Rensselaer Standard, Volume 1, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1879 — An American Girl in a Cornish Mine. [ARTICLE]

An American Girl in a Cornish Mine.

The Cornishman gives the following account of the descent to the lowest depths of Dolcoath of Miss Leila A. Noble, a young lady of nineteen, of Rome, Georgia, United States: “Accompanied by a friend and a skillful miner, the plucky explorer passed first to a depth of 1,560 leet by the manengine, stepping from the small platforms on the huge moving rod to the fixed stages at the sides of the shaft witu the~ cool, and ready step which takes away all danuer from the use of this friend to the underground toiler. But this labor was little as compared with that which succeeded. One hundred and thirty fathoms of further depth had to be reached by the descent of perpendicular ladders. This safely done, the lowest and richest parts of. the mine were explored, and a trophy gained, in the form of a lump of ore, dug by the no longer fair hand of the reddened climber. The work of the boring machines, driving and blasting huge vugbs, or spaces left by the removed ore, and rich deposits of tin were seen. The homely and kind miners were profuse in their compliments. One of them said: “I’d raatner taake the trouble to put her to the bottom of Dolcoath than I wed a strange miner from another bal; wusnt thee, you?’ The trying ascent had now to be made. Hand over hand upright ladders which would reach to nearly twice the height of St. Paul’s had to be climbed—l,2oo staves to be used. The firm aud skillful way in which she took hold of the ladders caused a miner to ejaculate, ‘I never seed a young laady klem with a moor bowider and shoorer step in my life.’ Turning to his comrade, he continued, ‘She can klem, you, better’n scores of men I have seed down here.’ This 780 feet accomplished, 1,560 more, or nearly eight times the height of the Monument, had to be

done by the man-engine. About sp; m. the bold minerees from the far West regained the surlhce, after being underground and constantly exerting herself, for four hours and a half; without showing signs of great fatigue, certainly not of exhaustion, and without a mishap of the slightest kind.”