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NEW YORK, APRIL 27, 1912 No. 29

So far as unionism in coal mining is concerned,
Illinois is the star performer of all states in this country.
Last year, in compliance with the check-off system
in force in that commonwealth, coal operators paid
more than $650,000 into the treasury of the mine
workers. Practically every one of the 70,000 colliery
employees in Illinois is a member of the union. In
the anthracite field, where the ‘‘check-off’’ has not
heen forced on the operators, a recent report of the
U. M. W. of A. showed an enrollment of only 14,000
out of 170,000 hard-coal miners.

It is evident therefore, why the leaders of united
labor desire anthracite recognition, such as would be
conceded in the proposed check-off system. The
difference to them is a matter of increasing their
annual income in the hard-coal regions from $130,000
to more than a million and a half. What could they
not eventually accomplish if provided such a sum
to work with?

The anthracite operators have the Illinois mine
owners set before them as an example of what will
happem when labor gets the upper hand. Conditions
in [linois have become such that John Walker and
his lieutenants practically dictate the policy of the
industry in that state. Men cannot be discharged,
inachinery introduced, nor improved methods inaugur-
ated unless the act is labeled with a union endorsement.

Illinois has 850 mines, operated by 260 companies,
and it is this condition that has brought about a policy
of “every man for himself, and the devil take the
lindmost.”” As a result, mine owners have lacked
ulity of purpose, and coal mining in that state has
wen brought to a deplorable pass. The union is adding
to the present burden of the operators little by little,
not seeming to realize that by hampering and weak-
ning the employer, the laborer himself will fail to
prosper. With highest wages and most favorable
working conditions, the Illinois miners receive less
per vear than do coal hewers in many other fields
where the rights and welfare of the men are supposed
to be less properly safeguarded.

Unlimited success, therefore, is the danger rock on
which the niners’ organization and the labor move-
iment as a whole will dash itself to pieces. Human
nature is very much the same in the average of man-
kind. Just as the good swimmer, glorying in his
superb strength and skill, goes furthest from shore
wud perishes through overestimating his own power,

experimental ground.

so capitalism through the abuse and misapplication
of wealth became top-heavy and tumbled from its
apparently safe foundation. In like manner, labor
unions are piling success on success, using each victory
as a stepping-stone to a new demand, until at last the
structure built with so much pride and hope will
collapse because the architects bungled the plans
and ignored the necessity of observing established
economic facts.

No matter what color glasses we look through,
everyone must recognize that wages cannot be larger
than the product of a man’s labor; in fact, they must
always be less than the product—big enough to give
the capitalist his due returns and the employer his
living profics. When workmen, acting individually
or collectively, attempt by force to refute this certain
principle of wages, the result can be no more successful
than would be an effort to overthrow the law of gravity.

Production will ever be the only true measure of
a workman’s pay, and in accord with this idea, the
wages-class are entitled to the immediate benefit of
every improvement in science and art, every discovery
of resources in nature, and every advance in their own
industrial character. However, the doctrine of Laissez
faire, Which teaches that the spontaneous action of
individuals, each seeking his own interest on his own
instance, will attain the best results, is mischievous,
and only applicable in special cases. Acceptance of
such a principle is certain to bar the way to advances
in the industrial condition of mankind; in brief, such
a rule, like fire or water, is a good servant but a bad
master.

In conclusion, therefore, we uphold the unionization
of workingmen when they combine to prevent indus-
trial degradation, and to better their condition in
life, but we deprecate the unwise exercise of great
power, such as caused the head of a powerful labor
organization to declare in New York this week, that
unless the demands of his union be granted, he would
shut off the food supply of our greatest city in less than
seven days. If labor leaders could only discern that
the chief danger to their cause lies in the errors of
their own wavs, the future of the wage earner would
be brighter and safer than it is today.

Continuing this line of thought, next week we shall
deal with compulsory arbitration, and the recent advances
made by workingmen in New Zealand, the world’s social

932

COAL AGE

Vol. 1, No. 29

The Sheridan, Wyo. Coal Field

THE CARNEY COAL Co.

The property of the Carney Coal Co.
is on the northerly side of Tongue River,
embracing 2600 acres of patented land
owned by the company and 640 acres
of leased land. The Carney bed, as
it is locally known, has been developed
here to the greatest extent of any point
in the district. The mine is opened by
two drifts in the river bluffs, about a
quarter of a mile apart. The surface
plant is one of the most complete in
the Sheridan field, comprising two tip-
ples, one of which is of steel and con-
crete throughout; the other tipple is of
frame construction and well equipped.
The coal is worked by undercutting with
electric chain machines, and broken down
io a shale parting which gives a thick-
ress of approximately 10 ft. of clean

coal. The plant has a maximum ca-

By Jesse Simmons *

This is the second and con-
cluding article describing ope-
rations in this field. The Car-
ney Coal Co., one of the proper-
ties dealt with, has a mine with
a capacity of 4000 tons per 8-hour
shift. A detailed account of the
Acme Coal Co.’s plant will follow
at an early date.

*Deadwood, S. D.
ning water from a system maintained at
the power plant. C. B. Seymour, Car-
neyville, Wyo., is general manager.
THE Koor MINE.
Peter Kooi, of Kooi, Wyo., is the owner

and manager of the property bearing
kis name, near the western extremity

main parting, from whence a tail-rope
haulage system is used to transport it
to the tipple. From the pit mouth jn-
ward for a distance of 150 ft. the pitch
is 4°¢, and from that point the entr
follows the seam on a pitch of about
1.5%. The tail-rope haul is 1500 ft,
in length, with a Flory engine for furn-
ishing the power.

A Norwalk 24x24-in. compound, 2-
stage, air compressor furnishes air for
the 7 Herrison punchers which are used
for undercutting the coal. Some modifi-
cations are now being made, following
the adoption of electric power secured
from the Sheridan Electric Light &
Power Co. The mine has a capacity
of 2000 tons per day during the winter,
and Mr. Kooi is proud of the fact that
he has done this with a total of 102

mine cars.

SURFACE EQUIPMENT AT THE MONARCH MINE, IN THE SHERIDAN DISTRICT

pacity of 4000 tons in an 8-hour day. The
mine is worked in 30-room panels, rooms
being driven on 45-ft. centers to a length
of 300 ft.; electric haulage is used.
The camp, known as Carneyville, in-
cludes 163 houses, which were con-
structed by the company, and are leased
to the employees at a nominal rental,
a church, store, office building, etc. Every
room in the village has electric lights,
and every home is supplied with run-

of the Sheridan field, on the southerly
side of the Tongue River, two miles
west of the Monarch mine. The Mon-
arch seam is mined, the bed showing
practically the same thf¥ckness as in the
Monarch property, which has been de-
scribed, and the coal is mined on the
same system.

Horses haul the coal from the rooms
to the sub-partings, and a Westinghouse
6-ton electric-locomotive takes it to the

THE MopeEL Coat Co.

Between the Acme and Carney mines,
the Model Coal Co. is opening and
equipping a new property on the Carney
seam, the only shaft mine in this portion
of the district. The opening is made
by a shaft 12x24ft. and 123 ft. deep.
The shaft is timbered with 12x12-in. and
10x 10-in. square timbers, backed by
4-in. lagging. In addition a sump 12 ft.

\pril 27, 1912

depth has been put down below the
An electric hoist of 100 hp. using
-ernating current at 440 volts, will be
i to hoist the coal. A 12-ft. Guibal

operated by a 35-hp. alternating
rrent motor, will furnish air. Electric,

‘rtwall, chain machines will be used

COAL AGE

Mine water will be

for undercutting.
handled with a motor-driven pump. A

re-screening plant will be erected to
prepare the smaller sizes of coal, and
trackage, scales, etc., for handling 1000
tons per 8-hour day are being instal-
led. The transformer house will contain
transformers for stepping the power

DODD sanrerreree ae

PUNCHER AIR MACHINE IN THE KOOl

‘
ie

* CoacAe -

MINE

933

down from the line voltage to 440 volts,

and a 1000-kw. motor-generator set,
developing a 250-volt current for the
mining machines, etc. Power is pur-

chased from the Sheridan Electric Light
& Power Company.

The Model Coal Co. is incorporated
under the laws of the state of Wyoming.
The property is leased under a royalty
per ton of coal extracted. The president
is Frank W. Smith, Detroit, Mich.; treas-
urer, John Peters, Williamsport, Penn.;
general manager, Stewart Kennedy, Ca:
neyville, Wyo.

THE ACME COAL Co.

The Acme Coal Co. operates two prop-
erties, the Nos. 1 and 2 openings, which
are on a tract of land near the western
edge of the field, and the No. 3 opening,
which is at the present time the most
northeasterly development in the district;
the properties are about three miles
apart. Nos. 1 and 2 are operating in the
Carney seam, and the No. 3 workings
are in the Monarch. No. 3 is a new prop-
erty, and a splendid plant is being rapidly
completed and put in shape to make an
excellent grade of coal for years to
come, while the ultimate end of opera-
tions at Nos. 1 and 2 can be but a few
years distant.

No. 3 is a drift mine, the entry being

made in the northerly bluffs of the
Tongue River. The coal is mined by
undercutting with Jeffrey mining ma-

chines, of both breast and longwall types,
operated by 250-volt direct current. The
coal is hauled from the main partings
to the yards, which are a quarter of a
mile from the pit mouth, by Jeffrey elec-
tric-locomotives. Here the cars are
picked up by a cable-haul and delivered
to a second cable-haul which takes them
up an incline approach to the top of the

tipple, 49 ft. above the yard tracks,
where they are dumped in a crossover
dump.

The coal, dumped from the mine cars,
enters a bin with a movable bottom, by

View OF TOWN AND MINE AT CARNEYVILLE,

COAL AGE =2

934

which it is fed to a shaker-screen of
3000 tons per 8-hour day, capacity.
This screen has both lateral and longi-
tudinal motion—something new to the
Sheridan district—and makes a _ very
clean product. From this screen coal
may be loaded into either open- or box-
cars, an Ottumwa loader being used for
loading the latter. Covering the screen
with steel plates makes it possible to
dump mine-run.

The screen has 6-in. circular openings
and the product passing over it is the
standard lump of the Sheridan district.
That portion passing through is either
loaded into open cars or carried on a
30-in. belt-conveyor to the re-screeniny
plant. This plant contains a revolving
screen 24 ft. long and 6 ft. in diameter.
For one-half of this length it is sur-

COAL AGE

rounded by a section 7 ft. in diametes.
The screen openings are as follows,
reckoned from the upper end: 1-in. for
the first 12 ft.; 2-in., for 6 ft., and 3%4-
in. for the remaining 6 ft. The 12-ft.
section of outer screen surrounds the
inner section of equal length having 1-in.
apertures, and has '»-in. openings. The
screen is approximately 65 ft. above
the ground, and underneath are bins with
a capacity of 500 tons. On this screen
are made slack, pea, nut and egg. The
latter product is the portion coming from
the main tipple which passes over the
largest openings in the revolving screen.
The entire tipple and re-screening plant
is operated by electric motors.

Power is secured from the Sheridan
Electric Light & Power Co. whose plant
is a few rods away from the tipple. This

Vol. 1, No. 2:

plant is equipped with 3 Heine wate
tube boilers having Roney stokers, and
Westinghouse Parsons turbines, each ¢:
1250 kw. capacity generating a 230.
volt, 60-cycle, 3-phase, alternating cu;
rent. The current is stepped up to 22
000 volts for transmission to the cit
of Sheridan and surrounding mines.
The product from Nos. 1 and 2 mines
is dumped over a frame tipple, sit-
uated covenient to both openings; both
are drift mines. Electric undercutting
and electric haulage are used. The plant
has a capacity of 1000 tons in 8 hours.
Here, also, a well built camp has
sprung up to afford accomodation for the
employees. A. K. Craig and Ora Dar-
nall are the owners of the capital stock
of the Acme Coal Co., both making
their headquarters at Acme, Wyoming.

Mine Regi

At the mines of the Internationai Coal
& Coke Co., at Coleman, Alta., Canada,
all the underground men are hired by
one person, who, on engaging a man,
gives him a slip, directed to the time-
keeper, showing his name, occupation and
the time at which he is to start work.
The timekeeper then registers the new
employee in the “Mine Register,” which
is required to be kept in accordance with
the Canadian coal mines act. The regis-
ter at this particular mine is in the form
of a louse-leaf ledger, allowing a leaf to
each man. When the leaf is filled in,
it is inserted in the binder alphabetically.
This of the form shown in
Fig. 1.

If the workman can write, he is re-
quired to sign the form himself and the
balance is filled in by the timekeeper.
The record is almost self-explanatory.
“Dependents” and ‘Dependents’ Address”
are recorded for convenience in case of
serious accidents and for information re-
quired in connection with the workman’s
compensation act, which is in force in
Alberta.

The employee is next given an alum-
inum check with a number on it, called
the “identification number.” He is in-
structed to carry this check at all times
and is told that it will be necessary for
him to present it on pay-day before re-
ceiving his pay. and to return it on leav-
ing the emplov of the company; also that
if lost he will be held responsible for it.

When the man leaves the employ of
the company, the date of his time slip
is marked on the register and the leaf is
removed to a separate binder, kept for
that purpose. If, at any time, the man
should be rehired. the leaf is again in-
serted in the “mine register,” and, if
possible, the same “identification num-
ber” is given him, the date of reémploy-
ment being marked on the leaf.

record is

stration and Checking

By W. A. Davidson *

At the Coleman mine of the
International Coal & Coke Co.,
a loose-leaf record is kept of all
employees, past and present, and
a most satisfactory system of
checking the menin and out of
the mines has been installed.
The

systems,

registration and checking
the check board, and
methods of operation are here

described in detail.

*Superintendent and mine
International Coal & Coke Co.,
Alta.

manager,
Coleman,

The identification numbers are given
out in rotation, and are assigned to the
outside men as well as those working in-
side, but the “pegging-in’ board or check
board is used only for the inside men. If

FIG. 1 LEAF FROM MINE REGISTER
EMPLOYEES’ REGISTER
Date Tdentiicatio; Vo.
Name Signature
Age
Nationality. 2.6.03.
Married or single
Dependents :
Dependents’ address
Occupation
Mine No. or seam.
Where last employed
Previous experience
Date of time check
te-hirec ete ee aoe ae ee em aie, oie eeepc
Remarks:
PIG.2. DHE

|
Time at Which
shift Com-
menced to
be Admitted
DATE | to Mine

Time at Which}
Shift Com-
menced to |
Return from

Mine

Worked in
Excess of

a “company man,” the new employee al-
se is given a brass check with a number,
called the “company number.”

CHECKING SYSTEM

In this province, a law, commonly
called the eight-hour law, is in force.
This limits the hours of work under-

ground to eight hours and makes it com,
pulsory to keep a register showing the
times of ascent and descent of each shift.
It is essential, therefore, to have some
good reliatle checking system that will
show at all times the number of men in
the mine and will record at the comple-
tion of a shift the number of men, if
any, left in the workings. A system of
this kind is of great value, especially in
the case of serious accidents, when there
is so much confusion and when reliable
information is so essential. The form
of record in use at the Coleman mine is
shown in Fig. 2.

The check board, on which is kept a
record of the men at work, is made of
l-in. kiln-dried pine, free from all knots
or blemishes and straight grained. The
accompanying illustration, Fig. 3, shows
a part of the board used at Coleman and
is almost self-explanatory, but in order
to make it as clear as possible a de-
scription may be given as follows:

The left side of the board is devoted
to keeping track of the No. 2 Seam con-
tract miners. The contracts are numbered
from 1 to 60, and opposite each number

“EIGHT HOUR” REGISTER

Hours |
Cause of Time
Being Worked

Time in Excess of
Fixed by That Fixed ’
Act by Act 2EMARKS | SIGNATUR!

ares»

————

= ik andi

April 27, 1912

-re holes for 10 pegs, which amply pro-
de for the men on each contract.
\longside the contract numbers on the
ard, room is left to tack a small piece
celluloid on which can be printed the
‘ocation of each particular contract. When
ne working place is finished, the cellu-
id can be cleaned off easily and the
ew place marked on.

Above each line of holes, a light piece
of cardboard, divided into ten parts, is
Jipped through three or four common
staples. Each division corresponds to a
hole on the board, and on this cardboard
the men’s names are written. If a man is
shifted from one contract to another, this
record can easily be changed.

COAL AGE

On the lower left-hand side of the
board (not shown in Fig. 3), the same
arrangement is followed out for contract
miners working in No. 4 seam, and the
contract numbers here run from 101 to
160, inclusive. This arrangement is nec-
essary because there are two seams be-
ing worked, No. 2 and No. 4.

On the right side of the board is kept
a record of the company men, the No. 2
men on top and the No. 4 men below.
Practically the same system is followed
here as for the contract miners, except
that the company men are divided into
the various classes of inside labor, such
as bratticemen, trappers, firebosses,
transportation men, trackmen, chute load-

NO.2 SEAM CONTRACTS

{
i
|
|
|
|

|
|
|
al

| NO. 2 COMPANY MEN
3 je101 2102 2103 2104 2105 Je 2107 2108 2109 ello
o emen oo ° ° ° o + 90
jell
} 0 ° > 2 °
P21
jele - ‘ - ‘
etl
° ° ° ° °
2141
ce a 6 0 0
ets!
° + ° ° °
ele
° ° °
° °
° °
=) ° °
| ° ° ° °
|
| ° ° ° °
|
| ° ° °
| ° ° °
| ° ° °
|
| ° ° ° °
| ° °
° ° ° °
° ° ° ° °
° ° ° ©
°
} °
| °
|
| a - °
|
|. ° °
| ° °
|
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]
8
l

Fic. 3. CHECK BOARD FOR

UNDERGROUND OPERATIONS Pate

MINING

lim-
ber
Men

Pit Con.
Bosses Miners

Open Link
Miners

Pack-

ers

OPERATIONS IN No. 2 SEAM

‘©
Qo
'

ers, timber packers, laborers and develop-
ment men—the latter including all men
employed on new work, such as driving
rock tunnels, etc., and work chargeable
to capital account.

Each hole on this side of the board is
given a number (company number). The
No. 2 men are all given numbers begin-
ning with 2, and the No. 4 men, num-
bers beginning with 4. This gives am-
ple room for expansion, 1000 numbers
for each seam thus being available. A
piece of cardboard, bearing the names
of the men, is slipped through staples
above the holes in the manner previously
noted. The number on the board corres-
ponds to the number on the company
check, which is given to a man when he
registers.

CHECKING THE MEN IN AND OuT

When a contract miner enters the mine,
he cails his name and contract number
and a peg is put in under his name. When
he comes out, he calls out the same in-
formation and the peg is removed. A
company man simply calls his number,
es, for instance, 2262; otherwise the pro-
cedure is identical.

Some of the advantages of this check-
ing board are as follows: When the shift
has passed, going out, if any pegs are
left in the check board, it becomes known
immediately that someone is still in the
mine, and the board tells who it is and
where he was working. Similarly, when
the shift is going on, the board at once
shows the absentees and their working
places, which can be filled from the
“open links.” The working time is trans-
ferred directly from the board to the
books. All surface men who go into the
mine temporarily to do repair work, have
their names placed on the board and are

FIG. 4. UNDERGROUND OPERATIONS
VENTILATION TRANSPORTATION
Com- . ee
ber pany or Brat- Chute| ; Horse Track
Chute Rock | Help- Labor- Fire tice Trap- Load- Engi- Brake- Driv- Lay-
Repairs Miners ers ers Bosses Men — pers ers neers men ers ers ivi

ment

Fotal

936

required to check in and out in the same
way as underground men, so, as stated
before, the board shows at all times the
men actually below ground.

In addition to booking the time, a daily
record is kept of each shift, showing the
number of men employed. This is ob-
tained by simply counting the pegs on
the board after the shift has passed, and
the result is entered on the form shown
in Fig. 4. The classification of labor on
this sheet is the same as on the board.
Such a record is of immense value to the
mine manager, as can be understood with-
out further explanation.

KEEPING TRACK OF SEVERAL SHIFTS

When twe shifts overlap, as in the case
of one shift starting at 7 o’clock and an-

COAL AGE

other at 9 o’clock, a different style of peg
is used for each shift. In this particu-
lar case it has been found necessary to
use only two kinds of pegs. The common
brattice nail, along with the ordinary 3-
in. spike, cut off somewhat, serve the
purpose well enough. The 3-in. spike,
being a little brighter and slightly longer
than the brattice nail, makes the distinc-
tion quite evident. For conditions more
complicated, different colored pegs could
be. used.

A person standing centrally in front
of the board can easily reach all parts
of it, and the pegs can be worked quickly,
as are the keys of an instrument, so that
if all the men of a shift follow one an-
other closely, the board can be cleared
accurately in two minutes.

Vol. 1, No. 29

At this mine there are two checkine-in
stations, No. 1 and No. 2. No. 1 is the
main station. Exactly the same sys:.m
is followed at Station No. 2 as at No |,
but the board is not quite so large, 'e-
cause the board at No. 1 includes the reo-
ord for No. 2. After the men check in
at No. 2, the result is telephoned to No.
1 and their pegs are also put in No. |
board. At the end of the shift, No. |
station is informed whether or not No. 2
is clear, so that the board at Station No. |
covers the whole mine and shows at 2
times the total number of men below
ground. This system has been found to
be entirely satisfactory, and there is no
reason why any number of stations could
not be worked in the same way—each
reporting to No. 1.

The Jamison Coke Plants,Greensburg

The subject of the utilization of the
waste gas from coke ovens has been so
much discussed and yet so little com-
paratively has arisen from the discussion
that it is thought that the following
article may be of value to those who still
retain the old bee-hive oven methods.
There is no question but that the waste-
heat boiler has come to stay wherever
coke is made in bee-hive ovens and the
problem is now what is to be done with
the excess heat after all the needs of the
colliery as regards power production are
provided.

Those who have studied the use of
waste heat are convinced that the logic of
the situation favors the installation of
means to utilize it at least to a degree
sufficient to meet the full demands of the
colliery where the ccke is made. The
sale of excess power is a larger ques-
tion. It is to be hoped that some means
may be found enabling the operator to
sell this power, which costs him nothing
except a comparatively small initial out-
lay.

JAMISON PLANTS

The Jamison Coal <end Coke Co., John
M. Jamison, president, and W. W. Jami-
son, vice-president, at their Greensburg
operations, mine approximately 2,500,000
tons per annum. They also have large
interests in West Virginia, but the mat-
ter of this article is confined to a con-
sideration of three coke-oven plants cf
the following names, locations and equip-
ments: No. 1 at Luxor with 401 ovens,
No. 2 at Hannastown with 516 ovens and
No. 4 at Crabtree with 492 ovens, a total
of 1409 ovens. The coal mined is the
Pittsburg and runs from 7 ft. 6 in. to 8
ft. thick in this section.

When the coal comes from the mines,
all which passes through a 4-in. screen is
shipped. The balance is washed after
crushing and made into coke. the an-
alvses of the materials at the various

StU G>e Kaing ae f llowece
stages CDeing as rollows:

By R. Dawson Hall

These plants make only 72-
and 96-hour coke. Ovens are
now supplying waste gas to two
boiler plants. Over 20 horse-
power is supplied by each oven
and no coal is fed to the boilers
even on Mondays. The coke
made by the waste-gas ovens
is superior to the ordinary bee-
hive coke, being free from black
butts and a trifle lower in sul-
phur.

ANALYSES OF COAL AND COKE

JAMISON PLANTS
Vola-
tile
sul- Mois- Mat- Fixed
Ash phur ture ter Carbon
Screened coal 7.45 1.28 0.70 32.95 58.90
Washer slack. 10.00 1.40
Washed coa! 7.00 1.30
Cone. ¥.30 0.53 O.id 1.00 SY.U4

It may be noted, though it is a trite
observation, that the slack, which at
these plants goes to the washer, is not as
good as the coal which is shipped to
market. This is always the case, the
bulk of the impurities being found in the
disintegrated coal.

The slack is washed in Stein-Boericke
and Luhrig jigs and the cleansed product
is discharged into one of two large tanks.
These tanks at plant No. 2 are of iron,
lined with brickwork, the joints being
filled with cement. At the other plants
they are of reinforced concrete. They
are filled on alternate days. Elevators
remove the slack from one tank at a time
and empty it into bins for charging into
larries.

By this means the washed coal is ren-
dered comparatively dry before charging.
This drying not only avoids an important
waste of heat. but practically extends the
coking period one hour and as it resu!ts
in the heat of adjacent ovens not being

JAMISON MINE No. 2 HANNASTOWN, PENN.

April 27, 1912

COAL AGE

A Row OF OVENS AT JAMISON MINE No. 2

absorbed unduly by ovens newly charged,
ir provides for an oven temperature
suitable for the manufacture of the
strongest and densest coke. It is proba-
ble that some sulphur leaves the coal
during the interval of storage, because
the water drawn off is quite strongly im-
pregnated with sulphuric acid. The
pyrites can be entirely robbed of its
sulphur by oxidation and solution, whereas
the heat of the oven can only drive off
50 per cent. of it. Consequently it would
seem that a leaching process, which is
not carried far enough to destroy the
coking power of the coal, should be ad-
vantageous. I have not seen any data on
the subject, but it would appear to be a
fertile field for investigation. The gen-
eralized symbol for pyrites is FenSn+1
and that symbol still remains applicable
ifter heating the mineral. The factor n,
however, progressively becomes so great
that it practically equals n+ 1and Fe
S.. after being strongly heated, becomes
aa

ro Oo.

FOUNDRY COKE ,

The Jamison plants aim to make
othing but foundry coke. Instead of
harging each oven every alternate day
xcept Sundays and drawing furnace
coke four days in the week and foundry
coke on Mondays and Tuesdays, each
ven is charged but once in three days,
‘nd if Sunday intervenes the coa! re-
nains in the oven four days. So all the
vens are producing either 72- or 96-
lour coke. Three grades are made, A,
> and C, the first, A, is No. 1 foundry,
8 is No. 2 foundry and C is furnace
coke. There is a large amount of the
product sold on a guarantee that the sul-
phur content shall be less than 0.90 per
cent.

The following are the input and out-
put of 72- and 96-hour charges:

CHARGE AND

OUTPUT OF COKE OVENS

Good foundry coke.

Good foundry coke

72-HOUR CHARGE

Per Cent. Per Cent.

) of of
Pounds | Charge | Output

15,680} 100.00 132.09
9,52) 60.76 80.27
1,706) 10.88 14.37
636) 4.06 4.356
L1L.S70 Far. 40 100.00

96-HOUR CHARGE

Per Cent lPevcend,
of of
?ounds | Charges | Output

|
| |

17,655 10).00 130.42

10,330 58.51 49.82
| 2 O44 11.58 15.79
SOS 3.2) 1.39

2,942 tax00 160.00

937

A 96-hour charge stands about 40 in.
deep in the oven, and after coking it
will be found shrunken to about 28 in.
When coal is taken direct from the
washer to the ovens, without the delay in
the tanks, of which mention has been
made, it is two hours before it begins to
coke; but as a result of the opportunity
the coal has to drain off, the time at the
Jamison works is reduced to one hour.
The door of the oven, which is only bui!:
about half way up to the soffit of the
arched opening, is after this hour raised
almost to the full height, the bricks being
plastered with wet loam to exclude all
air, except such as can enter above the
coal. This prevents wasteful oxidation
o: burning of the charge.

The bricks forming the door are wet,
to the full height of the slack bed, due
to the dampness of the charge. As cok-
ing takes place, the bricks gradually dry,
and when the coking reaches the oven
floor, the entire door ceases to show evi-
dences of moisture. This requires about
36 hours. Such coke, however, is light
and weak, and the additional time given
the process completes the driving off of
the volatile matter and makes a heavier
and stronger product. It may be noted
that there is a deposit of carbon on those
parts of the coke through which the ris-
ing gases eScape, and the amount of this
deposit varies from 3 to 5 per cent. The
ccke ovens at plant No. 1 are not at
present in operation, and No. 2, though
producing the best of coke, does not em-
body all the latest features of coke-mak-
ing economy. Steam locomotives are
used for hauling the larries to the oven
and no use is made of the waste gases.
It is the intention, however, to make the
coke ovens supply the heat for operating
this plant and the change will be made
without delay because the test at No. 4
nas shown that the waste-heat coke oven
is a gilt-edged investment.

Waste HEAT OVENS AND BOILER House PLANT No. 4

938 COAL AGE Vol. 1, No. 29
Oe ee |
Ki j 8 .
—= Aire urse Aircourse ~—. =the: v
-- Dampers

bee 8” >
Sy LGBT hail

Detai

Showing Location of
Enlarged

Third Rail,

aie __ ae \

| a 3g
5 DIT =

rHE

Section of

Part Cross

DETAIL OF WASTE HEAT

OVEN MAKEs 22 HP., ONE MAN
OVERSEES 1600 HP.

EACH

At plant No. 4, seventy ovens are sup-
plying all the heat needed for the opera-
tion of four 400-hp. boilers. In order to
shorten the flues leading to these, there
are two boiler houses set just back of
the line of ovens, each house being con-
nected with 35 ovens. By these arrange-
ments a more even draft is secured for
each oven, than if the boiler houses were
combined and set at one end of the long
line.

One man attends to all four boilers
and watches the fan engine. He does

not have much to occupy him physically
or mentally and a high-priced man is not
needed. Liberal allowances for interest,
depreciation and repair leave a margin
of about $20,000 over the coal firing.
The cost of installation, including flues,
boilers, steam lines, water lines complete,
was approximately S250 per oven.

It will be seen that each oven provides
about 22 hp. It not thought that
the continuous making of foundry coke
changes the heat output in any material
degree. It is true that the ovens are less
frequently charged but, at the same time,
larger charges are used and thus the
conditions are not so unequal as might at
first appear.

Over Seat EL GIB

y PLS RIDES IS, IL SY UIST

Coal AGE

Section through Small
Flue, Airway Underneath

l2"Fa// ane :
el I SNR x j 2
= 5 S {>
S 7 YU
———
Oven, Tracks and Yards
OVENS SHOWINGS FLUES

ANY OVEN SHOULD PRovIDE 20 HP.

An oven operating on the regular cycle,
but of like diameter to those at the
Jamison plants (12 ft. 6 in.), is charged
every week with two chargings of about
five tons each. and on Friday or Satur-
day with 6'. tons, a total of 16 tons

per week. It will be seen that the
amount fed to the ovens at the Jamison
plants with a two-charge system is 16°;
tons. So that on the whole. there is no
reason to believe that the three-charge
system with its smaller charging loads
will not give almost equivalent results.
In fact it has been the experience of the
H. C. Frick Coke Co., and the Ellsworth
Coal Co., that 20 hp. is to be expected
from a single coke oven.

The method of utilizing the waste
gases has been developed by several ex-
periments during the last few years. The

heated gas is taken from the trunnel-
head. This head can be covered by a

large firebrick lid. When this is closed
the gas passes through a conduit built on

dl
:

oe
et ea

A CAR OF 72-HR. FOUNDRY COKE

April 27, 1912

a slightly descending grade toward the
»ain flue. When first installed the small
tues were covered by the slope of the
bank of earth by which the main flue was
srotected, but it was found later to be
4 better plan to leave them uncovered as
: the sectional elevation shown, because
‘he intense heat did not then have as
creat an effect on their firebrick arches.

CLOSING OFF BOILERS

The large brick flue at the back of the
even leads the gas away to the nearest
boiler house. Should it be desirable to
clean any boiler or to shut. it off for re-
pairs, a damper provides the means and
a cross-flue between the flue to the right-
hand boiler and that to the left permits
the gases from one flue to be sidepassed
trom the boiler they normally heat to that
which under ordinary conditions is
heated by the adjacent stack of ovens.

CoaL AGE.

EDWARD SOPPITT

It is, of course, possible to overheat
an oven, and this is not desirable, as the
coke is thereby rendered brittle and
valueless. But if the temperature be too
low, the coke has black butts near the

oven floor and is discolored in other
places. As this half-coked coal and soot
are undesirable, a_ sufficient heat to

eliminate them and make them into a
solid, shining body of coke is needed.
Moreover, an intensely heated oven will
eliminate somewhat more sulphur than
one of lower temperature. But the
Present arrangement with a chimney
about 130 ft. higher than the oven bed
gives somewhat too much draft if not
regulated, and reduction in height is pro-
posed as remedy for this condition.

In conclusion, the ovens are giving ex-
cellent results, the coke made by them
is better than that of ovens without pro-
vision for the use of the waste gases.
The coke is brighter and harder and

COAL AGE

somewhat lower in sulphur. The suc-
cess attained is evidenced by the fact that
some of the ovens at plant No. 2 are to
be made over. It is believed that the ex-
pense for maintenance where this system
is installed will not be heavy. The main
flue has stood two years without needing
any repair.

It may be noted that the third-rail
system of transmitting power is adopted
and electric larries built by the Scottdale
Foundry and Machine Co., are used to
convey the coal from the washery bins,
an ordinary 16-lb. rail, set with its upper
surface 4 in. above the track rail being
used for transmission purposes. The
voltage is 250 volts. The electrical
equipment was furnished by the West-
inghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co.

The writer is indebted to Edward Sop-
pitt, general superintendent Pennsyl-
vania district; C. E. Cowan, chief engi-
neer, and John McClarren, general fore-
man of the coke yards, for information
and assistance in preparing the article.

Diamond Vale Disaster

The explosion which occurred at Mer.
ritt, B. C., was given a short notice in
CoAL AGE in the issue following the un-
happy event. The report of the coroner’s
jury being now at hand, a further state-
ment seems timely. Merritt is situated in
the Cariboo District of British Columbia,
on the Nicola River, a branch of the Fra-
ser, and is one of the stations of the
Canadian Pacific Railway.

REPORT OF CORONER’S JURY

The conclusion reached by the jury was
that the seven men who were killed “met
their death by the explosion of gas com-
bined with coal dust coming in contact
with a naked light.” This statement is
easy to understand despite its ill expres-
sion. The jury finds that the manage-
ment was guilty of gross negligence in
not having provided efficient equipment
and that the company showed a disposi-
tion to evade the requirements of the
Coal Mines Regulation Act. The inspec-
tor, Morgan, was also censured for not de-
manding a more careful compliance with
the law. In addition to the seven men
killed, two were injured, out of the 18
men working in the mine.

It appears that the development was
new and was regarded more or less as a
prospect rather than as a working mine.
The equipment was such as suited an
operation of little importance and one of
which the future was in doubt. This was
the excuse of Benjamin Browett, the su-
perintendent, when taxed with the inade-
quacy of the plant. He stated that he
did not think the mine was at such a
state of development as to make it subject
to the law and that he thought he could
not be held to be amenable to its pro-
visions without formal notification from
the inspector.

939

SLOW THE FAN TO PERMIT OF HAULAGE

It was said, but denied by the engineer,
that the fan could not be kept running
when the haulage engine was working be-
cause the power provided was insufficient
to actuate both at one and the same
time.

The fireboss, Henry Grimes, one of the
victims, was not a certificated man. He
went into the mine at 6.45 a.m. and the
men entered at 8. It was asserted that
he had plenty of time to make an inspec-
tion of the limited area under operation
The fireboss was in the habit of stationing
himself where the men would pass him on
entering and he would notify them if their
places were in an unsafe condition. He
did not write his report till he came out
of the mine at dinner time. He seems to
have been a well meaning man and sev-
eral witnesses among the miners com-
mented favorably on his efficiency.

Evidently the mine generated gas.
Open lights were used but safety lamps
were carried by some of the men. Some
carried both, using the former for test-
ing purposes when gas was suspected.
One man was waiting to tell the superin-
tendent of the presence of gas when the
explosion occurred. It seems as if the
fireboss was active enough in the dis-
charge of his duties but did not’ have a
clear comprehension of the dangers to be
avoided in a gaseous mine, nor was he
Strict enough in controlling those who
would carelessly brave them.

“NOT AN EXPLOSION, ONLY AN
INFLAMMATION”

James Ashworth, Fleet Robinson, the
Dominion mineralogist and Chief Inspec-
tor Thomas Graham made a report stating
that there was no explosion, but merely
an inflammation of the gas foliowed by
a burning of the coal dust. Mr. Ashworth
testified that in his belief the temperature
resulting from the combustion did not
exceed 900 deg. F. He stated that in
case of an explosion the temperature
would have been 3000 deg. In support
of his conclusion he brought samples of
coal dust, caked but not burned, and the
cap, which was worn by William Herd,
one of the deceased, at the time of the
accident. This was charred a little on the
outside but the paper on the inside was
unburned.

However, it must be questioned
whether gas could ever have burned so
generally through the mine without an
explosion. In fact there was evidence
given that sufficient force was developed
to turn over a car, damage the return
airway and “blow out the fan.” More-
over, most of the surviving men heard the
explosion, though all said the noise was
faint.

As to deductions from temperatures,
these are unsafe because the intensity of
heat is not equal, especially when the ex-
ploded gases are small in quantity.

O40)

COAL AGE

Vol.

1, No.

Accidents in Anthracite Coal Mines

In order to understand fully the acci-
dent problem in coal mining, it is neces-
sary to consider the bearing of particular
causes in their relation to the number of
persons employed. Separating at the
commencement of such an inquiry, the
inside from the outside employees,
marked contrast in accident liabilities cart
be shown. This result suggests the in-
adequacy of general fatality rates, since

TABLEI. ACCIDENTS IN THE NORTHERN

By Frederick L. Hoffman *

Tabulations showing the num-
ber of persons killed and injured
and the nature of the accidents
occurring in each inspection dis-
trict of the Pennsylvania anthra-
cite region from 1906 to 1910. It
is shown that a great difference
exists between districts and that
a general average does not give a
true idea of any one section.

it will be readily seen that the rate fo:
accidental death and injuries is differen:
in the northern fields from that in the two
lower areas. Moreover, the accidents ar
different not only in number but also
in nature—the character of the life haz-
ard varying from field to field.

The most marked difference in the
fatality rates, as calculated for various

TABLE II. ACCIDENTS IN THE MIDDLE
AND SOUTHERN ANTHRACITE COAI

ANTHRACITE COAL FIELD OF FIELDS OF PENNSYLVANIA
PENNSYLVANIA, 1906-1910 1906-1910
*Statistician, Prudential Insurance Co.
of America, Newark, N. J
Rate | Rate | Rate | Rat
per NOn- | per | ; | per | Non- per
| Fatal | i009 fatal | 1000 the proportions of inside and outside | M Fatat 1000 | fatal 1000
Im- Acci- |] Em- | Acci- |) Em- 4 Em- Acci- | Em- | Acci- km
Year plovees | dents |ploye’s! dents) ployvees employees may vary substantially for Year Ployees | dents ‘piove’s; dents | ployees
| ; . . . al i
— different mining fields. —— aici
INSIDE ACCIDENTS In the northern anthracite coal fields ENSIDE ACCIDENTS
ane ee of Pennsylvania, for illustration, the ee aaa
1906 67.852 90 1.23 IS% S05 r ° ee ; 1906 |} 17,146 166 | 3.52 i16 8.82
1907 69,459 85 | «5.54 699 10 06 average proportion of inside employ ees 1907 } 48,390 216 1.46 $50 9.30
1908 72 S47 366 $49 605 8.25 ic 7&9 4 ° * 1908 | 50,886 230 {52 | 6.90
Se bo oo i 39 26 = 11 IS (0.2 per cent., and of outside em 1909 | 19,296 v4 3.53 B28 | 6.65
1910 72,993 | 337 | 4.62 105 «6.92 ployees 24.8 per cent., against 65.4 per 1910 18,549 172 | 3.54 379 || 7.8]
Total. 357.627 | 1604 4.74 2022 S 17 cent. and 34.6 per cent., respectively, for = Total.) 241.267 9 958 3.92 | 1924.1 7 SS
_ the combined middle and southern fields.
Ovrsipe ACCIDENTS Obviously, the fatality rates, to be trust- OUTSIDE ACCIDENTS
= | ~ worthy, require to be corrected for this |
1906 21 148 t } 2.03 107 143 : als : 1906 27,029 oo | 1.92 102 Bee
1907 24046 55/229 116) 4 so €lement of error, which may, more or 1907 | 26,879 521.93] 104 3.87
1908 23,889 19 | 2.05 109 L Sti ss. j i stw j 1908 26,381 g3 | 1.20 105 3.98
1909 23,108 ot | Tar on | 4.34 less, impair the trustworthiness of all 1909 | 24°815 aise a. | oe
1910 | 22,523 1 13 74 24 general fatality tables. Unfortunately, 1910 24,110 62 | 2.57 92 | 3.82
Yotal.. 117.714 | 2101178 | 504 ; os the number of inside and outside em- Total. 129211 249 193 | 485 3°75
ae: —= _____~— plovees of many states is not separately
ALL ACCIDENTS, INSIDE AND OUTSIDE stated, even though the accident returns ALI. ACCIDENTS, INSIDE AND OUTSIDE
SS Sr ay re a oa rae a ae may make the distinction, but of course,
1906 92,009 339 | 3.68 694 7.54 4 : s 1906 74,175 iis) 2 94 518 6 9S
1907 $05 | #40/ 4.71 | $15 | $.72 Without the required numbers of em 1907 75,269, 268 3.56] 554 | 7.36
1908 115, 1 4.27 714 vee h ployees under and above ground, the = a =~ . » 456 5.90
1909 343 | 3.53 624 6.43 : cate 90S (4, oe 3.02 5.53
1910 367. BOSd Bea. | 16.54 data are of no practical utility. 1910 72,659 | 234 | 3.22 | 471 | 6.48
Votal.| 475,341 | 1904 4.01 | 3426) 7.21 Looking over the many items in the = yotal 373.481 1207 3.23 | 2409 | 6 45
Rely. - |_| =—=—~—s«svarious tables accompanying this article, We Sack
rABLE III OUTSIDE FATAL ACCIDENTS IN THE ANTHRACITE COAL MINES OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1906-1910
| Boil- Other Total
Rate per Rate per} er | Rate per Rate per} Suffo- | Rate per[ Out- | Rate per} Out- | Rate per
1000 Ma- 1000 hix- 1000 | Flee-| 1000 | cated | 1000 side 1000 side | 1000
'm- chin- Em- plo- Iim- tric- I-m- in k'm- Acci- Em- Acci- km-
District kemployees Cars ploved eT} ploved [sions | ploved ity ployed |Chutes| ployed dents pioved dents ployed
Northern coal
field:
l 10,762 9 ) S4 i I 1.02 i 0.37 24 ye
2 13,118 14 L.07 } 0.30 1 0 OS 3 0.23 22 1 68
3 11,450 j 0.35 6 0.32 ; 2 0.37 12 1.05
} 10,743 5 0.47 ! 0.37 1 0.09 ] 0.09 2 0.19 t 0.37 17 1.58
5 [331 7 0 62 ! 0.35 3 0.26 6 0.58 20 Rute
6 12,618 11 0.87 6 0.48 2 0. 16 6 0.48 s 0.63 30 {| «32.62
7 12,455 s 0 64 3 0.24 ] 0.08 S 0.40 17 1.36
s 11,572 7 0.50 c 0.60 ] 0.09 6 0.52 24 1.51
8) 12,072 3 0.24 | 0.33 6 0.50 13 1.08
10 11,593 15 1 29 7 0.60 a 0.78 31 2.67
Total Zz 117,714 ; S35 0 71 5) 0.48 4 ) OP 3 0.038 1s O11 58 0.45 210 je as.
Middle and
Southern coal
fields: -
1] 19,962 17 QO.O85 14 0.70 l 0.05 11 0.55 1:33 2.15
4 12,472 7 0 56 Ss 0.64 Rene 4 O32 19 1 Re
13 16,181 12 0.74 13 0.80 2 0.12 7 0.48 34 2.40
14 10,569 9 0.85 rf 0.66 l 0.09 5 0.47 22 2.08
15 12,468 7 0.56 7 0.56 4 1 | 0.08 / 0.32 19 1.52
16 11,660 5 0.43 ! 0.34 ] 0.09 boa 1 0.34 l4 1.20
17 11,108 11 0.99 9 0.81 } 0.36 s 0.72 32 2.88
IS 12,049 14 1 08 ) 0.39 1 | 0.08 10 0.77 30 y aes
19 12,862 12 0 93 ; 0.23 ae ia 0.54 22 SG.
20) 8.983 8 0 89 2 | S@.22 ! 0.45 14 1.56
_ — — 7 -_ ao | comes a —_—— | — = — ee
Total 129,214 102 0.79 70 0 54 ] 0 01 12 0.09 64 0.50 249 1.93
Grand total! 246,928 185 0.75 126 0.51 3 0 01 3 0 01 25 0.10 117 0.47 159 1 S86

April 27, 1912

“COAL AGE

TABLE IV. INSIDE FATAL ACCIDENTS IN THE ANTHRACITE COAL MINES OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1906-1910

District

serhern coal field:

Potal

le and southern coal

Grand total

District

Northern coal field:

Potal
iddle and Southern coal

fields

lotai

Grand total

Into
Shafts.

ete

Employees

tate per
1000
itm-
ploved

Falls of
Coal or
Roof

J tone mm Sete

Crushed Rate per

at
Bat-

teries

Rate per Rate pe Ex- Rate per Rate per Ex- Rate per Rate per
1000 1000 [plosions 1000 | Suffo- 1000 [plosions 1000 Prem- 1000
Im- Mine Iim- of Gas Iim- cated Em- fof Pow- Em- ature kim-

ployed Cars ployed jor Dust ployed |by Gas ployed |der, etc. ployed | Blasts — ployed
2 57 23 0 71 a) ao49 9 0.28
2.95 21 0.50 13 0.31 3 0.07 25 0. 60
2.49 27 0.67 6 0.15 38 0.95
2 48 27 0.78 14 0.41 t 0.12 25 0.72
2? .64 Is 0.58 l 0.038 l 0.038 1 0 03 a 0.16
» 60 20 0.56 21 0.59 » 0.06 10 0.28 23 0.64
2 63 15 I 2% 19 0.54 9 0.25 10 ) 28 >| 0.59
2.73 P| 0.79 20 0.59 2 0.06 BS 0.09 IS 06.33
2.47 26 0.68 6 0.68 9 0.2 5 0.13 17 0.44
2.10 26 0.76 21 0.61 iS 0.44 } 0.12 16 0.47
2.46 260 0.73 135 0.38 38 O.11 52 0.45 197 0.55
1 64 28 oO. 75 » 0.05 | 0.08 ‘a 0.19 19 0.5!
2 24 17 0 66 7 0.27 1 0 O4 t 0 16 is) 0.59
1.65 17 0.67 10 0.39 1 0.16 13 0.51 5 0.20
| ee 7 a O.41 Z 6.22 1 0 06 2 0.12 5 0.29
1.86 15 0.54 ia 0 46 | 0.04 i 0 Lt 17 0.61
F 29 Iv 0.50 I 0 O04 1 0 O4 } 0.17 10 0.42
0.89 15 0.74 5 0.25 3 0.15 9 0 44 6 0.30
1.S9 17 0.71 10 0.42 10 0 42 9g 0.38 11 0.46
1.54 4 0.18 é 0 31 | 0 O04 10 0.44
1.19 16 O.SO 2 0.10 7 0.35 } 0.26
1.66 148 0 61 ae 0.23 24 0O.10 60 0.25 102 0.42
2.43 10S 06S 192 0.82 62 0.10 112 0.19 299 0.50
tae i ge ee pee ti : sti eg ok I -

Rate per tate per Rate per] Other Fotal [Rate per
1000 Kicked | 1000 Me- 1000 1000 Inside | 1000 Inside 1000
Iim- v kim- chin- Em- hlec- im Acci- Em- Acci- I-m-
ploved | Mules ployed ery ploved | tricity) ploved dents ployed | dents ploved
= | EE | Sey Seen SS es = ae eas
| |
>» | 0.06 3 0.09 ae 6 63-98
1 | @.02 $ 0.10 169 1.03
2 | 0.05 l 0.02 3 0.07 183 1.56
2 | 0.06 1 0.03 2 0.06 2 0.06 169 | 1.90
1 | 0.03 2 0.06 | ree MHS {| S.70
tL | 0.68 9 0.25 186 5.20
1 0 03 12 0.34 211 5.96
! 0.038 2 © 06 € | @:2) 179 5.26
2 0.05 S 0.21 178 $.65
l 0.03 > 0.06 1 0.03 9 0.26 77 | 65.16
12 0.03 7 0.02 6 0.02 ae 0.16 1694 $1.74
|
0.038 2 | 0.05 ! 0.03 10 0.27 129 3.73
) 16 oe | 6 0.23 120 4.69
Darel l 0.04 13 0.51 106 £47
Oo: 2 ‘ | t 0.23 15 2 .63
1 |} O.O4 6 ees. 111 3.96
0098 | 1 0 O4 93 3.89
0.05 t @.20 5 0.23 15 0.74 S4 $14
O08 2 0.08 9 0.388 121 5.07
6 0 26 70 3.09
0.05 l 0.05 9 O45 69 3.43
0.05 10 0.04 7 0.038 79 O. 32 Q5S8 3.92
0.02 pep 0.04 7 0.01 13 0.02 136 0.23 2652 $41

TABLE Vo OUTSIDE NON-FATAL

istrict

Northern coal field:

GAS Et he

Total

Vid

dle and Southern coal fields:

inployees Cs

1] 19,962
Be ene Ola rere eae E2472
Wate oe eee ee alae: 16,181
Ie eee sorts ee ar, 10,569
BO eeeetiencn serene encores 12,468
LRRD aay Sra tere el oe Ber 11.660
ihe a Sere yar ea ae 11,108
| 5: gMPNOANG oe geri Os arc oPeky ey Rearne 12,949
| ft" Raperargn deer aes cuca a anon arts ae 12,862
vas Penta ee rere a 8,983

ROU ochis aes 129,214

246,928

SS es
me OUI

160

Rate per
1006
im-

ployed

1.24

Roil-
Rate per? er Rate per Rate per
Ma- 1000 ix- 1000 Klec- 1000
chin- 1000 plo- Iim- tric- Iim-
ery ploved [sions ployed itv ploved
9 O.S4
t 0.30
10 0.87 ;
a 0.47 l 0.09 1 0.09
6 0.53
| 0.95
13 1.04 1 0.08
13 t.12 |
a 0.25 2 0.17 !
1] 0.95 :
S86 0.73 1 0.03 l 0.01
223 1.10 |
6 0.48 |
16 0.99
16 1.51 |
is 0.56 | Per
y O:77 1 | 0.09
} 0.36 ed
12 0.938 2 0.15
8 0.62 i
9 1.00 |
109 .S4 3 0.02
195 0.79 7 0 03 ] 0.00

Other
Out-
side

Acci-

ACCIDENTS IN THE ANTHRACITE COAL MINES OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1906-1910

lotal
Rate p Out-
1000 side
Jc1n- \cci-
ploved dents
1.67 5
0.84 32
1.48 iO
| Pe 29
1.0 15
2.46 62
2 .¢ 71
Jal 60
1.99 10
2.59 70
1.84 504
2.20 107
0.24 15
3 15
2.46 53
0.80 23
L..é2 13
2.07 42
2.93 71
0.93 34
2.42 §2
1.65 {S85
1.74 989

Rate per
1000
Iim-

ploved

tCrde Coto ul

942

causes, are in the accidents due to falls
of coal and roof. The respective rates
were 2.46 per 1000 of inside employees
for the northern coal fields, against only
1.66 for the middle and southern fields.
In none of the other causes are the dif-
ferences of enough importance for record,
except possibly explosions of gas or dust,
the rate for which in the northern coal
field was 0.38 per 1000, against 0.23 in
the middle and southern coal fields.

The returns of non-fatal accidents, in
table IV are of doubtful accuracy and
completeness and are limited probably
to the more serious injuries causing ex-
tended incapacity for work. The marked
differences in the non-fatal accident rates
between the northern field and the middle
and southern coal areas, are probably
due more to methods of reporting them
than to actual differences in the true
non-fatal accident liability of inside em-

COAL AGE

find a marked difference in the non-fatal
accident rate due to mine cars, which
was 2.14 per 1000 for the northern coal
fields and only 1.35 for the other two.
In contrast, the non-fatal accident rate
due to explosions of gas and dust was
only 0.90 per 1000 in the northern,
against 1.52 in the middle and southern
coal fields.

Although the non-fatal accident re-
turns are more or less untrustworthy, the
data have some value if only to empha-
size the fact that in all probability only
the more severe accidents are at present
reported. There can be no question of
doubt that if a drastic workmen’s com-
pensation act were to be adopted by the
State of Pennsylvania, and applied to the
mining industry, the results would be the
same as observed in England, namely,
that the non-fatal accident rates would
increase largely on account of the fact

Vol. 1, No. 29
every injury, however, trifling, which
resulted from an accident incidenta! to
mine work.

This comparison clearly emphasizes
the local incidence of fatal and non-f.:a]
accidents in anthracite coal mining, a>4
the method is applicable to every co
field of North America. Fora full under.
standing of the underlying causes respon-
sible for the occurrence of fatal ana
non-fatal accidents it is of the utmost
importance that the correct incidence
should be localized as much as possibic
and that attention should be directed to
specific facts rather than to widely gen-
eralized conclusions.

The non-fatal accident rate in the
northern anthracite coalfields is reported
as 7.21 per 1000, the highest rate being
for the eighth district, where it was 10.85
per 1000, and the lowest for the second
district, where it was 4.69 per 1000.

ployees. It is suggestive, however, to that complete reports would be made of The highest and lowest non-fatal acci-
TABLE VI. INSIDE NON-FATAL ACCIDENTS IN THE ANTHRACITE COAL MINES OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1906-1910
| Explo- | Explo-
Falls of tate per Rate per | sions of Rate per | sions of Rate per Prema- Rate per
Coal and 1000 1000 Gas or 1000 Powder, | 1000 ture 1000
District Employees Roof Employed | Mine Cars Employed Dust | Employed ete. Employed] Blasts © Employed
Northern coal field:
1 32,324 123 3.81 63 1.95 , Ss 0.25 14 0.045
2 $1,902 91 He leg 67 1.60 11 0.26 5 0.12 26 0.62
3 40,159 102 2.54 79 1.97 15 0.37 4 &..12 38 0.95
} 34,492 124 3.60 73 3.12 8 0.23 10 0.29 17 1.36
5 31,043 100 Se 58 1.87 13 0.42 ry) 0.29 re 0.68
6 35,739 103 2.88 75 2.10 68 1.90 12 0.34 35 0.98
7 35,381 103 2.91 101 2 85 37 1.05 12 0. 34 30 O.S5
8 34,049 125 3.67 113 S| ae 73 2.14 25 0.73 53 1 56
9 38,246 78 2.04 70 1.83 7S 2 O4 10 0 26 20 0.52
10 34,292 92 2.68 67 95 19 0.55 3 0.09 20 0.58
Total 357,627 1041 » Ql 766 > 14 ID 0.90 99 0.28 04 0.85
Middle and Southern
coal fields:
11 37,266 122 ss year 62 1.66 16 1 28 24 0.64 45 ea
12 25,596 38 1.48 15 0.59 31 1.23 11 0.43 9 0.35
13 25,450 03 2.08 19 0.75 34 1.34 Ss 0.31 13 0.51
14 17,125 12 2.45 34 1.99 35 2.04 7 0 41 6 0.35
15 28,003 26 ).93 19 0.68 ! 0.14 { O14 10 0.36
16 23,900 107 4.48 12 1.76 38 1.59 19 0.79 22 0.92
17 20,267 16 0.79 23 ee Re 17 + 32 6 0.30 16 0.79
18 23,862 8s 3.69 51 2,14 62 2.60 1] 0.46 $2 1.76
19 22,678 42 1.85 20 0.88 57 2 ob S 0.35 10 O44
20 20,120 64 3.18 15 2.24 17 O.S4 11 0.55 9 0.45
Total 244,267 598 | 2.45 330 1.85 371 1 52 109 0.45 182 0.75
Grand total 601,894 1639 | Pps pi) 1096 1.82 693 L.&5 20S 0.35 186 0.81
|
Falls Rate per |Crushed) Rate per Rate per Rate per Rate per} Other Rate per] Total Rate per
Into 1000 at |} 1000 j;Kicked 1000 Ma- 1000 10Q0 Inside 1000 Inside 1000
Shafts, km- Bat- | Em- by E-m- chin- Em- Elec- I'm- Acci- 'm- Acci- km-
District ete. ployed | teries ployed | Mules ployed ery ployed | tricity ployed | dents ployed | dents ployed
Northern coal field:
‘ 7 0.22 1 0.03 ay 0.65 O37 fees:
2 10 0.24 1 0.02 15 0.36 226 539
3 8 0.20 a4 0.52 268 6.67
} ! 0.03 11 6.32 6 0.17 25 ae fe 305 8.84
5 2 0.06 Z 0.06 17 0.55 222 72 ko
6 l 0.038 4 0.11 2 0.08 28 0.78 329 9.21
7 1 0.08 8 0.23 1 0.03 44 ] 24 337 9.52
8 13 0.38 2 O15 28 0.82 435 12.78
9 5 6.13 1 0.03 19 1.28 311 8.13
10 8 0:23 ] 0.03 r 0.20 35 1.02 252 7.30
Total 11 0.03 l 0.00 15 0.21 19 0.05 1 0.00 283 0.79 2999 S17
Middle and Southern coa!
fields:
11 7 0.19 1 0.03 3 0.08 39 1.05 349 9.3
12 l 0.04 1 O O4 10 0.39 116 1.5
13 5 0.20 1 0.04 19 0.75 152 TR,
14 } 9.23 12 0.70 7 0.4) 1 0.06 16 0.93 164 9.58
15 2 0.07 | 1 0.8 1 0.04 16 0.57 83 2 Mt
16 1 0.17 Pa 0.08 3 0.13 17 0.71 254 10.65
17 16 0.79 4 (9.25 1 0.05 2 0.10 21 1.04 153 7.Be
1s 16 0.67 3 0.13 32 1.34 305 12.43
19 2 0.09 1 0.04 ; 0.13 19 0.84 162 eo
20 19 0.94 yd 0.10 3 0.15 16 0.80 186 o.2
Total es 0.31 20 0.08 23 0.09
Grand total 0.16 4846

April 27, 1912

| Sent rates do not coincide by districts
| vith the corresponding fatal accident
sates, which were highest in the seventh
“istrict and lowest in the fifth.
The average non-fatal accident rate for
‘he middle and southern coalfields was
6.45 per 1000, the rate having been high-
st in the eighteenth district, or 10.21 per
‘000, and lowest in the fifteenth district,
. 2.62 per 1000. The highest non-fatal
ccident rate coincides with the highest
fatal accident rate in the middle and
outhern anthracite coal fields, but there
no complete conformity in the rates,
vhich, of course, may be due to local
sonditions rather than to defects in the

returns.

| rABLE VII. FATAL ACCIDENTS IN THE
ANTHRACITE COAL MINES OF
PENNSYLVANIA, 1906-1910

|
|Rate per
Fatal 1000
| Acci- Iim-
District Employees dents ployed
Sorthern coal |
ald

1 43,086 151 3.50

> 55,020 191 3.42

3 51,609 195 3.78

4 45,255 186 4.11

5 42,374 135 3.19

6 18,357 | 219 4.53

7 17 S36 228 4.77

8 | 45,621 200 1.38

9 50,318 191 3.80

10 45,885 | 208 4.54

Vota} 475,341 | 1904 4.01
‘Middle and | |
Southern coal | |
fields: |

11 57,228 | 182 3.18

12 38,068 139 3.65

13 41,631 i140 aan

14 27,694 67 2.42

15 40,471 | 130 aves

16 | 35,560 107 3.01

LZ 31,375 116 3.70

18 36,811 151 4.10

19 | 35,540 92 2.59

20 29,103 83 2.85

C0: 373,481 1207 3.23

Grand total. . 3111 3.67

$48,822 |

PABLE VIII. NON-FATAL ACCIDENTS IN
THE ANTHRACITE COAL MINES OF
PENNSYLVANIA, 14906-1910

|
| Rate per
Fatal 1000
} Acci- Em-
istrict Employees { dents ployed
Northern coal |
field:

1 292 6.78

Zz 258 4.69

3 308 5.97

} 334 7.38

o | 267 6.30

6 | 391 8.09

7 108 8.53

8 | 195 10.85

9 351 6.98

10 322 (Ct 7.03

BOTA «4-6. 3426 | 7.21
|
liddle and | |
Southern coal |
fields: } |

1 | 87,228 456 | 7.97

12 38,068 131 3.44

13 | $1,631 197 4.74

14 | 27,694 PAY 4 7.84

15 | AD ,471 106 2.62

16 | 35,560 297 8.35

17 31 .o¢5 195 6.22

18 36,811 376 10.21

19 35,540 196 5.51

20 29,103 238 8.18

otal 373,481 2409 6.45

Grand total. .. 848,822 5835 “82

COAL AGE

Mine Trolley Harp and
Wheel

Probabiy no single piece of machinery
in use around the mines is liable to more
hard knocks and general abuse than the
trolley of the average mine locomotive.
With well known frequency its wheel
leaves the wire and bangs up against the
roof for a distance, catching, perhaps,
on timbers, beams and other obstacles.
No little ingenuity has been displayed
by various manufacturers in designing
trolley poles, harps, etc., in an effort to
minimize mishaps of the nature indicated
and one of the most recent designs of
harp and wheel is that of the Ohio Brass
Co., shown in the accompanying illus-
tration.

TROLLEY HARP AND WHEEL

A special feature of the harp is the
provision made for rotating it by hand,
thus enabling the motorman to guide it
easily through frogs and over partic-
ularly uneven places in the trolley. The
pivot bolt, fastened to the harp casting,
passes through the pole-end casting and
is provided at its lower end with an eye
which rotates with the harp. A stick or
strap, attached to this eye, enables the
operator to control the harp at all times.

In addition to the feature of manual
operation, the harp is designed to work
automatically; the center of the wheel
axle is set back from the pivot point so
that a trailing action is imparted to the
wheel, causing it readily to follow ir-
regularities in the trolley wire and take
sharp curves without pulling from the
wire.

A rib on the top of the pole-end cast-
ing prevents the harp from catching on
overhead I-beams in case the wheel
leaves the wire. It is made either en-
tirely of malleable iron, Sherardized, or
with bronze harp casting and malleable
iron pole-end, and will take all standard
4-in. mine trolley wheels with 4x1%-in.
hubs.

The wheel is designed to give maxi-

943

mum wear, having heavy flanges which
will resist bending and a heavy section
of metal at the bottom of the groove
where the wear is greatest. Lubrication is
provided for by an oil reservoir, in addi-
tion to a Bound Brook type bushing, with
graphite inserted in grooves in the special!
bearing metal of which it is made. The
bushings are 14 in. long and \%-in. bore
and the wheel will fit any standard harp.

Lamp Efficiency

Every mining man is familiar with the
dirty, greasy and neglected incandescent
lamps commonly found in some obscure
part of breakers, fan-houses or mines.
To those who are responsible for this
condition, the following excerpt from an
article on “Upkeep of Shop Lighting
Systems,” in the American Machinist, will
no doubt prove a revelation:

The serious loss of light when globes
and reflectors are allowed to go for long

periods without cleaning, is shown in
the accompanying figure. This set of

curves resulted from a test on a glass

30°
Curves SHOWING Losses DUE TO UN-
CLEAN LAMPS

reflector (commonly called a shade) used
with a tungsten lamp. The one curve
shows the value of the light given by
the lamp at different angles when the
lamp and refiector are clean, while the
smaller curve shows the enormous re-
duction of light after the lamp and re-
flector had been in service for about
four months without being cleaned.

In this particular case, which is a typ-
ical one, the loss of light at the end of
the four months amounted to nearly 50
per cent. The cost of electrical energy in
the shop where this test was made was
such that the loss of light during the
four months amounted to about 12c.,
while the total cost of taking down,
washing and replacing this reflector
amounted to about 3c., so that the econ-
omy of a fairly frequent attention to the
cleaning of such reflectors, even if the
improved condition of the light in itself
be ignored, is at once apparent.

When handling coal in a breaker great
care should be taken to reduce breakage
to a minimum. Sloping chutes should
be curved:to prevent the coal going too
fast; all corners should be rounded so
there are no sudden drops or sharp
angles; perpendicular chutes or shafts
should be constructed shelf-like to de-
flect the coal from side to side, thus
overcoming the straight drop which is a
great source of breakage.

944

COAL AGE

I. No;

The Consolidated Fuel Co. of Uta)

Up to three or four years ago, one of
the least known coai fields in the United
States was that lying south of the town
of Price, Carbon County, Utah. For many
years past, the Utah Fuel Co. has been
operating on the northern edge of this
field, at Sunnyside, and on the western
edge, at Castle Gate, Winter Quarters
and Clear Creek. The southern body of
the coal, however, lies in a very rugged
country, and engineering difficulties con-
nected with the railroad construction, de-
terred investigators from attempting the
opening up of this field. In fact, the op
erators first occupying the field claimed
that all the available coal was controlled
bv them, and that no new mines could
be opened up.

PRELIMINARY WORK

Soine five or six years ago, Arthur A.
Sweet, of Salt Lake, a promoter of great
ingenuity and daring, entered the field,
bought up several thousand acres of coal
land in Miller Creek Canon, and started
the construction of what is now the South-

Pie

Fic. 1. Some HeEAvy WorK ON THE
Geavity PLANE
ern I/Jtah R.R. Encountering many un-

foreseen difficulties, both in engineering
and financing, he surrendered the man-
agership of the company to his brother,
Fred A. Sweet, also of Salt Lake, who had
just successfully completed the construc-
tion of the American Falls Canal, in
Idaho. Under his guidance the railroad
was pushed through, and the development
of the Consolidated Fuel Co.’s Hiawa-
tha mine was carried through to its pres-
ent state of completeness.

By careful location, the railroad, 16

miles in length, from Price to Hiawatha,
was built, with a maximum grade of 4
per cent., and this only for a short stretch.

By Benedict Shubart*

A description of a character-
istic mountain coal operation
and some of the difficulties en-
countered. A gravity plane,
nearly two miles long, is in use,
the grades on which are so light
that the data given form a valu-
able addition to the technical
literature on this subject. The
tipple is equipped with a gravity
rotating dump and has a capacity
of 3000 tons per 8-hour day.

*Boston Building, Denver, Colo.

The railroad, having no grade against the
loaded trains, is capable of handling a
large tonnage.

Geologically, the seam now being
worked is a continuation of the Sunnyside

seam. It lies almost level and varies

oe a. penn aa Pion Mee a ae : ee we

tems will swing its line south, to inte;
the field.

THE GRAVITY PLANE

While not the first independent op
tor on the Sunnyside seam, the Cons
dated Fuel Co. is the first to open up :
southern portion. The tipple is situa:
at the southern end of the railroad
the mine is two miles farther up Mi}!
Creek, and is connected with the tipp
by means of a gravity plane.

The flatness of this plane makes
worthy of consideration. With a tota
length of 10,400 ft., starting with a 4
per cent. grade and ending up with a
per cent.. it has been found thorough
practicable to operate and land the trip
witheut difficulty upon the tipple. Or
course, in order to secure these results
on such flat grades, it was necessary to
construct a track of the highest quality
to use very etticient and frictionless
sheaves, and pit cars with very low roll-

Fic. 2. GENERAL VIEW OF THE STONE POWER HOUSE

in thickness from 17 ft. to 35 ft. The
coal is quite clean, has a fine. glossy
fracture, and stands handling better than
anv Western coal I have ever examined.
The coal east of the circle defined by
Sunnyside, Castle Gate, Clear Creek, Hi-
awatha and Mohrland has been eroded.
The southern boundary has not been thor-
oughly determined, Ult the field is so ex-
tensive that its exhaustion is a matter
of many vears.

The next five vears will probably see
immense developments in this field. Rail-
road lines are being surveyed to give an
outlet to southern Utah, and it is decid-
edly prohable that one of the large sys-

ing friction. A special design of rolle:
bearing wheels, made by the Watt Minin
Car Wheel Co., is used, and the first d
sign tried was found to require a consi
erable amount of correction. Sm
troubles cropped out, and it was only att
a great deal of patient work that the co
pany evolved a satisfactory and succes
ful roller bearing. The rope rollers a!
of manganese steel, very light, 2
mounted on Hyatt roller bearings. 7! |
gravity sheaves were specially design:
by the Denver Engineering Works ©
The magnificent roadbed of this grav
plane is shown in the accompanying ha’
tone, Fig. 1. Running through a canon ©

April 27, 1912

rugged as can well be imagined, this
tramway was completed with only two
curves.

SystEM OF MINING AND HAULAGE

As the seam is intercepted by the
canon, two mines have been opened up,
the No. 1 at the left and the No. 2 at
the right, as will be seen in Fig. 3,
which shows the head of the incline with
the hoist house and the transformer
house.

The mines were originally opened up
on the double-entry system, but are now
heing changed to a four-entry system.
The coal is mined by the room-and-pillar
system, with pillars about 55 ft. thick,
and rooims about 25 ft. wide. A bench of
about 9 ft. of coal is taken down first,
and the balance of the roof coal, together

with the pillars, will be brought back
later when the rooms on the entry are fin-
ished.

The ventilation is obtained by a 7'-:-
tt. Stevens fan, belt driven by a Ridg-
way variable-speed motor; the variable
speed gives great flexibility to the air sup-
A 6-ft. Jeffrey propeller fan is used
unti! the two mines are con-

ply.
to assist
nected.
The entire haulage in the mine is done
by electric motors, 6-ton Goodman being
used for gathering the coal, and 10-ton

Fic. 3. THE Tor oF

THE GRAVITY PLANE

Gcodman locomotives being used for the
main haulage. The trips are delivered by
the locomotives to the head of the in-
cline, from which point they are handled
hy means of auxiliary hoists and the
main gravity sheave.

All machinery is, as far as possible,
electrically operated. In the power plant.
shown in Fig. 2, are two 200-kv.-a., 220-
volt, three-phase, 60-cycle, Ridgway al-
fernators, direct-connected to Ridgway
engines. These furnish the power for the
entire mine. All the tipple apparatus is
Operated by means of three-phase, Gener-
al Electric motors. In the hoist house,
at the head of the incline, are two 200-

COAL AGE

hp., motor-generator sets, which furnish
250-volt current for the mine. These
were furnished by the General Electric
Co. and the Ridgway Dynamo & Engine
Company.

THE TIPPLE

The tipple, which was designed by the
Link-Belt Co., presents a number of in-
teresting features. Instead of using the
old style crossover dump, a gravity rotat-
ing dump is used. The coal is discharged
into a 20-ton hopper, from which it is
automatically fed in an even stream on to
the shaking screen. The results obtained
with this feeder are so good that when
running at the rate of 3000 tons per day,
practically all the under size is taken out
on the first 6 ft. of the screen. The
slack is rescreened in a revolving screen,
so no dust is shipped.

In order to prevent undue breaking of
coal, a special apron is used for the lump
screen. It takes the form of an adjust-
able, shaking chute, which is practically
a continuation of the shaker screen. The
delivery end can be raised, lowered or ex-
tended, so that open cars or box cars can
be loaded with a minimum drop of the
coal. This is necessary, due to the mixed
character of the cars obtainable. The
railroad furnishes anything from a 30,-
000-lb. to a 100,000-lb. gondola car, 30,-
000-Ib. box cars to automobile cars, and
it is often necessary to load hopper-bot-
tom cars with sides as high as 10 ft. 6 in.
above the rail.

The mine has now been in operation
for 18 months. Its daily production is in
excess of 1800 tons, and with the equip-
ment now on hand, 3000 tons per 8-hour
day can easily be handled. It is interest-
ing to note that over the two-mile incline,
in spite of the flat grade, coal has been
repeatedly run for several hours at a time
at a rate in excess of 4000 tons in eight
hours.

Report on the Landslide at

Frank, Alberta

29,

On Apr. 1903, a landslide occur-
red at Frank, Alberta, causing the loss
of 70 lives in the town and the destruc-
tion of much property, including 7000 ft.
of the Crows Nest Ry. The slide oc-
curred on the north side of Turtle Moun-
tain, which is due south of the town. As
it appeared quite possible for further
sliding to take place, which might not
only destroy the town, but shut off the
coal mines west of Frank and perhaps
permanently close the Crows Nest pass,
a commission was appointed by the De-
partment of Mines, of Canada, to make
an investigation. The report’ of the com-

Note—From the
Mining Journal.”

‘Memoir No. 27, Canada Department of
Mines.

“Engineering and

mission, which consisted of Reginald A.
Daly, W. G. Miller and George S. Rice,
has recently been published and recom-
mends the abandonment of the Frank
townsite.

The geological profile of Turtle Moun-
tain shows that the foot on the northern
side is made up of beds of sandstone
interbedded in shale. The beds dip to-
ward the west at a steep angle. These
beds are hounded on the north by a
thrust plane dipping westward at an
angle of about 50° and which is the plane
of contact of the shale-sandstone beds
with the limestone that forms the major
portion of the upper part of the moun-
tain. The limestone dips to the west at
an angle of about 50° and lies uncon-
formably on the shale. A short distance
above the thrust plane the limestone
pdeds are contorted in what are known
as the contorted zones. The limestone is
jointed, the joints running at right angles
to the dip and continuing to the thrust
plane.

Two coal mines are operated along the
foot or east base of Turtle Mountain.
The seam is nearly vertical and is in the
shale series. Both mines are the property
of the Canadian Coal Consolidated, Ltd.,
and formerly belonged to the Canadian-
American Coal & Coke Co. The strike
of the seam is north and nearly parallel
to the long axis of Turtle Mountain.
Mining was started in 1901 and prior to
Apr. 29, 1903, the walls of part of the
worked out portion of the southern end
of the seam had caved. The joints in
the limestone appear from the profiles
prepared hv the commission, to dip
directly toward. but not to continue as
far as, the main coal seam. The slide
seems to have taken place in a direction
approximately parallel to these joints.

The commission regards the slide as
having been caused by natural conditions
and by the mining operations in the coal
seam. Excepting at the places known
as the North Peak block and South Peak
block and the fissured ground between
them, the commission is not of the opin-
ion that the danger of more heavy slides
into the Frank Valley is imminent, but
states that it is impossible to deny the
existence of danger in certain places.
The course of future slides would prob-
ably be in the already mined and now
uninhabited area covered by the 1903
slide. It has designated a certain area
of the coal seam as lying within a zone
of danger from further landslides, and
on account of the unstable condition
from natural causes, has recommended
the abandonment of the townsite of
Frank whether the coal seam is worked
in the danger zone or not.

Dispatches from Frank on Mar. 30
state that serious slides are taking place.
Much alarm is being felt in the town and
many people are reported to be moving
out of the danger zone.

COAL AGE

Current Coal Literature

The Best Thought Culled from Contemporary Technical Journals, Domestic and Foreign

Anthracite Coal Freights

The following abstract is made from
a series of editorials on the anthracite
freight situation, appearing in the Scran-
ton Times, of recent date:

It is difficult to conceive of a more de-
sirable class of freight than anthracite
coal as it comes to the railroads which
center in this region. General freight is
delivered to the railroads in boxes and
bales, largely in less than carload lots.
If it does not constitute a complete car-
load, it must usually be handled by the
railroad at both termini. Much of it is
perishable or fragile and subject to dam-
age by accident or wreck. The average
carload of freight weighs only 22 tons.

Anthracite coal, on the contrary, comes
to the railroads, not in part or full car-
loads, but in sufficient quantities to make
up the burden of a full train. The coal
is loaded and unloaded at no charge to
the railroad. It requires no station at-
tention. It is neither perishable nor fra-
gile. Even if there is a wreck and the
cars are reduced to kindling wood, the
maximum loss on the coal is the labor of
shoveling it into another car. The aver-
age carload weighs about 40 tons.

And yet this easily and cheaply handled
commodity, originating in such quantities
as to form the major portion of the traffic
of, at least, five railroads, the Lacka-
wanna, the Reading, the Delaware & Hud-
son, the Central Railroad of New Jersey
and the Lehigh Valley, suffers the imposi-
tion of a high rate, if not the highest rate
charged for any commodity.

According to the reports we have, the
most extortionate freights on anthracite
coal are charged by the Reading railroad,
which imposes a tariff of $1.70 a ton on
prepared coal from Pottsville to Philadel-
phia, a distance of 93 miles, or 1.83c. per
ton-mile, while some of the roads of this
country carry bituminous coal at one-fifth
of that ton rate. We are disposed, how-
ever, to tell of the conditions of anthra-
cite coal] transportation between the Lack-
awanna Valley and New York, because
we have at hand a recent publication giv-
ing accurate figures on the subject. In
large part they are from the freight
schedules of the railroads themselves.

From this we learn that the rates for
transporting coal from Scranton to Ho-
boken are:

Coal Sizes Rate F.o.b.
Prepared coal.......... ... $1.58 Hoboken
is. J C. | er , 1.43 Hoboken
le 0 | ee .28 Hoboken
COS ESE ere eer 1.35 Hoboken
Lackawanna ave rage on

smaller sizes... . Se 1.13 Vessel

The operators tell us that 60 per cent.
of the coal mined is of prepared sizes
2nd 40 per cent. steam sizes. The rate
on prepared sizes, Scranton to Hoboken,
is 1.089c. per ton-mile. It is shrewdly
surmised that the percentage of prepared
sizes is greater. But taking the word of
the railroad men for it, the average tariff
of anthracite coal per ton-mile is 0.837c.,
while the average tariff on all other mer-
chandise is 0.696c. The cheapest and
most easily handled freight is, therefore,
rated 25 per cent. or more above the cost-
lier freight. which requires greater care
and attention.

The relative earnings of a trainload of
coal and a trainload of general freight
have been estimated as follows, figuring a
31.50 rate for prepared coal and $1.30 for
smaller sizes. The load of a coal train is
1670.7 tons, and of a general freight train
504.44 tons, which includes coal loadings
of 40.8 tons per car, as compared with an
average loading of 22 tons. The haul is
145 miles.

60 per cent. of 1670.7 tons = 1002.42
40 per cent. of same = 668.28

Hence for a coal train:
1002.42 tons@$1.50 per ton = $1,503.63

668.28 tons@$1.30 per ton= $68.76
Total earned per train of coal $2,372.39
For a general freight train:
504.44 tons hauled 145 miles @
£0.00696 per ton-mile....... $509.08
Coal earnings per train load excee od
merchandise earnings. .... $1.863.31

It will thus be seen that ee Lacka-
wanna company earns over four times as
much on a train of coal from Scranton
to Hokoken as on a train of general
freight. And the cost of handling is less.

But the discrimination is more mark-
edly shown when comparing the charges
for carrving coal and other commodities
between Scranton and nearby towns.

All small towns suffer from discrimin-
atory rates, as may be noted from the
instances cited above. The most flagrant
instance, however, is Montrose, only 49
miles away from Scranton, which pays a

freight rate of $1.65 a ton on anthracite, or
7c. more than Hoboken, which is 145 miles

RELATIVE FREIGHTS

| | Dis. |
| tance,

Freight | From To Miles’! Rate
Prepared | ' |

coal. | Scranton | Nicholson | 1.50
Wall stone, Nicholson |} Scranton 0.40
Prepared |

coal....| Taylor | La Plume! 16 1.25
Manure...} Taylor La Plume | 16 | 0.56
away. It may be noted here that no inde-

pendent operator may sell at points along
the line. He consequently does not profit
in those high prices, being given 65 per
cent. of the tidewater price as his sole
compensation.

It is quite generally conceded, except
by anthracite railroad officials, that the
work entailed in the hauling of anthracite
coal is about as great as in performing
the same service with regard to bitumin-
ous coal. But the railroads hauling the
latter exact a much lower tariff, as will
be seen by the table at the foot of this
page.

One has only to compare the rate per
ton-mile in this table with the rate on
anthracite coal te appreciate the wide dis-
parity between the two.

We do not even have to go to the rates
on bituminous coal to prove the discrimin-
ation which the coal roads are enabled
to iinpose upon anthracite between the
mines and tidewater, by reason of their
control of the business. It was only re-
cently that the Pennsylvania R.R. had a
rate of 0.520c. per ton-mile on prepared
coal from the heart of the anthracite coal
regions to Hoboken, against the Lacka-
wanna’s rate, 1.089c. per ton-mile for a
similar service. When anthracite coal
goes beyond the limits of the railroads
which produce it, it loses its preferential
rate, foregoes the fancy prices and is car-

BITUMINOUS COAL RATES

; ’ Cents per

Region Railroad Destination Distance Rate Ton-mile
Mvyersdale CAL 0 a oer Baltimore... } 215.0 $1.18 0.549
Mversdale ce B. x SRA Eat ee Philadelphia... ; 310.8 1.25 0.402
Mvyersdale 1 ARMS os coc ws oes st. George..... | 390.6 1.55 0.396
Pocahontas PUAPMICONN, (mab 25 be ersears Norfolk...... Bs i OF ek 1.40 0.371
Thurmond-New River.|C. & O............. Newport News 418.0 1.40 0.335
Handleyv-Kanawha....|/C. & O..... er: Newport News 457.0 1.50 0.328
Marrowbone- Kentucky |C. & se ee jNewport News 673.0 1.70 0.253
Beach Creek ‘+ .¢ ©2828... |Port eee 308.0 1.55 0.503
Beach Creek i a ae P. & R.....!Philadelphia . 229.0 1.25 0.546
Clearfield. . aie nnsy "a aon . aes + + of IOIMMORe. ..... 242 .2 1.18 0.487
Clearfield. ../Pennsylvania......../South Amboy...}| 322.5 1.85 0.481
Clearfield. -/PORRSYIVANIA.. . ....... Philadelphia . - | 262.2 1} ..25 0.477

April 27, 1912

ried at a rate quite as low as bituminous
This is proved by the following
table, showing rates from Buffalo west-

coal.

ward:
RATES BEYOND FROM BUFFALO
WESTWARD

Cents
per
Ton-
mile
0.406
336

Dis-
tance
516

146

Louisville.
Cincinnatl
Cleveland. .
Indianapolis
Terre Haute
Ft. Wayne..
Logansport
Peoria.
Detroit
Toledo

It has been truly said that there has
never been an increase of wages by which
the coal-carrying companies do not profit.
The passing along to the consumer of the
cost of a 10 per cent. advance in wages
will add to the public coal bill about
$25,000,000 a year, of which about S15,-
000,000 will go to the miners and 3$10,-
000,000 to the big corporations, to swell
present satisfactory gains, if the pres-
ent system continues to prevail.

The statements which follow show not
only how prosperity has accrued to the
anthracite coal roads since 1899, but how
this prosperity has not been duplicated
in other Eastern roads not participating
in such traffic.

STOCK PRICES OF EASTERN RAILROADS

ANTHRACITE ROADS
Mar- Mar-
ket ket
Value Div. Value’ Div
1899 1899 1912 1912
Delaware, Lacka-
wanna & Western. 194 rive 560 20%
Delaware & Hudson. 125 7% Vy 9%
Lehigh Valley...... 30 0% 186 10%
HOGGING: «2c ke nes 25 0% 164 6%
Central of New Jer-
SGV 2 2 wee enmeees 126 40 357 12%
Lehigh Coal & Navi-
LTS Sia a 91 4% 180 8%
OTHER RAILROADS
Value Div. Value Div.
1899 1899 1912 1912
Pennsylvania... <<. 142 6% 123 6 %
New York Central. . 145 5 % 110 5 %
N. ¥.,.N. He & E... 222 8% 136 8 %
Boston & Maine.... 215 61° 1003 5 %
Baltimore & Ohio... 85 2% 106 6%
Boston & Albany... 282 83° 220 83%

It will be readily admitted that the
railroads above mentioned‘ are standard
roads, operating in the same part of the
country as the coal roads, and most of
them touching more and larger towns
with better chances to get more general
freight and passenger traffic than the coal
roads. Yet with a single exception the
quotations for shares are very much low-
er in 1912 than they were in 1899, while
the coai shares have made a marvellous
increase. The one exception in which the
quotation of shares of the other roads is
greater than in 1899 is the Baltimore &
Ohio. Its prosperity may be attributed to
the tact that in the yéar 1903, the Balti-
more & Ohio purchased more than $30,-
000,000 of the stock of the Reading R.R.,
when it ranged in price from 33 to 50,
and has ever since been enjoying a return
approximating 18 per cent. on its cash in-

COAL AGE

vestment. So that even this showing of
prosperity comes from anthracite coal.
Perhaps a table showing the value of
these great properties in 1899, and their
value in 1912, as shown by the stock quo-
tatiens, together with the increase be-
tween these two years, will more impres-
sively bring to the average reader an idea
of the magnificent gains that have come
to those fortunate owners of anthracite
coal and the railroads which transport it.
It will be seen that, though, during the
last 12 vears there have been mined from
the iands of these companies some 700,-
00,000 tons of coal, which is gone for-

INCREASE IN VALUE OF

Railroads
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western...
Delaware & Hudson. . eae atin
Lehigh Valley
Reading
Central of New Jersey . . :
Lehigh Coal & Navigation. .

Totals... : : ore Sareea.

ever, and on which the corporations have
their profits, the aggregate value has in-
creased more than threefold. The Lacka-
wanna R.R. is looked upon as a phenom-
enon, but it has increased in value only a
little more than threefold, while the Read-
ing has increased sixfold and the Lehigh
Valley ninefold. The Central Railroad of
New Jersey shows almost a threefold in-
crease. The only new money put into
any of these corporations is 520,000,000
into the Lehigh Valley and something ov2r
$2,000,000 into the Lehigh Coal & Navi-
gation Company.

The amount of dividends paid by these
corporations during the 12 years from
1899 to 1912 is also a matter of interest
in connection with this subject. The cash
dividends only are shown in the following
table:

DIVIDENDS DECLARED, 1899 TO 1912

Per Total
Railroads Cent. Dividends
Delaware, Lackawanna «&

A CO Cr eee ea 213 $57,500,500
Central Railroad of New Jer-

CON pe ORE Eine a aR ae 100 27,436,800
Delaware & Hudson...... 92 39,008,000
Lehigh Valley......... a 53 23,450,473
TROON oo oy ce nk bike 314 44,100,000
Lehigh Coal & Navigation.. 723 13,775,000

Total... $205,270,773

This does not include the stock divi-
dend of 15 per cent. declared by the Lack-
awanna in 1909, nor the stock dividend by
the same company in 1911 of 35 per cent.
in stock of the Lackawanna Railroad of
New Jersey, nor of the recently author-
ized issue of $12,000,000 additional stock
which will probably go out as a stock
dividend. It does not include the S2,-
000,000 of stock of the Lehigh Coal &
Navigation Co. issued at par, nor the 15
per cent. scrip dividend of the same com-
pany convertible into stock. Nor does
it include the valuable right to stock-
holders of the Lackawanna and the Le-
high Valley to subscribe at par for S6,-
000,000 stock in the respective coal com-
panies, worth more than S200 a share,

947

and yielding 10 per cent. dividends. With
these included, the total would be consid-
erably sweiled.

Electricity in British Mining

In a paper on the use of electric power
in the working of coal mines, read before
the Manchester (England) Geological and
Mining Society, Charles D. Taite said
that the aggregate horsepower supplied
to collieries in Lancashire by the Lan-
cashire Electric Power Co. is at present
about 3000, and this will shortly be in-
creased by work in hand to about 4000.

RAILROAD PROPERTIES
Value 1899 Value 1912
$ 50,828,000 $169,551,200
53,000,000 74,200,000
12,000,000 112,720,880
Reels 35,000,000 229,600,000
Se a 34,569,363 97,749,376
17,290,000 $7,804,210

Increase
$118,723,200
21,200,000
100,720,880
194,600,000
63,180,013
30,534,210

$202,687,363 $731,625,666 $528,938,303

For some reason Lancashire has been
slower to adopt electrical methods than
other colliery districts. To the mines
around Newcastle three power com-
panies are supplying electrical energy at
the rate of over 55,000,000 units per
annum. In South Wales 12,500 hp. is
being taken from the power company’s
mains, and a further 3500 hp. is con-
tracted for. In the Clyde Valley district
about 8500 hp. is either connected up
or arranged for, while in Yorkshire the
Present connections deliver 4000 hp.,
with an additional 2000 hp. contracted
for. Among other machinery using this
energy are three electric hoists and three
more are to be installed. Possibly the
greater age of the shafts has something
to do with the backward condition of
Lancashire collieries electrically, com-
pared with other British mine installa-
tions, but where coal is most difficult
to extract the most modern methods are
essential in order that the costs may
be kept at the lowest possible figure.

The temperature of maximum weak-
ness in a burning briquet is located be-
tween the melting point of the binder and
the caking of the coal. For use with
coals that cake at a high temperature
binders must also have a high tempera-
ture melting point if they are to give
good results when burning. Non-caking
coals must be mated with non-melting
binders. Starch gives the best burning
results with such coals, but it is not wa-
terproof. Soluble binders mean soluble
briquets.

Shooting off the solid in bituminous
mines is a dangerous and wasteful pro-
ceeding; dangerous, in that it is pro-
ductive of windy or blowout shots which
often cause dust explosions, and wastefu!
because it greatly increases the slack
and fine coal, which is useless except
where it can be used for coking purposes.

COAL AGE

Who’s Who—in Coal Mining

Devoted to Brief Sketches of Prominent Men, Their Work and Ideas

Famed as the home of Joe Cannon,
bounded on the north by Lake Michigan
and largely underlaid with 6 ft. of fairly
decent commercial coal, is the great State
of Illinois. Forty per cent. of the en-
tire population staked out their homes
on the lake front in a large community
called Chicago, which latter town was
created solely to supply Marshall Field
with a dry-goods market and to furnish
consumers of coal for Francis Peabody’s
City Fuel Co.

More than 800 Illinois coal mines have
been opened by some 250 operating com-
panies, which corporations are conducted
in the interest of John Walker and 70,-
099 other miners who have contracted to
relieve the owners of all responsibilities
in the way of management of the prop-
only requiring that the operators
working deficits, and be

erties;
make good all

liable in case of accidents due to neg-
ligence on the part of an employee.
Out in this broad, flat, Middle West

country, it originally cost about as much
to Open a coal mine as it did to start a
corner grocery, and nearly as many
people devoted their money and atten-
tion to mining as to selling canned goods
and fresh vegetables. All the Coal
Barons could remember how once upon
a time a certain fellow made money
mining coal in Illinois, and everyone
latored on in the belief that the golden
era would return.

Even the miners caught the fever, and
four or five dozen codperative coal com-
fanies were formed to develop that field
lying across the river from St. Louis.
However, when the supposedly huge
profits that had been flowing into the
coffers of the individual owners were
divided up among the “producers of the
wealth.” there wasn’t enough to go
around, and failures came with greater
regularity than dividends. But hope dies
hard, and always there were those who
were willing to repair the wreck and
benevolently carry the work forward.

It is from great ruins that noble struc-
tures rise, and before many vears have
passed the coal industry in Illinois will
be placed on a sane and _ satisfactory
basis, and owner, miner and consumer
will profit thereby. One of the men who
will help bring about the new order of
things is C. M. Moderwell, of Chicago,
rresident of the United Coal Mining Co.,
and a man of force and vigor.

Mr. Moderwell is a native son of Il-
linois, having been born in Geneseo in
1868. His early training was secured

Coat AGE

C. M. MopeERWELL
in the high school of his home town.
Following this preliminary education, he
went to Wooster, Ohio, where he finished
a general course in the
Wooster, a Presbyterian school.

Having completed his theoretical train-
ing, Mr. Moderwe!l secured employment
in Chicago, working for a railway
seciation and devoting his attention and

as-

time to the Bureau of Joint Rate In-
spection. In 1892 “C. M.” became con-
nected with the coal business, serving

as a clerk in the office of the Montana
Coal & Coke Co., a West Virginia con-
cern controlled by the Watsons of the
latter state. Three years later he was
appointed Western agent for the
West Virginia company, and served in
this capacity until, in 1902, he en-
tered business for himself, forming the
National Coal & Coke Co., a corporation
designed principally to do a jobbing busi-
ness.

In 1905, when H. B. and W. P. Utley,
partners in the business, retired from the
firm, Mr. Moderwell formed the C. M.
Moderwell Co., still doing a jobbing busi-
This same year he obtained op-
tions on a considerable coal acreage in
Franklin County, Illinois, and commenced
cperating this tract under the name of
the United Coal Mining Co. At the same
time the C. M. Moderwell Co. continued
to handle other coals than those pro-
duced by the United company, until at
the present time “C. M.” has built up and

sales

ness.

University of

supplies a market of considerable
portance.

A new mine that has just been opened
by the United Coal Co. at Christopher.
Ill., is properly conceded to be one ot
the most modern and best equipped prop-
erties in the state. The same company
also has a small mine in Indiana, at
Mecca in Parke County.

Although Mr. Moderwell does not con-
trol a great number of mines and an
unusually large production, he certainly
“cuts a lot of ice’ in the councils of the
Illinois coal operators. At the recent
meeting of the Mining Congress in Chi-
cago he and Carl Scholz were the lead-
ing spirits in effecting arrangements for
the conference, and the success of this
most recent meeting was largely due to
his efforts.

Mr. Moderwell firmly believes that
conditions in the coal industry in Illinois
are certain to get very much worse be-
fore they finally improve. Like other
men who are well informed as to
true Situation in that state, he attributes
present unsatisfactory conditions to
lack of a united front and common
understanding on the part of mine own-

L
tne

ers. “C. M.” points out that consolida-
tion is the probable cure, and cites the
case of Indiana where six companies

control about 75 per cent. of the output.

Due to suicidal competition, Illinois
last year worked only 182 days,
and there is. little hope of a betterment
in the situation until a few powerful in-
terests have secured control of affairs.
The miners themselves, notwithstanding
the fact that they have forced greater
concessions from owners in Illinois than
from operators in any other state, have
failed to profit through their
victories, for last year the average wages
of each mine employee working in one
of the collieries of the state was
than S600.

As to sociological work among the
miners, Mr. Moderwell holds ideas that
are ultra-modern, and he firmly believes
that mine owners are often prevented
from carrying out a definite plan of we!l-
fare work by the unnecessary suspicions
of the men themselves. It frequently
occurs that an operator is prevented from
effecting an improvement at his mines
because of the belief on the part 0!
many employees that there is a “nigge:
in the woodpile.” War has been waged s:
tong in Illinois that the miner cannot real-
ize that the “enemy” may have an unsel-
fish interest in his erstwhile foe.

seeming

less

¥pril 27, 1912

Issued Weekly by the

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es eae

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Unter den Linden Ti—Berlin.
FLoyp W, Parsons, Editor.

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office in

tober 14. 1911. at the post office at
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of March 3, 1879.

Cable Address, ‘*Coage,”? N. Y.

CIRCULATION STATEMENT
Of this issue of Coal Age, we will print
7500 copies. No copies will be
regularly. There will be no back
bers. The figures shown here each week

represent live, net circulation.

sent free

num-

This journal has a direct aim—a single
purpose—which is to help advance the
coal-mining industry. Its creed embodies
the dissemination of knowledge and the
free interchange of ideas among its read-
ers, all of whom are invited to become
regular contributors.

Contents

BGR WONG A Song no ora sincere Weharne a mrelenass

‘The Sheridan,

Jesse Simmons 952
Mine Registration and Checking.

W. A. Davidson 934
The Jamison Cok Piants, Greens-

PRE RE fot Rete casersreien skate R. Dawson Hall 936
Diamond Val DGS SCER Ss oi aiete nae eons O58
Accidents in Anthracite Coal Mines.

Frederick I. Hoffman 940
Mine Trolley Harp and Wheel....... 9435
Lamp Bmeieney «64 «se qrte estes 945
The Consolidated Fuel Co. of Utah.
benedict Shubart 944
Report on the Landslide at) Frank,

SUR OICS oho arate tne dare enpre oe easter. 945
Current Coal Literature:

Anthracite Coal Preishts.......<. G46

Electricity in British Mininge...... 947
Who’s Who-—In Coal Mining:

Sketch. of C. M. Moderwell.. ..2... 94s
Editorials:

Mining Methods and Labor 949

The Ptittshbure Rate Case......... Gu
Comtery INGEGS: .ci-5 essen oh He eee es N51
Discussion by Readers:

Spontaneous Combustion ......... 952

Testing for Gas with a Normal

Flame in the Wolf Lamp.......- 952
Trquiries of General Tnterest:

Motive Column and Velocity...... 953

Thick Vertical Coal Seam......... 953

Direction of Carbon Monoxide Gas

Pie RONG RR o.5, cles s ava etna ee eta 9538
Examination Questions and Answers 954
Coal and Coke News... 2260605 es de 955

Coal Trade

Reviews.....

COAL AGE

949

Mining Methods and Labor

There is but little opposition today to
the introduction of machinery in coal
mines. The American workingman takes
quite a sane view of its use, and realizes
that it increases his earnings and lightens
his toil. It is remarkable the change in
view which has taken place even in the
last decade, for there are few workmen
at present who seriously entertain the
foolish notion that machinery impover-
ishes labor. Yet a certain amount of edu-

cation on the attitude of labor to ma-
chinery is reeded, and it is not unreason-
able to hope it will be effected if sober
counsels prevail.

The average miner who works with or
after machinery has altogether too much
The work

but it is

nard lifting and pushing to do.
referred to is not continuous,
hard. The machinery is cumbersome and
not much of it is equipped so as to be
A common type of ma-

with

self-propelling.
chine has to be loaded on a truck,
perhaps a board, flexible hose and other

paraphernalia. It has to be pushed to the
face of a long room and disembarked.
The board is placed and the machine

dragged onto it and a sumping cut is

made. After a few straight cuts are com-
pleted, the machine and board must be
pulled back across the face and re-

loaded, and the truck with its load pushed
down the room and up along the head-
ing to the next chamber, ready for cut-
ting. Then all the work detailed has to
be duplicated in another room. With ma-
chines of other types, the methods are
but little different and are often still more
laborious. It is to be hoped for the sake
of the miner that much of this hard work
will be eliminated.

All these difficulties are faults, not of
the machines but of our disjointed meth-
ods of mining. In many cases, they are
the outcome of the room-and-pillar meth-
od. This latter plan never was a thor-
oughly satisfactory system, and the ad-
vent of the machine has only made it in-
creasingly undesirable. The more a sin-
gle cutter will accomplish, the more un-

desirable it is to provide such meager
opportunities for its action.
Gradually we are learning how the

many roadways needed for approaching
a multitude of working faces makes it
hard to maintain any one road in proper
shape. Little by little we are grasping
the idea that more powder is consumed
and more danger incurred when shooting
in a tight place. Slowly it dawns on us
that the multiplicity of roadways excludes
the use of a large car in a thin bed. We
that this old

method makes necessary excessive super-

are beginning to realize
vision and much work for shotfirers, rib-
hosses and timbermen.

Moreover, we are commencing to see
how hard it is to ventilate the ragged line
along which the coal is attacked. Valu-
able fuel is being lost and the difficulties
of drainage and general development are
multiplied. We are feeling our way to a
point where we shall deplore the inabil-
ity to use machines for shoveling and
conveying,

Hampered in every direction, as in the
distribution of power (knowing that one
machine will work only from one-third to
one-half time), we buy grudgingly, enough
cutters to mine the needed coal, but we
rarely arrange for sufficient power to op-
erate all the machines at the same time.
At least we do not purchase pipes or
leads large enough to permit of synchron-
ous working of the machines. So now and
then we find a scarcity of power.

But if the machines could cut all the
time on a longwall face, this difficulty and
all the others would disappear. Our terri-
torv would be more compact, more read-
timbered, piping
and wiring costs would be lessened, the

ily supervised, better

ventilation would be better, the coal more
easily shot, new types of machinery could
be used, large cars loaded and more work
done per man emploved. Drivers and
motormen would not be delaved by the
transference of machine trucks along the
haulage roads and larger coal would be

obtained. Moreover, in thin beds, which

now have wide rooms, a double shoveling
of coal would be unnecessary.. It is true

950

that the longwall workings of English
mines have the disadvantages of high
timbering costs and of that increased ex-
pense which results from continued road
renewals, but the retreating-longwall-by-
panels system, now in use in a few Amer-
ican mines, should not involve any of this
expense.

However, if the wage rate to the cutter
per ton undermined is to be as high on
several small working faces as on a long
cutting face, if the payment of the loader
per ton removed is to be the same wheth-
er much or little powder is consumed, and
whether conveyer machines are used or
not, then every change which benefits la-
bor is to be at the entire expense of
capital, and the latter will make no move.

There must be on the part of labor a
desire to hasten the introduction of every
form of machinery and a willingness to
share fairly in the product of lessened
effort. The worker must be willing to
concede a fair proportion of the advan-
tages of a scheme which lightens his la-
bor and makes possible a greater output
per day, seeing that the improvement will
be brought about by the expenditure of
no little money. The miner should be
ready to welcome the opportunity afforded
him, not only to make a greater daily
wage, but also to work less hard and
should not wish to monopolize the just
Other-
wise the cutter, scraper and loader will
continue to act as boosters and as mules,
and will be delayed and harassed in their
work by ill adjusted conditions.

As conditions in unionized districts now

dues of commercial enterprise.

exist, it does not seem advisable to adopt
elaborations requiring expensive machin-
ery of unusual type, and a reconstruction
of the mines with a sure increase of dead
work and extra day labor, if the share
of the operator in the proceeds is only
what can be obtained from the use of a
somewhat larger car and the obtaining of
somewhat less broken coal. Where coal
is weighed before screening, the obtain-
ing of large lumps might alone justify
the new methods of working and the in-
troduction of machinery appropriate
thereto, hut where payment is based on
the screened product, it is hard to see
what important gain the operator could
make unless he received a concession in
wage. The use of the face conveyor in-

volves the hiring of car loaders, machin-
ists, engineers and firemen, and as these
men all assume a part of the work of the

COAL AGE

loader, it is but right that a reduction of
loading price, not necessarily proportion-
ate, however, should be conceded by
him; but always, on the condition that
under the new arrangement he shall
be assured a chance to earn a better wage

than under the old régime.

The Pittsburg Rate Case

We have refrained from commenting
on the decision of the Interstate Com-
merce Commission, rendered in the Pitts-
burg-Lake rate case, until a careful an-
alysis of the text of the verdict could
be made. This decision, in its effects
on the coal industry, is by far the most
important ruling yet made by this court.
It is broad in scope, conclusive in its
results, conservative to a fault and, most
important of all, will become effective
almost immediately without further liti-
gation.

We are firm advocates of an equable
geographical distribution of the coal mar-
kets, and believe that any principle by
which the railroads attempt to increase
their tonnages or excite unprofitable com-
petition by the
tariffs, is directly contrary to the basic
intent of our Constitution. In the opin-
ion of the Commission it was the
tention of the railroads to promote such
advancing the

imposition of unfair

in-

conditions by gradually
Pittsburg rate, “not to bring it up to
the level which the carriers might have
regarded and defended as_ reasonable,
but to let certain competing coal fields
into the lake trade.”’ This disposition on
the part of the railroads to be the ruling
factor in the destiny of any coal field
is a distinct imposition on the industry
and one long resented by it.

The ruling provides, in brief, for a re-
duction in the Pittsburg rate of 11 per
cent. and an increase in rates from the
Thacker and Pocahontas fields averag-
ing 9 per cent., making a differential on
the existing schedule of approximately
20 per cent. What the real material
benefits, accruing to the Pittsburg op-
erators will amount to, is problematical.
As is known, the Fairmont and
Kanawha fields are th@ most important
competitors in the lake trade and no
revision in rates from these districts has
been made. On the other hand, it is
estimated, on the basis of past shipments
from the Pittsburg district, that the re-
duction will effect a direct saving to the

well

Vol. 1, No. 29
operators of over a million dollars an-
nually. Aside from this, many mines
heretofore unable to ship profitably to
the lake market will now be in a posi-
tion to compete actively in this trade.
That the ultimate effect will be a marked
change and a radical readjustment in
long established channels of commerce.
is hardly to be questioned.

A careful analysis of the findings of
the Commission shows a decided (and
commendable) leaning toward conser-
vatism. While the court is of the opinion
that on the basis of a ton-mile rate, the
differential should be even greater, it
says, in part:

When we consider the disturbance in

established differentials, the possible de-
flection in the currents of coal trade and

the effects on the carriers directly in-
volved, we are forced to the conclusion
that a rate lower than this would not
be just.

And from the further fact that the
ruling is made effective only over a per-
iod of two years, shows the tentative way
in which the Commission regards its
finding, and the possibilities of a reversal
should it fail to bring forth the desired
results.

Dissatisfaction with the decision of the
Commission has been expressed in some
quarters. There are those who point to
the Pittsburg rate of 5.5 mills per ton-
mile as compared with the Kanawha rate
of 2.4 mills and believe that the re-
vision should be made on this basis.
Railroad tariff is a question which has
eccupied the attention of some of the
keenest intellects in the country, and a
solution of the problem along these lines
has been generally conceded impossible.
When it
on a carload of steel plates from Pitts-
burg to Chicago is nearly double that on
a carload of pianos from New York to
Chicago, the utter absurdity of such a
contention is at once evident.

is remembered that the rate

The foreman is the chief factor in the
prevention of mine accidents. On his
personality depends the discipline of the
mine. In order to fulfil all the require-
ments of the ideal foreman a man should
have had practical experience in mining,
good judgment, enough initiative and
strength of character to stand by his ideas
and make others respect them. He
should possess sufficient tact and know!l-
edge of human nature to control the men
under him, and be temperate and truthful.

April 27, 1912

COAL AGE

951

Colliery Notes and Comments

Practical hints gathered here and there, and condensed to suit the busy reader

The Appalachian coal field is the rich-
est coal deposit in the world. It pro-
duces nearly one-third of the world’s
coal.

Lethbridge and the Pass district pro-
duced over 6,000,000 tons of coal last
year. Fifteen years ago the same region
produced less than 200,000 tons a year.

A succession of small shots is much
better than a few large ones. Holes
should be drilled so that advantage may
be taken of all partings. Load the coal
out before firing a second charge.

A Scotch device for removing dust
from coal mines consists of electrically-
worked air-jets and a _ suction-device
which simultaneously raise and withdraw
the dust.

Experience has shown that the wet
zone method of preventing the spread of
an explosion is not to be depended upon.
With very intense heat, thoroughly wet
zones, 150 ft. long, have been crossed by
the flame,

A method of removing carbonic dioxide
sometimes employed in English mines, is
to spray the mine with hypochlorite mix-
tures in liquid form. The hypochlorites
of the alkalies have the property of ab-
sorbing carbonic dioxide when such is
present.

Experiments made in France have
shown that watering thoroughly for 10
yards in front of shot holes in dusty
mines will greatly reduce the dangers
resulting from blowout shots. While
ignition was not always prevented, it in
no case extended more than seven or
eight yards.

Precautions to Prevent gob fires are:
(a) So far as is possible, withdrawing all
timber from the gob; (b) stowing the
waste with all the dirt available; (c)
giving great attention to the building of
gate-side pack-walls; (d) leaving no
pillars or ribs of coal; (e) keeping the
workings cool by means of ventilation,
but excluding the air from the gob.

Leaders of rescue corps should bear
in mind that while rules and regula-
tions are desirable for intelligent action,
it is impossible to lay down hard
and fast rules for rescue work at ex-
plosions and mine fires, as circumstances
vary and each mine and each fire or ex-
Plosion furnishes a different problem in
itself, and nothing can replace individual
intelligence and decision on the part of
the leader of the corps.

Developments in mining, in Alberta
province, Canada, during the past five
or ten years, have produced great
changes. Seven large and well equipped
collieries now dot the plains, and some
of these are said to have the most up-to-
date steel tipples in the world. There
has been, in this time, a vast development
of coal areas in the ‘“‘Pass,” known bet-
ter as the Crows Nest Pass, on the C. P.
Ry., and on the line dividing the provinces
of Alberta and British Columbia.

Pure calcium chloride will absorb
as much as 1.15 times its weight of water.
When intended for use on dusty road-
ways, gobs, or floors of entries, it should
be bought in the granulated form as it
is then much easier to spread evenly
and is more effective than when either
in the solid or dissolved form. But for
use on ribs, roof, and timbers five or six
pounds should be dissolved in 100 Ib.
of water and this mixture sprinkled
by means of the water car and hand

pump.

Discussing the types of available
breathing apparatus, Mr. Blackett says
there are two forms from which to choose,
namely, (a) that which maintains its sup-
ply of oxvgen from steel cylinders con-
taining the gas compressed to, say, 120
atmospheres, and which has the expired
carbonic-acid gas absorbed by such a
substance as caustic potash, and (b) that
which depends upon liquid air boiling off
and being discharged into the surround-
ing atmosphere, instead of being, as it
were, regenerated.

Spontaneous combustion is now recog-
nized as the greatest problem to be over-
come in connection with the storage of
bituminous coal. One good method of
detecting an incipient fire is to have all
storage bins fitted out with temperature
tubes, using 4-in. galvanized pipes, about
20 ft. long, set in the floor of the bins in
such a manner as to project upward into
and through the coal pile. Each tube
should be provided with a thermometer
which is capable of indicating tempera-
tures over 150 deg. F. Run a circuit from
each of the tubes to an alarm bell in the
office of the yard superintendent so that
if the coal is heating an alarm will at
once be sounded.

Great Britain has no law touching the
kind, or length of service of hoisting
ropes. The law limits itself to holding
the mine owner personally responsible
for any mistake he may commit which

results fatally, but so far as the law is
concerned any kind of rope may be
used and may be kept in use as long
as the mine management desires. Super-
intendents are obliged to report all rope
breakage regardless of whether any per-
sons were either killed or injured. In the
last 10 years Great Britain has had
only 38 fatal accidents due to the break-
age of hoisting ropes. Only a few British
mines test their ropes themselves; the
tests are made by the rope manufact-

urers. It is far less customary to test
the finished rope than the individual
wire.

Prussian mining authorities prescribe
the following tests for hoisting ropes
used in shafts where men are lowered
and hoisted. Each rope must be sub-
jected to tensile and bending tests per-
formed on a 40-in. length cut from the
rope. The tests must be applied to each
wire in the rope, except the core wires of
the several strands and of the entire
rope. Each wire must be loaded to its
breaking point and its limit of flexion
must be ascertained by bending it through
an angle of 180 deg., on a 5mm. (0.2 in.)
radius until it breaks. The number of
bends must be counted. Each test for
flexibility is carried out by bending
the wire alternately from right to
left, through an angle of 90 deg. from
the vertical to the horizontal position and
on to the vertical position. The car-
rying power of the whole rope is cal-
culated by adding together the weight
required to break each individual wire,
with the exception of the cores, leaving
out of consideration all wies whose
carrying strength is 20 per cent. below
the average of the whole. Ropes made
of wire, other than plain section must
have their carrying power determined by
straining the whole rope or whole strands
to the breaking point. All hoisting ropes
must be tested at least once every three
months. When the strain on the rope is
light, longer intervals may elapse be-
tween testings, by cutting off at least 10
feet from the end attached to the cage,
above the capping; 40 in. of the top part
of the cut-off portion must be tested for
tensile strength and resistance to flex-
ion in the same manner as prescribed for
new ropes. Every hoisting rope must
exhibit at least a margin of safety of 6,
referred to the maximum toad carried
when hoisting animals. When hoisting
men the weight on the cage must not 2
more than '™% the weight carried when
hoisting coal.

COAL AGE

Vol. 1, No. 29

Discussion by Readers

Comment, Criticism and Debate upon Previous Articles, and Letters from Practical Men

Spontaneous Combustion

Under the above caption much has
been written and said by many experts
and scientists. Yet it seems there are a
few practical things picked up in a life’s
experience around mines, that might be
said. The reason some coals ignite with-
out the application of fire, and others do
not. is as mysterious and paradoxical as
the coking qualities of coal.

Most writers agree that iron pyrites
(FeS) is the principal cause of spon-
taneous combustion, but I do not agree
with this theory. Although the bisulphide
of iron is always found in gob fires, I
have always understood that no fires have
ever taken place in coal piles or gobs ex-
cept where proto sulphides were also
present, as for example in the Yorkshire
and South Wales tests. This is true at
least, in all cases where these gobs and
coals have been subjected to ultimate
analysis. Also, quite a number of ex-
perts do not seem to distinguish between
the gases that compose the coal and those
occluded in it.

Furthermore, few people have con-
sidered the nature of these occluded
gases sufficient to thoroughly understand
the origin of the gob fire. Most writers
seem to infer that the temperature of
spontaneous combustion is quite high,
about 700° to 1000° F.; to this again J
cannot agree. Many men _ who _ have
traveled over gobs and the waste in
abandoned workings have no doubt noted
the extra heat of the top coal, slack and
bituminous slates.

This, I understand, to be spontaneous
combustion in its initial stage; it may be
as low as 80° F. or so hot you cannot
hold your hand on it, yet the actual fire
is not yet due by many degrees. It seems
possible that, in the disintegration of the
coals, enough heat is generated to throw
off one S from the FeS:, thereby form-
ing the proto-sulphide FeS and SO.. At
any rate I am positive, there is plenty of
this sulphurous oxide generated long be-
fore any glowing fire appears.

Your correspondent stated that water or
vapor helped the combustion and it may
be the HO is given off, and with the free
S forms the SO.. However, I do not
think so, as it always has been my ex-
perience that the drier the gobs the more
liable they were to fire, and I have never
seen a fire in a wet gob. But to return to
the temperature, I believe that when com-
bustion has advanced enough to produce
large quantities of SO, it may be stopped
and the temperature made normal.

I firmly believe that, if waste work-
ings were thoroughly ventilated, there
would be no gob fires. At our mines here
four years ago we holed a butt heading
out to daylight. On the rise side of this
heading was old workings about 2000 ft.
by 1500 ft., all abandoned; through this
heading we hauled the coal from an-
other mine by electric motors. The mine
inspector and I had often noticed tne dry
SO: coming along this haulageway in the
suction of the trip; there was enough to
make you cough and sneeze. Beyond
these workings there was a large blocx
untouched, which it became necessary t9
develop. We discharged into the old
workings 35,000 cu.ft. of air per min., as
per the state mine inspector’s report. The
result is that the pungent odor is gone,
and the old entry that once fatigued you,
and made your eyes ache in a 1000-ft.
travel can now be traveled with impunity.

Therefore, my firm opinion is, that the
cause of the most of the spontaneous
ignition in mines is principally the lack
of proper ventilation. I have such faiti
in the theory that I have recently sug-
gested a plan to ventilate coal stock-piles.

JOSEPH VIRGIN.

Plymouth, West Va.

[Our correspondent has presented some
interesting, and we believe original theo-
ries, on this much discussed question.
He has, however, evidently been misin-
formed or been referring to unreliable
authorities. The most recent investiga-
tions on this subject are embodied in a
paper presented by permission of the Di-
rector of the U. S. Bureau of Mines at
a joint meeting of the New York sections
of the American Chemical Society, Amer-
ican Electrochemical Society and the So-
ciety of Chemica! Industry, New York
City, Nov. 19, 1911. On the subject of

spontaneous combustion this paper says: |

Oxidization (probably in the main an
absorption of oxygen by unsaturated
chemical compounds) begins at ordinary
temperature in any coal, attacking the
surfaces of the particles and slowly de-
veloping heat. In a small mass of coal
this heat can readily dissipate itself by
radiation and no rise in temperature re-

sults. If radiation is restricted, however,
as in a large pile densely packed, the
temperature slowly rises. Now, the
curve of oxidation rates, plotted against
temperature, rises with Breat rapidity,
and when the storage conditions are
such as to allow the temperature of

about 100° C. to be exceeded, the rate
of oxidation is great enough ordinarily,
so that the heat developed overbalances
the heat radiated. Then the tempera-
ture rises to the ignition point if the air
supply is adequate.

According to this hypothesis, sponta-
neous combustion is accelerated by the
exclusion of air until the temperature of
100° C. is reached, after which combus-
tion is aided by the admission of air. We
would be pleased to hear from other
readers on this very important subject.—
EpbiTOor. |

Testing for Gas with a
Normal Flame in the

Wolf Lamp

In my experience with a Wolf lamp
burning naphtha, I have observed that
when a ‘4-in. or normal flame was used
for testing purposes the lamp would not
give any indication of the presence of
gas, except that the flame became some-
what smoky. In one instance, recently,
there was a uniform mixture of 3'4 to 4
per cent. of marsh gas in the air at the
time of making the test. In using the
normal flame, I could get no indication of
gas. When the flame of the lamp was
reduced, however, to what may be called
a standard or capping flame, a 3%-in. to
'4-in. cap was formed. I would like to
know if others have had the same experi-
ence in the use of the Wolf lamp.

After studying the matter, I came to
the conclusion that the air or mixture of
air and gas, which entered the lamp
through the gauze ring below the flame,
was only sufficient to support the flame
and burn a very small amount of gas
that acted to keep the height of the flame
constant. My idea was that when a
larger flame was used, the air entering
the lamp was not sufficient to produce
complete combustion, which fact caused
the smoky appearance of the flame; and
this, together with the brightness of the
large flame, obscured the cap. It is a
common practice among some firebosses
to test for gas with the normal flame in
the Davy lamp; but this lamp has a large
intake area providing a better circulation
in the lamp than is true for the Wolf
lamp. When using the normal flame in
testing for gas, to obtain reliable results
the flame, in gas, should reach to the top
of the globe, in the lamp, or nearly so.
To determine the percentage of gas, how-
ever, a reduced or standard or capping
flame should be used.

BENJAMIN HARTILL.

Johnstown, Penn.

[In this connection, the article “Esti-
mating Gas Percentages,” Coat AGE.
Dec. 2, p. 250, is of interest—EbITOR. |

\pril =/, 1912

COAL AGE

Inquiries of General Interest

All Questions Must be Accompanied by Name and Address—Not for Publication

\lotive Column and Velocity

| want to ask (a) what will be the height
f motive column produced by the differ-
-nce of temperature in two shafts of
-gual depth and area, the depth of each
haft being 700 ft.2 The temperature of
the downcast is 40° F. and that of the
ipcast 65° F. (b) What would be the
velocity of the air current

INQUIRER.

(a) The height of motive column de-
pends only on the difference of tempera-
ture in the two shafts, the density of
the air and the depth of the shafts. The
area does not affect the motive column.
[he upeast air being the lighter, a mo-
tive column of this air will be longer.
for the same conditions, than a column of
the heavier downcast air.
Downcast air

: 65 — 40 700 X 25

lf = 700 X — =-* ~ == 334 jt.
460 + 65 525

Upceast air

: 05 Oo TOO: KX 25 ?

i == 700 * = a SCs
460 + 40 500

(b) The theoretical velocity due to the
head of air column in either case is given
by the formula

x 32.16 X 35

Foe y 2

= 47.4 + jt. per
This, however, has no practical bearing,
here, as it represents the rush of upcast
dir into a vacuum only; and has nothing
vhatever to do with the velocity of the
upcast current in the shaft.

Thick Vertical Coal Seam

I was greatiy interested in the in-
juiry of Chas. M. Sherman, Coat AGE.
\pr. 6, p. 851, asking for a discussion of
he best method of developing a vertical
oal seam, 16 ft. thick, 1000 7t. deep and

. nd ]

sec.

COAL VEINS 6°15’ Gre®0 _—
oa etw. “ ”
_. (SANDSTONE WALLS <>" =
‘ Fe

yi ’ &
1X

leanstone

= COAL VEINS 6-15’ bet
SANDSTONE WALLS
Sor _ Heavy Bedded Yellow
Sandstone

GEOLOGICAL Cross-SECTION OF COAL
SEAMS.

one mile long. This is a pertinent ques-
tion and one we also would like to see
discussed, inasmuch as we are facing a
similar proposition here, having just
opened a vein that could be described in

the same words. At the present writing,
we have sunk a 5x8 ft. prospect shaft,
110 ft. deep, and from the bottom of this
shaft have driven entries, each way, 300
ft., in the coal. The seam measures 16
ft. thick and stands at an angle of about
87°; it extends downward fully 1000 ft,
and has a width of 2 miles on the prop-
erty.

We shall watch with much interest the
replies to this question. We inclose a
sketch showing the cross-section of the
formation here, taken from the report of
the Geology of Colorado Coal Fields.

W. B. House, GENL. Mcr.
The Rooney White Ash Coal Co.
Denver, Colo.

Detection ot Carbon Monoxide
Gas in Mines

Among the questions answered in CoAL
Ace, Mar, 9, p. 720, I notice one asking
how to detect mine gases, or rather, to
describe the effect of the different mine
gases on the flame of a safety lamp.

I would like to ask if the manner in
which this gas is commonly described, es-
pecially with regard to its action on the
flame of a lamp, is not a dangerous and
misleading way of putting it. All text
books, in speaking of carbon-monoxide
gas, refer to the lengthening of the flame
in the gas and add, the flame burns more
brightly in this gas than in air. This must
be true since a/l books on mining say the
same thing; but they do not give the per-
centage of gas necessary to produce this
effect. My question is, does not this
statement lead the miner to depend upon
his lamp to show this gas and often cause
him to lose his life in the attempt to res-
cue friends, after an explosion ?

If I am not mistaken, it takes 3 per
cent. of CO to show this effect; but '% of
! per cent. of this gas is fatal to life.
If this be true, a man would die before
nis lamp would reveal the danger. I do
not wish to be understood as a critic, but
I have seen foolish men lose their lives
in the manner stated, depending on the
light to show this gas. It may have been
because of the books they had read; but
! think this matter should be made clear
by an article on this gas alone, especially
2s so few miners understand the danger
to which they are exposed in its presence.

James R. CAVANAUGH.

State College, Penn.

Our correspondent has drawn attention
to an interesting and important point.

While it is probably true that more has

been written, of late, drawing attention to
the dangerous character of this gas than
can be said of any of the other mine
gases. much of what has been written is
misleading in the daily practice of min-
ing, because undue emphasis has been
placed on the phvsical properties of the
gas, the effects of which, in most cases,
are not understood by the ordinary miner.

The answer to the question to which

cur correspondent refers, however, in
Coat AcE, Mar. 9, p. 720, distinctly
states: ‘However, it is unsafe to rely

wholly on these indications for its (CO)
detection. Other means should be used,
as the blood test or the canary or mouse
test.” The answer to the question im-
mediately preceding this one draws atten-
tion to its dangerous character, which is
due chiefly to the fact that lamps “con-
tinue to burn brightly in the presence of
this gas”.

In regard to the percentage of gas re-
quired to produce the effect described,
it is impracticable to say; because, the
gas being combustible, its presence in the
air surrounding a flame adds to the com-
bustion and maintains a higher tempera-
ture over the surface of the flame. A
very smal! percentage of the gas in-
creases the brightness visibly, and the ef-
fect is greater as the percentage of gas is
higher. Just at what point the effect
becomes appreciable depends on the
quickness of the observer to detect the
change.

Furthermore, the presence of fine coal
dust floating in the mine air will produce
the same effect, lengthening and bright-
ening the flame, when no carbon monox-
ide is present except that which may be
generated by the burning of the dust in
contact with the flame. On the other
hand, the presence of blackdamp destroys
the effect of carbon monoxide on the
flame more or less completely, while it
does not, to the same extent, destroy the
toxic effect (effect on life).

For these reasons the effect produced
by this gas on flame, as commonly de.
scribed, though true for even low per-
centages, must not be taken as a safe
guide or test. The same remarks apply,
though less forcibly, to the detection of
firedamp, the flame test being modified
here also by the presence of other gases.
A dangerously explosive mixture of
marsh gas, carbon dioxide and air (flash-
damp) is frequently mistaken for a harm-
less body of gas or overlooked entirely,
because the cap only appears as a mo-
mentary flash on the lamp and is gone.

COAL AGE

Vol. 1, No. 20

Examination Questions

Selected from State Examinations, or Suggested by Correspondents

i}
=

=_—

Ellsworth Mining Institute,
Tennessee
MINE FOREMEN’S CLASS, QUESTIONS

Ques.—Describe, in a general way, the
duties of mine foreman, superintendent
and all other employees inside of a mine.

Ans.—The mine foreman is the re-
sponsible man in the operation of a mine.
He has full charge of the mine, its
equipment and supplies. His duties are
to direct and supervise the entire work
of the mine, examine and control its
ventilation, inspect all machinery and the
inside workings, provide the necessary
supplies and receive the daily reports of
the men in his charge. He must person-
ally superintend the prompt removal of
all known dangers or order the men to
withdraw from the mine.

The superintendent plans the work, re-
ceives and files all daily and monthly re-
ports, fills all orders for supplies made
by the mine foreman, inspects the mine
maps, time sheets and all bills of ex-
pense, directs the loading and shipment
of coal, and regulates the output to meet
the demand.

The fireboss examines the mine for gas
and to discover any dangers or unsafe
conditions before the men enter the mine
in the morning and during the day while
the men are at work in their places. He
should place danger signals where such
are needed, give all necessary instruc-
tions to miners, regarding the use of
their lamps, the drilling of holes for
blasting, charging and firing shots, and
the timbering of their places, loading of
cars, and whatever may be necessary to
safeguard life and property.

The boss driver directs the other drivers
in the work of transporting the coal from
the working face to the parting or shaft
bottom. The timbermen and trackmen
look after the timber and track -in all
roadways, take down loose rock and lay
room switches as these are required.

It is the duty of miners to carefully in-
spect their own working places and set
any timber that may be required before
Starting any other work. All employees
should report promptly any dangers they
may find to the mine foreman or his
assistant.

Ques.—What quantity of air is passing
in an airway 5x7 ft. when the velocity is
250 ft. per min., and what record should
be made in the mine-record book of such
measurements ?

Ans.—The area of the airway is

a=z=S5x7= SM oak.

The quantity of air passing is then
q=@q=-= Bx =
8750 cu.ft. per min.

The date of the observation, sectional
area of the airway, anemometer read-
ings, velocity of the current and the
calculated quantity of air passing should
all be promptly recorded in the book
kept for that purpose and the entry
signed by the one who made the observa-
tion.

Ques.—What is meant by splitting the
air current in a mine, and what effect
has it on the total volume of air in circu-
lation ?

Ans.—By splitting the air in a mine is
meant dividing the air current into two
or more separate currents. By this
means the total volume of air is in-
creased, assuming the power produc-
ing the circulation remains unchanged.
Owing to this increased volume of air
having to pass through the fan, the
shafts and the main airways, its velocity
in each of these is increased in propor-
tion to the increased volume of air, but
the velocity in each of the splits is de-
creased somewhat. However, owing to
the number of splits the total quantity of
air in circulation is always increased.

Ques.—If a current of 30,000 cu.ft. of
air is passing into a mine and you find
only 5000 cu.ft. at the working face, how
would you account for this loss and how
can it be prevented ?

Ans.—The loss in the volume of air
that reaches the working face is due to
leaky stoppings, doors, air bridges and
brattices used to conduct the air through-
out the mine. If these are not made air-
tight the current or a certain portion of
it will be short-circuited at such points
and pass into the return, thus failing to
reach the face. It can be prevented by
repairing or rebuilding all stoppings,
doors, brattices, etc., that leak air.

Ques.—If an airway 2000 ft. long and
6x8 ft. in section is passing 50,000 cu.ft.
of air per minute, and another airway of
equal size is added, what will be the total
quantity of air passing per minute in the
two airways, the pressure remaining con-
stant ?

Ans.—The question ¢ a little indefinite
as to its meaning. Assuming, however,
that the airway added is another and
separate split affected by the same pres-
sure as the original airway, the total
quantity of air will be doubled, since

each airway will then pass 50,000 cu.ft.
per min,

On the other hand, if the new airwa
is an extension of the original airway
whose length will thus be doubled, the

quantity of air that will then pass
through this long airway will be de-
creased. For the same pressure pei

square foot the quantity varies inversely
as the square root of the length. More
simply, for the same pressure, the quan-
tity ratio is equal to the square root of
the inverse-length ratio (the cross-section
of the two airways being the same).
Thus, the length ratio in this case being
2, and calling the required volume of
ct ee

V O:5 = 0.707

x = 50,000 x 0.707 = 35,350
cu.ft. per min.

Ques.—What provision should be made
inside a mine to insure its being properly
ventilated ?

Ans.—All stoppings, brattices, doors
and air bridges must be made air-tight.
Doors must be substantially built and
hung so as to close with the gir. Double
doors must be used at all main points
separating the main intake and return
airways. Other doors on haulage roads
where much coal is passing should be
trapped. All air crossings should be
built as overcasts and not undercasts.
Airways and crosscuts should be kept
free of all obstructions of any nature;
empty or loaded cars should not be stood
in airways, but in the mouths of rooms or
on partings where they will not obstruct
the flow of air. The air current should
be distributed so as to proportion the
quantity of air in each split to the
requirements therein. Special brattices
should be used to make the air current
sweep the face of each working place.
The velocity of the current, at the face.
should always be sufficient to sweep
away all gases and prevent their accumu-
lation in any void or abandoned places.
The velocity in the workings should not
exceed 480 ft. per min.

Correction

The answer to the last question,
Pumping Calculation, Coat Ace, Apr. 13,
p. 887, made the actual discharge greater
than the theoretical discharge, which, o!
course, is wrong. The answer shoulc
read.

(b) Actual discharge,

G = 0.85 x 705 = say, 600 gal. per mir

April 27, 1912

COAL AGE

ico)
or
on

| oal and Coke News

i From Our Own Representatives in Various Important Mining Centers

Washington, D. C.

The House Committee on Mines and
\lining has reported favorably on the
Foster bill, which provides for the crea-
tion of a Commission of Mining Industry,
vith power to undertake a general investi-
cation of mining conditions throughout
the country. The commission is to be
composed of 11 persons, as follows: Two
members from the Senate and two from
the House, two representatives of the op-
erators, two representatives of the min-
ers. two engineers and a representative of
the Bureau of Mines.

It is to be the special duty of this com-
mission to inquire into labor conditions
in the mining industry and to seek to dis-
cover and point out the underlying causes
of dissatisfaction, also to inquire into min-
ing methods with regard to their safety
and efficiency, and the general conserva-
tion of mineral resources.

RATES ON COLORADO COAL

A decision by the Interstate Commerce
Commission in the case of the Nebraska
State Railway Commission vs. the Chi-
cago, Burlington & Quincy R.R. Co.
et al. explains that in the application of
rates on coal from the Walsenburg dis-
trict of Colorado to numerous points in
Nebraska the defendants provide a rate
of S3.50 per net ton to one group of sta-
tions and a rate of $3.75 to a second
group. The complainant, in substance,
asks that certain points now taking the
53.75 rate be included within the $3.50
rate group, and the certain points taking
the $3.50 rate be divided into two new
eroups to which shall apply rates of S3
ind $3.25, respectively. The rates in-
volved have been considered, and it is
held:

(1) That the defendants suhject Min-
len “K” to undue and unreasonable prej-
udice in charging a higher rate than ap-
plies at Minden, and that for the future
the rate to Minden “K” should not ex-
ceed the rate contemporaneously main-
tained to Minden.

(2) That, under the readjustment re-
quired by this finding, the rate to Minden
“K" should not be exceeded at the inter-
mediate stations of Keene, Wilcox,
Ragan, Huntley, Alma, Orleans, Carter,
ind Sacramento.

The Commission further explains that:

A careful analysis of the reports filed
with the Commission by the defendants,
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R.R.
Co., the Colorado & Southern R.R. Co.
and the Denver & Rio Grande R.R. Co.

shows that the operating expenses per
ton-mile over these lines is so high that

we hesitate to make changes in the rates
now under investigation other than
those noted.

Alabama

Birmingham—The coal operators of
Alabama are making an advance in
wages, effective May 1, amounting to
2’4c. per ton mine-run for pick mining
in the Pratt seam of coal, which is the
basing seam for the state. This will ad-
vance the Pratt pick-mining rate from
52!'2c. per ton to 55c., and other seams
will be advanced in proportion. The
yardage and day rates will be advanced
about 5 per cent.

Tests have been made recently by
Chief Mine Inspector Nesbitt to de-
termine the percentage of gas in the air
of several Alabama mines. The ap-
paratus used was that installed here
lately by the government. The samples
were taken largely from the Flat Top and
Indio mines and, in most cases, showed
less than one-half of 1 per cent. of ex-
plosive gas.

Colorado

Denver—A proposed increase of 35c.
per ton in the freight rates on coal from
the Walsenburg district in Colorado to
points of destination in Kansas, Okla-
homa and Texas, was suspended, Apr.
10, by order of the Interstate Commerce
Commission, until Aug. 12. The new
rate was to have become effective
Apr. 14.

By a recent decision, the Interstate
Commerce Commission has ordered a re-
duction in freight rates on coal from the
Walsenburg field to points along the
Burlington road as far east as Oxford
Junction, Nebraska. A reduction of 25c.
per ton is anplicable to the stations of
Ragan, Huntley, Wilcox, Sacramento and
Minden. The following stations between
Minden ard Superior must continue to
pay the old rate: Superior, Edgar, Clay
Center and Harvard.

Illinois

Chicago—The Illinois United Mine
Workers have voted to accept an increase
of approximately 5c. per ton of screened
coal and to return to work May 1.

Mount Vernon—The Chicago Coal Co.,
of Chicago, has procured options on
3000 acres of coal land in Jefferson
County, and it is reported that the pur-
chasers expect to open a number of
mines during the present year.

Coal City—The head works of mine
No. 3, at Tower Hill, were blown over
by the storm, Apr. 21, which did great
damage in this vicinity.

Belleville—One hundred and twenty-
eight miners have brought suit against
the Royal Coal & Mining Co., the Wil-
harmil Coal & Coke Co., and. R. W.
Ropiequet, for $12,800, wages due them.

Columbia—The East St. Louis-Colum-
bia- Waterloo Electric Ry. has obtained a
permit to extend its line through East
St. Louis, to enter St. Louis over the
Eads bridge. The line will extend from
East St. Louis to Waterloo, and will tap
coal fields that at the present time, have
no freight facilities.

Peoria—The scale committee and ex-
ecutive board of the Illinois United Mine
Workers arranged to meet the Illinois
cecal operators, including those from the
Fifth and Ninth districts, in conference
here on Apr. 23. Differences between
the miners and operators will be dis-
cussed and any agreement which may be
reached will be submitted to a referen-
dum vote of the miners of the state.

Articles of incorporation were recently
issued to the Mid-Valley Coal Co., which
iS capitalized at $80,000, with offices in
Peoria. The new company has purchased
500 acres of coal land four miles north
of Chillicothe and will begin operations
as soon as the suspension of work in the
coal mines is over.

Hillsboro—It is reported on good au-
thority that the New York Central R.R.
has purchased, or is about to purchase,
15,000 acres of coal lands in and around
Ohlman. The field is that optioned a
few months ago by Harry S. Hargrave,
and sold to St. Paul coal-land men. The
mining conditions at Ohlman are more
like those at Pana than at Hillsboro, and
therefore are not quite as good as con-
ditions here. The vein is about 7% ft.
thick.

Indiana

indianapolis—The completion of the
work of the tellers of the United Mine
Workers shows that the bituminous min-
ers have ratified the Cleveland compro-
mise agreement, governing Illinois, Indi-
ana, Ohio and western Pennsylvania, by a
vote of 109,709'4 to 32,139%.. Thus 77
per cent. of the 141,849 miners who voted
at the referendum balloting, Apr. 10, fa-
vored the agreement. Not later than
May 1, it is said at the international head-
quarters, the 240,000 bituminous miners

956

will be back in the mines. Approximately
150,000 of these are idle at the present
time. The formal signing of the contract
which is to bind operators and miners in
the four-state field until Mar. 31, 1914, is
expected to take place this week. In only
one district in the country was the ma-
jority of votes cast against the agreement.
That was in the Kentucky field, where a
total of 1220 votes was cast, 566 of these
being for and 654 against the agreement.
Of the miners in the districts in Penn-
sylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, the
four states governed by the contract, 82.-
066 voted for the agreement and 23,300
against it.

Brazil—The Crawford Coal Co. has be-
gun the work of sinking a new mine
northeast of this city, along the Chicago
& Eastern Illinois R.R. When com-
pleted it will employ 200 or more miners.
This enterprise will prove a big help to
Brazil, commercially. The new mine ‘s
in the Clay County block-coal field and
bids fair to run for many years.

Bloomington—Although Monroe County
has never been known as a coal produc-
ing district. John H. Koontz, who owns 2
large farm 8 miles west of Bloomington,
has found a 4-ft. vein of bituminous coa!

of excellent quality on his land. It is
announced that a company is being
formed to develop te find.

Terre Haute—The convention of the

Indiana United Mine Workers, which ad-
journed early in March, pending the
interstate conference at Cleveland, re-
assembled here Apr. 17. The scale com-
mittee has prepared a contract to be sub-
mitted to the operators at a joint confer-
ence. A mutual casualty-insurance agree-
ment will be discussed by both bodies.
The operators offered to take up the mat-
ter several vears ago, but the miners
then believed they would succeed in ob-
taining a state law similar to the one in
Illinois.

Kentucky

Whitesburg — The Consolidation Coal
Co. has bought 76 acres of coal lands
near Jenkins for 319,700. This is at the
rate of a little more than 5250 an acre—
perhaps the largest price ever paid for
mountain coal lands.

Louisville—While a final settlement o?
the difficulties between the union miners
and the operators of western Kentucky
has not been reached, the only points et
issue now are minor questions in regard
to working conditions. The wage scale
agreed upon has been submitted to a
referendum vote. The union miners of
southern Indiana have refused to raise
funds to be used in an endeavor to or-
ganize the non-union territory of western

Kentucky.
The entrance of the Norfolk & Western
into the eastern Kentucky coal fields is a

COAL AGE

development of interest. It will make the
move through the Williamson & Pond
Creek R.R., which was recently organ-
ized. This road will be built from Wil-
liamson, W. Va., along Pond Creek to a
point near Elkhorn City, which is the
center of the new coal territory now un-
der development. It is largely for this
reason that the Norfolk & Western is re-
building its bridge over the Ohio at
Kenova, W. Va., as it expects to handle a
large tonnage of coal as soon as its new
connection is built. The Carolina, Clinch-
field & Ohio is building from Dante, Va.,
to the Elkhorn field, while the Chesa-
peake & Ohio is also entering that dis-
trict.

Henderson—-The Keystone Mining &
Manufacturing Co. has filed a_ suit
against the Louisville & Nashville R.R.

Co., in which damages of 350,000 are
asked. The company’s claim is that the
road failed to furnish it with cars and
to quote reasonable rates on the shipment
of coal from the mines to the city of
Henderson, and that as a result it was
found necessary to close down the mines.

Madisonville—An explosion of gas in
the Coil Co.’s mine near this city, the
night of Apr. 21, set the mine on fire and
probably caused the death of Joseph
Hallowell. a mine foreman, and four ne-
zroes. Flames-were found issuing from
the entry and one of the cages was blown
out by the explosion. The mine is a new
one, about 200 ft. below the surface and
only about half a mile long. Only the
five men were in the mine.

Greenville—J. W. Lam, Greenville,
has purchased the coal mine of the Dovey
Coal Co. at Mercer. The purchase price
was 375,000. Mr. Lam is one of the
creditors of the company, which is in
bankruptcy, with liabilities of 5100,000.

\lissourt

Kansas Citvy—A sub-committee of six
members, representing the coal operators
and the miners, respectively, in the fields
of Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Ar-
kansas, began negotiations, Apr. 16, for
the writing of a new two-year contract.
The conferences were held in the offices
of the Central Coal & Coke Co. An early
settlement of the differences between the
two sides is expected. The miners by a
referendum vote have approved the
Cleveland agreement, and it only remains
now to.agree on the contract. The only
serious obstacle in writing the contract
pertains to the arbitrator in matters of
dispute. The miners desire to eliminate
this clause and the“operators desire to
retain it.

St. Louis—The freight traffic officials of
the various railroads entering St. Louis.
have practically decided upon a new coal
arbitrary, making the rate on all coal the
same to St. Louis as to East St. Louis.

Vol. 1, No.
Ohio
Zanesville—Fire broke out, Apr. 1s
the shaft mine No. 302, near Co;

Ohio, in which 400 miners were emp}
until the suspension of work on Ap;
A hundred men at once started to
in an effort to check the ffames,
several of the fire fighters were overc:
by the
The annonucement was made recent
in Columbus, that capitalists of that ci:
have leased 8000 acres of coal lands bf.
tween Durant and Blue Rock. This |
one of the biggest coal deals in the his
tory of this section of the state. It was
further announced that the old Stone
mine at the mouth of Coal Run will soon
be purchased and operated.
Columbus—Figures given out from In-
dianapolis, show that the proposition ot
remaining at work in accordance with the
Cleveland agreement was ratified by the
United Mine Workers in western Penn-
svlvania, Ohio, Indiana and illinois. The
vote against the proposition was unex-
pectediv large. and hard to account for.
The Hocking Valley field is expected to
ve one of the first to resume operations,
as everything is in readiness for resump-
tion. The eastern Ohio field will also re-
sume work soon, and the same is true of
the Pomerov-Bend field. It may be a
little time before operations are resumed
in the Massillon and Crooksville fields.
According to the Cleveland agreement
there should be mo difficulty in working
out the district rulings. The agreement
provides that nothing shall be changed to
make the cost of mining greater, and, on
the other hand, nothing shall be changed

fumes.

to decrease the earnings of the miners.
The Symmes Coal Co., of Ironton,

has been ordered by Judge Corn, of the
cemmon pleas court of that district, to li-
quidate claims amounting to
within the next 45 davs. Failure to comply
will result in a sheriff’s sale of valuable
coal lands, owned by the company in
Lawrence and Gallia Counties. Of the
indebtedness, 3706.000 is for outstanding
honds and the balance for notes and cour
costs.
Bridgeport—President John Moore,

the Ohio,miners, with the subdistrict 0!
ficials, on Apr. 16, visited the towns <

$705,204

Bradley, Piney Fork and Plum Ru
where serious riets occurred recent!
when pumpers and other repair m

working in the idle mines were assault:
by foreigners.

Coshoecton—A 5-ft. seam of coal
uncovered recently in the new entry
the Locust Grove Mining Co.’s mine, }
south cf town. A number of additio:
men will be emploved as soon as the en'
is put in shape to start operations.

St. Clairsville—It is not believed
mines of eastern Ohio will resume op:
tions before Mav 1. While the ret
from Indianapolis announcing the me
itv in favor of returning to work, wi!

ing,

\
\ L

rf
ca

alt

n
wt

34
}

is
Pick
ning per net ton, 64.29c.; machine load-

ing per gross ton, 42c.;
per
Boswell—A

T .

rrous

lat

urticularly in regard to dead work.

mber of mules were burned

ns posted, Apr. 17,

sri! 27, 1912
he miners to proceed toward making
acts. vet it is believed the operators
rot desirous of resuming.
is is due to reports that none of the
consumers is out of coal and also
ase many of the markets are still
tocked. Should the mines resume
ce the operators would be unable to
1e normal price for their coal. With
pening of the Lake trade, however,
expected al] the 17,000 miners in
astern Ohio field will resme work

Pennsylvania

BITUMINOUS

tishurg--The annual convention of
rict No. 5, United Mine Workers,
e up in disorder and a “rump” meet-
Apr. 18. The 50,000 idle miners in
stern Pennsylvania will return to work
It was announced that notifi-

mMCe.

tions had been sent to the various locals

have the men return to work.

Dubois—The joint scale committee of
strict No. 2, United Mine Workers,
er two weeks of deliberation, reached
agreement, Apr. 20. The scale is some-
than the miners demanded,
It
igned for two vears and is as follows:
ton, (2.5 pick

lower

mining per gross

machine loading

net ton, 37.23 cents.

fire, on the morning of
12, destroved the large outside barn

the Merchants’ Coal Co.’s mine,-and a

to death.

loss, including damage to a nearby
clling, is estimated at 53500.
rarleroi—-In accordance with instruc-

nearly all the mines
the Monongahela River Consolidated
& Coke Co.. the Vesta Coal Co. and
other smaller companies with
s along the Monongahela River, re-
ied Operations Apr. 18. This ended a
ension lasting since Apr. 1.
ownsville—-The Knob mine of the
mngahela River Consolidated Coal &
_ Co., idle since Apr. 1, resumed op-

on, Apr. 19. The Albany and
nouni mines of the same company
med work, Apr. 22. About 1500 men
iffected.

mnellsville—The Connellsville coke
is in the unfortunate position of not

: able to supply the demand because
1adequate and uncertain labor condi-
While labor has been coming into
‘oke region slowly, it has not come
ufficient volume to meet the require-
is of the situation. Production for the
k ending Apr. 13 fell off 52,175 tons,
ompared with the week before, the
being 363,289. The decrease was

ily divided between the furnace and
‘chant ovens, that of the furnace ovens

' 26.356 tons, their total being 230,-

COAL AGE

732, while the merchant ovens fell off 25,-
819 tons, their total being “132,913.

ANTHRACITE

Scranton—Following a conference with
the board of directors of the Scranton
Board of Trade and a committee from the
West Scranton Board of Trade, the city
council recently received a resolution di-
recting the city solicitor to prepare an
ordiriance putting into effect the police
powers of the city to prevent mine caves.
The resolution was referred to a commit-
tee and will probably be passed at the
regular meeting of council.

A pumpman at the Moosic Mountain
colliery, near Jessup, was shot from am-
bush while on his way to work, Apr. 16.
The attack was made near the point
where the railroad tracks were dynamited
some days ago. This workman had been
sticking to his post during the suspen-
sion, in accordance with the arrangement
between mine workers and operators. It
thought that some of the miners re-
zvarded him as a strike breaker.

More than 300 men and women,
gathered at the Raymond colliery at the
“Ridge.” Archbald, at 6 o’clock in the
morning of Apr. 20 to enforce the sus-
pension order. When the men began to
report for work the crowd chased home
every workman except pump-runners, en-
gineers, stable men, firemen and neces-
sary repairmen permitted to work under
the suspension order. There was no riot-
ing or lawlessness, the crowd simply
asking the workmen to go home and the
workmen obeying the request.

Wilkes-Barre—-The Plymouth Coal Co.
has complained to the Interstate Com-
merce Commission of the rates on anthra-
cite cual in carloads from the Dodson
colliery and the Black Diamond colliery
and other points on the line of the Penn-
sylvania R.R., to South Amboy, N. J. The
commission was asked to reduce these
rates and award reparation to the com-
plainants. .

The committee, which is conducting the
negotiations between anthracite miners
and operators, reconvened in New York,
Apr. 16, and has since continued its de-
liberations in that city. Up to the pres-
ent writing, no definite news has been
given out concerning the progress made

by this committee toward reaching an
agreement. It is currently reported, how-

ever, that the discussion of all questions
has been fully and freely entered upon,
and that an amicable settlement of pres-
ent diffculties is expected. As has been
anticipated, it is said that the demand of
the miners for recognition of their or-
ganization forms the chief obstacle in th>
way of reaching a settlement.

Mt. Carmel—A miners’ accommodation

car on the Reading railroad, near the
Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Co.’s

Alaska shaft, was blown to nieces, Apr.

957

17, by dynamiters. A passenger train
had passed the siding on which the car lay
one minute before the explosion occurred.
A detai! of coal and iron police are hunt-
ing for the dynamiters.

West Virginia

Moundsville—An injunction was
granted here, Apr. 16, restraining mem-
bers of the United Mine Workers from
interfering with the operation of the
Mound coal mine, where a strike has
been in progress for some time, following
the refusal of the company to recognize
the union. A renewal of the rioting, in
which nine men were injured, is antici-
pated.

Charlesten—Only about 40 of the 15
mines in the Kanawha district are now
working, as a result of the failure of the
miners and operators to agree on a wage
scale, and hetween 8500 and 9000 miners
are on a strike. The final disagree-
ment came when the operators refused te
grant more than the agreement called for
last year, while the miners demanded an
unlimited check-off.

The mines closed down include ail
those along the Kanawha & Michigan
R.R. in West Virginia. This takes in sev-
eral thousand miners in Fayette County
and a similar number in Kanawha
County. Also, all mines are closed along
the Chesapeake & Ohio in the Kanawha
district, and along the branch lines, with
the exception of those on the Cabin
Creek branch, and the Coal River exten-
sion of the Cabin Creek branch, about 40
in number.

The Kanawha district has about 13.-
500 miners, so that the number now out
represents approximately two-thirds. As
far as it has been possible to learn, none
of the: mines are closed in the New River
district nor in the Norfolk & Western dis-
trict, but it is reported that a number of
those in the northern section of the state
are shut down.

Fuirmont—The Consolidation Coal Co.
has received an order to ship 50,000 tons
of coal to Egypt to be used on the state
railways. This is the second such order
this company has received recently. The
company is still shipping coal to England
in spite of the fact that the coal strike
there has been declared off. The order
for Egypt will be shipped within a short
time frum Baltimere.

Washington

Palouse—A. E. Sever, president of the
Palouse Coal & Oil Co., M. M. Waters,
and C. E. Allen, who was engaged durinz
the last winter prospecting on the land
of the Palouse Coal & Oil Co., have se-
cured a lease on ground in the vicinity of
Glenwood, where indications of the exist-
ence of coal seams have recently been
found. It is the intention of the lessees
to prospect the new fields at once.

Personals

M. M. Bardwell, general manager of
the North Jellico Coal Co., of Louisville,
Ky., is at Atlantic City, recuperating
from a recent illness.

Robert Lake, of Jackson, Mich., presi-
dent of the Michigan-Ohio-Indiana Coal
Association, was a recent visitor in Co-
lumbus, where he called upon a number
of coal men.

J. C. Colsom, coal operator and presi-
dent of the Indiana Operators’ Associa-
tion, is seeking nomination as a candi-
date for state senator from Vigo County
to the next Indiana legislature.

C. W. Adams, vice-president of the
St. Paul & Western Coal Co., a sub-
sidiary of the Sunday Creek Coal Co., of
Columbus, was recently a caller at the
office of the parent company.

C. R. Leake and H. A. Turner, engi-
neers and coal experts of Birmingham,
Ala., recently made an examination of
the coal-land holdings of the Cullman
Coal & Coke Co., at Bremen, Alabama.

Congressman Bowman, of Pittston,
Penn., has been elected vice-president of
the Roden Coal Co., of Marvel, Ala., of
which company his son-in-law, B. F.

Roden, is president and general manager.
A. W. Fleugel, superintendent of the

Island Creek Coal Co.’s docks at Duluth
and Superior, recently returned from a
trip to Milwaukee and other points,
where he inspected various dock proper-
ties and equipment.

J. D. O'Neill, president of the United
Coal Co., of Pittsburg, Penn., in com-
pany with W. S. Kuhn and W. E. Moore,
large stockholders in the company, re-
cently made a trip of inspection to the
plant of the Merchants Coal Co., at Bos-
well, Penn., a subsidiary concern.

Chester W. O’Neill, for the past five
years general sales agent of the Inde-
pendent Coal & Coke Co., at Salt Lake
City, has been appointed general West-
ern sales agent for the company and
will open permanent offices in San Fran-
cisco. Mr. O’Neill will be succeeded in
the Utah-Idaho-Montana field by William
Gorton, who hitherto has been located at
the company’s mines in Kenilworth, Utah.

Morris H. Bush, general superin-
tendent of the Woodward Iron Co., has
succeeded A. H. Woodward as a member
of the mine casualty and mining insti-
tute committee of the Alabama Coal
Operators’ Association following the
election of Mr. Woodward to the execu-
tive committee of the association. Ben-
jamin F. Roden, of Marvel, Ala., has suc-
ceeded C. P. Ludwig, general superin-
tendent of the Alabama Consolidated
Coal & Coke Co. on the mine-casualty
committee, on account of the withdrawal
of the Alabama Consolidated Co. from
the association.

COAL AGE

Obituary

Edward Avery, aged 78, president of the
Avery Coal & Mining Co., with mines in
the vicinity of Marissa, IIl., died at his
home in St. Louis, Apr. 10.

Charles Clark, a capitalist and one of
the founders and directors of the Kansas
& Texas Coal Co., died in St. Louis Apr.
18. Mr. Clark was 80 years of age.

George F. Huff, former congressman,
banker, coal operator and philanthropist,
of Greensburg, Penn., died at his wintcr
residence in Washington, D. C., Apr. 18,
after a lingering illness.

Mr. Huff was born July 16, 1842, at
Norristown, Penn. He attended the pub-
lic schools at Norristown until he was
17 years old and then the family moved
to Altoona. At the latter place he en-
tered the repair shops of the Pennsyl-
vania R.R. and learned the trade of a
car finisher. At the age of 20 years, he
entered the banking house of Julian M.
Lloyd & Co., Altoona. With his employer
he organized a bank at Ebensburg, Cam-
bria County. He was successful, and
two years later came to Greensburg and
organized a banking house, known as
Lloyd, Huff & Co. Later this company
was changed to the Greensburg Deposit
Bank.

During the years Mr. Huff was engaged
in the organization of banking houses ne
became interested in coal lands. He was
president of the Keystone Coal & Coke
Co. at the time of his death. The Key-
stone Coal & Coke Co. is composed of a
number of coal companies, all of which
originally were organized by Mr. Huff.
They are the Greensburg Coal Co., Alex-
andria Coal Co., Mountain Coal Co., Mu-
tual Mining and Manufacturing Co.,
Manor Gas & Coal Co., Madison Coal
Co., Salem Coal Co., Latrobe Coal Co.
and the Carbon Coal Co.

Mr. Huff organized and constructed the
Southwest Pennsylvania R.R., which oper-
ated lines from Greensburg to the various
coal towns in Westmoreland County. He
also organized and _ constructed the
Greensburg Electric Street Ry., the
Greensburg Electric Light Co. and the
Westmoreland Light and Heat Co.

Mr. Huff began his political career in
1881, when he was elected as a national
delegate to the Republican convention at
Chicago. In 1884 he was elected state
senator and in 1888 he was elected Con-
gressman, from the district which con-
sisted of Westmoreland, Indiana, Arm-
strong. and Jefferson counties and was
re-elected in 1890 and 1893. In 1894 he
was chosen Congressman-at-large. He
was elected to Congress again in 1904,
1906 and 1908, and refused the nomina-
tion in 1910.

Mr. Huff spent his summers in Greens-
burg, where he owned an estate of 500
acres, and the winters in Washington. He
is survived by his widow and four
children.

Construction News

Brownsville, Penn.—Two hund
ovens are being installed at th:
mines near here, owned by W. H. }:
of Pittsburg.

Willmar, Minn.—The Harmon C.
of Chicago, contemplates buildine
a large coal-storage and _= distrib)
plant of 500,000 tons capacity.

Lonaconing, Md.—Louis Stanton.
Frostburg, Md., has purchased the Pp
erty of the Georges Creek Coal Basi),
for $20,000 and will open a new min

Crewe, Va.—-The Southern Timber (
is organizing to develop 10,000 acres
coal land and will install equipment f.
2000 tons daily capacity; contracts ;
yet awarded.

Philadelphia, Penn.—The Pennsylvan.
R.R. Co. will construct a new coal pic:
at Greenwich Point. Estimated
$200,000. Alexander C. Shand, Philadel-
is chief engineer.

Philadelphia, Penn.—The Philadelphis
& Reading Ry. Co. plans making exten-
improvements to its coal pier at
Richmond. W. Hunter, Philadel-
is chief engineer.

cost,

phia,

sive
Port
phia,

Burgettstown, Penn.—Smith «& Lewis.
engineers, Oliver Bldg., Pittsburg.
receiving bids for the erection of build-
ings fcr the Atlas Coal Co., Burgetts-
town: also for piping and othe
ment.

are

equip-
Williamsburg, Ky.—The Proctor Coal
Co. is opening new mines at Red Ash,
in Whitley County, near here, and is
purchasing equipment. Charles Finley,
Williamsburg, is president and general
manager.

Pine Hill, Ky.—The Kentucky
land Cement & Coal Co., Munsey
Baltimore, Md., will develop 1200
of coal land for daily capacity of
tons; cement plant and coal mine equip-
ment to $900,000,

Maben, Ala.—Improvements contem-
plated by the Sloss-Sheflield Steel & Iron
Co., Birmingham, Ala., for the
mine, at Maben, include two new boilers,
increasing the boiler capacity 400 hp.,
also one air compressor.

Columbus, Ohio—The Provident Coal
Co. is prepared to let contracts for con-
struction work in connection with open-
ing its new mine at Fairpoint. Contracts
will be awarded for grading, laying
tracks, mine openings and concrete con-
struction.

Ports
Blde.,
acres

cost

Bessie

Barbourville, Ky.—The Knox Coul
Mining Co., of Louisville, Ky., recently
incorporated with $1,000,000 eapitil
stock, will develop 40,000
land and will soon be open for bids
mining machinery and plant. Addr
company at Barbourville.

Coeburn, Va.—H. F. Whitehead, 2
eral superintendent, Virginia Iron, (:
& Coke Co., contemplates various
provements at its coal mines, doubl
their capacity. It is proposed to eg
the mines with new motors, erecting
steel tipple near Sexton and Thelma 2: ‘i
to build dwellings.

Harlan, Ky.—Contracts are now b:
let by the Harlan Coal Co., which is :
veloping a tract of 10,000 acres of «|
lands near here. A 5-mile extensivo!
the mines is being built by the Lo
ville & Nashville Ry. Machinery at
plant will be electrically operated. Kk
neth Meguire, of the Snead & Mest
Coal Co., Louisville, Ky., is one of
officers of the company.

acres of coi!

COAL AGE

Coal Irade Reviews

Current Prices of Coal and Coke and Market Conditions in the Important Centers

General Review

Readjustments in market conditions

ve advanced to a point where the

je is again in an approximately nor-

| condition. Some uncertainty is still
felt over the anthracite situation, but
it is the general belief that an agreement

i| be effected at an early date. The
continued and apparently harmonious sit-
tings of the wage-scale committees sub-
stantiate this belief. Bituminous mines
resumed operation under curtailed capa-
city, Apr. 22, as was expected. Con-
sumers are not in the market for much
tonnage, aS most large steam users were
prepared for a 30-day suspension, and
it will be two weeks before production
is brought up to normal.

Wholesalers in the East are reluctant
to see the market drop back to normai,
as many still have considerable high-
price speculative coal on hand. Com-
paratively little fuel is coming forward,
but even these small arrivals are dif-
ficult to dispose of, as the trade is
apathetic with little or no demand at full
circular prices. Only about 50 per cent.
of the mines in the Pittsburg district
have resumed operations and production
will not be up to full rated capacity for
two or three weeks. West Virginia mines
are supplying what little demand there
is in Ohio, the trade there being quiet
in every respect. Interest is now cen-
tering on the lake trade and coal fleets
are preparing to sail.

Supplies in the Middle West have held
out well, and the market is heavy and
low. The speculative coal, with which
Chicago was swamped a few weeks ago,
1as been cleaned up, and there is some
emand in screenings. The farge ton-
ages, stored on the ground in anticipa-
on of a strike, are being loaded, and a
-w shipments of Kentucky coals are
ming in. There is a perceptible evi-
ence of hesitancy in the trade generally.

Boston, Mass.

There has been little change in the
larket this week. Wholesalers are
aturally reluctant to drop back, but
“ade in bituminous is fast settling down
0 an everyday basis. Cargoes from
iampton Roads are still arriving with
igh-priced coal and heavy demurrage
harges, and in most cases where there
‘re unsold balances thev are hard to
‘ispose of. The buyers have little in-
crest in a receding market.

Georges Creek is being freely shipped

but Pennsylvanias are getting heavy.
Aside from shipments here and there
to relieve those who were unable to get
supplies earlier, or more likely to fill
orders entered on a “panic” basis there
is relatively little coal coming forward,
and sales are few. On contract there
is some inquiry but apparently it will
be difficult to get spirit into the trade
until the season is further advanced. The
Virginia loading is improving rapidly,
and Pocahontas and New River are
quoted at near normal prices.

Freights are dull and on tonnage from
Hampton Roads individual charters are
matters of barter. On Long Island Sound
from New York the market is off to the
summer basis of 45@ 50 cents.

Soft coal, all-rail is coming through
in large quantities, probably a clearing
up of last month’s mining. Speculators
are having difficulty in placing this coal
and since buyers are more fussy about
quality than they were a month ago
some low prices are heard.

Anthracite seems to be marking time.
Large premiums are no longer paid, and
a good volume of stock coal, especially
in egg and chestnut, is being let into

the market. The spring weather makes

the retail demand light. Prevailing prices

are:

Clearfields, f.o.b. mines....... $1.20@1.40

Clearfields, f.o.b. Philadelphia 2.50@2.75

Pocahontas, New River, f.o.b. _
Hampton Roads ....ccccess 2.75 @ 2.80

New York

The extent to which storing was carried
on in anticipation of a protracted shut-
down at the mines is now becoming evi-
dent by the total absence of buyers. Ar-
rivals here so far this month have been
much below normal, but there is scarcely
any demand, and while prices are fairly
strong, there are few transactions.

In bituminous the consumers appear to
be heavily stocked, and there are few or
no requests for spot coal. The railroad
movement is good, water freights easier,
and the arrivals steadily improving with
the general resumption at the mines. Con-
trary to reports from West Virginia, the
larger companies here say there is no
labor shortage at the mines. Ordinary
grades of bituminous are quoted at 52.80
f.o.b., with the better grades bringing
$3.25, but there are few transactions and
prices fluctuate rapidly.

It is now evident there will be no re-
sumption at the anthracite mines by May
1, and it is generally believed it will be
May 15, and possibly later, before the

tines are again in operation. Work at
present is confined entirely to keeping the
mines unwatered; some of the larger
companies in transferring coal from one
colliery to another, created the erroneous
rumor that they were again shipping.

There is little activity in the anthracite
market at present, but it is believed the
supplies are now pretty well exhausted
and another week will show a decided
tightening of the market. Wholesale an-
thracite quotations, f.o.b. New York, are
as follows:

Chestnut
iC | Eee Ree eee
Buckwheat
Rice

bomwowcugen

Philadelphia, Penn.

After almost four weeks of idleness
at the mines, the anthracite industry in
this city still continues in rather an
apathetic condition. All dealers report
that what business they are doing comes
in one- and two-ton lot orders, and care-
ful inquiry elicits the information that
nearly all the dealers are in fairly good
condition as regards their supply of the
domestic sizes. In fact, many of them
have considerably more than they want,
when there are rumors that an adjust-
ment of the difficulty between the miners
and operators seems to be nearing a
conclusion, and they are all hoping that
the suspension will continue until they
have worked off most if not all of the
high-priced coal.

It almost goes without saying that
there wil be some reduction in prices by
the wholesale operators in the event of
an early settlement of the present diffi-
culty, but even if they do reduce the
prices, it does not necessarily follow that
the retailers will do the same; it might
be a matter of protection to the deal-
ers to continue present prices until their
stocks of winter coal are disposed of.
However, no action has as yet been taken
by either one or the other, the trade as
a unit waiting the final settlement of
the labor controversy.

Our previous prediction that mining
would not be resumed until the middle
of May seems to be confirmed, as any
arrangements looking to settlement dur-
ing the coming week, would hardly be-
come operative until about that time.

Very little anthracite coal is coming to
this market, just small odds and ends,
which some of the little washeries in the

960

regions are able to turn out, and there
is not a particularly good market for it.
Dealers are looking askance at coal now
at the full circular prices ruling during
the winter months, and unless they are
in actual need, are not disposed to buy.
Steam coals, of which there is little of-
fering, seem to fare better, but ¢he
amount is so small that it hardly de-
serves mention.

Pittsburg

Bituminous—The Cleveland wage scale
adjustment was accepted by the miners
and arrangements completed for open-
ing the mines Monday, Apr. 22. The
opening, however, was far from general,
as demand for coal was so light. Large
consumers had laid in stocks to carry
them fully 30 days, and dealers were also
fairly well stocked, so that there has not
only been no pressure to obtain coal, but
even an absence of the normal current
demand. Probably less than one-half the
capacity of the Pittsburg district has
been put in operation, but production is
expected to increase steadily, and to reacn
normal proportions within two or three
weeks.

Shipments in the lake trade will begin
nominally May 1, when the reduced rate
of 78c., against 88c. last season, goes into
effect. They will hardly be large at the
start, but the season as a whole is ex-
pected to make a new record. As far as
can be learned no regular selling has
been done in the lake trade.

There is no demand, but producers are
naming prices on a basis 7'.c. higher
than last year’s regular or official basis.
as follows: Mine-run and nut, 51.22
Mein. S1,32%*% I%-in, S147
82'.c. These prices constitute the quot-
able market at the moment, but whether
they wili hold is another matter. Last
vear’s prices, based on 51.15, were shaded
during the major portion of the season.

Connellsville Coke-—The market is
quiet, but prices are not easier as coke is
scarce. We quote: prompt furnace, 52.60
«2.65; prompt foundry, 53; contract
foundry, 52.65 2.75.

The Courier reports production in the
Connellsville and lower Connellsville re-
gion in the week ending Apr. 13 at 363.-
289 tons, a drop of 52,000 tons. This
was due to celebration of the Easter holi-
days by the foreign workmen. Some in-
terests in the trade estimate that the ac-
tual decrease was larger than shown in
the figures quoted, pointing out in addi-
tion that the Courier figures show very
little greater drop in the lower Connell!s-
ville region than in the upper. whereas
the lower Connellsville labor is almost
entirely foreign, and in the upper region
a large percentage is American. Ship-
ments were reported at 4210 cars to
Pittsburg, 5477 cars to points West and
1346 cars to points East, a total of 11,-
033 cars, a decrease of 1300 cars.

slack,

COAL AGE

Baltimore, Md.

Although some of the larger companies
are still doing a fairly active business
the majority of the operators report the
Baltimore coal market heavy during the
past week. The demand was not near
as good as in previous weeks, and, of
course, prices took a further drop. A
careful survey of the situation here
shows that operators have, in most in-
stances, not been able to get any better
price than they obtained early in January
or late last fall.

The general belief in Baltimore is that
the coal trade will not show much life
again until there is a more decided im-
provement in the business world. With
the large industries running full time,
the demand for coal would be increased,
and as Baltimore usuaily holds its own
in a competing market, when there is any
business to compete for, local operators
would probably obtain their share.

There are indications that this improve-
ment in general business conditions will
take place. The steel mills, which are
large consumers of coal and coke, are
operating at a greater capacity, and as
steel may be said to reflect the general
business condition, it would apepar that
a gradual improvement in trade is tak-
ing place. Operators believe that in-
quiries for coal will be increased shortly,
and that these inquiries will develop
into deliveries.

The Consolidation Coal Co. is ap-
parently not suffering any ill effects be-
cause of the slow market. During the
past week, this well known concern for-
warded 5000 tons of fuel to Egypt. for
use on Egyptian Railroad. The entire
contract closed in this country, calls
for a delivery of about 50,000 tons. The
Consolidation has numerous large orders
on hand, and business is about as active
now with this company as it was three
or four weeks ago.

The Davis Coal & Coke Co. is
preparing to begin shipments on its con-
tract with the Bethlehem Steel Co., and
the first delivery will probabiy take place
some time in June; the contract runs
for 20 years. In order to supply the
necessary fuel to the Bethlehem com-
fany, the Davis coinpany has opened up
three additional mines in the vicinity of
Themas, W. Va.

Complaint is still heard of a shortage
of miners in West Virginia. It was
stated in local coal circles during the
week that the operators in that state could
easily use 1500 additional men.

now

Buffago, N. Y.

The demand for bituminous coal is
light and matters are about as badly un-
settled as ever, with very little prospect
of any immediate change for the better.
The operators are not anxious for an
early resumption and are net at all

Vol. 1, N

pleased to find that quite a per
of the mines in the Pittsburg dist;
already in operation. There is
Prospect that this new-mined co
be on the market before there
demand for it.

There is not much mining in ¢!
legheny Valley; a great part of the
closed on the first of April and
of the others shut down on Apr. 15.
miners have been holding meeting
the valley and have issued a lone
of demands, but the operators will 1
no further concessions than were jp
at the rate meeting at Cleveland
month.

There was to have been a meeting
the Allegheny Valley Operators’ Assox
tion at East Brady on Apr. 19, bur
was postponed. The fact is that if these
mines are opened now there will be no
market for the product and it is pretty
close to that now. For this reason there
will be no haste to get the men back to
work, though there is no great expecta-
tion of saving the trade from the !o*,
prices of last year.

Buffalo operators in the tidewater trade
claim it would be suicidal to make any
further concessions to the miners, for
they find the West Virginia product al-
ready commanding that market. If the
demands of the miners were conceded. it
is said that the cost of mining would
be increased more than 30c. a ton.

As in recent seasons the Buffalo bituini-
nous market will acceovt the prices inice
by the Pittsburgh Coal Co. as a basis,
though it may be a hard matter to ob
tain them sometimes. The prices nained,
with freight to Buffalo added, are $2.07
for Pittsburg select Jump,
three-quarter, $2.47 for mine-run
52.10 for slack, with Connellsville coxe
as strong as ever and best foundry ad-
vanced to SS.

The lake fleet is preparing to sail at
the end of the week, but it may be de-
layed by ice. There is soft coal for ship-
ment from Erie and the Ohio ports,
nothing from Buffalo and none to
lcoked for at present.

There is so little demand for antira-
cite that dealers are getting a local sup-
ply, but shipping agents are receiving "0
regular amount. It now looks as though
the anthracite miners would be idle of
some time.

Cleveland, Ohio

The coal business continues pract
at a standstill, because the mine!
still out and also because .of the
stocks the consumers acquired in
pation of a strike. There is a littl
coming to Cleveland from _ the
mines which remained at work aft
agreement expired, but this is vers
to dispose of. By the time the
resume operations and get in ful!
ning order, it is hoped the suppl

S235)

t
bal |

April 27, 1912

nearly exhausted, but nothing heavy
expected until about the first of June,
+ which time the stocks on hand should

e used up, and the large tonnage going
p the Lakes will put the market in a
ormal condition.

It is rumored that a large number of
ne Pittsburg operators will resume work
n Apr. 22, and this coal will come to
he Lake ports for shipments north as
oon as boats are available. It is gen-
erally conceded that a very heavy ton-
iage will be shipped north this summer.
On account of the extreme winter they
have exhausted all the supplies on the
jocks, and will not only have to meet
-urrent demands, but will also have to re-,
stock the docks, which in the past few
years they did not have to do.

Columbus, Ohio

The coal trade in Ohio during the past
week has been quiet in most respects.
There is not much demand for tonnage,
»yen When all the mines have deen closed
down, and what demand there is has been
taken care of by jobbers with West Vir-
ginia connections. Prices are ruling
rather soft, which is difficult to explain.
as tne amount on hand is not considered
very large for this season of the year.

The prospects are bright for a general
resumption in all of the Ohio fields by
May 1, and possibly there will be some
coal mined before then. Operators are
taking advantage of the suspension to
place their mines in good condition, and
they will be in a position to produce a
large tonnage from the start.

Consumers of steam grades, who
stocked up previous to Apr. | in fear of
an extended suspension, are not renew-
ing contracts. Many of the consumers
seem to prefer taking chances on secur-
ing fuel in the open market and probably
a number will not make contracts at this
time.

The outlook for the future is consid-
ered good, and preparations are being
made for a renewed activity in every line
when the miners resume. The matter of
prices is still a question of conjecture,
ind it is believed that quotations will rule
rather low for some time. Prices which
seem to prevail in Ohio fields are:
Hocking Valley

Domestic lump = $1.50
-in. ; Pao
NU. .. 1.25
WIIG STUEIN bce ce. to teers oueud cto teaheters 1 10
Nut, pea and slack. aoc . & 86
Coarse slack 0 70
Pittshurg No.S
-In : ee sits eae $1 20
\Mine-run. ; : Adee os 1 05
Coarse slack... .. ; Gideon Geman
Pomeroy Bend
Domestic lump at coarser ay as $1 55
| | aes ie - ve : 1 35
NERC fei crcte AR PRE ate OPI eter 1.25
Mine-run. .. : 1 20
NUS, Des and SIAGK. «2c. cnc cas ; 0.80
Coarse slack ee rarer 07
Kanawha
Domestic tump ease aan eon awerae at $1 50
‘-in : Sc Pron ee 1.35
Mine-run ....... im ieee 1.10
Slack... : er re 0 75

COAL AGE

Indianapolis

The present indications are that the
miners will not return to work Apr. 22,
and possibly not on May 1, pending the
final ratification of the wage scale. The
operators may ask it, but the men will
censent only on certain conditions, which
are not likely to be accepted. The op-
erators say they are not in need of coal
at present, as the supply in storage is
large enough to last until late in May
at the present rate of consumption. Two
years ago the men asked certain condi-
tions, which were granted, and they
worked for two months while a joint
committee arranged the details of the
final contract. At that time the Illinois
miners were idle, and the operators had
a large demand for coal from customers
of the Illinois operators.

——————

Chicago

Market conditions in Chicago have
been exceedingly slow, buying being quite
irregular. There was a slight increase in
the demand for screenings, and indica-
tions are that all speculative coal has
been disposed of.

It is expected that the buving of screen-
ings will come first from the small us-
ers and a very fair demand is expected
soon. Two of the largest concerns in the
Pittsburg district have entered into com-
Petition in the Northwest with a cut price,
and a sharp scramble for business is al-
readv under way. Whether the contract
Price on smokeless coal will hold
throughout the vear is a matter of spec-
tiation, and depends, dealers say, upon
the turn of events in the anthracite field.
No new shipments of anthracite are being
received and business is dead. The mar-
ket tor coke is fairly steady.

Prevailing prices at Chicago are:

Sullivan County:

Domestic himp. ....<.4..«.. <2.62@2.87
Daa tera wie dure cde are wel rea 2.5002 .75
StGane WMP. 2.5 <0... 2. he
SORCONINES soo 0k Ske veer eer nees 1.67@1.82
Springfield:
Domestio lima: . sss essen $2.57@2.82
SPGSIEP NUNN: 5% ohne okra ya
NERHGCMRN 3 coo atele-d'a 9.< ereinte:s 1.97@2 07
WICTCOCINIMS Ss oo cy eo ee eee are 1.67@ 1.82
Clinton:
Domestic lump Dr enarAi sxc reern $2.52@2.77
steam lump oweee Pe Y'
Mine-run... Seen eerie 1.97@2.07
Screenings... . ee rer 1 67@1 77

Pocahontas and New River:
Mine-run , es 2:
Lump and egg ; 105
Coke—Prices asked for coke are: Con-

nellsville and Wise County, 54.85; by-

product, egg and stove, $4.95; byprod-

uct, nut, $4.75; gas-house, S5.

|B”

Minneapolis—St. Paul

The unanimous opinion of coal men in
the Twin Cities is that business in this
market has never before been as quiet as
at the present writing. Every branch of
the coal trade seems to be in a state of

961

hesitancy as wholesalers are still waiting
for prices on which to place contracts and
very little coal is coming this way for
sale. Some steam users overstocked quite
heavily in-view of the strike and whole-
salers report that a number of them are
trying to back out of coal contracted for
prior to Apr. 1. This has caused prices to
drop considerably as some of these steam
users resold coal at big losses and buy-
ers looking for spot coal have had little
trouble purchasing at low prices.

The rate case against the coal carriers
in Pennsylvania before the Interstate
Commerce Commission, having resulted
in an order from the Commission reduc-
ing the rail rate on Youghiogheny coai
from mines to Lake Erie points, 10c. per
ton, has been announced in circulars is-
sued by the Dock companies Apr. 15.
Youghiogheny lump and nut sizes are
quoted at 53.40 f.0.b. docks or $4.30 on
track Twin Cities; dock run, $3.10 at
docks or S4 at Twin Cities; Youghiogheny
screenings, 52.40 dock or 33.30 track
Twin Cities. Contracts are being let on
Youghiogheny quite freely and whole-
salers are anxiously waiting prices’ on
which to base other coals.

The anthracite proposition is not caus-
ing very much excitement in this territory
as it is generally well along in the sum-
mer before stocks arrive and by that time
everything will mosi likely be adjusted.
The retailers are the only ones who are
uneasy as the consumer in the North-
western territory has been educated to
buy early during the summer and is now
inquiring for prices from the retailer.

St. Louis, Mo.

The coal market in St. Louis is prac-
tically at a standstill. There are perhaps
a dozen cars a week of Kentucky coal
coming in, and the Illinois mines are
loading the coal that was dumped on the
ground previous to the shut down, when-
ever there is a demand for any. How-
ever, the demand is very small, and all
grades of Standard coal have been prac-
tically a drug on the market.

There is still some Carterville coal
being offered as low as 31.40 for lump
and egg at the mines, and screenings at
Sl. Standard lump has been offered as
low as $1.15 and screenings at 75c. At
the present time there is no market in
St. Louis for anything in the wavy of
fuels.

Portland, Ore.

Coal dealers in Portland are having
no trouble filling orders as it is the time
of year when the demand is light. Cool
weather is prevailing at this time, how-
ever, and the demand may be strength-
ened a little should it continue for a
couple of weeks.

A topic of much interest here is the
question of the policy to be followed in

962

regard to the coal lands of Alaska, the
sentiment here being in favor of throw-
ing them open for development. Cheaper
coal here would have a tendency to stimu-
late many industries, and the establish-
ment of large coal bunkers in Portland
harbor is being given serious considera-
tion by the Port of Portland Commis-
sion. The arrival of coal from foreign
destinations has been very light here
since the first of the year.

Production and Transportation
Statistics
THE CAR SITUATION

The following table sows the surplus

shortages of cars on 169 roads on

last:

and
Apr. 11
Net

Surplus Short. Surplus

9,646 7.970

4,347

hopper

Other kinds

Total 94,943

Only section to report a decrease in
idle cars was Montana, Wyoming and
Nebraska, where a total of only 336 idle
reported, compared with 1551
before. Increased demand
was the cause.

ears Was
weeks

box

two

for cars

SOME GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS PENDING

Washington, D. C.—Bids are asked by
the Paymaster-General, U. S. N., Chief
of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts,
Navy Department, Washington, D. C., for
furnishing bituminous and semi-bitumin-
ous coal, to be delivered in such quanti-
ties and at such times as may be requirea
during the fiscal year ending June 30,
1913. The coal is to be 2240 Ib. to the
ton, and is to have an analysis indicating
quality not lower than the following:

Moisture, “‘delivered coal,” 3 per cent.;
ash, ‘dry coal,” 10 per cent.; volatile mat-
ter, “dry coal,” 22 per cent.; sulphur,
“drv coal,” 134 per cent.; “B. t.u.,” “dry
coal,”’ not less than 14,200 per pound.

Schedule 4492, opening 10 a.m.,
May 14:

Class 1, 1300 tons bituminous coal, for
delivery at the naval powder depot, Lake
Denmark, Morris County, N. J.

Class 2, for delivery at Navy Yard,
Philadelphia, Penn., 18,000 tons semi-bi-
tuminous coal.

Class 3, for delivery at the Naval Aca-
demy, Annapolis, Md., 12.000 tons bitum-
inous coal for steaming purposes.

Class 4, for delivery at the Naval En-
gineering Experiment Station, near An-
napolis, Md., 1500 tons bituminous coal.

Class 5, for delivery at the Naval Hos-
pital, Washington, D. C., 2500 tons semi-
bituminous coal, best quality.

Class 6, for delivery at the Navy Yard,
Washington, D. C., 30,000 tons bitum-
inous coal, to be standard grade New
River, Pocahontas or Georges Creek coal,
and to be crushed so that it will pass
through a ring two inches in diameter.

COAL AGE

Class 7, to be delivered at the Navy
Yard, Norfolk, Va., 15,000 tons, semi-bi-
tuminous coal.

Class 8, to be delivered at the Naval
Hospital, Norfolk, Va., 2500 tons semi-
bituminous coal, best quality.

Class 9, to be delivered at the Naval
Training Station, North Chicago, IIl., 13,-
500 tons bituminous coal.

Bidders are required to state: The
commercial name of the coal, name of
mine or mines, location of mine or mines,
name or other designation of the coal bed
or beds, British thermal units per pound,
percentage of sulphur in ‘‘dry coal,” per-
centage of ash in “dry coal,’ percentage
of volatile matter in “‘dry coal,” moisture
in coal as received, and to furnish sam-
ples for test.

OHIO COAL TRAFFIC STATEMENT

Comparative statement of bituminous
shipments over the principal Ohio rail-
roads, for February, 1911-12, in short
tons:

Hocking Valley ....
Toledo & Ohio Cen-
tral
Baltimore & Ohio..
Wheeling & Lake
Erie
Cleveland, Lorain &
Wheeling
Zanesville &
ern
Toledo Division,
Pennsylvania Co.. 53,: 6
Lake Erie, Alliance
& Wheeling 643
Marietta, Columbus
& 408 942
Wabash Pittsburgh
Terminal ,432
Kanawha

9,966

298,896

West-
21,410
7

& Michi-
20,260

1,196,697 2,398,927

10,066

Total
WATER SHIPMENTS TO CALIFORNIA

The following is a comparative state-

ment of water shipments of coal and coke

to California during the last three years
in long tons:

1909
188,125

Coal
British Columbia .
Australia.......
Great Britain. .
NORMOIABD 5 6 50ii6's <5.

é
25,293
16,940 50,342

Washington... . <
69,696 101,265

Eastern.... 80,338

560,096

Total. . $86,385
Coke

Great Britain.
Australia....

Washington. . d :

2 500

74,759 = 74,438 93,816

Markets

The following is a comparative state-
ment of the British fuel exports for the
first three months of 1911-12, in tons:

Foreign

1911
597,551

11,054,747

1912

Other sorts... .. 0660s
Coke...

Patented fuel

Bunker coal

Totals .

373.332
4,051 302

17,174,829

425,:

4,701,509
20,579,778

Vol. 1, No.. 29

BRITISH COLUMBIA

In the East Kootenai district of Brit-
ish Columbia there was a falling
off curing the year of 1911 of 605,.
000 tons of coal and 40,000 tons of coke
as compared with the production in 1910,
and the total coal shortage for the whole
province was 365,000 tons. Much loss
was sustained by the various mineral
smelters, due to the coal strike, and the
shutting off of the coke supply.

DUTCH IMPORTS AND EXPorRTs

The imports of coal into Dutch ports
during 1911 showed an increase over the
previous year’s figures to the extent of
nearly one million tons, the total being
11,344,981 tons, as against 10,347,138
tons. In 1910 a similar increase over
1909 was recorded. The exports last
year amounted to 4,330,282 tons, show-
ing an increase of 314,353 tons over the
4,015,929 tons exported in 1910.

Financial Notes

The New York Stock Exchange
listed $960,000 additional first and
ond, 40-year, 5° bonds of the Consoli-
dation Coal Co., due 1950, making the
total amount listed $13,960,000. New
bonds are issued for additions and im-
provements.

The Delaware & Hudson Co.’s
and .bond holdings increased from
967,687 in 1910 to $27,014,189 at the close
of 1911. The gain was almost wholly
accounted for by the increase in Hudson
Coal stock from $100,000 to $2,500,000.
This served to settle the account owed
by the coal company to the railroad com-
pany. The change in bonds held by the
company’s treasury was under $500,000.

Annual report of the International
Coal and Coke Co. shows disbursements
for last year as follows: Dividends, $56,-
073.38: maintenance, $77,554.28, and im-
provements, $47,029.61. The company is
capitalized at $3,000,000 and owns mines
in Alberta, British Columbia. Operations
were suspended during eight months of
last year because of strikes. It
lieved the company will make a bette)
showing during the current year.

United States District Court for north-
ern district of Ohio, in the case of pro-
tective committee for Pittsburgh, Wheel-
ing & Lake Erie Coal Co. 4% bondhold-
ers vs. Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad
Co. and others, held railroad company is
obliged to pay off $200,000 prior lien ob-
ligations of coal company. Decision es-
tablished that where corporation is or-
ganized and managed simply as adjun¢
to another corporation, principal corpor-
ation is liable for debts of subsidiary.

Chairman Tavlor, of the Pittsbur:
Coal Co., gives the following details o!
the deals with the H. C. Frick Coke Co
and the stockholders of the Monong:-
hela River C. C. & C. Co.: The compat!
sold about 7000 acres of coking coal land
with improvements, at $1450 per acre ‘¥
the Frick company. The final settlemen
will bring the proceeds up about $10,000.-
000. A payment of $9,561,000 has been
made in H. C. Frick Coke bonds, whic!
were sold at par, less 1 per cent. com-
mission, and with the proceeds $8,600,000
Pittsburg Coal bonds were purchased at
110 and interest.

has
sec-

stock

299
2S0,-

is be-