Search Documents

PRESIDENT WHITESIDE: If the chair may be pardoned, he would like to say he knows something of the work of this committee, and I assure you that they have all worked faithfully and hard, holding meetings at least every other day, and sometimes oftener, hustling money and going through all the different work necessary to bring about and to make a successful occasion of this kind, and I-who really acted as an outsider and viewed their work-was certainly appreciative of their efforts, and I know you would have been had you been able to see how hard they all worked. One of the sad things in life always is when one becomes a "has-been." I have been more or less active in the work of the Institute ever since its in¬ception. Just why the high honor of President was conferred upon me I have never been able to fathom, but my time is about over and I am about to join the "has-beens," and while the position naturally has entailed a certain amount of work, it has been very pleasant work, and when one has the hearty co-operation of his fellow workers, such work is always a pleasure. It is, therefore, with a certain amount of regret that I lay down the gavel and take it up again to present to my successor; but in doing so, I wish to thank you, one and all, for your very hearty help and co-operation, and to wish my successor, Mr. George B. Pryde, all the possible success that can be his. Mr. Pryde. (Applause.) MR. PRYDE: I will make no extended speech at this time. I think possibly the next year I will have enough opportunity to do that; but I had a letter from my friend, Murphy, before this meeting, and he thought we were going to have a very good meeting; but I don't know the motive behind his letter. (Laughter.) I remember the story about the Scotchman who went to see the doctor, and the doctor said: "Sandy, you drink any?" "Oh, yes." "Well," he says, "you have got to cut that out. Do you smoke?" "Oh, yes; I smoke a great deal." "Well, you will have to cut that out also." And Sandy picked up his hat and started for the door. "Wait a minute, Sandy; you haven't paid me for my advice." "Yes, but I am not going to take your advice." (Laughter.) But I am deeply appreciative of the honor you have conferred upon me, electing me to be head of this Institute for the next year. I have belonged to this Institute, I should say, ever since it has been organized. This present session especially has been a very good session. As I look back over the different meetings, I think this one stands out among all the others in the papers presented and the spirit of co-operation that prevailed among the members here, and I am not going to ask your co-operation during the year; I am sure I will get it from all of you. I want to thank you for the honor conferred upon me. (Applause.) MR. WHITESIDE: The retiring President did not quite follow the reading of the by-laws, I think, in which it says that immediately after the election of a new President, the new President shall assume office, and I got so busy I forgot all about that. The committee which the chair decided to appoint is as follows. This is to formulate safety rules: For Utah, John Crawford, William Littlejohn; for Wyoming, Peter Patterson, Glen Knox; for New Mexico, William Risdon, Allan French; for Colorado, James Dalrymple, J. C. Roberts; and last and surely not least, as chairman of the committee, Mr. George B. Pryde. (Mr. Pryde later appointed D. Harrington as a member-at-large.) C. M. GODDARD: Mr. Chairman, we all realize that in a gaseous mine the application of, safety measures transcends everything else. Machinery is installed 100 per cent safe, as they might say, to take care of any condition

Jan 1, 1923

President Robert E. Murray opened the meeting at 9:30 a.m. He called on the Auditing Committee to give its report. Jack Leech read the report and asked that it be approved. A motion was made, seconded and carried. The Resolutions Committee was asked to present its report. Mr. J. F. Ratchye submitted the following: (1) RESOLVED. Whereas, in the year since the last convention of The Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute, the Institute and the Coal Mining industry have suffered the loss through death of the services of: James L. Elder William T. Gibbs Julian E. Tobey John H. Plehn NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that there be spread upon the minutes of The Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute recognition of the passing of these members, who have so greatly contributed to the advancement of the industry, both nationally and in the Rocky Mountain area, and that a copy of this resolution be sent to the next of kin as evidence of the sincere regard and sympathy of the members of the Institute. (2) RESOLVED: that in recognition of faithful service to the coal industry generally, and to this Institute, Life Membership in The Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute be hereby con¬ferred upon the following members:

Jan 1, 1979

will be held at COSMOPOLITAN HOTEL DENVER COLORADO June 3,4,5, 1931

Jan 1, 1930

PRESIDENT LITTLEJOHN: Before we open the discussion on the Utah mining laws, I want to bring out what I consider a slight misunderstanding on some of the things that I said this forenoon relative to our comparison of accidents. I did not mean to infer that we, as mine officials, are satisfied we have done the best we can to eliminate the accidents, when I was talking about a four-to- one comparison. I do not want any- one to get the idea in their heads that I do not think we are doing all we can. There is not any of us who can state that, even if we better these figures. It is the general understanding that these figures are based upon ratios per thousand man shifts and not upon the tonnage basis that we use. If it were based upon a tonnage basis, I think the figures would be pretty nearly reversed, for we are producing from two to four tons more per man than they do in Great Britain. The discussion will now be continued as I said this morning. There is a gentleman in the audience here that is as guilty of making these laws as I was, and I am quite sure when speaking he will confine himself to the subject of Utah Mining Laws and the prospective results. Before Mr. Monay starts with his paper, I want it understood that this discussion must be finished by 2:30 for the reason that we have still quite a lot of business before us this afternoon.

Jan 1, 1925

MR. TESCHER (Disaster at Dawson) : I move that you appoint a committee of nine members of this Institute to draft a set of resolutions that we can send out to all members of this Institute, to the mine officials in all four states, that might go towards preventing these disasters; that we reach all men, all mining men, mine officials of all kinds. I think we have enough brains to carry out a few suggestions of that kind. I think you are fully familiar or know men who are fully qualified to act on this committee. The only qualification that I have is to ask that Mr. Harrington be appointed a member of this committee. PRESIDENT WHITESIDE: You have heard the motion, and I believe it was seconded. Is there any discussion? That is a subject that really needs a great deal of thought. MR. LAMB: Things like that can't be handled in a minute. What Mr. Tescher suggested is all right, but to my mind, going into a great many of these different properties, seeing the conditions, such things hit pretty close to home. I would suggest that you put this off; lay it over until such time as the people who had the disaster have some time to think these things over. It is too soon to offer even a suggestion. Suggestions are all right, but there are no nine living men in the United States who can stand up or sit down and talk it over and give you any reasonable answer, in one hour or six months. First, you would naturally have to go down there and converse with the men who were at the camp at the time. You are all operators; all you operators would -like to talk it over today. You realize that anything that is good for the camp is always acceptable in disasters of this kind. I say, do it gracefully and not by publication. MR. TESCHER: I feel that the men present know these suggestions by heart and they don't have to discuss them. They know them instinctively and they know they will apply to any mine. It must be understood that if these suggestions are not carried out, they ought to be; and there is a motion before the house. PRESIDENT WHITESIDE: Mr. Murphy, you started to rise to your feet a moment ago. Have you anything to say on the subject? MR. MURPHY: I have just returned from a visit to Mr. Brennan. Mr. Brennan and I have worked together for twenty years. The manager of our company asked me to go down there and express his sympathy. Those things come to all men if they live long enough, in the coal business, and he wanted me to express to Mr. Brennan personally his sympathy and deep regret. What I had in mind when I started to rise, was to suggest that the Institute as a whole express its sympathy to Mr. Brennan. I don't think there is a man in Utah, Wyoming, Colorado or New Mexico who has done more in safety' lines than Mr. Brennan, and it just seems bad luck that he had this disaster, and I am in hearty sympathy with the gentleman who spoke about not appointing this committee. I believe a resolution to Mr. Brennan would be very much better. JAMES DALRYMPLE: I am in sympathy with this gentleman here. I think it is going to hurt the feelings of those connected with the mines in which this disaster occurred. If you will give me the privilege for a few minutes, I will gladly express myself and the action that has been taken in the past by this Institute, and my opinion combined with a great many other opinions. And what I am going to say is going to be said by the-well, I am going to say it as I see it. I am going to say it not in an unfriendly spirit, but from a spirit of not undue criticism. I happen to be one of the original members who organized this Institute. I did what I could to obtain memberships. I remember very well when we had our first meeting that we had a very large membership. I think I have a photograph of the members which was taken on the steps of the Capitol building at that time. Our membership at that time was composed largely of underground officials. I mean by "underground" officials, the superintendents to some extent, the mine foremen, their assistants,

Jan 1, 1923

PRESIDENT LITTLEJOHN: I have every reason to know Mr. Pryde was carrying out some experiment a while ago in some of his mines. He and I had a little correspondence on the question, and I think he may have a word or two to say about it. He has not been on his feet today at all. I will ask Mr. Pryde to tell us what he has to say. MR. PRYDE: I have not very much to say about shooting coal with permissible powder as far as slack is concerned because we are not in the commercial business. All of our coal goes to the railroad and a very large part of it is crushed for use in the stokers of the locomotives. We are on a 100 per cent permissible powder basis and as far as I am able to see, I do not believe that the percentage of slack is increasing with its use. We find it hard to convince our commercial neighbors of this fact because they are naturally very much against increasing their percentage of slack on ac- count of the low price received for this grade of coal. I, personally, believe that where a change is made from black powder to permissible powder the percentage of slack will be increased for a time because the miners have been accustomed to using black powder and they are rather suspicious about going to the permissible powder and I do not believe that we can blame them very much. So the tendency with them is to use too much powder. We have gradually overcome this, although, as I said before, we have not kept close track of the production of slack. However, we try to get as large an amount of lump coal as possible. Broadly speaking, I can say from observation that in my opinion there is very little difference in the percentage of slack with the use of the permissible powder that we have today than there was with the use of black powder. I also get this information from our mine superintendents. Mr. Peterson and the other explosive men have been very helpful to us in the use of permissible powder and I confess I have to take everything back that I said several years ago. At that time I was against permissible powder, particularly on account of the cost, but, with the newer permissible powder, we have gotten the cost down very well. I know today that the cost of permissible powder in the coal mines of the Union Pacific Coal Company is less than when we were using black powder. I know this because of the fact that we kept a record of the number of tons we got with black powder, and the number of tons we get with permissible powder compares very favorably in cost. I know this, too, because of the fact that our employes, except in the first few weeks of using permissible powder, have made no demand upon us for any in- crease ill pay to offset any added cost that might accrue in the use of permissible powder and the fact that they have asked for no increase is very conclusive proof to me that it is not

Jan 1, 1925

By D. C. McClure

MR. McCLURE: Mr. Chairman, you sprang a surprise on me; I really came over here for a good time. Gentlemen, I am not at all qualified to pose as an expert on pulverized fuel; I have merely been making some rather interesting observations, and unfortunately at the present time, a great deal of substantial data, the technical data, I don't happen to have with me; it is still in the process of being calculated, but I will be very glad to tell you some of the observations as I have made them, and in as truthful and complete a way as I can. The question of how we would handle fuel became a very pressing subject in this new Valmont electric plant, which is now under progress. We have studied the methods of burning fuel for a number of years on different types of stokers at the existing plants in Denver; we are burning it with a natural draft chain grate and with underfeed and with forced draft chain grates, and I am very frank to confess at the present time that I have no answer as far as stokers are concerned for a better solution of the problem of burning lignite. In other words, I could not tell you that this or that is a better type of stoker to use for that coal. However, to boil the thing down, after considerable trials, the underfed stoker was chosen as the one most adaptable for the utilizing of lignite fuel if stokers are to be used. In other words, the chain grate was put aside. I might say in support of the chain grate, the prime reason for which that type of stoker was condemned, as far as lignite goes, is the initial investment charge and the large maintenance which is involved.

Jan 1, 1923

Chairman: Mr. R. C. Heers, Project Manager, Kaiser Company, Inc. CHAIRMAN HEERS: Fellows, I can't say it gives me a lot of pleasure to call this meeting together because I would rather somebody else had the job. I haven't anything to say this morning and I think the sooner we get started with the fellows that have something to say, the better pleased everybody will be. The first speaker this morning is Mr. John Griffen of the McNally Pittsburgh Company. He has a talk on coal preparation and I am pleased to present Mr. Griffen.

Jan 1, 1947

MR. D. HARRINGTON (U. S. Bureau of Mines) : I happen to be a member of the Safety Committee, and the men on the Committee, I believe are the ones who will find the most fault with the report; but I am absolutely not in accord with the last recommendation. (The use of the "Self-Rescuer.") I do not think it safe. I do not think you are always sure you are going to have a sufficient amount of oxygen; in fact I know there are occasions in mines when there is not enough oxygen to make a man safe in a gas mask or self rescuer. At one mine fire, workers using open oil and carbide lights experienced quick reversal of air which extinguished the lights and one of the workers having carbide light was overcome. It took about 45 minutes hard work with Sylvester method of artificial respiration to restore him to consciousness. Fortunately these men were working close to fresh air but had they been far from fresh air base and relying upon self-rescuers or gas masks they would undoubtedly have perished. I was at a mine fire in Wyoming. A bunch of men were working and the air turned on them, and if they hadn't oxygen breathing mine rescuing apparatus I think there would have been at least a half dozen men killed they would have been killed before you could say, "Jack Robinson." PRESIDENT PRYDE: I would like to ask if the self-rescuers are nut approved by the Bureau of Mines? MR. HARRINGTON: They are not; absolutely not.* Furthermore, the Bureau of Mines' Engineers have opportunities to go around in mines, and in mine cars as much as anybody else in the country, and I have in mind but one who is in the slightest degree in favor of allowing self-rescuers to go in a mine. MR. BEVAN: Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the Safety Committee if it would be of any use to the fire boss traveling through the mine? PRESIDENT PRYDE: Mr. Chairman, I think we should finish up the discussion on the self-rescuer before we take up any other discussions.

Jan 1, 1924

The Fourth Session of the Forty-Sixth Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute convened at the Hotel Colorado, Glenwood Springs, Colorado, June 21, 1950, at 9:30 a. m., G., E. Sorenson, President, presiding. PRESIDENT SORENSON: The meeting will conic to order, please. Gentlemen, we have quite a program this morning, so we had better push this thing along. Be fore we start this morning, I would like to ask Mr. Davis if he wouldn't come up and say a word or two for us. He is the editor of Coal Age. Mr. Davis. MR. DAVIS: This is quite an unexpected honor. I didn't know that I would be called on to speak to you. It will be brief, but very sincere. I have enjoyed every minute of my stay here with you people in the west. It is my first visit out this way, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. I have two more weeks to go out here, and I will probably see a lot of you in your own back yards.

Jan 1, 1950

Meeting called to order by President Herres, eleven o'clock A. M., Monday, August 27, 1928. Address of Welcome by Mr. T. S. Taliaferro, Jr. Address by Mr. William Redshaw, Chairman of the Rock Springs Chapter of the Institute. Paper, "The Effect of Mechanical Coal Mining on Mine Safety," by Lyman Fearn, State Mine Inspector, Wyoming. Paper, "Safety," F. C. Miller, Chief Chemist, Colorado Fuel & Iron Com¬pany, Trinidad, Colorado. Afternoon session, meeting called to order two P. M. On suggestion of Mr. William Littlejohn, the President appointed a special resolutions committee, consisting of Messrs. P. J. Quealy, R. L. Hair and William Littlejohn, to draft resolutions protesting against the granting of a franchise for piping natural gas into Salt Lake City, to be sent to the City Commissioners of Salt Lake City, with carbon copy to the Utilities Commission of Utah. The Committee submitted resolutions which, upon motion of Mr. Littlejohn, and seconded by Mr. Butler, were adopted and sent by telegraph to the Utilities Commission and the City Commissioners.

Jan 1, 1928

By Lloyd Garrison

The Garrison Automatic Domestic Stoker is a device intended primarily for residences and small apartments. In the development of the device com- [ ] mercial features have been given as much consideration as have engineering features. As a result of this consideration the stoker is well within the reach of the middle class buyer as regards price, while at the same time it possesses all of the features of comfort, economy and convenience which accompanies this type of stoker. The stoker is of the over feed type and uses the natural draft of the furnace. A 1/12 H.P., 1,800 R.P.M., motor drives a small worm gear unit through [ ] grooved pulley and rubber belt, effecting a speed reduction from 1,800 to 6 R.P.M. The gear shaft drives a slide situated in the bottom of the coal hopper that causes the coal to be deposited on a link belt chain which carries it through a trough and drops it on the grate. Use of a screw feed has been purposely avoided because of

Jan 1, 1925

I have sketches of the radiators, and on this sketch up in here (indicating) we show the line from the fan-exhaust steam from the fan, and the trip spray at the mouth of the mine, which is usually near the tipple, the set of radiators on each side of the entry, exhaust steam exhausting in by the radiators, the small atomizers which I mentioned, and the man sprinkling at the hose. There are times, when at different times we have a man sprinkling during the day time, when he is out of the way, and during the night, sprinkling on the motor roads. I will leave that print up here and let you look at it and if you have any questions you wish answered, Mr. McAllister and myself will be glad to answer them. (Applause.) PRESIDENT PRYDE: . I am going to ask Mr. Hair to leave the sketch on the wall. From the back part of the hall, it is hard to see what is there. The figures are very important. I think one member of this association will be glad to know the cost of water, Friend Littlejohn. MR. LITTLEJOHN: I don't know as I want to ask any questions. The only thing I' would say about the cost there, it is very close to that cost that we tabulated for the Utah Fuel Company at the Utah mines here some time ago. We have not tabulated lately. It may be a little over that at the present time if you take the. labor costs and the material. costs. As I remember, some time ago we did get up some figures and it was, as near as I can remember, exactly two cents per, ton for the labor and material. We haven't got the radiators, etc., that the C. F. & I. have in their mines there, probably due to the fact that we have no shortage of water. We have plenty of that there, and our system is absolutely nothing more nor less than pipe lines, hose and nozzles and the man at the end of the nozzle. PRESIDENT PRYDE: I would like to ask Mr. Hair about the cost of the steam. MR. HAIR: That steam we use there in exhausting, of course, is from the fan, and we have a back pressure valve set right here (indicating), from three to four and sometimes five pounds, and the exhaust from the fan was a five or six inch exhaust, and our exhaust into the mine is nothing less than eight inches, and is practically low back pressure you might say, and all those large radiators, that I spoke of, are heated by live steam, and these probably take a little more coal, but as to just what that cost is I couldn't say. As far as the exhaust steam is concerned, you might as well use it in the mine as discharge it outside. MR. HARRINGTON: Mr. Hair, I would like to ask, is this installation on an intake haulage-main haulage course? MR. HAIR: Yes, sir. MR. HARRINGTON: In the winter time, when it is, say between five or ten degrees below zero, how far into that haulage road does the fogging go? MR. HAIR: Well, that goes in half a mile, sometimes in 3,000 feet. MR. HARRINGTON: Wouldn't that interfere pretty seriously with the motor? MR. HAIR: To some extent, but I wouldn't say seriously enough to interefere with the production of coal. We have one mine we are working in two and three-quarters miles. Our mines are all pretty deep, and we don't find it objectionable. I don't believe that it interferes in the production of coal. I don't believe it makes any more difference between a real cold day in winter time than it does in the summer time. MR. HARRINGTON: I was down at Dawson, and in their mines they have an installation very much like Mr. Hair describes, but we went in there one night and stayed all night, getting a certain amount of data, and the fog was intense for-a full half mile; so intense that you could hardly see your hand in front of your face-see your hand that far (indicating) dis-

Jan 1, 1924

CHAIRMAN I. N. BAYLESS: Will you come to order, gentlemen? They told me that you had a very interesting meeting yesterday and a good time last night. Our program is rather long this morning, and I am not going to take up any of your time, as we got started a little late. I will ask Mr. Marchant to make a few announcements. (Announcements.) SECRETARY MARCHANT: I just noticed in this morning's paper a rather serious accident at Hobbs, New Mexico, in which George Kaseman, a former President of the Institute, and a loyal member ever since its organization, was killed. I think that this meeting should go on record and prepare a resolution of condolence, etc., and with your per- mission we will have the Committee on Resolutions do that. I assume that will be all right. CHAIRMAN BAYLESS: Our first paper and discussion this morning will be Education of the Miner, by Thomas Allen, Chief Coal Mine Inspector of Colorado. Mr. Allen.

Jan 1, 1938

PRESIDENT WHITESIDE: I am sure we are very grateful indeed for this very interesting talk that Mr. McClure has given us. If anyone has any questions to ask Mr. McClure I am sure he will be glad to answer them at this time. MR. WEITZEL: I want to ask Mr. McClure whether in the instance he described by-passing the drier, whether there was any rest period between the crusher and the furnace, whether the powdered coal that was not dry was allowed to rest in the pipe or was blown directly into combustion chambers. MR. McCLURE: Yes, it moved directly; there might have been some difference had we given it an opportunity to rest. We just had to get in and get out so as not to interfere with operations. MR. WEITZEL: Your idea is, even though you did use a high moisture lignite, you could store it under water if you eliminated surface moisture later. That is a new idea to me; I always had thought that you had to reduce the moisture down under 2 per cent, and to try to store it with anything more than that, any higher moisture, you would have to break the stuff loose again, as it gets so hard it won't move. MR. McCLURE: It might develop I am absolutely wrong; I am just saying what I observed, and I may have had some unusual condition, which I did not detect; something may actually develop which will make my statement of drying lignite entirely wrong. It was quite a surprise to me, surprise to every-

Jan 1, 1923

The Forty-Sixth Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining institute convened at the Hotel Colorado, Glenwood Springs, Colorado, June 19, 1950, at 10:00 a. m., G. E. Sorenson, President, presiding. PRESIDENT SORENSON: The meeting will come to order, gentlemen. I note from the program here this morning that you were supposed to have an address by the president. I can assure you, gentlemen, that the president is not going to make an address, so you don't need to squirm in your chairs. I do want to say it's certainly a pleasure to be here. I am sorry that I wasn't here last year. Apparently my absence lent consent, and I think it would be a good warning to every member of the organization to be here for all the meetings for your own protection! It's always a pleasure to be here and meet again with some of our old friends and meet a lot of new ones. It always interests me at these meetings to meet with the rugged individuals that operate the coal industry. They have to be rugged; they couldn't be any other type of men and live in it. I also know that it takes a good rugged man to fight this game nowadays. I feel that the men who operate the coal industry are fighting a battle against socialism. You all know we are the first industry they have their eyes on. If they take over our industry, they will take over everything else.

Jan 1, 1950

MR. ENZI: hank you very much. I'm sure there?s a lot of you out there just realizing that Rock Springs and Gillette is not one city. I'm sure there's a lot of you wondering why a person from a town who has the image in the national media that the town of Gillette has is talking to you about image. I had a person this morning ask me if Gillette wasn't the end of the world. The only response I can give is "no, but you can see it from there." We have been researched a lot and, I realize, we've been very lucky because I've observed that researchers cause cancer in rats. In fact a wonder drug is one that has no effect on mice. In fact I've been thinking of posting a sign in my office that would read "due to the large number of interviews by journalists who already have their articles written, we would most respectfully request that anyone wishing to insult the city of Gillette, please limit themselves to 3,000 words or 15 insults, whichever is shorter." I don't know if any of you saw the article in Playboy about three months ago on the city of Gillette. What you probably don't realize about that article is that that was an attempt by Playboy magazine to see if they couldn't change their image to a national municipal magazine. I think it's important to know Gillette is the frontier city, a pioneer city, it's a shopping center for northeast Wyoming and most importantly, we're the energy capital of the nation. We're on the threshold of the Powder River Basin and we will be the nation's energy solution. Besides coal, we're, already the heart of the state's leading oil producing area and we have vast uranium resources. But I, want to tell you the biggest resource that we have is, the people who have come to live in Gillette. You will find Gillette a busy, young, pulsating community. We're experiencing the excitement of growth. We're welcoming a higher percentage of newcomers than any other town in the nation. Yes, growth to us is exciting. Where else can you get ten years of experience in two years? We realize you can't maintain the status quo. Growth can be painful but not as painful as the alternative, recession and depression. For a little bit of background, we are now at 16,000 people and we have another 4,000 people who live on the outside but look like they live on the inside. The Census Bureau says that we have, 11,225 people but we have that many people in a traffic jam on the Douglas Highway in one day. I?ll , tell you about a few things happening in Gillette. I think it's very important to emphasize that I didn't , do these things; it's the youth and the energy of the community that has done these things. Right now the city of Gillette has 32 major projects underway. We have water for 50,000 people and we're seeking more water. The city in 1975 was 1 .8 square miles. Last year alone we annexed I square mile. We build 10 miles of paved streets a year. For the last 8 years we've doubled our parks' budget. I

Jan 1, 1982

The thirtieth regular meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute was called to order at 11: 20 o'clock A. M., Wednesday, June 3, 1931, President G. A. Kaseman presiding: PRESIDENT KASEMAN spoke in part as follows: I have in mind to say a few words of welcome to the coal operators, but I am afraid that the words I might have said would be hardly appropriate, because I believe the coal operators are in the minority today. It demonstrates to my mind something that has been running through it for some little time. When the hard times came on a year ago, we thought we were going to get over it rather lightly. I recall at this time a year ago we thought that the depression was about at an end. The National Administration from Washington told us we had reached bottom and things were going to perk up, and for a few weeks or maybe a month or more there was a sort of optimism throughout the country. I had been East, and when I re- turned to Albuquerque I said to my friends and associates that things were getting better in the East and that they would soon be better out here and we will not have felt the hard times very much. But I have learned differently since. I have learned that hard times are no respecter of communities or corporations, or persons, or activities, and that we all suffer alike. On that account we find that our Institute is suffering just the same as other activities, whether national, state, local, social, or what- ever it may be. Our attendance is light or, that account. We all know when times are hard we have to stay at home and watch things closer than when they are good. And when they are good we feel that the machine will run of its own momentum and in this way we can get away to see what is going on in the world. When times are hard we have to stay at home and look after everything from day to day and hour to hour.

Jan 1, 1931

By Geo. A. Murphy

MR. ARTHUR E. GIBSON (General Manager, Consumers Mutual Coal Company of Utah) : I suppose the reason I was called upon to read this paper was because I was at the mine for several years, but I have not been there for the past four years and the installation has been put in since I left. This article has been written by my successor-it follows: At the very urgent solicitation of your Secretary I have consented to prepare this paper descriptive of the spiralizing plant which is a part of the new steel tipple recently erected by the Spring Canyon Coal Company to serve its mines at Spring Canyon, Utah. I have been reluctant in giving this consent for two reasons: one of which is an excellent one, and the other isn't any good at all. First,, I find that it takes a long time to become familiar with the eccentricities of spirals-to get wise to their whims and peculiarities, and while this plant has been in operation for a number of months, something new seems to crop up nearly every time I see it, and -it would be impossible to describe all of these things even if I remembered them. The second reason is, purely personal. Among the many things I have learned by attending the sessions of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute is that if a man is not pretty sure of the ground he attempts to cover, he had better keep his mouth shut, because if he isn't right, he is dead sure to be called down by someone. However, as I will not attend the session, this feature will not hurt much, but it will make it necessary for someone else to read the paper and this will make it much better for those who are obliged to listen to it because I don't read English very well. To begin with I will say that what is said in this paper applies only to the plant under discussion as I have had no experience with any other plant. While spirals have been in use for quite a number of years, and there are some large plants in the East, their use has not been general, and I believe the plant at Spring Canyon is the only one in the United States west of the Mississippi River. The details of the plant were worked out by Mr. Thos. R. Stockett, General Manager of the Spring Can= yon Coal Company; it was manufactured by the Anthracite Separation Company of Hazelton, Penn., incorporated in the design and erected by the Link-Belt Company of Chicago, in connection with the balance of the tipple. It consists of five units. Each unit consists of a vertical wood column about 6 inches in diameter, and 9 feet 6 inches in height, around which the spiral is built. It is something like a triple screw conveyor, set vertically, with flights down which the coal and refuse travel by gravity in the process of separation. There are three of these flights, forming a sort of nest but about 7 inches apart, and they make 21 turns around the column in its length. These flights dip toward the column about 27 degrees; they have a uniform pitch downward of 31 degrees; they are 19 inches wide at the top (measured from the column) and taper gradually until they are about 9 inches at the bottom. They are not made with one continuous plate from top to bottom, but are made up of a number of plates. Some of these plates are slightly waved, others have small corrugations in them and still others are perforated with small holes, all of which are intended to accelerate or. retard the movement of the coal and refuse as they pass down, At intervals there are adjustable plates in the flights for the purpose of decreasing the maximum outside;

Jan 1, 1926

Good Morning. Thank you for your kind welcome, Lyle and thank you for having me here today. I spoke at the fall meeting of the Utah state RMCMI in Price and it's nice to be invited back. I can see by the program that you have two great days of interesting and informative meetings, including the mine rescue team exhibition and the safety recognition award presentations. As you all know, I am here standing in for Dave Lauriski, who is in China with Secretary of Labor Chao. As you also know, Utah is near and dear to his heart - and so is the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute. I want to assure you Dave would be here if it were at all possible. But it is my good fortune that I could come in his place. We have made great progress as an Agency thanks to the hard work and dedication of MSHA's employees. But we are always looking for new ways to solve problems and continue to send more miners home safe and healthy every day. And we have been working on some great ways to do that, including thinking strategically. During my presentation today I'm going to talk about where the Agency is in terms of our transformation to the MSHA of the 21st century, a little bit about how we got to be where we are, and then describe our roadmap to the future state. And I'm going to focus on the significance of our plan and the planning process to demonstrate the implication for the mining industry. Former President Dwight Eisenhower once said, "In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." Now I do like Ike, but I would have to take exception to the first part of the sentence. I have found plans and the planning process to be indispensable - the plan to give me a roadmap to my goal, and the process to focus me on the steps I must take to get there. We all know that having a strategic plan makes the difference between success and failure. We've seen it time and time again, in business, in our lives - and in government: Having a strategic plan is crucial to success. And the process of making the strategic plan is crucial to its success. Putting together a workable strategic plan - a good roadmap - that will successfully lead you to your goals requires a thorough, careful process that takes into account each factor that you may encounter along your way to success, as well as those with whom you will travel. In order to talk about our current plan I want to take you back to three years ago, when Dave Lauriski went to Washington to lead MSHA. He knew that change was in the air. Dave was confirmed as Assistant Secretary with 30-plus years experience in the coal mining industry, and more than 20 years of experience in dealing with

Jan 1, 2004