On December 7, 1870, the hoisting machinery broke at the Central Shaft, and then the following measurements of water were made. On December 3, the depth was 3 feet; December 13, 7 feet; December 15, 8½ feet; December 20, 21 1/6 feet; and December 24, 48½ feet. At midnight they commenced bailing with two buckets, one having a capacity of 341 gallons or 54.65 cubic feet, and the other 189½ gallons or 31.36 cubic feet. The large bucket was hoisted 1,075 times, bailing 58,745.3 cubic feet of water, and the small bucket 966 times, with 29,327.8 cubic feet of water, the whole amount being 549,179.0 gallons in 27 days, or 21,080.0 gallons per day. The following anecdote is worth relating, as showing the wonderful escapes men sometimes have, when the chances are one hundred thousand to one against their lives: In February, 1872, Thomas Hawkins felt tired and sleepy, and concluded to lie down in the east heading of the Central Shaft, about 30 feet distant from where the blaster was charging sixteen holes with Nitro-Glycerin, intending to retire when the holes were charged. But he failed, as we many of us do, to carry out his intention. When the blaster had charged his holes, he left the heading, connected his wires, and having halloed the usual warning “Fire,” and every thing being quiet, discharged his blast. Thomas Hawkins was awakened by the report of the blast, scattering 30 or 40 tons of rock, and annoyed to find his foot bruised, he limped out to meet the miners returning to their work, who now, when a blast is about to take place, unceasingly ask him where he proposes to take up his position, that they may choose an equally safe place. An escape, as wonderful, at the West Shaft, is worthy of being recorded. On August 3, 1868, as Richard Dunn was advancing to the heading, with a can about a quarter filled with Nitro-Glycerin, his foot slipped, and, in trying to avoid falling, he swung the can over his head, striking the drilling machine frame, and fell prostrate, still holding the can; a rush of air was heard, and the can was found as shown in the photograph, page 66, the Nitro-Glycerin not having exploded. The man got up a great deal more unconcerned than those at work near him, and quietly went forward and filled his cartridges as if nothing had happened. As I told him afterwards, he will never be so near eternity again without actually reaching it. The can had been filled at a temperature of 45°F, and the temperature of the room where it had been stored for 36 hours, was about 65°, thus causing an expansion both of the Nitro-Glycerin and the air contained in the can.