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By Alfred H. Bell

Drilling activity in the eastern interior coal basin, which includes Illinois, southwestern Indiana and western Kentucky, decreased greatly in 1931. Only 521 wells were drilled as compared with 1438 in 1930.' The decline in oil production (Fig. 1) was due partly to the failure of new production to make up for the natural decline of the old wells and partly to artificial curtailment of production to meet a decreased demand. During the year prices trended sharply downward until July, after which they made a partial recovery (Fig. 2). The average price of Illinois crude, which is the same as that for southwestern Indiana, was $0.852 per barrel in 1931 as compared with $1.616 in 1930, or slightly more than one-half. The cost of drilling has declined only slightly. The 25 per cent curtailment of production which was adopted by agreement of the southeastern Illinois operators on Sept. 1, 1930, ended on June 3, 1931. It was effective for five months in 1931 as compared with four months in 1930. The outlook for 1932 is for drilling activity in the whole area to continue at about the same rate or to decrease somewhat unless it is stimulated by a substantial rise in crude oil prices or by the discovery of extensive new productive territory. Discoveries of new productive areas and new sands during the year were few. A new gas area was discovered early in the year in Busseron township, Knox County, Indiana, in which the producing sand is in the Pennsylvanian at depths of 630 to 730 ft. The wells had a total initial open-flow capacity of 7 or 8 million cubic feet per day but are shut in for lack of marketing facilities. An exceptionally large gas well which was drilled in Gibson County between Oakland City and Francisco reached a total depth of 1490 ft. and produced from the Brown sand of Chester age. The initial open-flow capacity was reported as 13 million cubic feet per day. In western Kentucky a number of extensions to oil and gas-producing areas are reported. The most active drilling campaign was in Hart County, where 124 wells were drilled, most of them in the

Jan 1, 1932

By Gram Curtis

The apparatus described below for the handling of plates upon their delivery from the rolls, embodies features believed to be of interest to those contemplating the building of new plate-mills, and also to such owners of existing mills as may be considering the improvement of their works. The points to which attention is called are the small space required for the finishing-end of the mill, and consequently the very moderate size of the building for the amount of plates handled; the directness and ease of manipulation, and therefore the mall amount of labor required; the distribution of plates; the facilities and time allowed for their cooling. These, together with other features of detail and general arrangement scarcely less important, will become apparent when the descriptions and illustrations herewith given are understood. As these devices deal with the finishing of the plates only, they may be added to any plate-train when the floor-space and the building are large enough to permit their introduction; and it will be obvious that the features of this method, more or less modified, are applicable to any existing mill. Figs. 1 and 2 show a three-high 32-and 19- by 120-inch Lauth mill, with hydraulic lifting-tables, served by four heating-furnaces, with hydraulic cranes for charging and drawing. Upon leaving the rolls, the plate is allowed to rest with its forward edge projecting somewhat beyond the end of the catcher's table. Here it is seized by the automatic tongs, A, suspended from a buggy travelling in the overhead trough, B, and actuated by the hydraulic cylinder, C. These tongs are operated by a boy, who stands several feet from the heated plate, and controls the long light handle, D, shown in the plan, Fig. I. His duty is merely to advance the tongs by means of .the hydrulic cylinder, C, to raise or

Jan 1, 1892

Robert Carl Sticht, member of the Institute since 1886, an American metallurgist of world-wide reputation, died in St. Margaret's Hospital, Launceston, Tasmania, on April 30, 1922, after an illness of eleven months, against which he fought with the highest courage and characteristic fortitude. The news of his passing came as a great shock to a host of his friends and former associates here, but on account of his long absence from the United States, exact biographical details have been heretofore lacking. Throughout Tasmania, the expressions of public sorrow were many and impressive, and the flags were flown at half-mast in Queenstown, Zeehan, and the entire Mt. Lyell district, in honor of the man who had won his place in the community as a great captain of industry and a man universally admired and loved. Sticht had been connected with the Mt. Lyell Mining & Railway Co. in Tasmania throughout its entire productive period. He had originally been induced to go to Tasmania through the good offices of the late Dr. E. D. Peters, then professor of metallurgy at Harvard University, who after personally examining the undeveloped Mt. Lyell properties, recommended Sticht as the best possible man to work out the complex metallurgical problem which that great orebody presented. Sticht had already made himself the leading authority on pyritic smelting, having taken up the idea as suggested and partly worked out by Lawrence Austin and carried it through to a certain degree of perfection in the case of limited tonnages of special ores. After studying the situation at Mt. Lyell, Sticht found the conditions there to be almost ideal for pyritic smelting, and he had the courage to adopt as the basis for a permanent, and eventually successful, solution of the metallurgical problem, a process that was then little more than a theoretically interesting possibility. The thorough studies and remarkable results attained at Mt. Lyell were published as chapters in Doctor Peters' various publications on the metallurgy of copper, Doctor Peters giving full credit to Sticht for their authorship. These chapters by Sticht practically constitute the: best literature of the art of pyritic smelting. The accuracy of observation,

Jan 1, 1923

By W. G. Matteson

BENJAMIN L. MILLER, So. Bethlehem, Pa.-In discussing the question personally with Mr. Matteson I have found that he simply proposed this as a suggestion and he recognizes, as well as a great many other oil geologists and oil operators, that to put into practice such a suggestion would mean the overcoming of many difficulties. Yet perhaps it may be possible to overcome the various objections that may be offered. Undoubtedly one of the most serious objections is that of incomplete and inaccurate well records. Faulty records are worse than no records at all. Perhaps, however, definite instructions and insistence on their observation may remedy this defect after a time. THE CHAIRMAN (M. L. REQUA, San Francisco, Cal.).-This subject is a. very important one, but just how far the National Government can go in .taking action is a question: It involves, of course, the question of State rights. California, I .think, has done very well up to date and probably will do better in the future. The law that was passed at the session of the Legislature 2 years ago is working as satisfactorily as anything of that kind can work with so little experience to guide the framers of the statute. We recognize in California the vital necessity of conserving the oil of the State. We have come to the conclusion that there is not as much oil ,in California as we thought there was. In the month of December the State drew on its oil stocks to- the extent of 1,800,000 bbl. and I think that the January statistics will show probably as much more. There is more or less of a.: panic at the present time among the large marketing concerns regarding the question as to where they are going to get their oil for future requirements

Jan 4, 1917

By G. A. Guess

THIS investigation was started with the idea of determining whether copper-nickel mattes might not have a lower flowing temperature than copper mattes, and thus perhaps aid in accounting for the difficulty so far experienced in attempts at pyritically smelting copper-nickel ores. We have used the term flowing temperature to avoid confusion with the usual melting temperature. The idea at first was that there might be a greater viscosity range in the one matte than in the other. In the early experiments it was in our minds to determine the relative fluidity of the mattes at a given temperature. Looking to this end we tried pouring equal quantities of matte at the same temperature down an inclined graphite slab, and comparing the distances traveled. Results from such experiments were not satisfactory. We next tried pouring equal quantities at the same temperature through a drilled hole in an Acheson graphite crucible, timing the flow with a stop watch, the whole operation being carried out in the muffle. The flowing temperatures of the mattes tried in this way appeared to be about the same, and there was no marked difference in their fluidity when well fused. Oxidation gave some trouble. These experiments finally led to the adoption of the following apparatus which we thought at the time was wholly original with us, but which we have since found was described by W. McA. Johnson.' The tray used was a slab of graphite 8 in. long, 2 in. wide and ¼ in. thick. It had six holes, into each of which sat a cup of Acheson graphite. Centrally in the bottom of each cup was a vertically drilled hole 3/16 in. in diameter and ½ in. long. The mattes to be tested were put into the cups, in a solid piece. The cups were covered with inverted Battersea "A" cups. The tray was put into the muffle of a gas-fired furnace. Supports on .each end held the tray about 2 in. from the floor of the muffle. Udder

Jan 6, 1916

By AIME AIME

LEWIS EMANUEL YOUNG was elected a Director of the A.I.M.E. at the last Annual Meeting as a representative of District '4, including. Ohio, West Virginia, and western. Pennsylvania and New York. He also represents the Coal Division, in which industry lie has actively participated- for nearly twenty years. Dr. Young was horn in Topeka, Kan., Oct. 1, 1873, received mining degrees from Penn State and ,-Iowa. State, and a Ph.D., from Illinois. The first part of his professional life was spent in teaching first as instructor in mining at Iowa State, second .as professor of mining at the Colorado School' of Mines, third as director of the School of Mines and Metallurgy at Rolla, Mo., and finally he taught business

Jan 1, 1937

By Ralph E. Esarey, G. F. Fix

The oil and gas industry in Indiana in 1938 showed considerable improvement over the preceding year. Most of the drilling and development during the year, as in the past several years, was in the Indiana portion of the Illinois Basin, but increasing interest was apparent in the old Trenton area, for possibilities of further production in the Trenton formation and the underlying St. Peter sandstone. Interest in all other portions of the state was at a new peak, since many areas have never been prospected. Natural gas production continued to drop during 1938, since new discoveries have not been able to keep pace with the rapid decline in older areas. Oil production increased considerably, chiefly through the discovery of new fields. Older fields contributed about the same quantity of oil during 1938 as during the preceding year. There were 159 wells completed in Indiana during 1938, an increase of 25 over the preceding year. Of these, 48 were oil wells, 41 were gas, and '70 failed to find commercial production. Forty-three, or about 20 per cent, were wildcat. Six of these were productive—three oil wells and three gas wells. Thirty-nine wells on which operations started during the year had riot been completed by Dec. 31. Fourteen others were temporarily abandoned, with the possibility that several will be drilled to completion in the near future. A new oil field (Heusler) was discovered in May 1938, in sees. 1 and 12, T. 7 S., R. 12 W., Posey County. Production was found in the Waltersburg (Upper (Chester) sandstone at a depth of approximately 1775 ft. At the close of the year, Heusler field had nine producing wells and two drilling. The Point township area, Posey County, near the confluence of the Wabash and Ohio Rivers, held promise of good production from the McClosky lime, but offsets to the, discovery well had only shows of oil. The discovery well declined rapidly in production arid was finally plugged. In the Oaktown field, Knox County, a wildcat came in with a good flow of gas, extending the field to the east, and proving considerably more acreage. A new gas area was discovered in Sullivan County, and four good wells were completed. The discovery well was in sec. 35, T. 8 N., R. 10 W., and had an initial

Jan 1, 1939

By Joseph E. Pouge

For the purposes of this analysis it is assumed that the petroleum industry has undergone a basic economic change whereby the degree of competition present in its operation is reduced by the collective control of production brought about by statme-directed proration. Formerly freely competitive in all its parts, the industry is now fully competitive only in its marketing, its manufacturing and transportation, its search for new oil supplies, its drilling operations (with some qualifications), and its capital movements. The practical problem before the industry in its new status is the maintenance of equilibrium, with planned control of crude-oil production (proration) substituted for competition and price as the regulatory mechanism at one point in the supply-demand system. It is further assumed that proration has become so firmly established in the legal and operating framework of the business that it may be looked upon as an institution. The purpose of this paper is to call attention to the effect of unregulated drilling upon the orderly functioning of proration. Economic Structure of Petroleum Industry The economic structure of the petroleum industry, under the current form of proration, may be visualized, in simplified form, as shown in Fig. 1. This diagram is designed to indicate the existing mechanism whereby supply and demand are equated. Demand is created largely by conditions external to the oil business, whereas supply is conditioned by a series of stages incidental to the discovery, development and production of a resource. The time elements involved in changes in demand and supply are of an entirely different order, the demand factor being much more flexible and "quicker" than the supply factors. It should be observed, also, that the position of price, formerly between "demand" and "supply," has been moved to a sidewise location where it still affects demand but influences current supply only through its bearing upon proration, drilling and search. Proration has been substituted for price as a throttle at the well head, but at this point only. The mechanism now works in this fashion: a declining price stimulates demand and the

Jan 1, 1936

By Frank G. Norris

Slag control is adjustment of the composition of the slag, especially with respect to the FeO content. The theoretical method of slag control would be to charge a mixture of pig iron and scrap of given composition into the furnace, to melt always at the same carbon, and, after a uniform ore addition, to tap with a constant slag composition. Such conditions are not even approximated. Both scrap and pig iron are of variable, and, in many cases, unknown composition. The charge is oxidized to a variable extent during melting. The result is that the FeO content of the slag, and consequently of the metal at tap, varies over a wide range. In order to make a nearly uniform product, this variation must be compensated for in some way. One way is to adapt the ladle deoxidation to the requirements of the metal. The other is to control the slag. In a general sense slag control may be considered as a method of compensating for variations in the composition of the charge and in oxidation during melting. The method of slag control for low-carbon steel was developed by Dr. Herty at our Butler plant3. Use of this method enables the furnace operator to tap heats at a more nearly constant FeO content and, therefore, to use a more nearly uniform deoxidation practice. The desired FeO and the accompanying deoxidation will depend on the application of the product. This statement implies that 0.10 carbon steel finished with a 15 FeO slag may be essentially different from a 0.10 carbon steel finished with a 30 FeO slag. In making low-carbon steel, the desired carbon places a lower limit on the FeO content of the slag, because the slag must be sufficiently oxidizing for proper carbon elimination. With this degree of oxidation, the phosphorus specification is met without difficulty, and there is little danger of phosphorus reversion. Thus a limiting factor in high-carbon heats is of slight importance in low-carbon heats. For heats of 0.05 to 0.07 per cent carbon, the FeO content of the slag may be controlled at

Jan 1, 1935

By H. T. Byck

The plastering properties of six representative California drilling muds were studied over a temperature range of 70 to 175 F. at several mud weights, using a high-pressure circulating filter press with full size consolidated cores. In all tests, with untreated as well as with chemically treated muds, the filtration rates at elevated temperature were higher than at low temperatures and in nearly every case this increased filtration rate was notably larger than could be attributed alone to the decreased viscosity of water—the flowing medium—at elevated temperatures. It is concluded that no existing method will permit even an approximate determination of the filtration rate at high temperature from data at room temperature. It is necessary to measure filtration at the temperature actually anticipated in the well, or to make a sufficient number of tests at various lower temperatures so that a small extrapolation of these data to the anticipated well temperature may be applied. Such tests should be carried out on the mud as actually used in the well. The viscosity of each of the muds was determined over the same temperature range. While no relationship was observed between mud viscosity and plastering properties, it was found that chemical treatment of the muds for viscosity reduction shifted the temperature of minimum viscosity to appreciably higher values than for untreated muds. Importance of Plastering Properties A survey of the literature on rotary drilling muds clearly shows the growing realization of the importance of plastering properties,'-5 not only from the point of view of the successful completion of the mechanical operation of drilling the well but also from the point of view of minimum impairment of the natural flow possibilities of a given well. Poor plastering properties with attendant high filtration rate (large water loss to the formation) and thick mud sheath, lead to stuck drill

Jan 1, 1940

By R. C. Ferguson, Harlowe Hardinge

Laboratory and plant data covering 12 different operations show that lower than "standard" ball mill speeds increase grinding efficiency. In the case of high pulp-level mills, the gain is so great that the increase in capital cost of the larger lower speed mill will pay for itself in less than a year's time. THE object of this paper is to show the economic advantage of operating ball mills at relatively slow speeds. Although many operators know that grinding costs are reduced by operating mills at low speeds, they seldom do so for a variety of reasons. When capital is limited, first cost is of primary importance, and installation of the less costly, highspeed mill is favored. When materials are in short supply, as during a war period, capacity rather than economy is the primary consideration. Existing mills are then speeded up to provide the desired increase in capacity, and new mills are purchased without consideration of maximum grinding efficiency. When the mill speed is increased to secure more production, the increase in grinding costs is often obscured by the total benefit derived from the additional output. This increase in grinding cost is seldom recognized as being sufficient to be worth correcting. For these reasons one may be lead to the erroneous conclusion that slow-speed operation is only occasionally applicable. The effect of mill speed on grinding efficiency has been studied in laboratory tests."! The results of some of these tests are given in tables I and I1 and fig. 1. In these tabulations, batch tests using ore charges of 125 to 200 lb were considered comparable to high pulp-level operation and charges of 50 to 100 lb comparable to low pulp-level operation. For the high pulp-level operation, these tests indicate the existence of a maximum in efficiency for operation at a speed of 50 pct of critical, both for the soft (dolomite) and hard (chert) ore. In low pulp-level operation, a decrease in speed increases the efficiency of grinding dolomite; no maximum of efficiency appears in the range of speeds tested. The results with chert were inconclusive. If the performance of large mills is indicated

Jan 1, 1951

By Charles A. Mitke

Discussion of the paper by CHARLES A. MITKE, presented at the San Francisco meeting, September, 1915, and printed in Bulletin No. 105, September, 1915, pp. 1941 to 1958. GERALD SHERMAN, Bisbee, Ariz.-Mr. Mitke justly might have made much stronger his claim for increase in efficiency of labor due to the introduction of forced ventilation. The product per man shift in stoping in the Gardner division has practically doubled. While it is true that improved methods have been responsible for a great part of this gain, and what is due to better ventilation cannot be definitely known, yet it is also true that the results could not have been obtained in that division as it was in 1912. . The paper discusses the two systems of ventilation in use, exhaust and pressure. In both the object is the same, to take foul air or gas out of the mine by the most direct course and replace it by fresh. In coal mines, the exhaust system is in almost universal use, and since the most advanced work in ventilation has been in that class of mines, it was naturally the first one to be considered. It has the advantage of leaving all adits, shafts, or other openings free for use. Doors are only needed to direct the course of the air, and not to confine it. Its disadvantages appear in case of fire, or if the ground over the mine is much broken by subsidence. The fan must work in gas in the case of a -fire, and may be. damaged or destroyed either by heat or by corrosive gas. At the time of the fire in the Lowell division of the Copper Queen, a small exhaust fan was placed over a ventilating raise, but the vanes and housing were destroyed by sulphurous gases within a few weeks. If the ground above the mined area is much broken, as is frequently the case when the ore deposit is thick vertically, a good deal of air is likely to pass through it, particularly if it is near the surface. Leakage from this source is a loss to the exhaust system by short circuiting, which is exaggerated by a contraction or block in the air course. It serves as an added outlet in the pressure system. This is strikingly shown at the United Verde, where many jets of steam may be seen coming up through the ground above the stoped country on a cold day.

Jan 12, 1915

By Porter W. Shimer

As is well known, cast-iron borings are a mixture of small particles of iron with more or less of finely divided graphite, separated from thc surfaces of these small particles during the process of boring. The amount of graphite thus mechanically mixed is, in all cases, quite large enough to cause serious difficulty when the problem is to obtain an average sample of a given lot of borings for carbon determination. This difficulty arises from the necessity of obtaining a uniform mixture of the heavy and comparatively coarse borings with the finely divided and light graphite, and of removing a sample for analysis without disturbing the uniformity of this mixture. It was first sought to overcome this difficulty by having the horings made very fine, so that they might have more nearly the size of the particles of graphite. It was not practicable, however, to secure this uniformity of size, since much of the graphite is in the form of the finest dust. At all events, the duplicate determinations of rarbon in these fine borings, made with every precaution by combustion in oxygen, frequently showed differences too large to be accounted for in arty other way than by imperfect sampling. Very coarse borings were also tried with the idea that the graphite separated from these large and heavy pieces would perhaps be inappreciable ; but it was found that quite enough was separated to vitiate the results. Various methods of mixing were tried, both in the bottle and on glazed paper ; but in all these mixtures it mas found that duplicate samples seldom colitained the same proportion of the mechanically mixed graphite; and when they did, there could be no certainty that it was the true proportion. All this was shown many times over by the failure of duplicates to agree closely, the differencheing sometimes so much as 0.20 per cent. It was finally clear that nothing was to be hoped from these methods. Even if we could secure a perfect mixture containing in every part its due proportion of graphite, it would run a great risk of being destroyed the moment a spatula was inserted to remove a sample: for the least agitation causes some of the graphite to fall through between the coarser borings.

Jan 1, 1886

By R. R. Hart, B. C. Wonsiewicz, G. Y. Chin

In recent years there has been increased miniaturization of electromechanical devices to keep pace with current trends toward smaller electronic components. A major problem facing the designer, however, is the higher stresses encountered by the material as a result of shorter springs. Hence an improvement in the elastic limit, as approximated by the 0.01 pct offset yield strength, would be highly desirable. An increase of 25 pct in the yield strength, for example, will permit a 20 pct reduction in both the length and thickness of a cantilever-type spring while maintaining the same compliance. One technique of improving the yield strength that has received little commercial attention is crystal-lographic texture strengthening.1,2 Texture strengthening is expected to be most beneficial in materials of hcp structure, but considerable gain can also be expected in cubic materials. A wire with a (111) fiber texture, for example, is expected to be 20 pct stronger than randomly oriented material, and 50 pct stronger than wire with a (100) fiber texture.293 For sheet specimens with a {110}(112) texture, characteristic of many heavily rolled fcc alloys, the (111) transverse direction is expected to be the maximum yield strength direction, about 20 pct higher than that in the (112) rolling direction.' In addition, the (111) direction is the direction of maximum modulus of elasticity for most cubic alloys. A large value of the elastic modulus could be desirable in designs where stiffer springs are required. To test the above idea, a 0.090 in. (-2.3 mm) thick commercial grade A (5 pct Sn) phosphor bronze sheet, a widely-used material for relay springs, was rolled from the spring-tempered condition (60.5 pct reduction) to various additional reductions up to a total reduction of 95 pct. Subsequently, additional material was obtained with a total thickness reduction of 97.3 pct Standard tensile specimens were prepared from the sheet material with the tensile axis parallel to and at 90 deg to the rolling direction. Tests were run on an Instron testing machine at a strain rate of about 0.050 min-l. Textures were determined by the use of the reflection pole-figure technique. Data were obtained using nickel-filtered CuKa radiation and with the aid of a Siemens pole figure goniometer. The X-ray pole figure studies show an incrzasing development of the texture toward the {110}(112) ideal

Jan 1, 1970

By H. D. Strain

Potash is a generic term used to describe a number of compounds containing the element potassium (K), which is one of the three major plant nutrients. Potash content of these compounds is commonly expressed as percentage potassium oxide (K20), and the market value of the products is usually dependent on contained K20. Most of the potash produced (approximately 95%) is used in agriculture as fertilizer. Potash products today are shipped by producing countries all over the world to meet the need for increased food production. WORLD POTASH RESERVES Apparent world potash reserves are shown in Table 15.2B.1 and total some 96 billion mt of recoverable potassium oxide. The Canadian reserves account for approximately one-half the known world reserves. The reserves shown represent the potassium oxide content of a variety of potash-bearing ores. The major ore is sylvinite (a mechanical mixture of KC1 and NaCl) from which KC1 or sylvite is recovered (63.2% K20 equivalent). Other ores, such as langbeinite (potassium, magnesium sulfate-22.7% K20) and carnallite (potassuim magnesuim chloride-17.0% K20) are also mined in various parts of the world, mainly for the potassium content. Theoretically, potassium is available in almost unlimited qualities from brines and saline waters. To date, the cost of recovery from salt brines has been greater than the costs by mining operations, but new technology could make brines and seawater an increasingly important source. POTASH PRODUCTION Potash production dates back to the 1860s in Germany, which was the only recorded producing country until 1912. By 1912 Germany was producing approximately 1 million tpy of K2O equivalent. Production began in France in 1913 and in the United States in 1915. World potash production and consumption are shown in Table 15.2B.2 for the years 1950-51 through 1967-68. In 1967 and 1968 the major potash-pro¬ducing countries in order of importance were those listed in Table 15.2B.3. By 1972 Canadian production had outstripped U.S. production. WORLD CONSUMPTION World consumption of potash for the years 1950-51 through 1967-68 is shown in Table 15.2B.2. Table 15.2B.4 shows total world consumption of potassium materials in 1967-68 by country. More than 70% of the world's potash is

Jan 1, 1976

KARL A. PAULY,* Schenectady, N. Y.-We are deeply indebted to Mr. Hobart for a record of the actual experience of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co. with electrification. One of the essential features of this test is that it was made under actual operating conditions. In one of the western mining districts I was once discussing the electrification of a large hoist with a mining operator, who told me that they had made a very thorough test and that the results were such as to indicate that electrification was not warranted. When questioned regarding the test, he said that they had called on the mining college in the Territory for assistance, and one of the instructors and a group of students had made the test. They first cleaned the boilers and then operated them at a' continuous load, using the maker's guaranteed steam consumption per indicated horsepower as a guide in estimating the steam consumption under actual hoisting conditions. Such a test is absolutely valueless. The efficiency of the boilers 'is affected by the intermittent demands on the steam. The standby losses, as indicated by Mr. Hobart's paper, are quite equal to the actual fuel consumption required to do the work; very frequently, also, the cost of repairs is either omitted or underestimated. One noticeable feature of Mr. Hobart's tabulation is that there is no mention of steam consumption. Intentionally or otherwise, the steam-hoist builders have befogged the question by making a great point of the steam consumption of hoists. The operator is not at all concerned in steam consumption; it is the actual cost of operation that he is interested in, and it is a comparison between the cost of operation of the two systems, all factors being considered, that should determine the choice. The steam consumption, or its determination by test, is only one step in the problem of estimating the fuel consumption, which, in an actual installation, can be directly measured much more accurately, as was done by Mr. Hobart.

Jan 4, 1918

By Charles Kumke

THE "slot" system of mining in use at the Golden Queen mine, Mojave, Calif., does not involve any new mining methods. It is, how-ever, a, new combination and adaptation of several stoping systems in common practice. The first plans for stoping operations at the Golden Queen mine called for ordinary shrinkage stopes. The hanging wall of the vein, where exposed, is a very hard felsite with a dip varying from 50° to 70°. The vein itself is quartz, shattered and fractured enough to make it easy to drill and blast to a clean hanging wall. There is no well defined footwall. The footwall limits had to be determined by assays as the metal content faded out into the felsite. Two shrinkage stopes, each approximately 200 ft. long, were laid out and started on the 200-ft. level. One of these stopes, varying in width from 8 to 18 ft., was carried on up to the top limits of the ore, approxi-mately 120 ft., without a break in the operation. The shrinkage system proved entirely satisfactory and low costs resulted from-this operation. In the final drawing of this stope, two timbermen followed down on the ore, scaling the hanging wall clean of small fragments and placing an occasional long stull from foot to hanging wall where it was deemed necessary. Few such stulls; however, were required. The hanging wall stood up very well until the stope was entirely emptied of ore. Waste fill was then put into the stope by the glory-hole method, through a waste raise that had previously been run to surface from the middle of the stope. The second shrinkage stope ran into difficulties about 35 ft. above the sill floor. Up to this point the maximum width of the ore had been about 15 ft. The ore suddenly widened into the footwall to a distance of 40 ft. in the north end of the stope. In extending the stoping operations over this width, it was soon found that the vein material would not arch and support itself. Drilling in this end of the stope was then entirely too hazardous, and all operations were stopped. The ore was drawn through the chutes below as rapidly as possible and as soon as the stope was entirely

Jan 1, 1937

By H. E. Williams

In view of the frequent occurrence of petroleum in other parts of the world, it seems odd that so large an area as is contained within the borders of Brazil should be without this product. This apparent deficiency may be due, however, to our ignorance of the regions in which it may exist. In some places, indications point to the probable existence of petroleum in ages gone by; and while the presence of petroleum pools may be problematic, in several regions conditions not unfavorable to their occurrence exist. Yet, Brazil has enormous oil resources in the rich oil-shales in different parts of the country. Many of these shales are very rich and only suitable processes for the extraction of the oil are lacking. At the present time, only a few small experimental plants are producing oil by distillation from these shales. These plants have been the subject of recent investigations by the Geological and Mineralogical Survey, a preliminary report of which is in the hands of the printer. The only regions where studies have not been made are the upper Amazon, the Acre, the Rio Negro, and the Peruvian frontier, which really seems to be the most promising field for explorations of any in the country. In the vast plateau region of the interior north of the 20th parallel of latitude, granites, gneiss, mica schists, and very old metamorphosed sedimentaries predominate. Later, sedimentaries occupy a minor position and, where found in the interior, represent a thin veneering resting on the older rocks. At several places near the coast they have a greater development and contain considerable beds of oil-shale and may, .in some cases, offer conditions favorable for the occurrence of oil. Such deposits are found in the Permian rocks of central and southern Maran-hao; in the Tertiary and Cretaceous beds along the coast of Alagsas Sergipe, Bahia, and perhaps farther south in Espirito Santo; and in the Parahyba embayment north of Cape Frio and in the interior Tertiary basin of eastern Sao Paulo.

Jan 1, 1921

THE Rocky MountainClub brought into the East the spirit of the West; the impulse to build, to develop, to accept unquestion-ingly the comradeship and help of any straight shooter who had it in him to accom-plish things and a will to work. That this was the spirit of the Club was due to its leaders. It was their spirit and they attracted around them men of the same stamp. Among those who made the Club what it was no one had larger in-low fluence than William Boyce Thompson, the vice-president and chief of financial staff. It was characteristic of him that the same financial genius that was employed in building up Nevada Consolidated, In-spiration, Magma, Texas Gulf, and as director of the Metro-politan Life and the Federal Reserve Bank, was freely placed at the service of the Club. It was equally char- acteristic that the generosity that financed the Red Cross Mission to Russia inspired the use of the Club funds for Belgian and war relief. "W. B.," as he is known to his many friends, was born at Virginia City in Alder Gulch, Mont., on May 13, 1869. His father, William Thompson, born at Cobourg, Ont., had drifted into the old Northwest and, hearing at Yankton of the gold strike at Bannack, crossed the plains on the Oregon trail in the summer of 1863, arriv-ing in Alder Gulch at the inception of a mining boom that lasted several years, during which something like $60,000,000 in gold was yielded by the placer diggings. His mother was a daughter of Maj. James R. Boyce, Sr., from Logan County, Ky., who had served under General Sterling Price of the Confederate Army. Major Boyce's ancestors were early settlers of the Old Dominion, and his grandfather had seen military service in the war for American independence. Major Boyce's mother was a descendant of the Marshall and Smith families of Westmoreland County, Va. When Thompson was eleven years old, the family moved to Butte, then a silver camp. He attended the public schools of Butte, but desiring a better education, entered Phillips Exeter Academy and later the Colum-bia School of Mines. Returning West, for a year or two he ran the Boulder Chief mine near Basin, Mont., which earned him a sobriquet, "Boulder Thompson." While here, some old ore sacks, oil-soaked, introduced him to flotation. He was also the first to leach some of the ore dumps of Butte.

Jan 4, 1928

R. B. BRinsmade, Ixmiquilpan, Hgo., Mexico (written discussion").—how far ahead of the United States are the self-governing British colonies in their application of economic democracy is well illustrated by Mr. Godson's paper. To prove this, I need quote only two of his assertions, the italics being mine: "lt is a stern fundamental principle that a11 natural resources are the inalienable property of the crown.'' "The right to a claim should only exist as long as it is worked or taxed to insure work. Once depart from that sound maxim, there results improper control of the natural resources of the country, which primarily belong to the people." These assertions formed the basis of my criticism1 of Dr. Raymond's paper in 1913, and they should be inscribed in letters of gold above the entrance to the office of every county recorder in the United States. I venture to assert that the existing United States mineral land laws are essentially unfair to the nation and a hindrance to the legitimate miner, because they fail to embody the above quoted principlca; and this applies both to state laws east of the Mississippi and to federal laws in the West. That these laws favor the forestaller and the monopolist, defraud the government of its fair share of the profits of mineral production, and tend to industrial feudalism must be evident to any competent unbiassed observer. The fact that no serious political movement arose to change them, until the conservation agitation of the last decade, may be largely explained by two salient conditions. First, as stated by President Winchell, "for a long time there was such a vast surplus, or excessive amount of unwanted, undesirable land in the West that the land offices did not scrutinize the claim sought to be located;" second, that the millions of individual farm owners throughout the country could easily be aroused, by the special pleaders hired by the great land speculators and monopolists, to use their vast political power for the suppression of any statesmen striving to incorporate in our semi-feudal land laws any such principles as those quoted from Mr. Godson. While agreeing with Mr. Godson that a freehold or fee-simple title, if coupled with obligatory continuous work, may have the same practical effect as a lease, it seems to be the experience of the most active and

Jan 1, 1920