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Rep. William S. Hill (R.- Colo.) will preside over a Congressional hearing investigating the problems of the mining industry to be conducted in Phoenix, Ariz., late in April. Rep. Hill has expressed the desire to hear from the industry itself all possible testimony on the needs of domestic mining and how Congress can help. Rep. John J. Rhodes of Arizona is also expected to attend the hearing. Two new features are incorporated into an SO2 process for treatment of low grade manganese ores disclosed by Chemical Construction Corp. The new approach includes a high temperature autoclaving step and a sintering operation. Data was given for work performed on Cuyuna Range ores.

Jan 4, 1953

SEC. 1. This Institute is incorporated under the Membership Corporations law of the State of New York; its corporate name is American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, Inc.; and its abbreviated title A. I. M. E. SEC. 2. The objects of this Institute, as set forth in its certificate of incorporation, are: "To promote the arts and sciences connected with the economic production of the useful minerals and metals, and the welfare of those employed in these industries by all lawful means; to hold meetings for social intercourse and the reading and discussion of professional papers, and to circulate by means of publications among its members the information the obtained, and to establish and maintain a place for meeting of its members, and a hall for the reading of papers and delivery of address, and a library of books relating to subjects cognate to the sciences and arts of mining and metallurgy."

Jan 1, 1943

On. Tuesday, Apr. 8, the Rocky Mountain Club held its 12th annual dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria, New York. In reporting the dinner the Evening Telegram says: "General Coleman du Pont was sort of master of ceremonies, and he conducted the affair at the end of a Colt .45. It was the General's `forty-five' which filled the banquet hall of the Waldorf-Astoria with the brand of smoke which Uncle Sam showered so generously upon Germany's hordes. It was General du Pont's `forty-five' which bellowed and thundered and echoed through Fifth avenue, scaring horses and shell shocking pedestrians: But no one was hurt or badly shocked except those who could not discern the artistry of Miss Doraldino's dance. "There were Western men around the table who have just come hack from over there. For instance, there were Brigadier General G. H. McManus, General Shanks and a score of others. And there were Thomas H. Watkins, who is said to own half the State of Pennsylvania and is known as the `Coal Baron'-of Pennsylvania,, and Alba B. Johnson, president of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, each one a Westerner, with personality and type suggestive of some of the wonderful men Bret Harte wrote so much about. "It seemed as though General du Pont, who was chairman of the Reception Committee, tried to eclipse all former meetings, and he succeeded if congratulations are a criterion. " General du Pont startled the management of the Waldorf and surprised the diners by staging a three-round bout between Frankie Fay and Phil Wagner. The clash between these two featherweights made Waldorf history, because it was the first boxing contest ever held in the hotel. Tex Rickard, who is going to chaperone Jess Willard and Jack Dempsey in a fight in the near future,-was scheduled to referee the contest, but at the last moment, for some obvious reason, M. E. Schermerhorn was sent in as third man. The bout was a slashing one. Miss Amparito Farrar, lately returned from France, where-she sang for the 'dough-boys;' Eleanore Wetmore, the Rath Brothers and Phil Baker were among the others who entertained.

Jan 5, 1919

SAN FRANCISCO SECTION W. H. SHOCKLEY, Chairman, PRANK H. PROBERT, Vice-Chairman, T. A. RICHARD, Sec.-Treas., 420 Market St., San Francisco, Cal. C. C. BRAYTON, J. F. NEWSOM. The San Francisco Section met on September 11 to discuss the problem of Labor in its Relation to the Mining Engineer. Mr. W. H. Shockley was in the chair. T. A. Rickard opened the discussion under four heads: The recognition of the union, the rustling-card, the sliding scale of wages, and the' contract system. He expressed his belief that collective bargaining cannot be ignored, and insisted that the mining company represented a collective bargaining of its shareholders with the men. employed in its mine. He held that the contract system was often used unfairly, but that used fairly it was the best check on labor tyranny. The rustling-card he held to be right in principle, in so far as it gave the employer the choice of employees, but he believed that it was often used in an irritating way to black-list refractory laborers. The sliding scale of wages was easy to establish in prosperous times, but it would inevitably lead to trouble when conditions went against the miner. His conclusion was that the quarrels of labor and capital were due mainly to a lack of the sense of fair play and of social justice. Albert Burch agreed with most of the foregoing, and insisted that 90 per cent. of the men were inclined to be just, but that the 10 per cent: made all the trouble. He stated that he had introduced the rustling-card in the Coeur d'Alene in 1899, as a means for getting rid of agitators. E. L. Foucar considered that labor was irresponsible. He described his experience in Peru, where the authorities promptly stopped a strike of Italian miners by threatening prompt punishment for any display of violence. Morton Webber also gave a bit of his own experience, to show that the chief trouble is that the men do not think for themselves, and are therefore easily led by fomenters of trouble. F. H. Probert described his experiences in Germany and. also in Arizona, and insisted that too often the men were not given a fair hearing. E. T. Blake argued that a manager must get the workmen's point of view, in order to control them effectively. He believed that young men who started life doing manual labor were in a better position to understand their fellow workers. George J. Young suggested that the mine owners should encourage the good men to lead the unions, and not leave the direction of the unions to the noisy element.

Jan 12, 1917

By Sabert Oglesby, Albert L. Thomas

Until recently, probably the best means of sampling airborne dusts has been the impinger method. Dust-laden air is drawn into a sampling tube, and the particulate matters separated from the air and collected in the liquid in the impinger. A sample of the suspension is prepared on a slide and counted through a projection microscope. This method is simple and reliable, but it does suffer drawbacks. Since the collected particles must be counted visually, results of the dust count are taken. This seriously impedes studying the effectiveness of dust inhibitors, such as water sprays, or making adjustments in equipment. Greatest disadvantage of all, however, is the tedious task of counting particles in the sample. With the growing desirability of taking more samples, the effort involved in making these counts is a real factor in the cost of dust control. Finally, it is generally recognized that impinger dust counts can be related to health hazard only for specific kinds of dust and under similar conditions. This is because the rather complex mechanism of dust damage depends so much on size distribution of the dust. Counts determined by impinger samples cover a limited size range that does not necessarily correlate with retention by the lungs and upper respiratory tract.

Jan 3, 1959

By W. B. Morrison

Anderson, King, and Spreadborough present detailed evidence to show what ~aldwin~' has already pointed out, that, over a relatively small grain-size range (Ad"1/2 ^ 10 mm-'I2, d is average grain diameter), yield point data can fit a number of relationships. Part of the difficulty in obtaining data which reflect only the effect of change in grain size on yielding arises from the fact that in varying the grain size, even though great care is taken, other structural changes are almost certain to occur. In iron alloys, these changes may consist of variations in subgrain size, grain boundary ledge density, and degree of carbon and nitrogen segregation at grain boundaries, all of which are difficult to detect and which may affect yielding, primarily through their effect on dislocation generation. Because of the inherent inaccuracy associated with yield point measurements there is little point in using relatively complex equations to fit data, as was done by Anderson et mnl., rather than the simpler, widely used Hall-Petch equation. In compiling their table of data, it is surprising that they did not include results from certain low-carbon steels,31 in which, as illustrated in Fig. 2, the grain-size range is very much larger than in their Armco Iron. The very fine grains in these steels were obtained by a thermomechanical process. Examination by electron microscopy showed that the grains were separated by high-angle boundarie and contained only an occasional subboundary. The data from these steels obeyed the Hall-Petch equation, and it was shown quite conclusively that they did not fit a d-l or (1-lJ3 relationship. Obviously, a much wider range in grain size than used by Anderson et al. is desirable if we are to determine the true relation between lower yield stress and grain size.

Jan 1, 1969

By James A. Barr

Ferrophosphorus, an alloy of phosphorus and iron or perhaps a physical mixture of definite compounds of iron and phosphorus, has become of increasing importance as the use of the basic open hearth has extended. Commercial ferrophosphorus is a porous, brittle metal of crystalline structure and often with a bluish metallic luster. A typical analysis is as follows: Per Cent. Phosphorus......................................... 18.0 to 22.0 Iron............................................... 80.0 76.0 Oxygen............................................ 0.2 Sulfur............................................. 0.3 Silicon............................................. 0.1 Carbon............................................ 0.1 Manganese......................................... 0.2 This alloy was first made in an electric furnace, as it was thought that the high heat of the electric arc together with the reductive effect of carbon was necessary. About 1898, J. J. Gray, Jr., was producing a high-phosphorus pig iron in his furnace at Rockdale, Tenn., by using high-phosphorus, local iron ores. As these high-phosphorus ores were difficult to obtain, he conceived the idea of increasing the phosphorus content of the pig iron by the addition of phosphate rock to the furnace burden. When the phosphorus content of the pig was kept low and only small amounts of phosphate rock were added to the burden, no particular troubles were encountered, but when he increased the amount of phosphate rock to produce an 18 per cent. alloy, his furnace troubles rapidly multiplied. After many failures and freeze-ups, he was partly successful in making short campaigns on 18 to 20 per cent. "ferro." At first, when the furnace got in bad shape on ferro, he would switch to a regular pig-iron burden until the furnace was brought around sufficiently to start on ferro again. About this time, Mr. Gray applied for and obtained his first patent. As he grew more skilled in the furnace operations, he was enabled to extend the furnace campaigns and produce ferrophosphorus continuously for the life of the furnace lining. These improvements were made the subject of another patent issued in 1916.

Jan 1, 1925

By C. S. Herzig

Some time ago, in Mexico, our signal-bells in a 700-foot shaft caused us considerable annoyance by continually getting out of order, each time so delaying our hoisting operations that we naturally desired to remedy this evil. There were two mays open: either to patch up the old bell, which was of the ordinary pattern, every time it failed to work, or else to devise some new arrangement.. On consultation with our foreman we designed a signal-device which, during the number of months I watched its operation, worked satisfactorily, without once getting out of order. We sought to produce a simple device, in which no greater pull on the lever would be necessary from one level than from another; to counterbalance independently the weight of the pendant bell-rope, so that there would be no direct weight on the working-parts of the bell itself, and likewise to arrange it so as to necessitate only a light pull on the lever in signaling; and, finally, to make some sort of trip-arrangement, so that whenever the signaling-lever underground passed through a certain arc the signal would be given in the engine-room. By this means we wished to obviate the ill effects of sudden heavy pulls and rough usage in general, such as all signaling

Jan 1, 1901

ERNST PROCHASKA, Bonne Terre, Mo. (written discussion*).-The special importance of this paper is the fact that it calls special attention to the existence of organic sulfur in coal. Many writers have denied the existence of a chemical compound of carbon with sulfur in coal, .but later investigations, and especially the paper by Fraser and Yancey, prove undeniably its existence. As we become more fully convinced of its existence and as the present methods of washing, either in a jig or on tables, are unable to separate the organic sulfur, it remains for an inven-tive genius to perfect a chemical washing process whereby the sulfur will be, dissolved out of the coal, or we must abandon entirely the washing of such coal.

Jan 11, 1919

The Institute maintains a dual relationship with students: (1) an individual relationship with a Student Associate; and (2) a relationship with local organizations of students, known as Affiliated Student Societies or Student Chapters. 1. The conditions of Student Associateship are set forth in Section 9, Article I, of the Bylaws of the Institute (see page 62 and following pages). During 1934, sundry amendments were made for the purpose of improving the student relationship. Postgraduate students are now eligible; and associateship can be maintained, with the payment of the regular dues of $2 per year, for 18 months following graduation in June. With his regular dues, each Student Associate is entitled to receive during the year his choice of MINING AND METALLURGY, METALS TECHNOLOGY, MINING TECHNOLOGY, PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY, or two "classes" of Technical

Jan 1, 1942

By Jean Howard

ALTHOUGH zone melting has found favor in recent years because of its convenience and its faster rate of production of single crystals, the older technique of strain annealing still has a number of advantages. It has been reported1 that the lattice of a crystal prepared in this manner has fewer defects than one grown from the melt and, of course, the control of the external geometry is easier. Also, the diameter of the crystal which can be grown by zone melting has a theoretical limit determined by the surface tension, thermal conductivity, and specific gravity of the material, while the size of that which can be grown in the solid state is limited only by practical considerations. In a program for the study of the structure-sensitive properties of niobium and its alloys it was desirable, for ease of handling, to have available single crystals of large diameter. This requirement dictated the choice of the strain-anneal technique. Induction heating was chosen in the present work in preference to other methods because of its deep penetration of large-diameter sections. A five-turn coil, powered by a motor generator operating at 10,000 cps, is contained in a vacuum chamber. The work is lowered through the coil for both the recrystallization and the crystal-growth steps. Starting with electron-beam melted material, the bars are cold-swaged, recrystallized, strained in a tensile machine, and then subjected to the growth step. Single crystals have been grown under the following conditions: Reduction in area during swaging— 79 to 99 pct, recrystallization temperature—1500o to 1667°C at the rate of 1.25 in. per hr, strain—1.0 to 2.5 pct, growth temperature—1600o to 2400°C at rates from 0.15 to 1.25 in. per hr. Starting grain sizes achieved after the recrystallization step varied from 0.6 to 1.55 mm. The starting grain size was found to be critical; if it is too fine and has any residual cold work, as shown by the presence of a fiberlike texture, a single crystal cannot be grown. Using this technique niobium single crystals have been grown from 0.250 in. diameter and 12 in. long to 1.00 in. diameter and 5 in. long as shown in Fig. 1. The 1-in. crystal is the largest to be reported for a refractory metal as compared to 0.500 in. for molybdenum grown by zone melting.2 As with zone melting, control of orientation is possible by the use of special procedures. Other investigators, see for example Williamson and Smallman,3 have reported that orientation control may be achieved by a bending technique. In the present work the strained rod is partially lowered through the coil to start the growth of the crystal. Then it is removed and bent at a point ahead of the interface between the single and polycrystalline portions. Finally, it is returned to the chamber and growth is continued "around the corner". The amount of bending which can be imparted to the rod is limited by coil geometry which up to now has been 10 deg. However, by repeating the bending and growing operations it should be possible to attain any desired orientation. The perfection of these single-crystal specimens as a function of process variables is being measured by X-ray and metallographic techniques and the results will be reported in a forthcoming paper. This work was partially supported by the Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Jan 1, 1964

The Library Board of the United Engineering Society is desirous of bringing closer to you the facilities and usefulness of your splendid Library. To that end, they have inaugurated a Service Bureau whose duty it shall be to maintain such a staff of expert searchers and translators as to insure prompt and thoroughly efficient service to those of our members whose absence from New York makes it inconvenient for them to pesronally consult the books and periodicals on our shelves. The Service Bureau is also arranging to keep such members as may desire it, posted on the current publications of any engineering subject in which they may be specially interested. The Charter of the United Engineering Society does not permit the Library to carry on any work of a commercial character and, therefore, the prices charged members for this service have to be kept down to a merely self-supporting basis. All the work done by the Library Service Bureau is strictly confidential.

Jan 9, 1915

By W. T. Thom

All engineering education is faced by certain basic problems, three of which seem to have particular present importance in geological engineering training in general, and in respect to training for oil field geo-exploratory work in particular. Problem i The first of these problems has to do with present and future educational objectives and with the numbers and qualities of the men who should be coming out of our geo-exploratory training programs. Before the war we needed ever-increasing numbers of graduates at the Bachelor's level and a very much smaller number of men who had reached the Doctorate degree. Now, with more difficult, more extensive, and more costly exploratory work; with a rapid expansion of company "staff" activities, and with the initiation of many new research organizations and laboratories; it is clear that men of exceptional ability will be more and more in demand, and that the schools will need to carry a greater proportion of their students through to the Ph.D, degree. Problem 2 Assuming that the mineral industries will need an increasing supply of well-qualified Ph.D.s for future geoexploratory work (staff, line and research), can the schools expect to provide this supply of able Ph.D.s merely by expanding the proportion of B.S. and B.A. majors who go on through to the doctorate stage of training? And the answer is definitely "No"—as the situation stands at present. Most A.B. graduates are years short of the preparations in basic science and elementary engineering prerequisite to effective graduate study in the geoexploratory fields (paleontology ex-cepted), and similarly many of the annual crop of B.S. graduates lack adequate training in English; in ancient and modern history; and in the modern principles of labor and public relations. Indeed, several basic problems of undergraduate curricular organization and integration remain to be solved before most recipients of a Bachelor's degree will have that sound and broad educational foundation prerequisite to graduate training on a really effective basis. It is for these reasons that we have continued to experiment with our geological engineering program at Princeton, in an endeavor to provide a pilot-plant demonstration of a suitably broad and flexible undergraduate curriculum. Problem 3 But assuming that the schools can and do get undergraduate curricula set up in proper phase and scale to meet needed enrollment quotas for graduate training, what about the most urgent part of our whole mineral-industry educational problem? What about finding and bringing into mineral-industry training those youngsters of superior ability who are, by potential or known inclination, especially well-qualified for geoexploratory work?

Jan 1, 1949

By R. E. Sheppard, A. O. Martel

Zinc sinter plant fume is roasted to selectively sulfate the cadmium. Water leaching of the roasted fume recovers about 80% of the contained cadmium and produces solutions containing about 40 grams per liter cadmium and 10 grams per liter zinc. The solution is treated with sodium bichromate for lead removal. Cadmium sponge, precipitated with zinc dust, is briquetted, melted, and cast into commercial shapes. The residue from the water leach is acid leached with waste acid, solubilizing the zinc and residual cadmium. Impure cadmium sponge, precipitated with zinc dust, is separated from solution with cyclones and dewatered in a centrifuge. Air-oxidation- acid leaching of the impure sponge resolubilizes the cadmium. The resulting solution is neutralized, clarified, and treated for cadmium recovery with the water leach solution. The residue from the leached fume is water-washed and recovered in a centrifuge-thickener circuit. This residue contains lead sulfate and significant quantities of gold and silver. Manpower requirements are held to a minimum by automating operations within the Leach Plant.

Jan 1, 1973

By Thomas O. Breitling

The Mill Design Session at the Annual Meeting in New York next February will have a total of four papers. All of these papers will be concerned with the subject of in-plant dust in the hard-rock mining industry. The emphasis on efficient dust collection is timely, because dust is a problem not yet adequately covered in AIME papers. In general, dust collection should be the step following dust suppression. Dust collection and its return to the ore recovery circuit, or its waste to tailing are sources of added operating cost. If possible, dust should be kept in the main stream of ore flow by suppression.

Jan 1, 1970

The Institute conducts jointly with the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers and American Institute of Electrical Engineers, certain activities as listed below, and is joint owner with them of certain properties. United Engineering Trustees, Inc.* When Mr. Carnegie made his gift which made possible a home for the engineering societies, a separate corporation was organized to act as a holding company and to manage the common property. This was long known as the United Engineering Society but the name has now been changed to one which more nearly reflects the real function of the corporation. It holds title to the Engineering societies Building and to various funds placed in its charge and is managed by a Board of Trustees of which three are chosen by each of the four societies, American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers and American Society of Civil Engineers, which own equal and undivided interests in the property. The land and building cost two million dollars. The interest of each of the Founders societies, aside from especial trust funds, is now valued at $493,352. The A. I. M. E. trustees are Arthur S. Dwight, J. V. N. Dorr and H. A. Guess. George D. Barron will succeed Mr. Guess as trustee at the end of this year. The President of the Board is Francis Lee Stuart and the Secretary, Alfred D. Flinn. The Engineering Foundation The Engnieering Foundation was established in 1814 as a result of a gift of $200,000 made by Ambrose Swasey. It is intended not only "for the Furtherance of research" along broad lines but also "for the advancement of" a wide variety of other activities of benefit to engineering as need arises. The endowment fund, which now amounts to $630,000, is administered by the United Engineering Trustees, Inc. Through The Engineering Foundation board, on which the Institute is now represented by J. V. N. Dorr, John M. Callow and Galen H. Clevenger, the income of the endowment, approximately $28,000 a year, and funds contributed for special projects are appropriated for the purposes intended. H. C. Bellinger will succeed Mr. Callow on the board at the end of this year. Alfred D. Flinn is Secretary- and Director. Researches of wide interest in many lines have been aided by Engineering Foundation. . A grant from it to the Mining Methods Committee assisted in the preparation of Volume 72 of the Transactions. For several years the Foundation has aided in support of the study of Blast-furnacc Slags by R. 8. McCaffery at the University of Wisconsin, sponsored by the Institute. The Foundation has raised over $230,000 to support the Alloys of Iron Research endorsed by the Institute and George B. Water-house is serving as Chairman and Director of the Iron Alloys Committee which has been brought together to direct this work. The Foundation has also on recommendation of the Institute made a grant in aid of the studies of Mining and Strata being conducted at Columbia University by P. B. Bucky, which promise information of great usefulness relative to mine subsidence and support of ground. John Fritz Medal Board of Award The medal was established in 1902 and lias since, been awarded not oftener than annually by a hoard of sixteen members, four representatives each from the American Societies of Civil, Mining and Metallurgical, Mechanical, and Electrical Engineers.

Jan 1, 1930

By L. W. Pommier, L. R. Plitt, F. B. Brien

L. R. Plitt (Assistant Professor of Mining and Metallurgy, University of Alberta, Canada.) — It is indeed encouraging to see rheological studies being carried out in a mineral engineering school. The bulk of the work being done today in applied rheology seems to be concerned with the behavior of polymeric solutions and thus has limited application to the solid-liquid systems encountered in mineral beneficiation. The authors have approached the problem by carrying out a dimensional analysis which showed that for power law fluids the drag coefficient, Ds, must be some function of a generalized Reynolds number which has the form: If the power law adequately describes the behavior of a fluid, the dimensional analyses predicts that the Ds - RN function should hold for all values of n' or any other dependent variable. The experimental evi-

Jan 1, 1968

By John M. Lovejoy

I take pleasure in transmitting herewith "Petroleum Development and Technology in 1927," in which we have attempted to set out in a series of 40 papers with attendant discussions the advances made in Production Engineering and Refinery Engineering during the year. The volume also contains a digest of round table discussions on Petroleum Engineering Research problems and Petroleum Engineering Education. In addition to the above we set out in 16 papers a review of production of each producing area of the United States and of the more important foreign countries, together with a review of the world's production and forecasts for 1928. We also include 8 papers on the Economics of the oil industry. The papers and discussions included herein represent the contributions of more than 200 engineers, including the foremost in each line. These papers were presented at technical sessions held in Fort Worth in October, 1927, and at the annual meeting in New York in February, 1928. We desire to express our thanks and appreciation to all those who have contributed to this volume. As in previous years, we have attempted to emphasize the value of both written and impromptu discussions. -We have made a practice of returning all impromptu discussions to the authors for correction and amplification, and because of this practice we feel that the discussions contained herein are in very presentable and readable form. It was decided by the nominat,ing committee when meeting for thc purpose of nominating officers for 1928 to eliminate the vice-chairrnanship for Transportation Engineering, as that branch of the industry seemed to come more naturally under the activities of the American Petroleum Institute. It was also decided by this committee to institute a new vice-chairmanship for Petroleum Engineering Research. Wc have had heretofore round table discussions on engineering research, but through the newly created vice-chairmanship, to which Mr. L. C. Uren was elected, we expect to have more comprehensive sessions on engineering research than heretofort.

Jan 1, 1928

By F. L. Sizer

THE mining regulations of British Columbia and Mexico present some features which might well be copied in the United States, if we are to have a complete revision of the laws governing mining titles. 1. First and foremost is the "square" location, which would mean the abolition of extralateral rights. This is a condition in both of the countries above named which has seemed to work no hardship upon any one, and certainly the limitation of underground rights by vertical planes through all lines makes a locator's rights clear. In view of the long and costly litigation which has involved so seriously many of our most important mining districts, it would seem to be the part of wisdom to avoid a repetition of similar trouble on titles of lode mining claims, by the enactment of a law similar to that in force in British Columbia. Objections have been raised by representatives of English companies to the investment of large amounts of money in mining operations in the United States, because of the insecurity of title under the present apex law; and the statement has been made to me personally by one of the largest English operators, that he would never again consent to the purchase of mines in the United States, preferring Mexico with all its revolutionary troubles to the danger of encroachment upon his underground rights by an unscrupulous neighbor. Without going into further argument as to the desirability of the "square location," it should be sufficient to say to those who are inclined to "let well enough alone." and still stick to the "law of the apex" that there have never been any serious objections raised to this feature of the square location in either British Columbia or Mexico. There are well founded and logical reasons for abandoning the doctrine of extralateral rights since it is so difficult of interpretation; the most natural substitute being a law similar to that of British Columbia, giving to each locator an area 1,500 ft. square.

Jan 3, 1914

By Ben B. Cox

During the past year considerable progress was made in the exploitation of Iraq's resources, although no new fields were discovered. The principal development was the completion of the much heralded pipe line from Kirkuk to the Mediterranean, by the Iraq Petroleum Co., Ltd., and the beginning of crude exports to Europe on the second of August. Official ceremonies for the opening of the lines took place in January, 1935. The line in itself is sufficient achievement under the existing natural handicaps to deserve a moment's attention. It is 1151 miles long, composed of two independent lines made up mostly of 12-in. with some 10-in. and 8-in. pipe, and extends from Kirkuk westward 156 miles to beyond the Euphrates River as a double line. From that point, near the village of Haditha inside the Iraq border, it bifurcates, one leg going as a single line to Haifa through the British Mandated Territories of Trans-Jordania and Palestine, and the other to Tripoli through the French Mandates of Syria and the Leban(on)ese Republics. The total length of the Tripoli line is 532 miles, of the Haifa line 619 miles. The line leaves Kirkuk at an elevation of 1013 ft., drops to 350 ft. at the Tigris, to 200 ft. at Wadi Tharthar west of the Tigris and again to 300 ft. at the Euphrates, rises to more than 3150 ft. at mile 451 on the central Arabian steppe along the south line and to more than 2500 ft. at mile 466 along the north line. On crossing the rift valley of the Jordan River south of Galilee, it drops abruptly below 850 ft. below sea level, requiring the use of extra heavy 8-in. pipe and a relief station to reduce the pressure. A picked group of American welders, under H. S. Austin, of the Ajax Pipe Line Co., laid the line. It is coated, wrapped, and buried 30 in. beneath the surface in solid rock along much of the route. It crosses four large rivers and wide stretches of alkaline soils. Twelve pumping stations are employed, three of which are double east of the bifurcation. Each single station houses three 500-hp. crude-burning deisel engines flexible-coupled to reciproratirig pumps. Each pumping unit is capable of handling a minimum of 21,000 bbl. of oil, giving the entire system a

Jan 1, 1935