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These winzes are dangerous traps for the unwary or careless, extending frequently to a depth of ten or fifteen fathoms, and being bridged across by one or two loose planks. Ladders are fixed in many of them to facilitate progress through the mine. When a miner drives the end of his level so far that the air will not circulate, a new winze is usually sunk down to him from the level above.
In an instance of this description much fruitless exploration drives, winzes and "jump-ups" may have been carried out in the surrounding country rock near the place where the lode last "cut out"; but, in the absence of anything to guide the mine manager and surveyor as to the direction which the search should take, nothing but loss has been involved in the quest.
Louis, Mo., that is 5,500 feet in depth. Here on the Comstock, in the Union Consolidated mine, a depth of 3,300 feet has been attained, but not by means of a single vertical shaft. The vertical depth of the shaft is 2,900 feet; the remainder of the depth has been attained by means of winzes sunk from drifts.
The captain pointed to a black yawning hole, about six or seven feet in diameter, which was bridged across by a single plank. "How deep does it go?" asked the youth, holding up his candle and peering in; "I can't see the bottom." "I dare say not," said the captain, "for the bottom is ten fathoms down, at the next level." "And are all the winzes bridged with a single plank in this way?"
The mine is equally interesting, and to those who have never seen the operations of tunneling, stouping, driving shafts, winzes and the like, and the removal of the ore, it is an experience well worth while. A Fine Trip. From the Horseshoe Mesa, one may descend to the Lower Plateau on horseback, and then to the river on foot.
In many parts of these lower levels miners were at work some, in following the course of promising lodes, "stopeing," or cutting overhead, some cutting downwards, some "driving ends" or extending the levels, and others sinking winzes to keep up the ventilation as they pushed further and further from the shafts or throats, down which flowed the life-giving air.
While the huge steel plant at Harrisville was being constructed, a large force of men were building a conduit to protect copper tubes, from the steel plant to the coal fields. At the mines hundreds of miners were set at work, several shafts were sunk, and tunnels, levels, and winzes were developed.
These successive levels were not only connected and communicated with by the main shafts of the mine, but by "winzes" or smaller shafts which connected level with level in many places. Some of these were used as ladder-ways, but others had been cut merely for the purpose of securing ventilation.
"And pray what are winzes?" asked Oliver as he stumbled along in the footsteps of his guide, over uneven ground covered with debris. "Ah! hallo! stop!" "What's wrong?" said the captain, looking back, and holding up his candle to Oliver's face. "Candle gone again, captain; I've run my head on that rock.
"Why, no, some of 'em have two or three planks, but they're quite safe if you go steady." "And, pray, how many such winzes are there in the mine?" asked Oliver.
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