Bulletin 60 Hydraulic Mine Filling

This report is issued by the Bureau of Mines as one of a series dealing with methods of increasing safety and efficiency in mining operations. It is intended purely as a preliminary statement of the present development of hydraulic mine filling as conducted in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania. A discussion of different methods, their variations and modifications, as well as their probable extension as a result of amplified tests of the various roof-supporting materials, will be presented in a future bulletin. The history of the development of the anthracite-mining industry, from the time when the Indian tribes in the Wyoming and Lacka- wanna Valleys first discovered the existence of "stone coal," on through subsequent events-the purchase of lands containing enor- mous deposits of coal for insignificant sums of money, the develop- ment of the first mine, the formation of the first company, the build- ing of canals and railroads-up to the present time when the industry has become of such tremendous importance to the prosperity of north- eastern Pennsylvania and of the Nation itself, is intersprinkled with romance, tragedy, and pathos. The great economic lessons to be learned from a study of mining operations in the anthracite region suggest to the person interested in the efficient utilization of natural resources the need of applying such methods as will make possible the conservation to posterity of this invaluable deposit of coal that has resulted from the operation of the processes of nature during probably hundreds of millions of years. It is the opinion of many prominent mining men familiar with mining operations in the United States and abroad that under certain conditions the most practical way of preventing loss of unmined coal in pillars and of protecting surface property from damage by sub- sidence is by filling the workings with refuse material. This bulletin aims to present a general discussion of hydraulic mine filling, its origin, development, and practicability in anthracite mining.