Moralee, and the boy Middleton, stated that the rumble proceeded from the west, and the direction which the blast had taken through the outlets
from the two unventilated districts (magazines) L M was distinctly shewn by the incineration of the props, and coal wall, on their sides, opposed to its
line of direction, while the opposite sides of the props remained comparatively clean. The props in some places too, where they were not broken
or blown out, were found leaning over at the top, shewing clearly the direction in which the blast had gone. The doors which stood in the stenting
were shattered to pieces, and the bricks of the jambs of the doors, and the
adjoining stoppings, were all shivered to atoms.
It is probable, that the fire in its course along the first and second pair
of north-west winning headways, N O, might ignite some partial lodgments of gas in the fallen parts of the roof of the seam, and thus gain strength in its progress. But it had not ignited the gas in the unventilated part of the third south-east district in the C Pit, where the. pillars were being worked, otherwise the strength of the explosion would have been greatly increased.
As in that case the accumulated gas in the first and second south-east districts, P Q, and the first south-west district, R, would most likely have
been ignited also, in which case a tremendous explosion must have taken
place at the C Pit.
The gas from the first south-east and first south-west districts was, and
is still carried off to the surface by a four-inch cast-iron pipe, and is not
allowed to mix with the current of air underground. The quantity of gas discharged from these two districts is eleven hogsheads per minute.
On the 15th of July, a consultation of viewers was held, on the practicability of restoring the colliery to a safe working state. — (See their Report, Appendix, No. II.)
On the 19th of August, the measures recommended for restoring the ventilation were completed, when a view was called (see Appendix, No. III). The viewers found the ventilation of the G Pit in a state to admit of the B Pit furnace being lit, but the water-fall on the C Pit had not been able to reduce the circulating current below the firing point. For although the utmost effort of the water-fall had been applied for sixty hours, the return current of air from the working districts was explosive at
