arching, &c., had given way. They had also in several places to build a lesser arch underneath the larger and original one, stowing the vacancy between tight with stones, &c., to make the whole more permanently secure. When this was done, they i esolved to put dams into al] the south and east holeings, and necessarily oice tlie water down its original passage to the Tyne side. I was se ected to take charge of this process of labour, in addition to superin- ending the ventilation of both pits at the colliery, which I had to go own each morning at two o’clock alternately, as circumstances required, o set the men to their work, and see that all was right. If I found mgs in ordei* here, I then joined the other men to go down the old pits