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The Louis Frost Notes 1685 to 1962
CUMBERLAND RAILWAY AND COAL COMPANY LTD.
NO. 3 MINE
This mine was opened in 1882 as a slope on No. 3 Seam
and was worked continuously until operations were discontinued
following a fire on the pipe slope in 1916, when the mine was
sealed off and the water allowed to rise.
After it was judged that the water had risen to a height
sufficient to extinguish the fire, unwatering operations began
and were continued over a period of six years, and by 1925 the
water had been lowered to the 3200 ft. level and the main slope
and fan slope partially repaired. The cost of this, including the
dewatering, amounted to over $600,000.00.
The objective was to reach the 4800 ft. level, the lowest
level in the mine tributary to which considerable development work
of a costly nature had been executed just prior to the 1916 fire.
Due to the headway made by the water in this colliery during
the strike in 1925, it was decided to abandon pumping operations
and in 1928 a borehole was drilled up from the 4700 foot level and
No. 3 water allowed to drain to No. 2 pumps. In this manner, No. 3
mine was partially dewatered.
In 1936, due to the plugging of the borehole at the 4700
foot level, a rising tunnel was driven to strike No. 3 Seam from
the 5400 foot level and a new borehole drilled to dewater the remaining workings in No. 3 Mine.
A later consideration was the complete abandonment of the
old workings and winning the coal in No. 3 Seam from No. 2 Mine by the
development of a level cross measure tunnel as an extension of
the 5700 foot tunnel to No. 1 Seam. This work was started when
No. 2 Mine closed in 1958.
A consideration which led to the abandonment of the mine
was the fact that it was highly probable that "Bumps" would be
experienced in the deeper working of the mine, which would soon
be under a cover similar to that of No. 2 Mine, and it was thought
better to await the result of the experience gained in No. 2 before
opening out No. 3 under conditions which would be somewhat aggravated due to the coal being thicker.
Bumps had already occurred in this mine in the steep coal
on the 3800' level, at a cover of 1600 feet.
No. 3 Seam is fairly gassy and has on occasion given considerable trouble and anxiety due to spontaneous combustion in
the steeper measures.
The seam is normally 10'O" thick, clean coal without partings,
with a fairly hard roof and pavement of arenaceous shale. However,
as the seam advanced toward the dip it was split by a number of
stone partings. On the North side these partings were very troublesome and at 2500 feet from the slope the seam practically turned into
shale.
On the South side of the slope the seam split into two
seams, but in the lower levels at a distance of 3,000 feet from
the main slope, these reunited to form a 10'0" seam of clean coal.
At 5,000 feet from the main slope on the 3200 ft level the working
gradually steepened, reaching a maximum of 70 degrees and at 9000 ft. the
coal began to deteriorate in quality.
The angle at which the steep coal lay allowed the levels
to advance further before reaching it.
The inclination of the seam varied from 30 degrees at the surface
to 22 degrees in the lower workings, flattening to the dip in a similar
manner to No. 2 Seam.
When the colliery was officially abandoned in 1930 and the
slopes permanently sealed, there remained a considerable area of
unworked lO'0" thick coal below the workings of No. 3 Mine.
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