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George B. Brennan, Secretary-Treasurer, Imperial. Coal Company, Denver, Colorado, opened the third session of. the Sixtieth Regular Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute at 8:30 a.m., and introduced the first speaker of the morning with the following remarks: It is a pleasure to welcome you here this morning. We are indeed fortunate to have such excellent speakers this morning, some of the outstanding people in the mining industry. I know I express the feelings of the entire RMCMI when I say thanks to these excellent speakers for all of the time and trouble they have taken to prepare such talks and come here to give these presentations of some of the more modern developments with which we in the coal mining industry are concerned. The first speaker this morning is going to give a paper on a subject which has only recently caused one or two of unfortunate accidents. It hadn't, prior to this, been considered such a serious problem. However, the. Bureau of Mines is hot on the trail to insure there will be answers to this previously somewhat unrecognized difficulty.

Jan 1, 1964

[WILLIAM LITTLEJOHN President Castle Gate, Utah BENEDICT SHUBART Secretary-Treasurer 521 Boston Bldg., Denver, Colo. .JAMES DALRYMPLE Vice-President for Colorado State Office Bldg., Denver, Colo. HORACE MOSES Vice-President for New Mexico Gamerco, New Mexico .J. B. FORRESTER Vice-President for Utah Hiawatha, Utah P. H. BURNELL Vice-President for Wyoming First National Bank Bldg., Ogden, Utah EXECUTIVE BOARD COLORADO: J. B. DICK Walsenburg R. A. McALLISTER Trinidad NEW MEXICO: W. W. RISDON Albuquerque J. B. MORROW Dawson UTAH: CHAS. LEGER Rolapp R. R. KIRKPATRICK Sunnyside -WYOMING: F. L. McCARTY Rock Springs J. C. RAE Gebo]

Jan 1, 1924

CLARK MOSELEY RMCMI PRESIDENT 1998-1999 on behalf of the RMCMI Board of Directors and Officers of The Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute cordially invites you and your family to attend the 95th Regular Meeting and Convention to be held June 27 thru June 29, 1999 Crested Butte, Colorado

Jan 1, 1998

The Fifty-ninth Regular Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute convening at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, was declared in session at 10:30 a.m., by Past President Charles M. "Dock" Schloss, Schloss and Shubart, Inc., Denver, Colorado. Dock introduced Mike Zakotnik, Jr., General Superintendent, The Kemmerer Coal Company, Frontier, Wyoming, President of the Institute. His introduction of President Zakotnik follows: Fellow Members, including our charming and beloved secretary, Gussie Whiteside, and our lovely Mrs. Cerise: It is now the appointed time to convene the Fifty-ninth Regular Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute which I now declare in session. At our last meeting we elected Mike Zakotnik, Jr., President, and lie has served the Institute intelligently and industriously since his election.

Jan 1, 1963

The twenty-eighth regular meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute, which was held jointly with the Utah Section of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, was called to order at eleven o'clock A. M., Monday, March 11, 1929, President Otto Herres presiding. Introductory remarks were made by John M. Boutwell, Chairman of the Utah Section of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, who outlined the intent and purpose of the joint meeting, and its co-operative program. He spoke of the in- creased recognition being given to men in the engineering profession by the public, which has recently been manifested by the election of President Hoover, an engineer of outstanding ability, and the re-election of Governor Dern to the Governorship of the State of Utah. He then introduced Governor Dern, a fellow member, to make the address of welcome. Governor Dern assured the meeting a hearty welcome. He spoke of Utah as one of the important mining states of the Union, particularly in metal mining; the magnitude of Utah as a coal mining state being limited only by its market; of the enormous coal resources of Utah, and the problems of the coal mining industry.

Jan 1, 1929

[Adams, Douglas K General Electric Co., P.O. Box 2331, Denver 1, Colo. Adams, Kenneth L Peabody Coal Co., 301 N. Memorial Dr., St. Louis, Mo. 63102 Ahlborg, William Joy Mfg. Co., 1400 17th St., Denver, Colo. Allen, Dr. Harry C U. S. Bureau of Mines, Washington, D. C. 20242 Anderson, Robert Mine Safety Appliances Co., 1881 West N. Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah Archer, Bryan J., Jr Peabody Coal Co., 421 Glenwood St., Grand Junction, Colo. Arentzen, E. M W. RD 1, Charleroi, Pa. Arentzen, L. E. Lee-Norse Co., 6030 55th Pl., Arvada, Colo. Arentzen, Rolf F Lee-Norse Co., Box 582, Charleroi, Pa. Arnston, E. K Standard Oil Div. American Oil, Rt. 1, Box 504, Golden, Colo. Artis, Cliff E Big Horn Coal Co., 247 Sherman Ave., Sheridan, Wyo. Atchison, Lee Atchison Construction Co., Drawer D, Aztec, N. Mex. Audin, Clement, Jr Champion Coal Mining Co., Paonia, Colo.]

Jan 1, 1969

By D. C. McClure

MR. McCLURE: Mr. Chairman, you sprang a surprise on me; I really came over here for a good time. Gentlemen, I am not at all qualified to pose as an expert on pulverized fuel; I have merely been making some rather interesting observations, and unfortunately at the present time, a great deal of substantial data, the technical data, I don't happen to have with me; it is still in the process of being calculated, but I will be very glad to tell you some of the observations as I have made them, and in as truthful and complete a way as I can. The question of how we would handle fuel became a very pressing subject in this new Valmont electric plant, which is now under progress. We have studied the methods of burning fuel for a number of years on different types of stokers at the existing plants in Denver; we are burning it with a natural draft chain grate and with underfeed and with forced draft chain grates, and I am very frank to confess at the present time that I have no answer as far as stokers are concerned for a better solution of the problem of burning lignite. In other words, I could not tell you that this or that is a better type of stoker to use for that coal. However, to boil the thing down, after considerable trials, the underfed stoker was chosen as the one most adaptable for the utilizing of lignite fuel if stokers are to be used. In other words, the chain grate was put aside. I might say in support of the chain grate, the prime reason for which that type of stoker was condemned, as far as lignite goes, is the initial investment charge and the large maintenance which is involved.

Jan 1, 1923

On Monday, June 27, 1921, at 6 p. m., twenty-four members of the Institute from. Colorado and New Mexico, left Denver on the Union Pacific for Rock Springs, Wyoming, arriving there at 9:42 a. m., June 28th. The party was met at the depot by the Rock Springs committee and a large number of the local Institute members. The day was spent in visiting the Central Power Plant of, the Union Pacific Coal Company and adjacent mine, the new 'E Plane, the Reliance, Dines, Winton and Sweetwater coal properties in the district. At noon a very elaborate lunch was served in the First Aid Building at the Reliance mine, which was most heartily enjoyed by all. In the evening the members and friends visited the new Rialto theater and saw the pictorial exposition of the' "Sky Pilot". The evening terminated with a dance in the ballroom of the Masonic Temple from 9:30 until midnight, concluding one of the most enjoyable days which the Institute has ever spent in Rock Springs. At 12:3o a. m. the original party, augmented by six members from Rock Springs, were again enroute to Salt Lake City, arriving there at 8:30 in the morning of Wednesday, June 29th. The Hotel Utah had been selected by the local, committee as the headquarters for the convention, and the majority of the -members at once proceeded to that place where the books were opened and the paying of dues and registration of the members were carried on until 11:45 a.m. At noon a majority of the members were entertained at the L. D. S. Tabernacle with an organ recital, which was up to its usual standard of excellence.

Jan 1, 1921

By R. Dawson Hall

*This paper was not read as it arrived too late. In the beginning of the last century "cottage industry" gave way to the factory system, and at present manufacturing that was once performed in homes is done wholly in factories. Division of labor came into being at the same time. In earlier years rarely more than a half-dozen men worked at the home of the master workman. Each group performed all the labor involved in changing crude material to the finished article, and many of the masters in a cottage industry themselves took the raw material and converted it by their own efforts into a highly specialized product ready for the market. Mining has in a degree moved in the same direction. But for the most part every man still has his own room. Pick miners in many places get their cars at the room neck, push them to the face, undercut their coal, drill their shot-holes, load and fire them, complete the breaking down of their coal, fill their cars, push them to the entry and also test their roof for weak spots, examine for gas, timber their rooms, bail them out and lay their own track. Mining is still in a way a "cottage" industry, only the cottage is a room in the mines instead- of a home. The men who gather the coal and take it to the tipple are in a measure like the middlemen who went from cottage to cottage and gathered the product of the owners or "masters", to use the term then prevalent. The change in ordinary industry from old methods to new came with machinery. The machines then introduced needed power for their operation, and distribution of power from house to house was too great a task for those times. Power could not readily be taken to machinery where water power only was available. It was necessary for the machinery and its workers to go to the power. Nor when steam was harnessed could every cottage have its steam engine. Compressed air and electricity had not arrived, and con-

Jan 1, 1922

The thirtieth regular meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute was called to order at 11: 20 o'clock A. M., Wednesday, June 3, 1931, President G. A. Kaseman presiding: PRESIDENT KASEMAN spoke in part as follows: I have in mind to say a few words of welcome to the coal operators, but I am afraid that the words I might have said would be hardly appropriate, because I believe the coal operators are in the minority today. It demonstrates to my mind something that has been running through it for some little time. When the hard times came on a year ago, we thought we were going to get over it rather lightly. I recall at this time a year ago we thought that the depression was about at an end. The National Administration from Washington told us we had reached bottom and things were going to perk up, and for a few weeks or maybe a month or more there was a sort of optimism throughout the country. I had been East, and when I re- turned to Albuquerque I said to my friends and associates that things were getting better in the East and that they would soon be better out here and we will not have felt the hard times very much. But I have learned differently since. I have learned that hard times are no respecter of communities or corporations, or persons, or activities, and that we all suffer alike. On that account we find that our Institute is suffering just the same as other activities, whether national, state, local, social, or what- ever it may be. Our attendance is light or, that account. We all know when times are hard we have to stay at home and watch things closer than when they are good. And when they are good we feel that the machine will run of its own momentum and in this way we can get away to see what is going on in the world. When times are hard we have to stay at home and look after everything from day to day and hour to hour.

Jan 1, 1931

The first Mine Rescue Performance Evaluation for mine rescue teams was held just prior to the 1992 RMCMI convention meeting schedule on June 27 and 28. Six teams took part in this year's evaluation; Decker Coal, Decker, Montana; BHP Minerals' White Team and BHP Minerals' Purple Team, both of Aztec, New Mexico; Kerr McGee Coal Corporation, Jacob's Ranch Mine, Gillette, Wyoming; The Coteau Properties Company, Freedom Mine, Beulah, North Dakota and The Falkirk Mining Company, Falkirk Mine, Underwood, North Dakota. This was the first mine rescue evaluation program developed to measure a unit's proficiency in their skills rather than emphasis on a ranking order of teams. The objectives for the evaluation were to promote learning and to evaluate the current level of experience of the attending rescue units. The priority goal for this evaluation was to recognize current rescue skills, knowledge and abilities of each team participating. In doing this, each team is provided with individual evaluations and a path for improvement as needed. [ ] Realistic industrial related scenarios, closely simulating the stress of actual rescue incidents, was provided by members of the Hermosa Cliffs Colorado Fire Department under the direction of Dan Noonan, Fire Chief. On Saturday, June 27, five rescue scenarios were presented for each team to complete and on Sunday three of a more difficult nature were encountered by each team. On the final day of the RMCMI convention two of the teams performed rescue demonstra¬tions. Onlookers were afforded the opportunity to view the teams in action as they simulated actual rescue operations. The value and importance of mine rescue teams such as those participating in this year's Rescue Team Performance Evaluation are very evident as in many cases they are the only rescue personnel and medical staff on the work site in case of an emergency. Most of these persons are volunteers who spend many hours studying, practicing and perfecting their expertise in the lifesaving techniques needed in the event of a mine emergency. At the same time, they are very qualified coal miners who perform their respective duties at their mine locations, Their dedication to gaining the most knowledge they can get to handle these life and death situations is evident in their participation in evaluations such as this one. [ ] If a highly educational, informative, sharing of knowledge and expertise, while at the same time providing a very enjoyable experience, deems this evaluation a success ... the Rescue Team Performance Evaluation held during the RMCMI Convention at Tamarron this year was certainly a SUCCESS!! It is hoped that you can all enjoy this same experience with us next year! Linda G. Ash The Falkirk Mining Company [ ]

Jan 1, 1992

PRESIDENT LITTLEJOHN: The paper of Mr. Emrick will now be open for discussion for about twenty minutes. The meeting is now open for discussion. MR. EMRICK: There is some question that may have occurred to you at different times, that is how are you going to tell when the bits are properly made? A fairly good rule to go by is when the used bits come out of the mine, if half of them are bent and half of them are broken, the average is pretty good MR. GEO. B. PRYDE (Union Pacific Coal Company): I would like to ask Mr. Emrick if he has any figures as to the saving of Dower with the different styles of its. MR. EMRICK: I suppose you mean chisel point bits and pick point bits? MR. PRYDE: Yes. MR. EMRICK: So far as I have been able to learn, the only reason why chisel point bits are used is to prevent coring that might be done by the cutter chain. The pick point bit, of course, is the proper thing to use. It can be used when the position of the cutter links in the cutter chain is right. I do not know of any figures which give power consumption ratings on the use of pick point and chisel point bits, but there are tests and ratings, etc., which have been taken- which have been tested as against different bits, which have been given proper clearances against bits not having been given proper clearances, and they will run,-in their saving in power, they will run 20 to 25 per cent. MR. A. C. WATTS (Chief Engineer, Utah Fuel Company) : I would like to ask Mr. Emrick if he has any record showing the saving in power on using the alloy steel chisel bits. I know that several experiments have been made; I do not recall the figures now, but we had a very decided saving in power. MR. EMRICK: I haven't any of the records. Do you think that is because of the steel that has been used? MR. WATTS: Well, they were all sharpened by the same man and used in the same machine, and at the same shop. I do not know the composition. It is "Red Star" Vanadium that I had in mind. MR. EMRICK: I have not seen any records. Some companies are using the tool steel bits because they stand up a little bit better. MR. BENEDICT SHUBART (Secretary) : I was going to ask Mr. Emrick about that question. There is one company that does not recommend tempering the bits. They recommend using not exactly self-hardening steel, but one that is bard enough without quenching-they use 80-90-point car- bon but about a 70-point manganese, not exactly self-hardening steel, but they do not temper this at all. Will Mr. Emrick state if a steel of that kind could be worked in the bit sharpening machine that his company makes, as it

Jan 1, 1925

By D. A. Stout

The Rouse Mine, belonging to the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, earlier known as the Santa Clara Mine, is located at Rouse, Huerfano County, Colorado. Operations at this property started about the year 1899, after the old Rouse mine had been drowned out by a large flow of water coming from the strata underlying the Cameron seam. The present new Rouse mine was opened by a slope on what is familiarly known as the Walsen seam in the Walsenburg district. This slope has an average grade of 12 per cent bearing approximately, south 45 degrees west, and having at the present time a total length of 6300 feet. This seam has an average thickness at that property of five and one-half feet; however, there are sections of the mine where the thickness is from seven to eight feet. The mine has been developed. since the time it was opened on what is known as the Room and Pillar system ; water level entries have been driven right and left off the slope, and in some cases the rooms are driven directly up the pitch; and in other cases entries have been driven with rooms turned on water level courses. The first flow of water of which we have ally record was encountered in 1901 in what was called the "Second West Entry." This flow, however, was small, and did not require the installation of any large pump unit. From 1901 up until 1909 the flow increased normally as the field was developed. In January, 1909, the first large inflow occurred, coming from a break in the seventh west entry, making a total flow at that time of about 500 gallons per minute. This necessitated putting in larger pumps, and the first pump to be installed of the centrifugal type was a 600 gallon Worthington. By the year 1911 the water had increased, due to additional development, until it was found necessary to install an additional 600 gallon Worthington centrifugal type pump. In December, 1912, a break occurred in the eighth west entry, between the fourth and sixth cross entries, making 2000 gallons per minute. This flow decreased after a period of three weeks some 500 gallons, but on account of the quantity of water then being handled at the mine, and in view of the fact that we needed some reserve pumping equipment to take care of these flows, and additional 600-gallon Worthington centrifugal type pump was installed in June, 1913. An the latter part of 1914 a 250 gallon Reese roturbo was installed to take care of the water, which was being made in the lower workings of the slope. We found after the installation of the centrifugal pumps that the water decreased to a certain degree in the uppermost workings. This led us to believe that the field was being drained, more or less, and the head reduced ; however, our ideas in regard to this were again upset in December, 1915, when we encountered a flow in room 6 off the first cross entry on the ninth east entry. This flow was not as large as previous flows had been, but made 200 gallons per minute.

Jan 1, 1921

The second annual RMCMI Mine Rescue Performance Evaluation was held in conjunction with the 1993 RMCMI Convention at Beaver Creek. [ ] Six teams participated in this year's evaluation; BHP Minerals, Navajo Mine, Fruitland. NM; BHP Minerals - LaPlata Mine. LaPlata, NM; BHP Minerals - San Juan Mine. Waterflow. NM; The Coteau Properties Company - Freedom Mine, Beulah. ND; Cordero Mining Company, Gillette, WY; and The Falkirk Mining Company - Falkirk Mine. Underwood, ND. The Western Energy Company of Colstrip, MT was represented through observers and evaluators. [ ] Realistic industrial related scenarios, closely simulating the stress of actual rescue incidents, were provided by members of the Eagle Valley Ambulance Service. Five different scenarios were presented to each team on the first day of the evaluation and three on the second. Each team was given the pertinent information to solve the problem as they assembled at the scenario site. The scenarios were going on simultaneously and each team was unaware of the circumstances until they entered the scene. Interested onlookers were afforded the opportunity of viewing the actual simulated rescue operations as they occurred. The teams received valuable pointers and direction from the ream of evaluators following each scenario. They were are also given the opportunity to observe the other teams in action and to meet with the members of all the teams to share information and ideas during team meetings per the predetermined schedule. The primary goal is to recognize current rescue skills, knowledge, and abilities of participating teams. In doing this, each team was provided with individual evaluations and a path for improvement as needed. Each team was recognized for their efforts at an awards breakfast on the final day of the evaluation. New innovations in rescue equipment were introduced and demonstrated for interested teams following the awards program. The importance of progressive training such as what we are witnessing at evaluations during the RMCMI conventions cannot be stressed strongly enough. These teams are the providers of immediate rescue and medical care for victims of accidents at their respective properties. Every mining operation has the potential for very serious accidents due to immense size of equipment and mining logistics. These rescue teams must be prepared to act with the most immediate, professional and knowledgeable actions to save lives and prevent further injuries. Safety is a primary concern of every mining operation and the mine site rescue team is an integral part of that safety effort. The evaluation program is very appreciative for the financial support of the following businesses to enable this program to continue: Safety Master, Acme Welding, North American Coal, Triune. Cummins, OK Tire. Modern Industrial, The Industrial Company, Mine Safety Appliances (MSA), Biomarine, Personal Safety Enterprises, Inc., and Blattner Construction, Thank you again for your much needed assistance. Plan to be a part of next year's Mine Rescue Evaluation Program as a participant or an observer. You will be amazed at the skill levels of the Rescue Teams. See you next year! Linda G. Ash The falkirk Mining Company [ ]

Jan 1, 1993

CHAIRMAN LITTLEJOHN: We have with us this afternoon, Mr. D. W. Rockey, of the Industrial Educational Organization, who would like to occupy a few minutes of our time. There is still an hour left, and there is a lot more talking to be done, and when the time is up you can go. D. W. ROC'KEY (U. S. Vocational Training Bureau, N. M.) : Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: I am sorry to say I am not more closely connected with the coal mining game. I am interested in it because I am interested in a great deal of educational work being done in New Mexico. Two years ago, this Institute appointed an Educational Committee to investigate the opportunity for education in coal mining, and you have the report of that committee; it was issued in May 1924. Mr. Littlejohn, Mr. Moorhead of the Phelps-Dodge Corporation, Mr. Dickinson, and Mr. Miller, I think, of the C. F. C I., and Mr. Pryde, were members of that committee. They investigated the work being done in Safety, Training, First- Aid, and other topics, and made a general survey of the educational problems that might be said to be of benefit to the coal operators and to the coal miners. I believe, if I understood Mr. Moorhead correctly, while this report was accepted the committee was not discharged; but everyone seemed to be a little in doubt as to whether this activity should continue. My plea here directly is, of course, to ask that they be made a permanent committee, and asked to report to you at the next meeting in February on what has been accomplished in carrying out the program that was advised by the various companies, and what success, from a standpoint of improved work and financial return to the company, has been had. I believe that the whole trend of your discussion here has shown the need or the opportunity for improved production through education. For instance your mechanical loader the need of men who are experienced along mechanical lines, rather than the old pick and shovel methods, and the need of better understanding of your problems, just as in your safety lamp discussion that came up in the report of your Safety Committee. We have also developed a new phase, a new may of getting at some of your problems at Dawson this year, that has not been covered previously. I want to ask Mr. Holman here to tell you what is being done as a starter. Remember, we have not worked this out. He will tell yon how we are making a preliminary start in training inexperienced miners with the idea of cutting the accident record and keeping the production of inexperienced men at a higher level. If you are interested in that, I would like to suggest that this committee be requested to investigate some of these things very carefully. The State of New Mexico was willing to put five hundred or a thousand dollars into this training program as an experiment. We are willing that the Institute should have the credit for it, but we want it carefully surveyed so at your next meeting or some subsequent meeting, they can say this has been a feasible project and worthy of consideration. Mr. Holman, will yon tell us a little about this? (Applause.) MR. HOLMAN: We had an idea that by putting a green man in the mine with an experienced miner, the green man would probably learn something, and not get into trouble, etc. We decided to take a certain portion of one of our best mines, cross entry room work, and establish an underground school. We picked one of the assistant foremen who was well trained in our particular mining methods, and any green man who was employed was put into this school. He was paid a salary and he trained each and every man. Each man or two men world be working in a room and we paid them the regular contract price; they were trained how to shovel coal, pick waste and various other things. Some would stay in there a month and be transferred to other portions of the mine or other

Jan 1, 1926

MR. TESCHER (Disaster at Dawson) : I move that you appoint a committee of nine members of this Institute to draft a set of resolutions that we can send out to all members of this Institute, to the mine officials in all four states, that might go towards preventing these disasters; that we reach all men, all mining men, mine officials of all kinds. I think we have enough brains to carry out a few suggestions of that kind. I think you are fully familiar or know men who are fully qualified to act on this committee. The only qualification that I have is to ask that Mr. Harrington be appointed a member of this committee. PRESIDENT WHITESIDE: You have heard the motion, and I believe it was seconded. Is there any discussion? That is a subject that really needs a great deal of thought. MR. LAMB: Things like that can't be handled in a minute. What Mr. Tescher suggested is all right, but to my mind, going into a great many of these different properties, seeing the conditions, such things hit pretty close to home. I would suggest that you put this off; lay it over until such time as the people who had the disaster have some time to think these things over. It is too soon to offer even a suggestion. Suggestions are all right, but there are no nine living men in the United States who can stand up or sit down and talk it over and give you any reasonable answer, in one hour or six months. First, you would naturally have to go down there and converse with the men who were at the camp at the time. You are all operators; all you operators would -like to talk it over today. You realize that anything that is good for the camp is always acceptable in disasters of this kind. I say, do it gracefully and not by publication. MR. TESCHER: I feel that the men present know these suggestions by heart and they don't have to discuss them. They know them instinctively and they know they will apply to any mine. It must be understood that if these suggestions are not carried out, they ought to be; and there is a motion before the house. PRESIDENT WHITESIDE: Mr. Murphy, you started to rise to your feet a moment ago. Have you anything to say on the subject? MR. MURPHY: I have just returned from a visit to Mr. Brennan. Mr. Brennan and I have worked together for twenty years. The manager of our company asked me to go down there and express his sympathy. Those things come to all men if they live long enough, in the coal business, and he wanted me to express to Mr. Brennan personally his sympathy and deep regret. What I had in mind when I started to rise, was to suggest that the Institute as a whole express its sympathy to Mr. Brennan. I don't think there is a man in Utah, Wyoming, Colorado or New Mexico who has done more in safety' lines than Mr. Brennan, and it just seems bad luck that he had this disaster, and I am in hearty sympathy with the gentleman who spoke about not appointing this committee. I believe a resolution to Mr. Brennan would be very much better. JAMES DALRYMPLE: I am in sympathy with this gentleman here. I think it is going to hurt the feelings of those connected with the mines in which this disaster occurred. If you will give me the privilege for a few minutes, I will gladly express myself and the action that has been taken in the past by this Institute, and my opinion combined with a great many other opinions. And what I am going to say is going to be said by the-well, I am going to say it as I see it. I am going to say it not in an unfriendly spirit, but from a spirit of not undue criticism. I happen to be one of the original members who organized this Institute. I did what I could to obtain memberships. I remember very well when we had our first meeting that we had a very large membership. I think I have a photograph of the members which was taken on the steps of the Capitol building at that time. Our membership at that time was composed largely of underground officials. I mean by "underground" officials, the superintendents to some extent, the mine foremen, their assistants,

Jan 1, 1923

CHAIR: I see a great many safety men in the audience and I hope you will all take part in using up the time that we have left. The point brought up by all was the necessity of education. It is very hard to know just how this is going to be done. We get very little encouragement to do this. At a recent meeting at Rock Springs, 100 in attendance, and most of them mine officials. Another condition which contributes to accidents is the labor turnover in many of our States. With many companies I am told from actual statistics the labor turnover is 125 per cent. Each field has different mining conditions so that men coming from one field are not always familiar with the mine conditions in the field they come to. These are conditions which have to be overcome. WM. LITTLEJOHN: Mr. Harrington brought up the subject of sprinkling. I will try to tell what we are doing at the Utah Fuel Company camps. Our dust at Castle Gate is the most inflammable gas that has yet been tested at the Pittsburgh station of the Bureau of Mines, so it is up to us to use every precaution to keep it down. I will try to tell what we are doing regarding sprinkling from tanks. We now have in operation two tanks in our locomotive roads, one in Castle Gate, one in Sunnyside. These tanks are something like 500-gallon tanks with pump on one end of truck which gets its power from the power wire and has a half circle perforated pipe on the other end of tank. This is simply hooked on to the locomotive. When the pump is started up it throws a fine spray of water all around which wets the roof, the sides and floor. We found this very successful from an economical as well as a working standpoint. A roadway that we probably would have had to pay a man at least two shifts for, covering the full distance, with the ordinary hose and spray, we can do in half a day and do it more thoroughly. We are also figuring on at the present time using the same system on rope haulage ways, which of course will have to be run by a reel from the feed lines, handling say four hundred feet each way before reconnecting. We haven't got it finished, but are working on it at the present time. MR. COLBURN: I would like to say a few words -about this question of education. Education was mentioned by all three sections of the Safety Committee. Education regarding safety might be divided into two branches. One branch is for the official at the mine to keep him acquainted with the latest developments in safety equipment and safety methods. The other part of education is for the workmen. The United States Bureau of Mines is co-operating in both directions. Safety Clubs are organized around the Bureau of Mines First Aid Training, but it is the idea to expand those clubs and teach the miner the advantage of such-things as the closed safety lamp, and also the regulations that have been made for his safety. In Illinois we can't operate with the closed lamp, because the miners in that section of the country are not educated to the advantages of the safety lamp. Another form of education has been taken up by the National Safety Council, consisting of voluntary organizations similar to the Institute, to which all mining men are invited to attend. Such conferences nave been held in the Lake Superior district, in Butte, and in Globe, Arizona, this year. These are to be extended throughout the coal mining regions. CHAIRMAN PRYDE: The Union Pacific Coal Company has also built two tank cars of 600 gallons capacity each. The tanks are connected with hose, so that water can flow from one tank to the other. A centrifugal pump is mounted on a truck, and connected to the front tank. This pump takes its power from the trolley wire. The discharge from the pump is perforated, so that it sprays the floor and sides of the entries. We expect to use this water train on main haulage ways where we have no sprinkling line.

Jan 1, 1923

Jan 1, 1963

Jan 1, 1925

Jan 1, 1994