Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 21 May 1938 — Page 9

- Vagabond

From Indiana ==Ernie Pyle

Coal Burns Before It Is Mined in Ohio, Making Potatoes Bake in the Ground and Roses Bloom in Winter.

NEW STRAITSVILLE, 0., May 21.—Just to look around over these rolling green hills of southern Ohio, you wouldn't believe that Hell is only a few feet underneath. But just kneel down and dig into the ground an inch or two, and you'll come up quickly with an “ouch,” and find your fingers nearly blistered. For there is fire raging under the earth. It is the world’s greatest coal-mine fire, Tt has been burning for 54 years, and has destroved all the coal—$50,000,000 worth of it—underneath an area of 36 square miles, The fire started during the miners’ strike of 1884. Whether it was set by miners, or caused by lightning, or was accidental—it's just as well not to ask around these parts. But it started anyway, and spread like a slow disease through the unreachable strata beneath the earth There was no wav to fight such fire. Coal companies went broke trying ta stop it. Thev spent thousands of dollars filling up fissures in the earth which gave the fire air and kept it alive. Rut there were too many fissures The last previous attempt to do anything about the fire was made, 1 believe, about 1800. Since then it has burned to its heart's content. And then, two years ago, WPA came along. Today they have almost finished bottling up this fire. They haven't tried to put it out. They've merely dammed it off, so it can’t spread any farther, The country around here is hilly, and since the coal veins are not far beneath the surface, most of them are short, and run out to the surface on hillsides. There ar» only three veins now burning which go heneath the wvallevs and continue on into almost pnaless deposits. So WPA cut these three main arteries by building underground firewalls The short veins now burning will simply go ahead and burn themselves out to the surface some day, and then go out, The three main veins will eventually burn up to the man-made firewalls and not be able to go any farther. From 350 to 500 men, mostly ex-miners, have worked on the WPA job of building these underground barriers. They did it by digging a tunnel right through a ridge and taking out all the coal. In other words, they severed the vein. Then the tunnel was filled with mud. This was done by running it in through holes bored down from the surface. When the tunnel is full of mud, the ends are sealed with rock. Mud won't burn, When the fire gets to this wall of underground mud it simply has to go out, One of these barriers is already finished. It is 600 feet long: shortest of the three. The underground fire is up against it already. The other barriers--each more than a mile long—will be finished by fall. The total cost will be $640,000. The saving in coal runs into hundreds of millions.

Fire Burns Beneath the Houses

Despite the spectacular proportions of this fire, it is not spectacular to the eye. True, you do feel the carth warm under vour feet, and in places there are wisps of smoke rising from cracks in the ground. But there is no great black cloud of coal smoke hovering over the country. There are no blackburned areas such as a forest fire leaves. You have to go back in the woods to certain spots in order to see actual caverns where the fire has burned to the surface and the heat is still pouring out unbearably Back there you do see pools of water too hot to take a bath in. And you see trees dying from the heat, and other trees which have simply burned ofr at the roots and toppled over. You see sunken places where the ground has dropped down into the fire made cavities below. You see a couple of farm houses from which the owners will have to move. Fire is burning right beneath the houses, vet there is almost no visible evidence of it. Everything looks quite all right. And everything is quite all right—except that roses bloom in winter, potatoes are dug out of the ground already baked. well water has to be cooled before vou can wash in it, horses disappear into sink-holes, gas puts out the fire in the cookstove, and shakes are found gassed to death

r. Pyle

rR RINnisten

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By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

First Lady Receives Turkish and Norwegian Women Visiting in U. S.

WY aa Friday.—I had two interesting ’ visits vesterday afternoon. One from a young Turkish woman, Miss Ismet Sanli, who is doing newspaper work in this country and who desires to deliver a series of lectures. So far, she has been urged by a few women's clubs to appear in Turkish costume, but refuses, because, as she says, she wants to interpret the new Turkev of today to American women She has no interest in the Turkey of harem days or the ladies of the early 19th Century in the United States. Miss Sanli was dressed in the latest modern style and gave the impression of a very efficient young business woman. I feel as though the changes in Turkey had come very rapidly, but she insists this change has been coming for a long time. A little later, a very interesting 72-vear-old woman from Norway, Madame B. Kjelsberg, called with the Norwegian Minister's wife, Madame XKjelsberg told me that up to two vears ago she had been the chief factory inspector of Norway and had traveled on an average of 150 days a vear. She was married to a Jawver and they had six children. Now Madame Kjelsberg's hushand is dead, she is retired on a pension and so she has been traveling around our country for the past seven months speaking in 14 states. 1 could not help but think that both these women will be successful in giving the women of our country

a picture of the conditions in their own countries

and the quality of their people. The Women's National Democratic Club moved their garden party into their town clubhouse and seemed to be having a great crowd when I stopped in there late in the afternoon for a few minutes. For a time this morning, the sky clearsd and Johnny, Anne Clark and 1 had a good ride along the Potomac. They arrived vesterday afternoon. Elliott flew up from Ft. Worth, Tex, so we had quite a family reunion. New Books Today Public Library Presents— AS hoth a continuation of and companion-piece to his “Technics and Civilization,” published some four years ago, appears Lewis Mumford’s THE CULTURE OF CITIES (Harcourt). To those who concern themselves with the problems of modern living, Mr. Mumford's book will serve as challenge and stimulation. In it he traces the evolution of the city and its culture from the Middle Ages to the 20th century with its “megalopolises”— cities congested, unhygienic, uncomfortable, unadapted to the humanity which inhabits them. In contrast to the present day city, infested hy slums, hampered by inadequate transportation facilities, by its very concentration subordinating all phases of living to the process of making a living, he visualizes our country as a group of rationally organized, interrelated communities, developed to provide health, recreation, comfort and beauty to the people. That such a society will be difficult of attainment, the author admits. With the aid otf modern technics, however, he considers it physically possible. And he believes that this new “biotechnic” economy is even now emerging, sporadically and uncertainly. If that is s0, the humanity, the passion, and the breadth of this volume should lend vigor and confidence to its blossoming.

!

The - Indianapolis Times

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| SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1938 "t

DPostoffice,

Fighting a 54-Year-Old Fire

Ernie Pyle Visits Project for Halting Ohio’s Underground Coal Blaze

Ernie Pyle (right), Vagaborid from Tndiana, gets a first-hand story about the 54-year-old New Straitsville, O., fire from the WPA miners who are bottling up the fire, About 400 men are employed on this project to wall up the flames and save Ohio's precious coal fields. Only three coal veins now are burning, so these three wore ont by building underground firewalls. One of these barriers already is finished and the other two are expected to he completed hy fall. The total cost is to be $640,000, hut coal valued in the millions will be saved.

The richness of the coal area in which the fire is burning ix shown here. This scene is in the Lost Run Tunnel in Hocking County. A 12-foot wall of clay is counted on to stop the onrush of the fire. Mr. Pyle’s companions here are Mr, Cavanaugh (center) and another WPA official, Previous attempts to extinguish the fice all have heén unsuccessful. Erhie tells that many coal companies have gone broke trying to fill up the fissures in the earth which gave the fire air and kept it alive. But there were 100 many fissures,

Sa al

Ernie pauses to warm his hands at the edge of a crater from which heat rolls as from a blast furnace. Tn many places, Ernie writes, there are pools of water too hot for a hath and trees which have burned off at the roots and toppled over. Looking on is Mr. Cavanaugh. Ernie explains that the fire does some peculiar things—roses bloom in the winter, potatoes are dug out of the ground already baked, well water has to be cooled hefore you can wash in it, horses disappear into sink-holes and snakes are found gassed to death,

Side Glances—By Clark

Jasper—By Frank Owen

Our wandering columnist inspects the progress of workers in the Lost Run Tunnel, Tn most caves these workers’ fathers or grandfathers worked in the mine in this aren before the fire started in 1884. With Mr, Pyle are James R. Cavanaugh, chief engineer of the project, and another WPA official. WPA workers made this tunnel hy digging out all the coal. The tunnel, when completed, ix to he filled with mud and sealed at both ends with rock. This attempt to stamp out the underground blaze is the first since the turn of the century,

Here is the north end of the 640-foot barricade blocking the fire at Plummer Hill, about a mile from the village of New Straitsville, The tunnel was cut and filled with dirt while the fire raged only a few yards away. With our columnist are Mr, Cavanaugh (left) and another WPA official. Our columnist writes the coal fire is not spectacular to the eye. But back in certain spots in the woods there are caverns where the fire has burned to the surface. There, Ernfe says, the heat still is pouring out unbearably,

The westward march of the $50,900,000 New Straitsvillea mine fire has been halted by a 640-foot barricade erected by WEA workers at Plummer Hill, about 100 yards from where this picture was taken. The project to extinguish the fire was started about two years ago. The 54-year-old fire has spread like a slow disease underground and, before this attempt to bottle it up, threatened to destroy the entire rich coal fields of southern Ohio. Already it has destroved the coal underneath an area of 36 square miles and has thwarted all previous attempts to extinguish it,

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KNOWLEDGE

1--Which of the American colonies was founded by James Edward Oglethorpe? 2-Who is chairman of General Electric Corp.? 3-—-What are gamma rays? 4..Under which President did William Jennings Bryan serve as Secretary of State? 5--Name the capital of Tlinois 6 What body of water separates Long Island from the Connecticut, shore? 7--What is an anemometer? B--Name the President of Mex160

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Answers

1-—Georgia. 2--Owen D. Young. 3-Electromagnetic radiations of very high frequency emitted by cerfain radio-active bodies. 4. Woodrow Wilson, 5-Spring field f-Long Isiand Sound T-<An instrument used to meas ure the velocity of wind 8--Lazaro Cardenas. ” ” »

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| the Childers had

Second Section

Entered as Second-Olass Mutter Indianapolis,

Ind,

Our Town

By Anton Scherrer

It Takes an Old Manual Classmate Of Your Columnist to Amend Mis Story on the City's Oldest House,

Y life would he a drab affair, indeed, were it not for the vivid material turned in by readers who know a lot more about run ning a column than 1 do, Thus the other day 1 wrote a piece about

the oldest house in Indianapolis in the course of which T mentioned the Childers family, the presens inhabitants of the place. 1 belleve 1 also sald somes thing about the Childers moving into the house | some 25 years ago Well, that, Fritsche, a stanch Sider, to brisy and ask whether it had ever accurred th me that maybe somebody else bosidas lived in the old house, 160. Soon, as 1 heard Mi. Fritsche's voice 1 recognized it as a boy who went to Manual when 1 did. I remembered him as a dependable kid-—otherwise, I wouldn't have believed the story he had to tell, George says he was about 3 years old in 188% | when his father, Reinhold Fritsche, moved into the oldest house in Indianapolis, At that time it stood in the center of a farm which st retched from Pleasant Run to what is now Pountain Square. George's father controlled the farm, too, He raised wheat, and George remembers his mother telling him that on one occas ston during the harvest, festival. the Indians showed up and camped on the banks of Pleasant, Run. Tn 1883, mind vou. 1 reminded George, as discreetly a I could, that the Tndians had left Indianapolis long | before his father had started harvesting wheat, but, George crossed his heart and hoped to die if the

story wasn't, true, He sald he believed everything his mother told him.

A Redskin and Mis Grandchildren

Come to think of it George's story isn't as fans tastic ‘as it sounds, Tt's a fact, for instance, that Pleasant Run in the vicinity of the old Fritsche farm was a favorite camping ground of the Delawares as late as 1823, and maybe still later. That was only 60 years before George's father had his farm down there, Well, if that's the case, why wouldn't it be possible for some 80-year-old buck to show up in 1883 and scare the daylights out of the Fritsche family? Like as not, too, the old Indian had his grandchildren with him to show them what the old place looked like. You can’t tell what an old man, moved by nostalgia, is apt to do That's a hypothetical case, of course. There isn't any doubt, though, that the Indians loved to camp along Pleasant Run, George says that 50 years ago when he was a kid, the ground down there was full of arrowheads. It was nothing to pick up a cigar-box full in the course of a morning's stroll. All you had to do was to kick your toe into the ground. On ones occasion George even kicked up a tomahawk. He doesn’t know what's become of his collection. He's got, a hunch, though, that somebody swiped it. Not having his collection to convince me, George invited me to come down and have a look at the tablet in the Abraham Lincoln School, Tt commemorates the fact that the Indians had a camp there, Sounds reasons able enough because when you get there, you suds denly discover that the Abraham Lincoln School is opposite the oldest house in Tndianapolis

Jane Jordan—

Husband Told He Can't Aid Former Wife Who Remarried for Revenge.

EAR JANE JORDAN--1 have been a married man and have two boys of 10 and 14 vears, My wife | left me and the boys and has married again. She has to work now and help her new husband make a living, something she did not have to do when she lived with me. I keep getting letters from her and she tells ma how she loves me and wants to come back, but sha is married and the divorce is not yet paid for. What would you do in a case like this? CM

moved South

away

Groorge

got right

Mr, Scherrer

» ” ” Answer] don't see what you can do except to let your former wife meet her own problems without afd from you. It is not that you need to feel hard-hearted and unforgiving for after all she wouldn't have left you and your children unless something was despers ately wrong at home: nevertheless, each adult must meet the consequences of his own acts and sannot be rescued from each predicament by some other person, Your wife attempted to meet her problems in a very childish and immature fashion, She didn't have the wisdom and foresight to predict the failure of an impulsive marriage based on revenge, After she has punished you for not being the kind of husband she wanted, her hostility toward you has vanished temporarily and now she feels only love, The trouble is that if you get her another divorce on credit you can't count on her to maintain a feeling of love toward you, The two of you not only have to deal with the same old antagonisms which caused the wreck of your marriage but a whole crop of new ones as well. If it was hard to get along before it will be doubly hard now, On the surface one would think that vour wife had learned her lesson and would be a different person if she had another chance, This may be true but it | fsn't likely. Already she has shown that she has two | attitudes toward you and vacillates between love and hatred. When a person swings between the (wo with« [| out striking an even balance the result is confusion | and disaster, At any rate, 1 feel sure you can't help your former wife any by relieving her of her responsibilities toward | her new husband, She has acted like a child once, Now let her grow up and deal with her own problems | as a matured person should. JANE JORDAN,

Put your problems in a fetter to Jane Jordan, whe win answer your questions in this eolumn duily

Bob Burns Says—

OLLYWOOD, May 21. Ambition sure does feeR on strange things, 1 know at least three hig men in this country wha went aut into the world and made a success just simply because the people in their home town thought they would never amount to anything. I know one woman out here who has spent her entire married life pushing her husband forward and encouraging him to do big things. When I asked her why she made s0 many personal sacri fices in her husband's behalf, she sak, “I want to make my husband famous 80 1 can go back to my | home town and snub Mrs. Van Hools—I hate thas

| woman.” (Copyright, 198m)

Walter O'Keefe—

OLLYWOOD, May 21 «Oanada has Nnally solved her housing problem. The quintuplets are ab last going to live with the rest of the family. 7 The world’s most famous quintet will probably look at the seven other Dionnes and wonder what makes them look so peculiar and different from themselves, The other seven Dionne children will go on ate tending school while the quintuplets continue making pictures and money. They're big stars in Hollywood now and Cecile (she's the one who is the financial boss) passes on all their scripts, The Dionne family will be absolutely autonomous and will be treated by King George like any other British colony, \