room was discovered in which a number of miners, with great presence of
mind, had walled themselves in in order to keep out the smoke and heat.
From this room 20 living men were taken, of whom 12 were recovered in a
helpless condition, by the helmet-men.

This is not the first time this Government mining corps has performed
valiant services. Directly and indirectly the members have saved from
fifteen to twenty lives in the short time they have been organized. At
the Marianna, Pa., disaster, the corps found one man still alive among
150 bodies, and he was brought to the surface. He recovered entirely
after a month in the hospital.

At the Leiter mine, at Zeigler, Ill., two employees, who had been
trained in the use of the oxygen helmets by members of the Government’s
corps, went down into the mine, following an explosion, and brought one
man to the surface, where they resuscitated him.

Equally good service, either in actual rescue operations, or in
explorations after mine disasters, or in fire-fighting, has been
rendered by this force at the Darr, Star Junction, Hazel, Clarinda,
Sewickley, Berwind-White No. 37, and Wehrum, Pa., mine disasters; at
Monongah and Lick Branch, W. Va.; at Deering, Sunnyside, and Shelburn,
Ind., Jobs, Ohio, and at Roslyn, Wash.

_Explosives Laboratory._--The rooms grouped at the south end of Building
No. 21, at Pittsburg, are occupied as a laboratory for the chemical
examination and analysis of explosives, and are in charge of Mr. W. O.
Snelling.

Samples of all explosives used in the testing gallery, ballistic