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By L. G. Margolin

INTRODUCTION In this paper we derive an expression to predict the onset of growth of a crack in a quasibrittle material. We employ an energy criterion, which was first proposed by Griffith (1920), and is essentially equivalent to the first two laws of thermodynamics. The criterion is applied to the elastic-plastic crack of Olesiak and Wnuk (1968), which is a three-dimensional generalization of the Dugdale (1960) crack. Our expression for the onset of growth differs in several respects from a criterion based on a crack in a brittle material (i.e., using linear elastic fracture mechanics) . Furthermore, the new features are in qualitative agreement with the experimental data. Among these new features are 1) the dependence of the apparent surface energy, or critical strain energy release rate on crack size (the shape of the R-curve); 2) the effect of in-plane stresses (i.e., the stresses that do not lead to any traction on the crack faces) on crack growth; and 3) a brittle-ductile transition. The energy criterion, as a necessary condition for crack growth, rests on a firm theoretical basis. However, its role as a sufficient condition is less secure. Several alternate criteria have been proposed as necessary and sufficient conditions for the onset of crack growth. We will contrast several of these, including critical strain (Olesiak and Wnuk, 1968; Goodier and Field, 1963) and crack opening displacement ("COD", Burdekin and Stone, 1966) with the energy criterion. We will show that these alternate approaches are inconsistent with the energy criterion, in the sense of being necessary conditions, and so should be rejected as criteria for growth--at least for the elastic-plastic crack.

Jan 1, 1984

The following letter has been received from Prof. Alfred C. Lane, of Tufts College, who is now in charge of the department, of mining in the College of Engineering, American E. F. University, Beaune, France. My DEAR MR. STOUGHTON: I have had a very interesting time here. We were received fast Saturday with great courtesy by the Schneiders at the Creusot plant, and saw many interesting things, from the mammoth guns clown. In one trip I saw a coal mine, an iron mine, an oilshale mine, a gypsum mine, and a most beautiful fluorspar mine. So you see we were not badly located. A mine like Epinac, which has a washery, a briquetting plant, and great central electric plant where coal that might otherwise be waste is converted into electricity and shipped away at 30,000 volts pressure, is of interest mechanically as well as geologically. Many of the French coal seams are very thick here and have especial mining methods. The Department of Mining has been manned by men with whom it was a pleasure and an honor to be associated, as well as with Dean Reber who was in charge of the College of Engineering as a whole. Names like Captain H. C. Ray, former professor at the University of Pittsburgh, on leave in the army, Captain Archbald of the Colliery Engineer at one time, whose work in the Pennsylvania coal mines is well known, Captain Vail of the Engineering and Mining Journal staff and Captain E. C. Dietrich of the Southwest, are familiar to members of the Institute, and Are guarantees of competent instruction.

Jan 7, 1919

By AIME AIME

RECENT experiments in reflected sunlight photography in mine shaft's' and. slopes in the McAlester, Oklahoma, coal-mining district have been so satisfactory as to indicate that such a method has definite scientific value. The entrances to abandoned deep shafts and slopes on Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian coal lands in Oklahoma are being filled or bulk-headed by the U. S. Geological Survey under Public Works Project F. P. 63-C&C. Inasmuch as these mines may be reopened at some future time when there is a demand for coal, H. I. Smith, Chief of the Mining Division, suggested that photographs of deep shafts would be of value. Such photographs would show timber details and the general condition of the walls. Photographic records of the exact status of shafts when filled will facilitate operations in reopening.

Jan 1, 1936

By Ray Schmidt

When your committee approached me for a talk on "Mechanics of Secondary Metals Collection," I replied that this subject would probably not be very interesting to a group of engineers and requested permission to dwell on the Westinghouse Salvage Setup. I will attempt to avoid duplicating the points covered by Mr. Bliven. The Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co. has main manufacturing Divisions in 25 cities and 9 different states, scattered throughout the country, as well as Naval Ordnance Plants in two midwest cities, and a Merchant Marine Turbine Plant, and two special War Production Plants in Eastern cities. You can, therefore, see that we must have a well rounded pro- gram with the entire respect and sponsorship of the various Division Managements. That was not so easy to get. Management has been a great deal like the general public in the past. I am sure most of you can remember the not very ancient day when each town had a ragman who had a horse and wagon and went through the streets of the town, from door to door, picking up what scrap he could accumulate. He was known as a junk man, and indeed, with the exception of the very last few years, the attitude of manufacturing management was: "We have a job to do. We have a product to manufacture. We don't have time to bother with the junk business."

Jan 1, 1943

By George A. Packard

WHEN, in April, 1892, the writer began experimenting with the cyanide-process, it had already proved a success in the treatment of tailings, but had not become an important factor as a primary method of ore-treatment. The Livingston, Colorado, mill was running a few small agitators; the Mercur mill, in Utah, was said to be a success, but was " closed down to increase capacity; " and Mr. A. B. Paul, in Shasta county, California, was running ore'through a stamp-mill into leachingvats, using a weak cyanide solution in the battery. Mills had been, or were being, erected in Arizona; on the Comstock lode; and in South Dakota. Some of these never started, and several were shut down or remodelled for other processes. Altogether, the outlook was anything but favorable. Many of these mills were planned to make use of agits tion, and a cyanide solution containing at least 1 per cent. of potassium cyanide was employed. Since then the improvement of the process, both chemically and mechanically, has placed it among the recognized successful methods of oretreatment. Within the past year I have visited a large number of cyanide-mills, and have collected considerable data, of which I publish enough herewith to give an idea of the development of the process and of the methods followed in the principal mills. I would say, however, that nearly all of these plants are experimenting, most of them employing experienced chemists,

Jan 1, 1897

By Howard Eavenson

SOME time ago, in a conference considering the mechanizing of a group of mines, I was asked if I knew of any data showing the relative frequency of accidents due to the use of 275 or 550-volt current inside mines and having a recollection of seeing some in print, the answer was made that I would find what was available. Subsequent search failed to find any pub-lished records of any kind giving such figures and none of the compensation agencies of whom inquiry was made were able to supply any, excepting the Pennsyl-vania Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau, which had some data covering a few months for some companies in that State. The inquiry was confined to the three largest producing States, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Illinois. The inspection departments of neither of the first two had any such records, and in Illinois, only 275 volts has been allowed inside the mines for many years. A laborious inquiry has resulted in the data, shown in Table 1, which on this account was confined to the years 1921 and 1925, the latter being the latest figures available. In each State, to find the mines using 275 and 550-volt current respectively, it was necessary to list the mines from the Coal Catalog, and then to complete the list by inquiries from the companies directly, from Operators' Associations and from Inspection Depart-ments. As the mines not electrified, and those using

Jan 5, 1928

Mining and Metallurgical Society of America, 76 Beaver St., New York, N. Y. Percy E. Barbour, Secretary and Treasurer. This Society issues Bulletins each year containing papers presented, and accounts of Society business. The Bulletins each year are collected in a volume as the Proceedings for that, year. In 1931 Bulletins numbered 216 to 222, inclusive, were issued in the Proceedings for that year (vol. 24). In addition to the Bulletins two special volumes have been published: International Control of Minerals, $1; and World Survey of the Zinc Indusry, $2.25. A selected list of paper,,-from the last two volumes of the Proceedings: Vol. 24 (1931) : Bull. 216 The cycles of prices of non-ferrous metals, by L. Vogelstein; 218, Marketing problems, by T. M. McNiece; 222, Copper tariff number (a discussion of the copper tariff by a number of authors). Vol. 23 (1930): Bull. 208 to 215, inclusive: Bull. 208, Some aspects of the copper industry, by L. C. Graton; 209, The ethical question of developing Soviet mines; 213, Legal recognition of geophysical prospecting, by A. H. Rogers; The evolution of the metal cartels, by L., Domeratzky and L. Vogelstein; 214, Geological justification for "exploration permits," by L. C. Graton; 215, The future of nickel, by A. J. Wadhams.

Jan 1, 1933

ST. LOUIS SECTION H. A. BUEHLER, Chairman, CHARLES T. ORR, Vice-Chairman., THOMAS T. BREWSTER, Vice-Chairman, L. L. HUTCHISON, Vice-Chairman, W. E. McCOURT, Secretary-Treasurer, Washington University, St. Louis. CHARLES J. ADAMI, EUGENE MCAULIFFE, A. C. TERRILL, JAMES A. CASELTON, JAMES D. ROBERTSON. The annual meeting of the St. Louis Section was held at the St. Louis Club, Saturday evening, Mar. 10, 1917. Philip N. Moore, President, and Bradley Stoughton, Secretary of the Institute, were the guests of the Section. The meeting was preceded by a dinner, at which 70 were present, and was presided over by F. W. DeWolf. Addresses were made by Mr. Moore and Mr. Stoughton. The routine reports of the officers were- presented and the Executive Committee named above was elected for the current year. The special business of the meeting was a report of progress concerning the arrangements for the Institute meeting to be held in the St. Louis Section district, Oct. 8 to 13, 1917. The general program for the meeting met with the cordial approval and cooperation of the members of the Section. It was evident that the members are united in an endeavor to arrange a successful meeting. W. E. McCOURT, Secretary.

Jan 4, 1917

PRELIMINARY REPORT PUBLISHED FOR THE PURPOSE. OF INVITING SUGGESTIONS FOR, THE BENEFIT OF THE COMMITTEE 1 As a result of invitations extended by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a, number of associations of national scope have appointed representatives on a Joint. Committee on Standards for Graphic Presentation:- Below are the names of the members of the committee and of the associations which have co-operated in its formation. WILLARD C. BRINTON, Chairman,. American Society of Mechanical Engineers. [7 East 42nd Street, New York City.] LEONARD P. AYRES,Secretary, American Statistical Association. [130 East 22nd Street, New York City.] N. A. CARLE, American Institute of Electrical Engineers. ROBERT E. CHADDOCK, American Association for the Advancement of Science. FREDERICK A. CLEVELAND, American Academy of Political and Social Science. H. E. CRAMPTON, American, Genetic Association. WALTER S. GIFFORD, American Economic Association. J. ARTHUR HARRIS, American Society of Naturalists. H. E. HAWKES, American Mathematical Society. JOSEPH, A. HILL, United States Census Bureau. HENRY D. HUBBARD, United States Bureau of Standards. ROBERT H: MONTGOMERY, American Association of Public Accountants. HENRY H. NORRIS, Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education. ALEXANDER. SMITH,. American Chemical Society. JUDD STEWART, American Institute of Mining Engineers. WENDALL M. STRONG, Actuarial Society of America. EDWARD L. THORNDIKE, American Psychological Association.

Jan 10, 1915

By F. W. Bloecher

D ETERMINATION of the surface area of finely divided minerals is of interest to mineral engineers engaged in flotation, comminution, and dewatering studies. In the industrial minerals field, many materials are classified as to fineness according to their specific surface (surface area per unit weight). A method of surface area determination has been tested and used in the Richards Mineral Engineering Laboratories at M.I.T. It involves low temperature krypton adsorption measurements using the technique described by Beebe.1

Jan 3, 1951

By William H. Emmons

Discussion of the paper of William H. Emmons, presented at the Canal Zone meeting, November, 1910, and printed in Bulletin No. 46, October, 1910, pp. 767 to S37. CHARLES R,. KEYES, Des Moines, Ia. (communication to the Secretary*) :-It is not in a spirit of criticism that I offer a supplemental suggestion or two on the subjects covered by this valuable and highly instructive memoir. There are two points which, in my opinion, should have received greater emphasis in Mr. Emmons's excellent paper. One is the fundamental role played by the chlorides under certain conditions in ore-formation. The other is the possible establishment of geographic relationships among the four phenomena of (1) excessive chloridic content of mine-waters; (2) the abundance of chloridic compounds of the precious metals ; (3) the presence of. manganese oxides; and (4) the diminishing importance, in ore-genesis, of the metallic sulphates. Although Mr. Emmons's notes refer to gold alone, it may be pertinently asked whether the same principles do not hold good for silver and copper also, since these metals form, together with gold, a distinct and well-known chemical group. That the reactions involved apply equally well to the other two metals mentioned, is shown by a number of recent observations and discussions. Chloridic ores of silver are, as I have lately endeavored to show, mainly worked in. arid or desert regions only ; and the great deposits of disseminated copper-ores are similarly characteristic of such regions, in which both classes doubtless owe their formation to the abundance of saline materials derived from desert dusts, and to the .plentiful and almost universal presence of manganese oxide. Under these climatic conditions, silver is somewhat more abundantly deposited than copper and gold, because its chloride is so much * Received Nov. 11, 1910.

Jun 1, 1911

By J. M. Silliman

Several years ago, having occasion to determine the amount of some very slight atmospheric depressions, I devised and had constructed by a skilful tinsmith the manometer shown in the accompanying drawing. It consists of a cylindrical vessel of tin, 6.6 inches in diameter, through the sides of which, at a distance of about six inches from the top, passes an air-tube D, its upper extremity terminating 3.5 inches from the top. Within the vessel is a combined cylipdrical

Jan 1, 1889

Colorado School of Mines The, forty-first annual commencement exercises of the Colorado School of Mines were .held at Golden, Colo., on Friday, May 28, 1915. Dr. Lucien I. Blake delivered an address on Epochs in Science. The degree of Engineer of Mines was conferred upon 30 men, and the degree of Master of Science on one man. At the recent annual meeting of the Mining Engineering Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, officers were elected as follows: President, K. M. Sully; Vice-President and Treasurer, D. M. McRae; Secretary, H. Solakian. The Student Auxiliary Society of the A. I. M. E. at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan., has elected officers as follows for the year 1915-16: President, Harry E. Crum; Vice-President, Leland E. Fiske; Secretary and Treasurer, Ben A. Sweeney.

Jan 7, 1915

Charles R. Eeyes, Des Moines, Ia. (con~munication to the Secretary*):—It is not in a spirit of criticism that I offer a supplemental suggestion or two on the subjects covered by this valuable and highly instructive memoir. There are two points which, in my opinion, should have received greater emphasis in Mr. Emmons's excellent paper. One is the fundamental r6le played by the chlorides under certain conditions in ore-formation. The other is the possible establishment of geographic relationships among the four pheilomena of (1) excessive chlo-ridic content of mine-waters; (2) the abundance of chloridic compounds of the precious metals; (3) the presence of man-gancse oxides; and (4) the diminishing importance, in ore-genesis, of the metallic sulphates. Although Mr. Emmons's notes refer to gold alone, it may be pertinently asked whether the same principles do not hold good for silver and copper also, since these metals form, together with gold, a distinct and well-known chemical group. That the reactions involved apply equally well to the other two metals mentioned, is sbown by a number of recent observations and discussions. Chloridic ores of silver are, as I have lately endeavored to show, mainly worked in arid or desert regions only; and the great deposits of disseminated copper-ores are similarly characteristic of such regions, in which both classes doubtless owe their formation to the abundance of saline materials derived from desert dusts, and to the plentiful and almost universal presence of manganese oxide. Under these climatic conditions, silver is somewhat more abundantly deposited than copper and gold, because its chloride is so much less soluble. During volcanic emanations, the metallic chlorides perform at all times distinct functions; when these are

Jan 1, 1912

By A. B. Kinzel

PRECISE knowledge regarding the effect of heat treatment on the properties of steel has made possible the detailed specifications and instructions covering optimum heat-treating temperatures and practices that are in current use. A distinct contrast is presented by the metallurgical treatment of steel adjacent to a fusion weld, as such steel is subjected to each temperature from room temperature to fusion temperature, and cooled at a rate that is not generally controllable but is predetermined by the nature of the assembly to be welded, the kind of welding used, and the surrounding conditions. This is true regardless of the type of fusion welding: oxyacetylene, electric arc, thermit or flash resistance. Therefore it seemed desirable to investigate the effect of this metallurgical treatment on the characteristics of carbon steels commonly used for welding, by a detailed study of metal subjected to each temperature range; i.e., each heat-affected zone. Oxyacetylene welding was chosen for the investigation because of the experimental facility of accurately segregating and studying each temperature zone. The nature of the zones produced by other types of welding is the sane. The difference is primarily a matter of dimensions of each of the temperature zones involved. The advantages and disadvantages of the extent of the zone are of prime moment, and are discussed after the presentation of the detailed zone study. No mention is made of the fused metal proper, as this has been the subject of much published research and the nature of the solidified metal is fairly well known. GENERAL METHOD The scheme of procedure in the work herein reported involved the testing of the metal of each temperature zone adjacent to the weld in so

Jan 1, 1935

By J. G. Early, F. V. Lenel, G. S. Ansell

The isothermal shrinkage rates of copper-powder compacts were determined in the temperature range from 760o to 1060oC. The rates for compacts fabricated from a pure spherical copper powder were compared, on the one hand, with those fabricated from a spherical powder containing a dispersion of aluminum oxide in the copper matrix and, on the other hand, with those fabricated from a pure copper powder having irregularly shaped particles. The irregular copper-powder compacts shrank much faster than the spherical copper-powder compacts and these, in turn, shrank faster than dispersion -strengthened copper -powder compacts. The experiments were run under a small external load. By varying this load, the stress dependence of the isothermal shrinkage rate could be measured for compacts from spherical-copper powders. This stress dependence was found to be approximately proportional to the 4th (dispersion-strengthened alloys) or 4.5th (pure metals) power of the stress. It is concluded that the material-trans port mechanism is due to dislocation climb rather than to Herring-Naharro creep. In this investigation the isothermal shrinkage rates of compacts made of copper powder with an average particle size of 70 g in the temperature range from 780o to 1060°C were studied. The aim of the investigation was to determine the mechanism of material transport responsible for the shrinkage of these compacts. Since the phenomenon observed in this investigation was shrinkage of compacts at high temperatures, it will be necessary to consider all the material-transport mechanisms possible in sintering. It is unlikely that evaporation and condensation, surface diffusion, or even volume diffusion of vacancies, in which surfaces of small radius of curvature are vacancy sources and those of larger radius of curvature vacancy sinks, will materially contribute to a sintering process involving shrinkage, i.e., one in which the centers of adjacent particles move towards each other. The two principal mechanisms which were considered were the so-called Nabarro-Herring mechanism and a plastic deformation mechanism by dislocation movement. Both of these mechanisms were originally conceived to explain creep, i.e., the plastic deformation of metals at elevated temperatures under a constant applied stress. The shrinking of metal-powder compacts which was studied in this investigation can be readily treated as a creep process. This means that the shrinkage rates observed are considered as creep rates under the influence of an applied stress. It is true that the stresses in sintering experiments are generally not constant but decrease continually with time, but, by considering creep rates or shrinkage rates over a relatively short time interval, the small changes in stress during this time interval can generally be neglected. Nabarro-Herring microcreep is a high-temperature deformation mechanism which is caused by a diffusional flow of vacancies from boundaries under a tensile stress towards those under a compres-sive stress. Herring1 has shown that in this type of microcreep the strain rate e is proportional to the applied stress and follows an equation of the form ma, aexp(-Q/RT) [l| where <j is applied stress, Q is the activation energy for self-diffusion, R is the gas constant, and T is the absolute temperature This type of creep can explain the shrinkage of a porous compact. The surface of the pores are subjected to the tensile stress of surface tension, while the grain boundaries are under a compressive stress also due to surface tension. Vacancies diffuse from the pore surface through the lattice to the grain boundaries, where they are eliminated. In order to maintain vacancy equilibrium at the pore surface the vacancies leaving the region of the pore surface are replenished from the volume of the pore, which means that the pores shrink.

Jan 1, 1964

By George W. Maynard

In the Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute for the year 1878, in the account of the proceedings of the annual meeting in March of that year, when Mr. Bell read his paper On the Separation of Phosphorus from Pig-Iron, occurs the following statement, as part of the reported discussion of that paper: " Mr. Sidney Thomas stated that he had succeeded in effecting the almost complete removal of phosphorus in the Bessemer process. Experiments had been carried on at Blaenavon, with the co-operation of Mr. Martin, on quantities varying between 6 lbs. and 10 cwt., and some hundred analyses made by Mr. Gilchrist (who had the conduct of the experiments from the first) showing the removal of from 20 per cent. to 99.9 per cent. of phosphorus in the converter. He believed the practical difficulties in the way had been overcome, and that Cleveland pig might be made into good steel without any intermediate process. He hoped on a future occasion to lay full details before the Institute." I was present at that meeting, and I doubt if any one in the hall knew, either by sight or name, the young man who had dared to rise in that august body and claim that he had accomplished that after which the great metallurgists of Europe had been unsuccessfully striving ever since Mr. Bessemer&apos;s great discovery. I remember distinctly the pitying smile of derision and the stony stare

Jan 1, 1885

By A. D. Hodges

In 1874 my attention was called to what seemed to me an interesting and new nickel and cobalt combination found in Ludwig and Carter&apos;s copper mine, near Mason Valley, Esmeralda County, Nevada. With the assistance of Mr. A. Hebberling I made several partial analyses of the mineral or minerals. I also communicated with my friend, Professor H. B. Cornwall, of the John C. Green School of Science, College of New Jersey, who analyzed a couple of specimens which I forwarded to him. The copper ore occurs in the mine principally as carbonate and to a certain extent as silicate, the latter generally in connection with clay seams or bands. In some places, together with the copper silicate and clay, generally interstratified with them, there occurred a compact shining black mineral (a) containing nickel and cobalt. Occasionally, in cavities, in connection with (a) was found a black substance (b), either massive and in this case very similar to (a) but with driller lustre, or forming an incrustation with rough and botryoidal surface and radial-fibrous structure, or granular and earthy. A few specimens were found having on the surface very fragile black needles (c) sometimes 1/2-inch long, interspersed with needles of malachite. The mineral (a) seemed, according to the analyses, to be of nearly constant composition, and was considered by Professor Cornwall to be a chrysocolla containing nickel and cobalt—a new occurrence to

Jan 1, 1885

By R. F. Marande, R. S. Busk

THE magnesium-aluminum-zinc system contains most of the magnesium-base alloys used commercially, although in practice the ternary, alloys are usually modified by the addition of a small amount [ ] of manganese. Table I contains the magnesium-base commercial sand-casting alloys most widely used throughout the world, together with their typical tensile properties. These alloys may be regarded as a single family of varying aluminum and zinc content, disregarding manganese. A concise means of presenting data for them is by means of iso-property lines plotted on triangular coordinate paper. Constitutional, casting, and mechanical properties are presented in this manner. The data are given with the object of providing reference material, and to aid in the choice of a commercial alloy to serve a particular purpose. Detailed, critical analysis of the commercial alloys has been covered in a previous paper.1 [ ] All alloys reported were made in 15-lb. melts, superheated to 1700°F. for 15 min., cooled to 1400°F. and poured in sand molds. The test bars produced had a ½ in. reduced section and were about 6 in. long. Except for the data represented in Figs. I and 3 the alloys used were of commercial purity and contained 0.1 to 0.2 per cent Mn in addition to the aluminum and zinc. CONSTITUTIONAL DATA Under the heading of Constitutional Data are included all known data on con-

Jan 1, 1946

By W. D. Steele, S. D. Brady

THE Pittsburgh coal seam in West Virginia contains the largest coal reserves of any coal seam in that State and is, therefore, one of the most important seams, and attains mineable thickness and purity throughout that part of the seam extending from the Northern Panhandle to Monon¬galia Co. thence south and southwest across the state to Wayne Co. near Huntington. The Pittsburgh coal is also mineable in the Upper Potomac region but is now practically exhausted there. The total mineable areas of this coal amount to 2,165 sq miles and are estimated, by the West Virginia Geological Survey, to contain 13% billion net tons. The largest body of Pittsburgh coal outcrops on the western edge of West Virginia, along the Ohio river as far south as Moundsville, West Va., going under the river at that point and extending at various depths down the river as far as Wetzel Co. line where it thins out to such an extent that it has little practical value, and on the eastern edge this large body outcrops along the Monongahela River. The territory to be covered by this paper is the area known as the Northern. West Virginia District comprising Wetzel, Monongalia, Marion, Preston, Harrison, Doddridge, Taylor, Barbour, Upshur, Lewis, Gilmer, Braxton and Calhoun Counties, and is also known as Dist. 3 under the Bituminous Coal Act. This region was originally opened for commercial mining along and adjacent to the Monongahela River around 1852 when the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was constructed to Fairmont. It has been extensively developed, first, in 188o (when the Monongahela River Railroad, now B. & O. R. R., was constructed) between Fairmont and Clarksburg, and later, in 1916, between Morgantown and Fairmont when the Monongahela Railway was constructed and placed in operation, this area furnishing the major portion of the production over the past years. With the mining out of a great deal of this territory adjacent to the Monongahela River considerable interest has been developed in the back acreage; and within the past few years a number of diamond core drill holes have been made in the back areas of Monongalia and Marion Counties. In this back area the oil and gas well drilling showed that the Pittsburgh coal seam was of mineable thickness and ranged in depth from 350 to 1,000 ft below the surface of the stream valleys but this drilling did not furnish any definite data as to its thickness and quality. ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE The Pittsburgh seam in Northern West Virginia is of primary importance as a coal resource not only because of its large reserves but because of its contributing a very large part of the coal used in this country for general steam uses. The Pittsburgh seam is a consistently thick seam, averaging 8 ft in thickness, with very easy grades underground, so it has always been

Jan 1, 1948