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By L. D. Tracy

This is the third of the series of reports on coal-mine royalties and leasing conditions in Illinois. The results of the study of District VI were published as Serial No. 2726, January, 1926, and those of District VIII as Serial No. 2745, April, 1926, of the Bureau of mines. The counties of Macoupin, Sangamon, and Montgomery, which are three of the principal coal-producing areas in the northern part of District VII, have been chosen for this report because these counties cover an entirely different part of the State than do the two districts already covered. Some leases in, Randolph and Washington counties are included as they are in the southern part of the district, and the data happened to be readily available.

Jan 1, 1926

PRESIDENT MOSES: Mr. Hall, can you tell us something that will help our cause? R. DAWSON HALL: I did not want to tell anything; I wanted rather to say something, if. I said anything at all, about my impressions regarding the safety of the mines in the West. We heard yesterday how terribly dangerous they were, and I think that is due to the natural conditions. It is interesting to note that many of the developments of safety, which you will find all through the country, had their origin here in the Rocky Mountain States. It has not been because the Rocky Mountain States have been negligent - though, of course, they could have been more active - but it is becaues the conditions have been such as to make accidents more numerous. Rock dusting by mechanical means was used here before any other country adopted it, let alone the United States. It is true that rock dusting was started in England; but it was by hand, as it remained with the Victor -American Fuel Company to be the first to distribute rock dust by machines, and that is to the credit of Mr. Murray, who was the man that did the original dusting in those mines. It was at Delagua, they put up shelving and put dust on it; they used the adobe, and Mr. Pryde, at Reliance, very early in the game, put dust in the Reliance Mines, and some of the dust, I believe, is there yet but they can hardly find it for the new dust. That is not all. I believe it was first in the Utah Fuel Company's mine that incombustible clay was used for stemming, and in the East, where we were in the habit of using slack entirely, that was a big advantage. Another thing that the West has originated has been the wetting of the chain in cutting. The people in Alabama took a great deal of credit for having used that very early, but not as early as Mr. Brennan did at the Hanna Mine, he having used water on the cutter bits in 1913. Another development was that the Phelps Dodge Corporation were the first people to use, I believe in the United States, storage battery locomotives for main haulage, and while they didn't go ahead with that, so far as putting in power trucks and mining machines, until just recently-I think the Consolidation Coal Company in the East managed to get ahead of them in that development,-notwith-standing, they were the earliest to use it for main haulage. When I came through this section of the country, in 1912, I think it was, I went through the mines of the Union Pacific Coal Company. I was surprised to see the extent to which fire-proofing had been carried out in that mine, with regard to non-combustible brattices and overcasts, which were of concrete; even the boxes were covered with sheet metal. They were very far ahad of us in that respect; far, far ahead of us in the East, because the East has its favorable conditions in the fact that most of the lump in the mines is more or less wet all the time. Another safety provision which has been taken by the Utah Fuel Company, was shooting from the surface. That has not spread very much in the, East, but it has been used in Oklahoma and the middle West. I think there is plenty of evidence that the Western people have been thinking for themselves, in going ahead and' establishing new standards in Safety. One of the most unusual things is this Safety Committee, permanent Safety Committee of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute, which has been endeavoring here to find out the conditions under which safety cant best be practiced. I think it is those who venture to. criticize the West that) have to show that in the East there is not the spirit which has led the Rocky Mountain region to endeavor to reduce its very terrible death rate that really exists. It has to be faced and it furnishes a cause, an incentive; for further work toward safety; but none can deny that the desire of the western mining man has been to find

Jan 1, 1926

By Stewart, J. B.

THE property at which this work was done consists of a large deposit of potash salts occurring in massive beds of rock salt, overlain by 600 ft. of salt-impregnated shales and marls. It is in the Province of Cataluiia, Spain, about 45 miles from the railway station of Mauresa and about a mile south of Suria. In addition to sinking the shaft, the program of construction work laid out by the European owners (not Spaniards) included a single-track narrow-gage railroad from Mauresa to the mine; one large office building and several large shop buildings, all of brick and concrete with steel truss roofs; two extensive benches for the future recovery plant; and a large village of stone dwellings for employees. The pay-roll showed approximately 1200 to 1500 men employed. After two years' operation, ending early in the autumn of 1920, the shaft had been sunk 325 ft. and still had an equal distance to go to reach the potash; all tunnels for the railroad were done and the road-bed $0 per cent completed; only a little more than the foundations were completed for all the large buildings, and the excavations of the benches were about 75 per cent done-while only a fair start had been made upon the employees' village. This was the state of affairs when the European owners decided to offer this property under a one-year option to an American syndicate, providing that they agreed to carry on the entire building program and to sink the shaft as fast as was consistent with the quality of work which they demanded, for they wished the shaft to endure at least 200 years.

Jan 1, 1926

By C. M. Campbell

The Inconceivable Wealth propaganda goes on apace. Premier King, at Vancouver, has stated that we still have, untouched, natural resources, "beyond the wildest dreams." Principal Currie, in an address before the Canadian Society in New York said that Canada's resources, "are as yet merely scratched and it is not possible to compute her almost fabulous natural wealth." Mr. Meighen, in the last election campaign announced that, "under the providence of God, Canada is more richly endowed, perhaps, than any other country in the world." Four years ago a despatch was sent to Premier King "on behalf of" this Institute advising him that "Inconceivable Wealth" in minerals in this country was assured. This was made as a statement ~f "incontrovertible fact." Specifically, this despatch stated that this wealth was on such a scale that the mining industry would in the future lead all others in this country. This inventory is still in effect as far as this Institute is concerned.

Jan 1, 1926

By L. C. IlsLey

Explosives have been fired electrically for several decades. Mountains have been tunneled, deep shafts sunk, extensive coal and metal mine workings excavated and, in times of war, railroads, buildings, bridges, and fortifications have been destroyed by means of electrically fired explosives. Modern engineering depends so much on explosives that their safe and efficient handling and especially their detonation are of prime importance to all those connected with the use of explosive agents. Electric shot-firing is only one method of igniting explosives, but it is rapidly spreading and because of certain inherent safety features should be encouraged. Data collected by the Bureau of Mines indicate that in the United States a large percentage of the blasting in quarries, shafts, and tunnels, and from 15 to 25 per cent of the blasts in mining operations, are set off electrically. The Bureau of Mines is interested in electric shot-firing because of its use in mining, and especially because electric methods, when properly applied, are undoubtedly safer than other methods commonly used.

Jan 1, 1926

By S. W. MEALS

TWENTY million people in this country and Canada in nearly four million homes can give thanks to our Creator for natural gas, that most wonderful natural fuel with which Dame Nature has so bountifully blessed us. It is a clean, healthy and cheerful fuel, made up almost entirely of carbon and hydrogen. There is no residue, no waste and there are no objectionable constituents; an ideal fuel for the home. It operates like magic, open the valve and it is there for your needs, winter or summer, night or day. You are not required to place your order 30 to 90 days in advance and you do not need to pay for your winter's supply in advance. No ashes to worry about, no flues or chimneys to clean, nor kindling wood to store or bother the housekeeper. We who have been so blessed do not realize what it would mean to be without it. If in place of opening a valve we had to go to the woodshed or coalhouse and then build our fire-carry out the ashes-well, some of us I am afraid would be late reaching our offices and perhaps would miss our hot cakes for breakfast. One cubic foot of gas produced from the White Sand formation contains 1130 B.t.u. and weighs 47/1000 lb.; there are about 24,000 B.t.u. in 1 lb. of gas. Temperatures of over 3400 deg. Fahr. have been obtained with natural gas. Not only is it a superior fuel for the home but it has no equal for use in many large manufacturing industries, especially with the making of glass, pottery and open-hearth steel. In an open-hearth furnace, properly constructed, 5000 cu. ft. will melt one ton of steel. It requires 1/3 ton of bituminous coal gasified in a producer to do the same work, or about 40 gal. of tar or fuel oil, or 11,000 cu. ft. of by-product gas.

Jan 1, 1926

By R. C. Canby

JUDGE GRANT, in a delightful satire of his, says: "Boston is a state of mind." I think that this same statement might well be made of the metallurgy of lead. I was particularly impressed with this when about thirteen or fourteen years ago I prepared a paper on "Development of the American Water- jacket Lead Blast Furnace." Dividing the time, as I did into ten-year periods, from the commencement of lead smelting at Eureka, Nev. (1870), and showing the tendency for each of the five decades it was evident that the progress had been through a succession of states of mind from the rule of thumb through the ultra scientific, or from what I might call the slag type period up to the present highly developed art. Conservatism has been characteristic of the metallurgist. This may have been most natural, especially with the lead metallurgist, the development of whose art was so entirely in the custom smelting plant, where the metal contents of his ores were paid for in cash and therefore excessive metallurgical losses could mean nothing short of financial bankruptcy. The metallurgist himself was held to a personal account, in these smelting plants. It was the metallurgist who was accountable. In the concentrating plants, if undue losses occurred remodelling of the plant was discussed, but if there were excessive metallurgical losses in the custom smelting plant, a new metallurgist was considered as the remedy. For this reason the tendency was to adhere to recognized practice and to be wary of unusual methods, using the word unusual in the sense in which it is used in Article VIII of the Constitution of the United States, as to punishments and modes of death. This conservatism of the metallurgist was reflected as other branches of metallurgy were developed. We have heard of the wonderful development of flotation, but it had to be introduced over the dead metallurgical bodies of its opponents.

Jan 1, 1926

By W. C. PAGE

AS the pioneer operation treating the mixed lead- zinc-iron ores from the district tributary to the Salt Lake Valley, the International Smelting Co.'s plant has offered an extremely interesting and instructive opportunity to study some phases of this problem. Basically, there were two main reason for our attempting to work out a successful operation for the separation and concentration of the values contained in the rather widespread deposits of these so- called lead-zinc ores. In the first place, the time was ripe and demanded some method of curtailing the economic waste resulting from the costs of past and present practice of smelting ores of this character, or rather, those ores which could stand the charges inherent with smelting them. Secondly, but rather primarily with us, we believe that such a solution would greatly in- crease in general the production of lead in the district tributary to the Salt Lake Valley. It is generally known that there were and are three relatively large lead smelting plants in the Salt Lake Valley and the decreasing production of correspondingly clean lead ores was not efficient to justify the existence of all three. We could not hope for better lead smelting metallurgy nor more efficient business management than was being practised, so the only prospect was to at- tempt to work out some way to increase the primary production and thus widen the scope of operations.

Jan 1, 1926

By L. BENEDICT

COMMENTING on the report of the latest Royal Commission for India, the September, 1926, issue of the National City Bank's monthly letter states, among other things, that "The decision of the Royal Commission is against the proposal for a gold coinage, but in favor of placing the silver coins and paper currency now redeemable in silver on a gold basis." Also, it quotes the following from the Royal Commission's report: The essence of the proposal * * * * * is that the ordinary medium of circulation in India should remain as at present the currency note and the silver rupee, and that the stability of the currency in terms of gold should be secured by making the currency directly convertible into gold for all purposes, but the gold should not circulate as money. It must not circulate at first, and it need not circulate ever. In this connection it may be stated that during the last one hundred and fifty years or so unsuccessful attempts have been made by the governments of different nations of the world to devise a plan or plans by which gold and silver could be used concurrently for money purposes and, particularly, as standard money; such, for example, as bimetallism, which, of course, is impracticable. But, since none of such plans has been adopted generally it is logical to conclude that their proponents did not shape them so as to conform to the basic principle of standard money, or else political issues were deemed to be dominant, or, perhaps, it was partly due to each.

Jan 1, 1926

By PHILIP N. MOORE

IT is a pleasure to realize even at that day the dignity of the engineer's calling was upheld. May I also add my firm belief that today there be many engineers who will qualify to the specifications of our interesting author. Since that time, the development of the world has been chiefly due to the engineer, and so far as human brain can foresee, the material tasks of the future will continue to follow the directions of his judgment. Popular opinion says this is the age of the engineer; literature, which in the long run, voices public sentiment, shows it in the number of engineers who figure as characters of fiction. The engineer has been doing the big things necessary to increase the comfort and efficiency of mankind, but while a certain amount of fame and repute falls to him, too often he figures as the hired man of the entrepreneur, using that term not in the offensive sense of a mere promoter, but to mean the great visioned master of enterprise who has seen ahead of other men, recognized the coming needs of the world, and through ability to inspire others and to hire capital for his use has also been able to hire engineers as needed. Justly enough, therefore, to such men comes the fame as well as the prize of the game.

Jan 1, 1926

By Eugene McAuliffe

THE last obtainable figures of the value of the coal mining investment are those contained in the U. S. Census Reports, from data gathered in 1919. The values shown therein and set forth below cover lands and equipment and do not include distribution and marketing facilities. The working capital necessary to meet pay rolls to purchase material and supplies and workmen's compensation insurance are likewise excluded.

Jan 1, 1926

By WILLIAM SLOAN

B RITISH COLUMBIA in its mining activities is going ahead by leaps and bounds both in development and production. Mineral production for 1925 was $61,492,242 in value as compared to $48,704,- 604 in 1924, or an increase of about 26.2 per cent. This is a new record. It is the first time in the history of mining in British Columbia that we have gone over the fifty million mark. But we have got in the habit of making new records. The year 1924, with its mineral production of almost forty-nine million was a new record. And I am confident that when the mining history of 1926 is written it will be found that we have established yet another new record and that we can report another 25 per cent increase over 1925. What is the explanation? It is not only that the world is settling down, and settling up, after the war. It is not only that in the rebuilding, the refashioning in which all nations are busily engaged, the metals that come from our mines are needed. More than anything else, at least as far as we are concerned, it is because British Columbia has the resources and the fact that the province has been fortunate in recent years in finding men with the enterprise and the vision required to push ahead the labor of their development. From the ranks of our own people in Canada we have prospectors who have faith, energy and requisite knowledge. They are combing our hills season after season and they are of the type of manhood that does not know the meaning of the word quit. More and more these men are learning the importance of the guidance furnished by geological reports, and to an ever increasing extent such reports, thanks to the valuable work of the Canadian Geological Survey, covering areas little known to man, are made available to them-but it is recognized that in the opening up of our Province, containing within itself 372,000 square miles, it is essential that we should have the cooperation of our cousins on this side of the line as well as of our fellow citizens of the Dominion and of the Mother Country.

Jan 1, 1926

By John A. Mathews

D R. CHARLES W. ELIOT, the great educator and philosopher-he of the five-foot book shelf-recently gave expression to a thought I had long been cherishing as a private opinion, when he said: "It is obvious that standardization has become a dangerous adversary of progress in both education and industry." This idea must have been more widespread than either of us knew, for some five years ago a writer of verse for one of the comic papers dealt with it at great length. I will quote only a few of his stanzas to illustrate his understanding of "A Standardized Existence" : A visitor at large, I stand Beneath a standard sky- Where everything is standardized To please the standard eye. Each tree is of a standard height, Each building is the same; Each man is uniform in height, And has a standard name. Above there is a standard star Beside a standard cloud, And a standard weather here prevails To please a standard crowd. With standard joy, and standard gain, The standard people live; And if there is one bit of pain T?is such as standards give.

Jan 1, 1926

By George A. Burrell, G. W. Jones, Frank M. Seibert

In this bulletin, the style of Bulletin 42 has been closely followed. Much of the material is reprinted on the following pages in its original form, and changes have been made only where manifestly neces- St,ry. Laboratory methods have been brought up to date. Some types of apparatus described in Bulletin 42 have now become obsolete and newer designs are described instead. The authors hope that this bulletin will be of as much service as was Bulletin 42.

Jan 1, 1926

By A. B. Hooker, L. C. IlsLey

Explosives have been fired electrically for several decades. Mountains have been tunneled, deep shafts sunk, extensive coal and metal mine workings excavated and, in times of war, railroads, buildings, bridges, and fortifications have been destroyed by means of electrically fired explosives. Modern engineering depends so much on explosives that their safe and efficient handling and especially their detonation are of prime importance to all those connected with the use of explosive agents. Electric shot-firing is only one method of igniting explosives, but it is rapidly spreading and because of certain inherent safety features should be encouraged. Data collected by the Bureau of Mines indicate that in the United States a large percentage of the blasting in quarries, shafts,· and tunnels, and from 15 to 25 per cent of the blasts in mining operations, are set off electrically. The Bureau of Mines is interested in electric shot-firing because of its use in mining, and especially because electric methods, when properly applied, are undoubtedly safer than other methods commonly used. Electrical problems of many kinds must be solved in dealing with the various phases of electric shot-firing. Success in using an electric detonator is closely linked with the resistance of its bridge, the resistance of its leg wires, and the insulation of its current-carrying parts. The proper layout of a circuit where a number of shots are to be fired simultaneously depends not only on the types of detonators that are used and their arrangement and interconnections, but also on the size and insulation of the wire leading back to the source of power, and even on the source of power itself. Various types of electric shot-firing machines have been developed, and these offer still another field for study. In investigations of electric detonators and electric blasting equipment, the oscillograph is valuable because it can record electrical activity over very short intervals of time. By its use more complete information about electrical performance can be obtained than by any other means.

Jan 1, 1926

By A. L. Murray

"Welfare endeavor in connection with both the metal and the coal mines of Utah has shown gratifying progress during recent years, and in most mining towns of the state, both the operators and their employees deserve much credit for the efforts put forth to better the living, working, educational and recreational conditions. Progress has been and is being made, but there are still a few important towns where purer water and better sewage disposal are pressing needs.In the older metal-mining towns that are incorporated and are independent of the mining properties operating in the vicinity, less opportunity is presented for the companies to exercise efforts looking toward improved welfare conditions than in company towns controlled by the mine operators.However, even in such towns the companies can do much to better welfare conditions, as shown by the progress in Bingham Canyon during the past several years. The Utah Copper Company has spent $800,000 since 1920, in the erection of modern brick cottages, apartment houses and the Germnell Memorial Club. The cottages and apartment houses have every convenience to be found in up-to-date city homes. The Gemmell Memorial Club erected and equipped at a cost of $175,000 was provided by the company for the benefit of the Utah Copper employees living in the canyon and has been made the recreational center for the camp. Another improvement is the $100,000 fireproof hotel built by the United States Mine of the United States Mining, Smelting and Refining; Co. in the Copperfield section of Bingham Canyon. This hotel will accommodate 105 men exclusive of hotel help and has all the conveniences of a city hotel."

Sep 1, 1925

By J. J. Beeson

Fox the past fifty years or more, the structural features of the Cordilleran mountain system of western United States have presented some most interesting problems. Any geologist or engineer living in this region, or even making occasional examinations. of the mines, will lose much of interest and importance if he is not familiar with the literature. Some of the greatest works on geology have been the, result of studies carried on in sections of this region. Among the more important of the earlier works are those of Dutton,1. King,2 Gilbert,3 and Powell;4 of the more recent Lindgren,5 Ransome,6 Spurr,7 Butler,8 and others have contributed much. Many of the papers are largely of scientific interest but even these lay the foundation for the commercial application of the broader features of the geology. I have read many of these works with the keenest interest and pleasure; in fact, some have been read until some of the more important findings seem to be my own. In this paper, however, it is my aim to accept credit for little more than the labor of assembling some of the ideas of others. This is done with the hope that an interesting and valuable discussion will be the result. If some of the ideas presented should

Jan 9, 1925

By Leon Orlowski

THE oil-bearing districts of Poland are found on the slopes of the Carpathian Mountains. The oil belt extends from Gorlice southeast to Stanislawow. It is approximately 250 miles long and 30 miles wide, and comprises four geological districts: the western, or Gorlice district; next, to the east, the Krosno district; the Boryslaw district; and, in the extreme southeast, the Stanislawow district. The amount of petroleum produced in Poland from the beginning of the oil industry scarcely totals 26,000,000 metric tons, or 15 per cent. of the estimated supply. Of this amount, 18,000,000 tons have been taken from the fields of Boryslaw within 25 years; and only about 8,000,000 tons from all other fields within a period twice as long, although some of these other fields represent just as good possibilities as did Boryslaw at the beginning of its development. The Polish oil industry was severely stricken by the war. The retreating Russian armies, in 1915, destroyed a large number, of the existing oil wells, nor was the post-war period favorable for the development of this industry;; the money and credit stringency interfered with the expansion of drilling. But since 1921 there has. been a slow steady increase in production and there is now every reason to believe that conditions in the industry will improve. In fact, an increase in new drillings has been reported for the current year. The production of crude oil in Poland, in 1913, amounted to 1,113,668 metric tons. In 1914, the production declined- to 655,600 metric tons. In 1921, the production was 705,596 tons; in 1922, 712,428 tons, and in 1923, 737,182 tons; or more than 5,000,000 bbl. But the fields have a much greater potential output, which could be realized were the capital available for prospecting and new drilling. The principal producing, and at present most exploited, fields are around Boryslaw and Schodnica. These fields were developed rapidly for in the first year of their modern exploitation the wells were gushers of moderate depth. However, as a result of heavy drilling, the shallow folds have been exhausted and oil can be reached now only by deep drilling. Wells of almost 5600 ft. have been drilled in Boryslaw. Because of these drilling conditions, a large number of engineers and workmen specially skilled in deep drilling are to be found in this field.

Jan 3, 1925

By Carroll Wegemann

THAT Colorado was producing oil and gas before the fields of the Mid-Continent were discovered is a fact too frequently overlooked. As early as 1862, oil was obtained in the Florence district (see Fig. 1) from seepages and shallow holes. The first well that could be regarded Fig. 1. as being truly commercial was drilled in this field in 1876. The field is now producing 100,000 bbl. per year, and is credited with a total production of approximately 11,000,000 bbl. The small field near Boulder, Boulder County, was opened in 1901; production has now practically ceased but the field is credited" with a total production of 610,000 bbl. Oil was discovered at Rangeley in 1901, and the field supports a small local refinery at the present time. The first shallow well in the White River gas field was drilled in 1892, and the wells now producing have been

Jan 3, 1925

By Edward Steidle

Those who have followed the rapid progress in rock-dusting bituminous-coal mines must admit that opinion crystallized during the year just closed in support of this preventive of coal-dust explosions. Up to 1924 only one mining company in America practiced rock-dusting on a large scale, but during 1924 forty-two companies had adopted this safety measure, and the "boom" is expected to extend over the next two or three years. Alabama is represented by 1 company, Colorado by 3, Illinois by 4, Kentucky by 1, New Mexico by 4, Pennsylvania by 20, Utah by 8, and Wyoming by 1. A total of about 500 miles of entry has been dusted. Illinois leads with 275 miles of dusted entries and Pennsylvania holds second place with about 175 miles. In each case there is a sense of great security, not only on the part of the operator but by the miner as well. It is also interesting to note that during 1924 the compensation rating or inspection bureaus in twelve of our coal-producing states revised their rating schedules so that a credit would be given for rock-dusting. This credit ranges from 10 to 20 cents per $100 payroll. Recent drastic federal and state regulations approved by mine operators made rock-dusting compulsory in bituminous coal mines in Utah, beginning July 1, 1924. Legislative action favorable to rock-dusting may be expected in other states. Colorado has already proposed a change in its laws, and Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington, and West Virginia are giving the matter consideration. If the rock-dusting problem is handled properly and proves to be entirely successful, no mining man of any standing will delay applying it in his mine. State legislation regarding this matter may or may not solve the problem. At present, the mining companies that are rock-dusting of their own choice are doing it carefully and thoroughly. In Utah, some are doing it conscientiously, trying to get what benefits can be obtained while others are reported to be doing it only to keep within state regulations. In any event, if we are to have new legislation, it is essential that the various states know what they are about and then, if possible, work for uniform regulations.

Jan 1, 1925