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By John H. Hall

The Frémont test for measuring the energy consumed in breaking a notched bar of steel is not so well known in this country as it deserves to be. The test specimen used in this test is about # by 6 by about 16 in., notched with a hack saw on the lower side to cause the piece to break at a fixed point. A weight of 10 kg. falling 4 m., and provided with a knife or chisel which strikes the specimen, breaks the test piece by impact. The residual force in the falling weight after it has broken the specimen is recorded by a suitable device, and the difference between the total energy and the residual energy of the weight (in kilogrammeters) is the force consumed in breaking the specimen. An experience of several years with the Frémont testing machine has shown its great value in readily detecting brittleness not revealed by tensile testing or slow bending testing. In this paper it is proposed to discuss (1) the supersensitiveness of the test as applied to cast steel and (2) its value in revealing the effect of heat treatment under certain conditions. In testing coupons cut from castings heat treated by quenching and annealing, attention was drawn to the wide variations in the value of the Frémont test of specimens cut from different parts of the coupon. The latter was of the form and dimensions shown in Fig. 1, and Fremont test pieces were cut from two parts of this coupon, marked A and B in that figure. The results of the tests are shown below, tests A and B in each instance being from the same coupon: A. B. A. B. Coupon. Kilogram- Kilogram- Coupon. Kilogram- Kilogram- meters. meters. meters. meters. 1,........ 12.0 12.5 9,........ 27.5 32.5 2,........ 11.0 32.5 10,........17.5 31.0 3,........ 11.5 30.0 11,........ 14.5 31.0 4,........ 20.0 33.0 12,........ 15.0 27.5 5,........ 17.5 33.0 13,........ 19.0 30.0 6,........ 17.5 20.0 14,........ 17.5 25.5 7,........ 17.5 13.0 15,........15.0 30.0 8,........ 10.0 30.0

Jan 1, 1914

By R. E. Wade

The Butte, Anaconda & Pacific electrification is of peculiar interest, in an incidental way, to the entire mining fraternity, and especially the engineering branch, not only in this great Northwest country but throughout the entire Western mining country, which is rich in minerals and water power. It is probably fair to say that the prime object of mining and smelting engineering is to reduce the cost of production, and in the case in hand the relative location of mines and smelter brings the cost of transportation of ore to the front. While some might assign this item to the railway people, it is inseparably a part and parcel of the general scheme of the production of metal from the ore. In considering the electrification of the B., A. & P. railway the mining and smelting engineer, above all, wants to know what saving will be effected by the change in motive power. Unfortunately the new power has been in use during a very limited period and on the Smelter Hill section of the road only, and no reliable data, from actual service conditions, can be obtained until the entire electrified section has been in service for a reasonable length of time. Any remarks on this subject at the present time, therefore, must of necessity be general in nature and more or less descriptive. The railway, electrical and mining worlds and the country in general are indebted to the B., A. & P. railway for the pioneer work it is now doing, as it undoubtedly marks the beginning of the electrification, within the comparatively near future, of all transcontinental roads between the Missouri river and the Pacific coast. Together with this goes the development of an untold wealth in water power and all natural resources within the same territory. For the first time in the history of electric railway work, in this country, direct current at a potential of 2,400 volts is being used. With this potential there is a great saving in transmission of energy to the locomotives and there are only two substations, one at either end and 26 miles apart, for supplying the power for the movement of trains of heavy tonnage over the main line and for switching movements at terminal and intermediate yards, and comparatively little feeder copper is required.

Jan 1, 1914

By George S. Rice

In 1911 the Director of the United States Bureau of Mines instructed the chief mining engineer of the bureau , during an investigation of coal-mine safety conditions in Europe, to ask the directors of the various mine-experiment stations whether they would favor a European conference . The majority of the officials in immediate charge of experiment stations favored the plan , and Victor Watteyne, inspector general of Belgium, suggested that the United States call such a conference to be held immediately after the Eighth International Congress of Applied Chemistry, which was to assemble in New York on September 3, 1912 . Accordingly, invitations were issued by the United States Government to those countries having mine-experiment stations , namely, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, France, Germany , and Great Britain, and to those that contemplated the establishment of such stations , Canada and Mexico . All but Great Britain and Canada accepted ; Mexico designated a representative , who later found it impossible to come. The Government of Great Britain in declining, expressed regret at its inability to accept ; an informal statement was made that the opening of the experimental gallery at Eskmeals , England , occupied the attention of the officials in charge . Delegates were appointed by their respective Governments as follows: Austria-Hungary, Julian Czaplinski , royal mining engineer. Belgium, Victor Watteyne , inspector general of mines . France, J. Taffanel, director of the Lievin experiment station . Germany, Carl Beyling, bergassessor, director of Dortmund experiment station. United States , Charles E. Munroe, consulting explosives expert and George S. Rice, chief mining engineer of the Bureau of Mines . Subsequently Mr. William O'Connor , a mining engineer and mine operator of Wales , who opportunely appeared at the Pittsburgh station with letters of introduction from the South Wales Institute of Engineers and from prominent mining officials of Great Britain , was unanimously invited to take part in the meeting as an unofficial representative of Great Britain . Messrs . Beyling, Taffanel , and Watteyne were met in New York on September 3, by George S. Rice, who accompanied them to Washington, where they were welcomed by Director J. A. Holmes , of the Bureau of Mines , and where , with the delegates to the Eighth International Congress of Applied Chemistry , they were presented to President Taft . Mr. Taffanel was unfortunately called back to France just before the scheduled time of the conference on account of a mine disaster ; the other delegates , including Mr. Czaplinski , convened at Pittsburgh on the morning of September 14. Mr. Rice, representing the Director of the Bureau of Mines , acted as temporary chairman , and called the meeting to order.

Jan 1, 1914

By J. W. Thompson

CONSTRUCTION OF STATUTE-SALE BY ENTRYMAN. The timber and stone act (20 Stat., 89) does not forbid an entryman from alienating his interest in his claim; but the act makes illegal any prior agreement by which the entryman acts for another in the purchase. Worden v. United States, 204Fed., 1, p. 4, April, 1913. ASSUMPTION OF DEBT BY GRANTEE-LIABILITY TO CREDITOR OF GRANTOR. A grantee of a mine who agrees to pay the grantor's debts in part payment of the purchase price of the mines becomes to that extent the principal debtor, and the grantor becomes the surety, and the grantor's creditor may in equity enforce his claim against the grantee of the mine, and the grantor in such a case is not a necessary party. Silver King Coalition Mines Co. v. Silver King Consolidated Mining Co., 204Fed., 166, p. 169, April, 1913. RIGHT OF COTENANT TO MINE AND SELL. A cotentant in exclusive possession' of mining property who extracts and sells ore is entitled to charge against the proceeds of the sale the reasonable and necessary expense of its extraction and marketing, as in such case the cotenant is not a trespasser.

Jan 1, 1914

By R. Y. Williams

The investigative work described in this report was undertaken by the Bureau of Mines under a cooperative agreement with the department of mining engineering of the University of Illinois and the Illinois State Geological Survey." The purpose of this agreement was to provide for a comprehensive investigation of coal-mining conditions in the State, with especial reference to the possibility of lessening waste in the mining and preparation of coal and of reducing the dangers to which miners are exposed. The Bureau of Mines paid particular attention to those phases of the investigation that were of general interest from their bearing on safety and efficiency in the coal-mining industry as a whole. Thus, it studied the occurrence of gas (methane) in the mines of the southern part of the State," tested the inflammability of the coal dust from many mines, examined the efficiency of the control of ventilating currents, and investigated the factors affecting the humidity of mine air with respect to their bearing on the occurrence of mine explosions. Following the establishment of the fact that under certain conditions dry bituminous coal dust is inflammable, there arose the problem of finding efficient methods of preventing or limiting coal-dust explosions. Experiments in the gas-and-dust gallery at the Pittsburgh testing station of the Bureau of Mines verified the fact that certain dusts that explode violently when dry are rendered inert by proper humidi- .fication of the atmosphere within the gallery, and the importance of humidity as a factor in limiting the inflammability of coal dust in a mine is demonstrated by the fact that there has never been in Illinois a dust explosion during the summer months, whereas the records show a number of dust explosions during cold weather. It is easy to see that the warm moisture-laden air that enters a mine in the summer must deposit moisture on cooling, whereas the cold and relatively dry air that enters in winter must take up moisture as it becomes heated in traveling through the mine.

Jan 1, 1914

Discussion of the paper of Robert Henry Lee, presented at the New York Meeting, October, 1913, and printed in Bulletin No. 82, October, 1913, pp. 2515 to 2522. J. E. JOHNSON, JR., New York, N. Y.:-This subject is of great and increasing importance, as the exhaustion of the deposits of ore of ideal character compels the iron industry to turn more and more to those which are less desirable on account of physical structure as well as analysis. Thus there has come about the use of the Mesabi ores in this country and also of the Minette ores in Europe, which produce far greater percentages of flue dust than did the lumpy ores first used. It is a matter of common knowledge that the utilization of this flue dust, containing commonly 50 per. cent. or more of metallic iron, has been a problem very difficult and tedious of solution. The number and variety of the solutions now offered is a sufficient proof of this. . I have no intention of going into the merits or demerits of any of these processes as such, but there are certain considerations concerning the effect of their product on the operation and fuel economy of the blast furnace which I believe to be new and which I desire to bring out. There are two methods, so different as almost to be direct opposites of each other, whereby an ore may exercise an unfavorable effect on the economy of the blast furnace. The first of these is well known and results from the ore being refractory and highly resistant to the action of the reducing gases of the blast furnace. This results in its being incompletely reduced when it reaches the zone of fusion and in the reduction being finished by the direct action of carbon in the lower portion of the furnace. This is so well understood as to need little elaboration or comment. There is, however, another action which may be equally as fatal to the economy of the furnace as the foregoing, and as this point is, to the best of my knowledge, not generally appreciated, it is one upon which I desire to lay particular stress. This consists in the ore being, in a sense, too reducible.

Jan 12, 1913

By F. Peter

I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. TECHNICAL progress takes place in two directions: the improvement of methods, affecting the quality of the product; and increase in the economy of operations, affecting its cost. In the iron-industry, practice is pretty well settled, and. revolutionary changes of method are, for the present, not to be expected. Hence, in this industry, the principal endeavor is to reduce costs by the use of labor-saving inventions, such as the machines brought into use during the last decade. But it is not alone necessary to reduce the labor-cost; complete economy requires also a saving in raw material. Under this head we may rank the coal employed as metallurgical fuel; and it follows that progress includes the economic use of fuel, so managed as not to injure quality of product. In the present paper it will be shown how, by suitable utilization of the heat from the furnace, a large portion of it may be made available for other purposes. Such utilization of waste-gases is important in all industries which employ furnaces (especially heating- and smelting-furnaces); and in the first rank of these stand the iron-, glass-, and porcelain-manufactures. The following pages are devoted chiefly to the waste-gases of smelting-works, and especially to those reverberatory-furnace gases which are not combustible.'

Jan 12, 1913

By W. E. Ruder

IT has been pointed out by Stead 1 that grains of considerable coarseness may be developed in steels containing from 3 to 5 per cent. of silicon, and in a previous paper 2 the present author has shown that under the proper conditions of annealing single grains having an area of 50 sq. cm. may be obtained. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss in more detail the conditions, promoting the growth of these grains, in the hope that the experiments described may throw some additional light upon the general problem of grain growth in metals. These silicon steels lend themselves particularly well to such experiments because of the ease with which the change in structure may be followed and because of the fact that the effect of the carbon present is largely obliterated by the high percentage of silicon. This forms a solid solution with the iron, which acts very much like a pure metal. This alloy has been found to have but one critical point, viz., Are. This point, determined by Roberts-Austen for Hadfield's 4 per cent. Si alloy, was found to lie at 703° C. Vigouroux3, in working with pure Fe-Si alloys, finds this point to rise from 750° C. for 0.5 per cent. Si to 860° for 6 per cent alloy, with a flat region in the curve from 3 to 4 per cent. Si. No accurate determination of this point has been undertaken by the present author, but it has been roughly determined to lie between 730° and 750°.

Jan 12, 1913

Discussion of the paper of W. A. Forbes, presented at the New York Meeting, October, 1913, and printed in Bulletin No. 82, October, 1913, pp. 2477 to 2514.. SAMUEL K. VARNES,* Steelton, Pa.:-We have a gas-cleaning plant consisting of a, centrifugal dry dust catcher, and two rain-type wet scrubbing towers, 25 by 60 ft. each, for rough cleaning of blast-furnace gas. This plant was put in early in 1910, with the intention of cleaning gas for use in hot blast stoves and under boilers, and was so used for several months. Soon after it went into service, the blast-furnace men complained that they could not get as high blast temperatures as they had obtained when using dirty gas. It was decided to run a series of careful tests to determine if this were true and to what degree the apparent results might be affected by other conditions. About 60 tests were run, covering a period of five months, and at the end we came to the conclusion that it did not pay us to scrub the gas for stoves and boilers. The tests were all run upon a single stove, no boiler tests being made, but the conclusions of the stove tests being applied to the boilers. The furnace burden was practically the same for all the tests and averaged: Per Cent. Daquari and other hard ores 57 Nodules 13 Raw Mayari ore 25 Mill cinder and scale 5

Jan 12, 1913

Discussion of the paper of Earl S. Bardwell, presented at the Butte meeting, August, 1913, and printed in Bulletin No. 79, July, 1913, pp. .1429 to 1441. H. O. HOFMAN, Boston, Mass. (communication to the Secretary*) :-It is pleasing to the originators of the planimetric determination of oxygen in refined copper to see that the method has been taken up by a large smelting plant to be used in every-day work after it has been simplified to suit the new conditions. Several years ago Huntington and Desch 1 had improved our mode of working. They projected the developed negative on to a screen, traced the outlines of the picture with a pencil, drew a border, and measured one constituent with. the planimeter. In order to give the work greater precision, they divided the area into squares of 1 cm. side, shaded the

Jan 11, 1913

By R. E. Wade

THE Butte, Anaconda & Pacific electrification is of peculiar interest, in an incidental way, to the entire mining fraternity, and especially the engineering branch, not only in this great Northwest country but throughout the entire Western mining country, which is rich in minerals and water power. It is probably fair to say that the prime object of mining and smelting engineering is to reduce the cost of production, and in the case in hand the relative location of mines and smelter brings the cost of transportation of ore to the front. While some might assign this item to the railway people, it is inseparably a part and parcel of the general scheme of the production of metal from the ore. In considering the electrification of the B., A. &. P. railway the mining and smelting engineer, above all, wants to know what saving will be effected by the change in motive power. Unfortunately the new power has been in use during a very limited period and on the Smelter Hill section of the road only, and no reliable data, from actual service conditions, can be obtained until the entire electrified section has been in service for a reasonable length of time. Any remarks on this subject at the present time, therefore, must of necessity be general in nature and more or less descriptive. The railway, electrical and mining worlds and the country in general are indebted to the B., A. & P. railway for the pioneer work it is now doing, as it undoubtedly marks the beginning of the electrification, within the comparatively near future, of all transcontinental roads between the Missouri river and the Pacific coast. Together with this goes the development of an untold wealth in water power and all natural resources within the same territory. For the first time in the history of electric railway work, in this country, direct current at a potential of 2,400 volts is being used. With this potential there is a great saving in transmission of energy to the locomotives and there are only two substations, one at. either end and 26 miles apart, for supplying the power for the movement of trains of heavy tonnage over the main line and for switching movements at terminal and intermediate yards, and comparatively little feeder copper is required.

Jan 11, 1913

Discussion of the paper of S. E. Bretherton, presented at the Butte meeting, August, 1913, and printed in Bulletin No. 80, August, 1913, pp. 1481 to 1487. S. E., BRETHERTON, San Francisco, Cal.:-Since preparing my paper, our chemist, F. L. Wilson, has been experimenting with Leadville, Colo., oxidized zinc ore and Leadville zinc sulphides containing lead, operating upon 40-1b. lots at a time. His results on Leadville sulphides are as follows: The raw ore contained a trace of gold, 5.04 oz. of silver, 19.1 per cent of zinc, and 7.24 per cent of lead. After roasting the ore contained a trace of gold, 5.72 oz. of silver, 0.75 per cent of copper, 21.7 per cent of zinc, and 8.29 per cent of lead. The loss in weight by leaching was 38.8 per cent. The extraction was 42.8 per cent of the copper, 80.6 per cent of the zinc, 7.1 per cent of the lead, 0.64 per cent of the silver, and no gold. The little .silver that is extracted would be thrown down with the copper when precipitating it from the zinc and both thrown hack into the residue to be smelted. There would be no trouble in smelting the residue with nearly all the sulphur eliminated and containing less than 7 per cent. of zinc. On zinc carbonates containing silicates the results are not satisfactory. H. O. HOFMAN, Boston, Mass. (communication to the Secretary*) :¬The paper by Mr. Bretherton upon the application of ammonia and carbonic acid to the recovery of zinc as oxide from roasted sulphide ore is of interest to me, as the first installation of the Schnabel process for the extraction of zinc from a mixture of zinc oxide, lead oxide (with some cupric oxide), and pellets of enriched lead, produced in steaming liquated zinc-silver-lead crust of the Parkes process, was made at Lautenthal, Harz mountains, where I was chemist. In that capacity I carried out numerous experiments on the Schnabel process, was active in the erecting of the plant, and later had charge of it. After the Lautenthal plant had been in operation for some time a similar one was built at Hoboken-les-Anvers, but both have been abandoned, as the wet process could not compete with the distillation of the liquated zinc-silver-lead crust, now used universally in the Parkes process.

Jan 11, 1913

Discussion of the paper of Frederick Laist, presented at the Butte meeting, August, 1913, and printed in Bulletin No. 79, July, 1913, pp. 1147 to 1162. J. C. DICK, Salt Lake City, Utah :-I would like to ask Mr. Laist why a 10 per cent. salt solution was used. MR. LAIST :-The reason for using salt in the solution is to get .the sulphur. The solution of dilute sulphuric acid has no solvent action on the sulphur even after roasting, and the addition of the salt is made primarily to dissolve the sulphur chlorides. MR. DICK:-I would like to ask also if you made any experiments as to grinding fine your calcines, rather than leaving the coarse material. MR. LAIST :-We have not made any experiments along those lines except in the laboratory, but the objections which we have to grinding are that the difficulties of roasting are very much greater when roasting finely ground material than when roasting coarse material, and the difficulties of leaching are somewhat increased; the percolating system is simpler and easier to manipulate, particularly when acid solutions are used, so that we prefer from our experience not to grind. STUART CROASDALE,* Denver, Colo. (communication to -the Secretary +) :-In order to meet the conditions involved in his ore-treatment problem, Mr. Laist has developed a very interesting and apparently successful metallurgical hybrid which he calls the oxychloridizing roast. The lower floors of the MacDougall furnaces are made to accomplish what used to be done on the " cooling floor" in the old days of salt roasting and " hypo " or brine leaching of silver ores.

Jan 11, 1913

NEW MEMBERS. The following list comprises the names of those persons who became members during the month of September, 1913: Members. ANDERSON, ANDREW P., Min. Engr 908 Story Bldg., Los Angeles, Cal. ANDROS, STEPHEN 0., Min. Engr University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. BECKETT, PERCY G., Min. Engr Globe, Ariz. BLAIR, THOMAS S., JR., Prest. Blair Engrg. Co 343 S. Dearborn St., Chicago, Ill. BOYLE, HARRY, Min. Engr S07 Lowman Bldg., Seattle, Wash. BRADEN, EUGENE B., Vice-Prest., Selby Smelting & Lead Co., Merchants Exchange Bldg., San Francisco, Cal. CHALMERS, JOHN W., Min. and Elec. Engr., Morro Velho, Villa Nova de Lima, Honorio Becalho Minas Geraes, Brazil, So. America.

Jan 10, 1913

New York Meeting, October 16 and 17, 1913.-The One Hundred and Sixth meeting of the Institute for the reading and discussion of professional papers will be held in New York City, on Thursday and Friday, October 16 and 17, 1913. Headquarters will be at the Institute office in the Engineering Societies Building, 29 West 39th Street. The sessions will be held in one of the assembly rooms of the building. Because of the many valuable papers on iron and steel obtained with the assistance of the Iron and Steel Committee, which papers could not appropriately be presented and discussed at the Montana meeting, this October meeting of the Institute is held for the purpose of reading and discussing these papers, most of which will be printed and distributed in advance. The members of the following societies have been invited to attend the meeting, and several have accepted and declared their intention of taking part in the proceedings: American Society for Testing Materials, American Iron and Steel Institute, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, American Foundrymen's Association. The meeting will be conducted under the auspices of the Iron and Steel Committee, and the latest revised program of the proceedings will be found on page xi, under the notes of this Committee.

Jan 10, 1913

By G. Howell Clevenger

FORMERLY great divergence of opinion existed in regard to the influence of copper in steel, as affecting its various physical properties. More recently the investigations of Stead,1 Breuil,2 Wigham,3 Burgess and Aston,4 Ball and Wingham,5 Miiller,6 Dillner,7 and others have shown fairly good agreement in the major points. Copper steel has been shown by these investigators to possess special properties which make it valuable for certain uses. The general range of composition of the useful alloys of copper and iron, and of copper, iron, and carbon, has been quite definitely established, for the former by Burgess and Aston,8 and for the latter by Breuil 9 and Stead.10 Stead 11 has removed one difficulty in reconciling certain of the earlier data by calling particular attention to the influence of carbon in copper steels. Another point which caused confusion in the earlier investigations, particularly in regard to " red-shortness," was the presence of sulphur. Failure to note the presence of sulphur often led to attributing " red-shortness " to the presence of small amounts of copper. Turner 12 has called attention to the fact that where copper exists in an iron ore it often occurs as the sulphide, so that the presence of copper in steel made from such ores might also, necessarily, mean the presence of sulphur. It is evident that the effect in this case might be quite different than where pure copper was added.

Jan 10, 1913

By Charles Jones

IN the winter of 1902, while occupying the position of mining and examining engineer for the Mountain Copper Co., Ltd., of Keswick, Cal., I had occasion to discuss with the General Manager, among other things, the question of the enormous waste of sulphur in smelting cupriferous, pyrite ore, and to cast about for means to utilize this waste or to render the fumes innocuous to vegetation. The decreasing rate of production of California farms, the consequent need of fertilizers, and the opportunity thus offered to utilize large quantities of sulphuric acid in the manufacture of superphosphates naturally brought the subject to the practical and commercial side of phosphates. I was informed that the company had made efforts to find phosphates in the West, without success. I advised as a start placing inquiries for phosphate deposits on the Pacific coast in the current mining ,journals. This was done, with the result that in January, 1903, from an advertisement in the Mining and Scientific Press we got track of a deposit in Rich county, Utah, through T.J . Wilson, of the Southern Pacific railroad in San Francisco. As soon as snow in the mountains would permit, in May, 1903, I undertook an examination of the property, with the result of recognizing the importance of the find, in spite of its lack of facilities for transportation at a commercial figure. On June 15, 1903, I concluded my report by saying, "This may be one of the world's deposits of phosphates." On Nov. 17, 1903, I concluded my report for the season in the following words : " I have now no hesitation in saying that I believe the Carboniferous formation so largely developed in the Wasatch mountains of Utah and the mountains of the Great Basin will prove to be one of the greatest storehouses of phosphoric acid in the world."

Jan 10, 1913

By Paul Billingsley

Introduction. THE Georgetown mining district is located in Deerlodge county, Mont., about 20 miles west of Anaconda. It lies along the divide between the headwaters of Warm Springs creek, draining eastward, and Flint creek, flowing west and north through the Philipsburg valley. The actual divide is formed by Cable mountain, a narrow ridge running north and south, terminating to the south in low hills overlooking Georgetown lake, and to the north in a high, rugged plateau that falls off to the west to the wide valley of Flint creek. Oil the eastern, or Warm Springs, slope of Cable mountain is the Cable mine, with the Hidden Lake mine a few miles north. On the western slope is the Southern Cross group, with smaller mines, the Twilight, Cincinnati, Red Lion, and Big Bill, at intervals to the northward. The Georgetown mines lie in the hills south of Cable mountain; the Philipsburg mines, of which the Granite Mountain, Bimetallic, Hope, and Trout are the chief, form a separate group to the north, overlooking Flint Creek valley and Philipsburg. (See Fig. 1.1) The region ranges in elevation from 5,000 to 9,000 ft. It is, with the exception of the lower valleys, well timbered with small fir and pine, although Cable mountain and the higher summits to the northward rise slightly above timber line. The main valleys have the smooth contours of glaciation, and their mouths are frequently choked with morainal deposits.

Jan 9, 1913

By Bruno Nordberg

THE high cost of coal in Butte and the development of large amounts of cheap electric power from the Missouri river caused the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. in 1908 to make an investigation as to the possibility of adapting this cheap electric power for the operation of their many large hoisting plants. At this time electric power had already been adopted for practically all other power purposes around the mines, such as pumping, compressing air, etc. The map (Fig. 1) shows the location of the mines of the Butte mining district. These mines are located within a circle of approximately a 1-mile

Jan 9, 1913

By W. L. Saunders

IMPORTANCE OF ROCK DRILLING. IT has been estimated that the value of the mineral products of the United States is about $2,000,000,000 a year; that about $25,000,000 is expended. annually for explosives and that about double this sum is paid in wages where blasting is done. The value of the mineral products does not adequately express the importance of the industry involved in the excavation of rock and ore because of the enormous sums of money expended in tunnel driving, in quarries, and in open-cut excavation generally. We know that the Catskill Aqueduct in the neighborhood of New York, which is now nearing completion, has cost some $165,000,000 and that about one-third of this may be rated as rock excavation. These illustrations are given in order to call attention to the great importance of an industry the extension and development of which in our industrial life depend so much upon the economics of rock drilling. Reference has been made to the new Catskill Aqueduct. There are three aqueducts leading into New York, each built at periods separated by some 20 years of time. 'The first one, known as the Old Aqueduct, conveys the waters of the Croton river to New York City in a manner which reminds one of the old Roman aqueducts, the ruins of which are still in evidence. The engineers who laid out these old conduits sought to direct their lines around the hills and into the valleys, at all times avoiding the rock. When it was necessary to cross a river or a deep ravine, a bridge or causeway was constructed. High Bridge, over the Harlem river, is an arched masonry viaduct differing in no essential features from the aqueducts of the Romans. When the second Croton Aqueduct was built, about the year 1890, the art of drilling rock had been so far perfected, and the use of explosives, through the invention of dynamite, had become ,so general, that this waterway was planned and executed on straight lines, following rather than avoiding the rock. The second Croton Aqueduct is a tunnel through rock, about 32 miles in length; material gneiss, almost as hard as granite. Its construction was made practicable by sinking

Jan 9, 1913