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By Charles H. Fulton

One of the first matters to receive attention from the Bureau of Mines when it was authorized to undertake investigations relating to wastes in the mineral industries was the smoke problem at smelting and ore-roasting plants. This bulletin is published by the bureau primarily for persons who seek information on the subject of metallurgical smoke but are unacqllainted with the technical language of metallurgy. It is, of course, not possible to free a techniCal subject entirely from teclmicalities, but, 80 far as possible, statements are made in plain and simple English. Metallurgical smoke causes considerable friction between the metallurgical industry and agriculture in certain parts of the country. Owners of smelting plants are making every effort to devise ways and means to do away with possible damage and annoyance from smoke and are meeting with success. The problem is peculiarly difficult in this country because of the large tonnages of material that must be handled. The solution of the problem is not yet at hand and much work still remains to be done. As the mineral industry is one of the great basic industries of the country and of necessity is entitled to full consideration, it should be accorded freedom to work out the smoke problem to the benefit of all concerned. The effort is made in this paper to present the problem of metallurgical smoke as it actually exists, without bias of any kind. The writer takes this opportunity to express his indebtedness to the sources of information on which he drew, many of which are enumerated in the selected bibliography at the end of this paper. In connection with the author's use of the present tense in describing plants and methods, the reader should note that none of the references in that bibliography is of later date than 1913. Much information was obtained by personal visits and by correspondence, and thanks are hereby tendered to all persons who kindly furnished data. The writer desires to thank particularly F. G. Cottrell, chief chemist of the Bureau of Mines, for criticism and comment.

Jan 1, 1915

By R. Y. Williams

In this report an attempt is made to discuss the first cost of each of several types of mine-ventilation stoppings, as well as the total annual expense of maintaining a stopping during its required period of service. Such data furnish a basis for comparison of the efficiency of the different types, and are of great importance to an engineer planning the development of a mine. The data given were obtained through an investigation conducted under a cooperative agreement between the Bureau of Mines, the Illinois State Geological Survey, and the department of mining engineering of the University of Illinois. The report itself is published by the Bureau of Mines as a contribution to the literature on safety and efficiency in coal mining.

Jan 1, 1915

By N. H. Darton

This report presents the results of an investigation begun by the Government in the summer of 1907, the investigation being started under the immediate supervision of Dr. J. A. Holmes and continued under him as director after it was transferred to the Bureau of Mines in 1910, the field studies being completed in the spring of 1912. The purpose of the investigation was to obtain information on the origin of the inflammable gases in coal and the conditions under which they occur. It was especially intended to ascertain whether there was any relation between the occurrence of gas and the structural or other geologic features of the coal beds. To this end many months were spent in mines and much time was devoted to the examination of mine maps, bore-hole records, and other data made available by the kindness of various coal companies. Two fields of work were selected-one in the northern anthracite basin of Pennsylvania, where the beds are considerably flexed, and the other in the southern part of the bituminous coal field of Illinois, where the beds lie nearly horizontal. In order to take advantage of results of previous investigations of the same general subject, an extended examination was made of reports of various investigators in Europe and America. A digest of the information obtained from these publications is included in the first part of this report, which constitutes an introduction to the discussion of the conditions governing the occurrence of inflammable gas in coal beds.

Jan 1, 1915

By O. P. Hood, R. H. Kudlich

When a gasoline locomotive is used in a mine there is danger of the noxious gases of the exhaust vitiating the air, but if enough air is circulating in those parts of the mine in which the locomotive is used, these gases are so diluted that they are rendered harmless, and the health of the workmen is not affected. In some mines the use of gasoline locomotives is impracticable, though in the majority of mines where they have been tried they have proved to be safe and economical. To determine the limitations that should surround the use of these machines in mines so that they shall not be detrimental to health and so that their economic advantage may be retained, it is necessary to ascertain the volume and the character of the exhaust gases and the amount of these gases that may be safely allowed in the mine air, and also to determine safe conditions of operation. The problem is primarily one of ventilation and like all ventilation problems must be intelligently computed to meet the conditions of each mine. The investigation described in this bulletin was undertaken 'by the Bureau of Mines in an endeavor to obtain exact information on some of the basal questions involved in the use of gasoline locomotives in mines, this investigation being one of many that the bureau has been conducting in its efforts to increase safety and efficiency in mining.

Jan 1, 1915

By J. W. Thompson

MINERALS OWNERSHIP AND POSSESSION. The owner of minerals under a conveyance from the surface owner does not lose his right or his possession by mere nonusage of the minerals. McBeth v. Wetnight (Indiana), 106 Northeastern, 407, p. 410, October, 1914. QUIETING TITLE TO MINERALS-PLEADING. A complaint in an action to quiet title to minerals and to the min- eral rights in certain land is insufficient in the absence of a direct allegation of possession, although it avers that the plaintiff from the time of receiving the conveyance assessed the mineral interest for taxes each year and paid the taxes thereon and exercised various acts of ownership of such mineral interests, in that he caused test pits to be dug on the land for the purpose of exploring the minerals and ascertaining their quality and extent, in going upon the land and looking after them from time to time, and that he accompanied or caused his agents to accompany prospective purchasers of such mineral interests and exhibited the same to such prospective pur- chasers in efforts to sell them. Fowler r. Alabama Iron & Steel Co. (Alabama), 66 Southern, 672, p. 673, Novem- ber, 1914. SALE BY MARRIED WOMAN-VALIDITY. A conveyance by a married woman of the mineral rights in certain described land is void where she had previously conveyed the land to another grantee who had acquired title by adverse possession under the deed.

Jan 1, 1915

By FRANKM. SEIBERT, G. G. Oberfell, GEORGEA. BURRELL

The Bureau of Mines is conducting a series of investigations with the common aim of minimizing the losses that occur in the mining and treatment of mineral substances. The results of the investi- gations are being published in reports of the bureau. This report treats of a method of preventing some of the waste of the natural gas incidental to oil mining. This method, the condensation of gasoline from natural gas, offers to the oil operator and others a profitable means of utilizing some of the oil-well gas now being wasted. The most desired constituent of crude oil is obtained, the production of oil is not hindered, and the gas, after the extraction of gasoline, can be returned to the leased area to drive pumps or into pipe lines for uses to which natural gas is ordinarily put, usually with its fuel value lessened only in slight degree. Publications already issued briefly discuss the subject. In this report the work is treated in greater detail, and the results of many additional tests are shown.

Jan 1, 1915

By Charles L. Parsons, R. B. Moore, S. C. Lind, O. C. SCHAEFER

Early in 1912, from information received by the Bureau of Mines, it became evident that quantities of valuable radium-bearing ore from Colorado were being exported for manufacture in foreign coun- trics and that at least part of the manufactured product was being returned to this country and sold at a price entirely incommensurate with that received by the miner and the prospector. Consequently, in line with its efforts to increase efficiency in the mining and treat- ment of mineral resources, the Bureau of Mines undertook an inves- tigation of conditions. Results of this preliminary investigation were published, in the summer of 1913, as Bulletin 70, which gave an out- line of the radium deposits of the West, the conditions of mining, the wastes involved, and the status of the production of radium from its ores. At about this time newspapers and medical journals were publish- ing statements regarding the value of radium in cancer therapy. These reports, although many of them were exaggerated, brought out clearly the remarkable virtue of the gamma rays for the treat- ment of cancer and other malignant growths. In view of the fact that the largest known supplies of radium ore in the world are in the States of Colorado and Utah and on the public lands of the United States, it was deemed highly important for the Bureau of Mines to study the production of radium in detail. Such study, it was hoped, would enable the prospector and miner to obtain a fairer price for the ores and would furnish information necessary in case Congress appropriated funds to develop methods for extracting radium from ore on the public lands under Government supervision, to be supplied at cost to the hospitals of the Army, Navy, and Public Health Service.

Jan 1, 1915

By J. W. Thompson

ORES PROCESS OF ORE CONCENTRATION-PATENTABILITY. The patent issued to Sulman, Pickard, and Ballot, November 6, 1905, and assigned to Minerals Separation and Minerals Separation American Syndicate, for new and useful improvements in ore concen- tration, its object being to separate metalliferous matter from gangue by means of oils and fatty acids that have a preferential affinity for such metalliferous matter, the principal feature of which is "agitat- ing the mixture to cause the oil-coated mineral to form a froth," was clearly anticipated by other patents, and each step in the process described in the Sulman, Pickard, and Ballot patent is fully described in more than one of the prior patents, with the single exception of the reduced quantity of oil used; but the discovery that the small fraction of oil is sufficient to produce flotation of the metalliferous matter can not be made by itself or in combination, the subject of a patent. Hyde v. Minerals Separation, 214 Fed., 100, p. 109, May, 1914. ACTION FOR CONVERSION OF MINERALS. In an action by the grantor of a certain mine and mining property against his grantee to recover damages for the conversion of a quantity of ore that the grantor before the conveyance had mined and extracted from the mine and placed on the dump near the mine, the plaintiff is not entitled to recover where it appears that at the time the ore was placed on the dump the mine was owned and operated by a mining company and that at the time the ore was taken out of the mine the company had no intention of doing anything with it but simply deposited it on the dump as waste and to give an opportunity to develop the mine and get better ore to send to the smelter, and that

Jan 1, 1915

By J. W. Thompson

This work is a codification and annotation of the Congressional enactments relating to minerals, mineral lands, and mining. It covers every enactment of Congress from the original ordinance of 1785 to the present time, as well as all sections of the Revised Statutes of the United States relating to these subjects. These laws are grouped according to their general subject matter, and are arranged thereunder in numerical or chronological order. Many of the mining statutes include matter not pertinent to the subject, and only those parts of such acts are quoted as will properly show their relation to minerals and mineral lands and indicate how they should be construed. Some mining acts have been repealed or have become obsolete, and others have become incorporated substantially in sections of the Re- vised Statutes; but these are retained in order to show the changes made, and the constructions placed thereon by the courts are given as aids in construing the new or repealing acts. The annotations consist of legal propositions abstracted from the decisions of the various courts and executive officers of the Govern- ment that have interpreted the sections and statutes so codified. These legal propositions are arranged under the different sections and acts with appropriate headings, titles, and subtitles, in logical order, exhibiting the present status of each particular section or act and its application to the subject of mines and mineral lands. The annotations do not purport to be abstracts of decisions on the sub- stantive law of mines and mining generally, but are limited strictly to the interpretation placed on a given section or act definitely re- ferred to by a court or executive officer by the number of the section of the Revised Statutes or the volume and page of the Statutes at Large in which the Congressional enactment is found. It may be observed that the legal propositions stated are not always pertinent to the particular section or act under which they are classed and of which they purport to give a construction. The arrangement, however, is not an arbitrary one, but is so made for the reason that the courts or officers in the construction of a particular section or act definitely referred to by number or volume and page incorporated in the decision matter not strictly pertinent to the par- ticular section or act so designated. This statement applies especially to the interpretations placed on the sections of the Revised Statutes. The decisions abstracted for the purpose of this work are those of the United States Supreme Court, 234 volumes; the various Federal courts, 214 volumes; the decisions of the Department of the Interior

Jan 1, 1915

By J. A. Holmes, EDWARD C. FRANKLIN, RALPH A. GOULD

The commission may be permitted to express its earnest hope that the litigation which comes to an end with the findings and recom- mendations herein set forth will be considered by both parties to the action as definitely and equitably decided. The commission trusts that its work will show the value of the commission form of settlement and that its work will serve as a prece- dent to be followed in disputes relative to technical subjects. If the work of the commission is productive of a tendency on the part of technical litigants to avoid the use of the courts for the settlement of disputes it will not have been done in vain. Such tendency will surely grow and ultimately such differences will be arbitrated by technically trained men without recourse to the courts of law. Appended to the report of the findings of the commission are to be found the detailed reports covering the several lines of inquiry and investigation carried on by the commission and upon which its findings are based, and also a detailed statement of the fiscal affairs of the commission. A word of explanation is necessary in regard to the fiscal statement. While each party to the litigation has agreed to bear one-half of the expense of the investigations of the commission, it will be noted that the Selby Smelting & Lead Co. is credited with $21,000, while Solano County is credited with but $6,000. In order that the investigations of the commission might go forward without interruption the Selby Smelting & Lead Co. has generously supplied funds at the times they were needed. This assistance has been

Jan 1, 1915

ENGINEERS AVAILABLE (Under this heading will be published notes sent to the Secretary of the Institute by members or other persons introduced by members.) Technical graduate, aged-31, with experience as surveyor, chemist with a sulphur company, practical miner, and as chief engineer of an iron mining company, desires a position as mining engineer or superintendent. Speaks French and German. No. 165. Member, aged 31, married, graduate Yale and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, six years' experience in coal and iron mining, from engineer to general superintendent, desires position with large coal or iron company. Will go anywhere. References. . No. 167. Member, technical graduate, with experience as machinist, chemist, construction engineer, and manager-of mines in the United States and Mexico, desires position .as mine superintendent or manager. Speaks Spanish. No. 168. Member, technical graduate, aged 26, with experience as engineer, mine foreman, assistant superintendent for a pyrite mining company. Experience includes diamond drilling, shaft sinking, underground work, milling of pyrites, and mine accounting. No. 169.

Jan 12, 1914

PRESIDENT BENJAMIN B. THAYER,1 NEW YORK, N. Y. PAST PRESIDENTS JAMES F. KEMP,1 NEW YORK, N. Y. CHARLES F. RAND,2 NEW YORK, N. Y. FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT SIDNEY J. JENNINGS,1 NEW YORK,. N. Y. TREASURER GEORGE C. STONE,1 NEW YORK, N. Y. SECRETARY EMERITUS ROSSITER W. RAYMOND, NEW YORK, N. Y. SECRETARY BRADLEY STOUGHTON NEW YORK, N. Y.

Jan 11, 1914

Further discussion of the paper of JAMES JOHNSTON, presented at the New York meeting, February,. 1914, and printed in Bulletin No. 85, January, 1914, pp. 107 to 133. See also Bulletin No. 91, July, 1914, pp. 1473 to 1496. THOMAS CROWE,* Victor, Colo.-The interest manifested of late in the treatment of low-grade ores, together with Mr. Clevenger's discussion of the Mill and Metallurgical Practice of the Nipissing Mining Co., prompts me to acid a few remarks relative to concentration in connection with cyanide treatment of low-grade ores. Mr. Clevenger in this discussion does not condemn concentration in this connection, but, nevertheless, the tone of his remarks would lead one to believe that his conclusions are like those of many others: that concentration is often turned to as a last resort in an attempt to improve or obtain an extraction upon an ore by the recovery and sale of the refractory portion of the ore. This, I will attempt to point out, is not always the case. Concentration in connection with cyanidation often performs an entirely different function, i.e., one of saving fine grinding. Economy being the keynote of successful treatment of low-grade ores, the problem often becomes more commercial than metallurgical, and, as there is generally a definite ratio existing between cost of operation, degree of comminution, and percentage of extraction, the grade of ore under treatment usually imposes a limit upon these factors. With many ores grinding is the most expensive single item in their treatment; therefore, the degree of comminution is very apt to be governed by the allowable cost of operation. With most ores the degree of comminution controls to a great extent the percentage of extraction. So in the treatment of low-grade ore it often becomes necessary to sacrifice extraction, through coarse grinding for the benefit of cost, in order that the greatest ultimate profit may be obtained, and it is under these conditions that it is, possible for concentration to play an important part in overcoming to some extent the effect of mesh. The precious metals occurring in an ore are usually closely associated with the metallic portion of the ore, and as this metallic portion is generally fairly well liberated from the gangue at comparatively coarse meshes, further grinding of the ore is necessary only in order that the metallic portion may be reduced sufficiently fine that the precious metal part of it may be dissolved by cyanide solutions in a reasonable length of time.

Jan 11, 1914

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES OF LOCAL SECTIONS New York L. W. FRANCIS, Chairman, WILLARD S. MORSE, Vice-Chairman. THOMAS -T. READ, Secretary, Woolworth Bldg., New York: N. Y. P. A. MOSMAN, Treasurer. LOUIS D: HUNTOON. Boston HENRY L. SMYTH, Chairman. ALFRED C. LANE, Vice-Chairman. AUGUSTUS H. EUSTIS, Secretary-Treasurer, 131 State St., Boston, Mass. TIMOTHY W. SPRAGUE, HENRY A. WENTWORTH. Columbia F. A. THOMSON, Chairman. GEORGE W. RODDEWIG, Vice-Chairman. LYNDON K. ARMSTRONG, Secretary-Treasurer, P. O. Drawer 2154, Spokane, Wash. R. S. McCAFFERY, S. H. RICHARDSON.

Jan 10, 1914

NEW MEMBERS The following list comprises the names of those persons who became members during the period Aug. 10 to Sept. 10, 1914: Members ALLEY, HARRY MCCAMMON, Mill Foreman .... Churchill Mining Co., Wonder,2 Nev. AMBLER, J. OWEN, Met..; ... Calumet and Arizona Mining Co., Douglas, Ariz. ANDERSON, JAMES WILLOUGHBY, Duell, Warfield and Duell, 2 Rector St., New York, N. Y. ANTISELL, FRANK L., Asst. Supt Raritan Copper Works, Perth Amboy, N. J. CARRINGTON, FRANK GAMBLE, Sec'y and Asst. Mgr., Standard Foundry Co., Anniston, Ala. CONKEY, CHARLES ROLLAND, Structural Draftsman, Barnett McQueen Co., Ft. William, Ont., Canada. COOK, PAUL RICHARDSON, Mill Shift Boss, Buckhorn Mill and Cyanide Plant, Buckhorn. Nev.

Jan 10, 1914

By H. A. Kuhn

THE Pittsburg coal field in western Pennsylvania, is conceded to be the most important in the world. To measure its importance it is necessary to understand the extent of its service in the various industries of the country. Probably 90 per cent. of the pig iron manufactured in the United States up to the present time has been made by using coke manufactured from the Pittsburg coal seam in western Pennsylvania. This coal field is the foundation on which the city of Pittsburg rests and is the reason for the great growth of the iron industry in the Pittsburg district. Iron ore is brought to this district, not because Pittsburgh is a. natural location, over other locations, for the iron and steel industry-as its position places the manufacturer at the mercy of the railroads-but the ore is brought 1,100 miles to meet the fuel. It can be said that the illuminating-gas industry in the United States has used this coal exclusively to the same extent that the pig-iron maker has used it. It may be also said that 20 to 25 per cent. of the fuel used on railroads in the United States conies from this coal field. The Pittsburg coal field is unquestionably the center of the industrial population of the United States, for in addition to the industries of the district and those closely adjoining, it has tributary to it all the cities and industries along the Great Lakes and practically all of Canada with the exception of the extreme western and eastern ends. It supplies the industries and population west of Duluth and Superior many hundreds of miles. This coal is floated down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, supplying the towns en route, and is delivered in New Orleans, a distance of 2,200 miles, for approximately SO to 90 c. per ton transportation cost. It is delivered on the docks of Superior and Duluth at a cost of transportation 50 c. a ton less than the cost of transporting the same coal from Pittsburg to a local consumer in Philadelphia. With other Appalachian coals it has large markets east and along the seaboard, especially for byproduct-coke making and the illuminating-gas industry. It is considered the premier railroad fuel of the world on account of the fact that this coal in a given-sized locomotive will probably haul more cars than any other coal in the

Jan 10, 1914

By James Barr

Geology and Mineralogy1 TENNESSEE phosphates are commercially divided into three varieties: Brown, blue and white. The first two only are now of commercial importance. The white phosphates of Perry county are not being mined at present owing to their pockety occurrence. The white phosphate is Fig. I.-DEPOSITS OF 75 PER CENT. BROWN PLATE ROCK UNDERLAIN BY SAND. the highest grade of the three varieties, running often more than 90 per cent. tricalcium phosphate. The brown rock is found in three varieties, grading from the dense almost vitreous gray rock, 76 to 82 per cent. tricalcium phosphate, down

Jan 9, 1914

By W. C. Phalen

SALT-MAKING PROCESSES THE production of salt in the United States divides itself at the outset into two distinct classes: (1) The mining of rock salt and its purification and separation into marketable sizes, and (2) the production of salt by evaporation from brines, bitterns, and other solutions. The processes employed at the present time in the manufacture of salt by evaporation may be outlined as follows: 1. Solar evaporation. 2. Direct-heat evaporation (a) in open kettles; (b) in open pans. 3. Steam evaporation, (a) in jacketed kettles, (b) in grainers. 4. Vacuum-pan evaporation. In this paper only the solar-evaporation processes practised in different parts of the United States will be described. SOLAR EVAPORATION Localities In the Eastern States the solar-evaporation process is not generally employed for climatic reasons. In the Western States, particularly in California and Utah, the great bulk of the salt produced originates in the solar-evaporation process. Of the Eastern States producing salt, this process, so far as the writer is aware, is employed in New York State only.

Jan 9, 1914

By C. R. Kuzell

The Editor desires to call attention to the charts in the paper of the above title which were published in the August Bulletin on pages 2190 and 2191. It was impracticable to include in the Bulletin. charts of sufficient size to be used as working diagrams for the direct determination of operating values, but the Institute is prepared to furnish copies of these charts on a large-size scale, at a moderate cost, to those who desire to have them for this purpose. CORRECTIONS Page 2185, line 3. For "is accessory apparatus" read "in accessory. apparatus." Page 2188. Substitute for lines 11 and 12: Nitrogen, oxygen, carbon monoxide, Cp = 6.50 + 0.0010T Hydrogen, Cp = 6.50 + 0.0009T

Jan 9, 1914

By L. C. Morganroth

Magnesite both Massive and Crystalline MAGNESITES are. of two general classes-massive and crystalline. Massive magnesite occurs in serpentine, being formed by the breaking down or decay of serpentine-making minerals or rocks as olivine, etc. (All the magnesia contained by the olivine is not liberated, as a portion goes to make up the serpentine; the breaking up of this serpentine later forms more magnesite.) Serpentine in various stages of transformation is found in the vicinity of magnesite deposits. Massive magnesite is very widely distributed. It is found in Greece, . California, Africa, India, Australia, Mexico, South America, and deposits of varying sizes occur in several of the European countries. Those on the Island of Euboea, Greece, are probable the most important deposits of this character of magnesite. They have been worked for a number of years, the principal quarries or mines being 3 miles in the interior from the village of St. George. (St. George is on the west coast of the island, between the towns of Limni and Khalkis.) (Figs. 1 and 2). -The magnesite occurs in veins or lenses in serpentine. Some of these lenses are very large; one worked several years ago was approximately, 50 ft. in thickness, 75 to 100 ft. high and 300 ft. or more in length. The magnesite is pure white and makes a very prominent feature of the landscape. While massive magnesite is widely scattered over the world, many of the deposits are in veins too thin to work. The usual mode of occurrence is in the form of stock work, the deposits in Venezuela, Mexico, and many of those in California, being of this form. The veins vary in thickness from the thinness of paper up to several inches, running in all directions, occasionally leading to a mass or nucleus of some,size. The spaces between the veins are filled with a disintegrated serpentine in the form of sand. Several of the deposits in California would probably be workable, if they were more favorably situated with reference to transportation, but by far the majority of the deposits are too poor to work. At one deposit,

Jan 9, 1914