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By Grainne A. Matthews

Jan 1, 2008

By L. C. Clare

In a meeting of this kind where everyone present is connected with or engaged in coal mining, and where each one is present with the set purpose of learning new thoughts or ideas, the subject of the saving of life by any method in the industry is a vitally interesting and important one. On the cost per ton basis, it mounts to a formidable figure especially so during these days of depression and stagnant, or no business. But entirely outside of the human side of the question, to lose lives would cost more than saving them. Your insurance under haphazard safety measures would mount, loss of time due to accidents would impair efficiency among employees and the breaking of the morale of the staff, due to criticism of lax methods would cost more than an efficient safety program. Taking it for granted that most of you are looking at the question from the viewpoint of a yearly or five-year cost sheet, and that at this time you are doing all that can be done without bringing a ruinous cost upon your companies, I can offer only one suggestion: Raise the quality of your safety, or lower the cost. In this meeting, there should be no question of standing still or retreating in the quality of safety, so I will amend the suggestion with "Raise the quality and lower the cost." We have learned that when the coal beds were forming, nature sealed them in with a strata of mud that the ages have turned to shale, sealing them effectively against the deteriorating influences of the air. Mudite is carrying out nature's plan of coal preservation to the inside of the coal mine. Text books teach us that a large proportion of the vegetation that forms our present coal beds grow on what might be termed mud, later falling and being buried practically where it grew by mud, then on being subjected to heat, pressure and time, was changed to coal. The mud being subjected to the same three forces forms our present shale stratas. Now if nature saw fit to use this solidified mud as a preservative through countless centuries, isn't it reasonable to expect that occasional coatings on the ribs and roofs of entries and rooms will aid materially in preserving our coal and coal dust? Nature took mud and formed it into shale; mudite takes the shale, reduces it into dust, adds water and makes a mud, applies it to the ribs, roofs and floors of the mine in a thin coating

Jan 1, 1925

By F. C. Miller

The briquetting of fuel is an industry centuries old and has followed the hammer and tongs method of making use of any by-product fuel by the simple process of sticking the mass together with anything that will stick. If fuel briquetting, as an industry, once in the lead over coal mining, had kept pace by introducing science, there would not at this time be the mad scramble to look up the fuel briquette family tree and accept every new method as fruit without the cultivation that makes fruit worth while. Cultivation of industry is a mass of evidence showing a tremendous expenditure of money for mistakes paving the way to success. Cultivation of the mining industry is practiced by nations and low temperature distillation and fuel briquetting will in the near future receive the same consideration. Fuel briquettes were used as a winter fuel in Ireland and Scotland before the discovery of America' or the introduction of coal as a fuel to replace briquettes in Ireland. This industry was practiced by the peasants who collected peat from the bogs and cut it into brick-shaped blocks, which were set up to dry in the sun and stored under cover for use or for sale. Demand for peat briquettes led to competition that resulted in a highly refined fuel. In some localities the peat was ground and purified from the earth by washing before placing in presses to squeeze out the excess moisture and form a block of peat about four inches thick. These blocks, after standing in the sun for a few weeks, were cut into briquettes about four inches square by twelve inches long and moved under cover where they remained until thoroughly dry. In this form peat makes an excellent fuel with considerable heat, small amount of smoke while burning, and tough enough to stand hauling in carts and boats without breakage. Slack from domestic coal, non-coking and anthracite, has until recently commanded a very low price and the attention of briquette men has centered on ways and means of preparing this class of fuel for the market in the form of briquettes. Industrial plants with automatic stokers have taken kindly to cheap slack or slack that was cheap because the price has been boosted to a figure where the cost of slack plus the cost of binder and operation makes fuel briquettes somewhat expensive. However, fuel briquettes are being turned out in commercial quantities to compete with prepared lump coal and the demand is in favor of the briquette man. Science has been called to aid the briquette and it is possible to purchase a complete coal briquetting plant that will turn out between four tons per hour and thirty tons per hour of briquettes at a calculated cost per ton to cover material and every item down to insurance on the plant. A few briquettes are being ' made with a mixture of- Portland cement and pulverized coal, where this class of briquette is cheap in the making, there is the increased amount of ash due to the cement to contend with and the briquette is not one that can compete with lump coal. Most binders have a fuel value, such as coal tar, pitch, asphalt residium, flour, glue and secret binders. Most briquettes are of an egg shape, weighing between one and one-half ounces and five ounces, pressed to form with a pressure varying between 1,000 pounds and 2,500 pounds per square inch. This' pressure, together with the binder, make a lump of fuel harder than most grades of soft coal. Most of the briquettes are free from pitch odor, and any tendency to leave a trace of the binder on the fingers, easy to handle, quick to, ignite, high in heat value and capable of indefinite storage without any change. Evaporative efficiency of briquetted fuel in stationary, marine and locomotive boilers has proved that a great many low-grade coals can be fired successfully in the briquetted form, where the same fuel without briquetting failed to give boiler rating.

Jan 1, 1923

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

By Geo. A. Brown

This paper was written from conditions existing in the Cumberland Mines of The Union Pacific Coal Co., with my impressions and cause of same. These mines are located on a branch line of the 0. S. L. R. R., about sixteen miles south of Kemmerer, Wyoming. The mines are the property of The Union Pacific Coal Company with headquarters at Rock Springs, Wyo. There are two mines, No. 1 and No. 2, located about two miles apart in a seam of coal averaging about 16 feet thick which is split with a parting of rock from 4 feet to G feet from the bottom, averaging from 4 inches to 5 feet thick, mostly of soft fire clay, with an average pitch of 21 degrees to the west. The lower coal below the fire clay band being of a soft nature, much softer than the coal above it. The cover or roof next to the coal is of a massive sandstone formation from 4 feet to 60 feet thick while the floor of the seam is of a soft fire clay as far down as has been prospected. These mines are also of a dry and dusty nature, they generate lots of fire damp and are subject to fires from numerous causes. These mines were opened up in 1900 with five openings each, Main Slope, North and South Manways and North and South Aircourses driven parallel directly on the pitch of the seam which is fairly regular, entries being turned North and South at right angles off the slope about 300 feet apart. The entries were driven double 10 feet wide with chain pillars from 20 feet to 30 feet thick. The main entries are used for haulage and main intake, back entries for return aircourses. Rooms are turned on 50-foot centers and 20 feet wide, directly on the pitch Galvanized sheet iron chutes are used in the rooms. The slopes were driven down in No. 1 mine about 4,000 feet, in No. 2 mine about 5,000 feet where the cover would be about 1,400 feet in No. 1 mine and about 1,700 feet in No. 2 mine approximately. When a point about 2,000 feet on the slope had been reached with cover, 600 or 700 feet squeezing became noticeable on the entries and room pillars with slight bumps which extended clear to the upper entries of the mines and continued to get worse as the mines got deeper and with more cover as no pillars had been removed at this time. It should be stated here that faulty ground was found on the south side of No. 2 mine and on the north side of No. 1 mine, in some places looking like a fault of a down throw, some places like a want and other places like an erosion. The latter theory seems to be correct from prospecting and drilling. The mining of entries and rooms became more difficult with more squeeze and bumps of increased pressure which closed entries and aircourses and finally caused the lower workings of the mine to be abandoned. It was then decided to open up the entries from the 6th up, or approximately half way up the slope. The opening of these entries was started with the intention of extracting pillar coal but considerable danger was met with for the entries .were squeezed tight and when they were disturbed, bumps and squeeze conditions had to be contended with, also gas and fires due to the continued grind on the pillars due to overhead pressure bringing on friction which caused innumerable fires to start in the bottom coal. Bumps being so extensive at times as to close up aircourses for 500 or 600 feet, also discharge timber, coal and rock from the rib of slope and entries for hundreds of feet, dislodging tracks and throwing mine cars around just as if an explosion had taken place, filling places with gas and throwing dust into the atmosphere so that you could cut it with a knife. It became necessary to discontinue the use of black powder and naked lights entirely as a safety precaution. Permissible Powder Monobel No. 5 and Wico Electric Safety Lamps were installed. All coal was shot off the solid whenever it was necessary to shoot. ' In opening up these entries it was found that practically all of the weight was centered on room pillars up to the first crosscut chain pillars and barrier pillars between top of rooms of entry below and the one above which averaged 30 feet thick and in all practically 120 feet of ground. The rooms were mostly open from the first crosscut up to the face which showed that the points mentioned had taken the weight. It was found impossible in some of these entries to drive double entries again as the bumps and squeeze made it impossible to maintain them. This made ventilation quite a problem, small booster fans and flexoid tubing being used for ventilation until one entry could be connected with the one above which has solved most of our ventilation problems so far.

Jan 1, 1924

The Wednesday morning session was opened by President John Reeves at 9:30 a.m. He thanked the various committees for the excellent work they did. He called on the Auditing Committee to give its report. Mr. Jack White reported that the Auditing Committee had properly checked the financial records of Mrs. Augusta Whiteside, Secretary-Treasurer, of this Institute and reports to the membership that these financial records are indeed accurate and in good order. We so sign our names to this. This Auditing Committee wishes to take this opportunity to commend and thank Mrs. Whiteside for her dedicated effort in keeping the financial records of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute in such excellent order. (See page 5 for printed Treasurer's Report) Mr. White asked for a motion to approve the records, it was made, seconded and approved. Mr. Meade Harker, Chairman of the Finance Committee, was asked to give his report. He stated that the Colorado contributors total was $630.00 and the Utah $39.0.00, making a grand total of $970.00.

Jan 1, 1970

By Gilbert Davis

MR. DAVIS: When the Secretary asked me to continue our accident experience in safety work at Dawson to cover the year just closed, I rather felt that he was asking 'a good deal, for we had said about everything that we could last year. I am not going to say very much, but in line with his request I have merely brought the figures up to date. I want to say, to start, that 1934 was, rather disappointing. It was the poorest year since 1930, as you will notice (indicates on diagram). This first column represents the accidents per thousand shifts worked. We cannot assign any real valid reason for the increase. We think we worked just as hard, but we are rather inclined to lay it onto the times; in other words, to lay it to the unrest and the changing conditions that are existent not only in this country but probably all over the world. We had twelve lost time accidents last year. As I explained last year, a lost time accident with us is an accident wherein the injured man is not able to return to his regular work, the next day-the day following the injury. So this represents (indicating) the lost time accidents per thousand shifts worked. We had one fatality in the twelve accidents which is reflected in the severity rates, which are also based upon thousand shifts worked instead of per million hours. The reason we are on the thousand shifts worked is be¬cause the Copper Branches of the Phelps-Dodge Corporation are all kept that way, and we are on the same basis for easy comparison.

Jan 1, 1935

President Heiner opened the final session of the Institute at 9:30 a.m. Frances Leonard read the report of the Auditing Committee. Motion made by Stan Shubart for acceptance of audit and approval. Seconded and carried. R. R. Williams of the Resolutions Committee presented the following resolutions to the, group for their approval: RESOLVED: That the members of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute, in convention assembled, hereby ratify and confirm all official actions of the Officers, the Executive Committee and other committees of the Institute between and including July 3, 1963 and July 1, 1964.

Jan 1, 1964

By J. J. Wilson

To explain in detail the manufacture of seamless pipe and tubes is something I venture to say that has never been done to a point entirely satisfactory. The manufacture of seamless tubes dates back to 1885, when Mannesmann Brothers invented the roll-piercing mill. Ten years later R. C. Stiefel invented the disc-piercer, which first came into general use in this country. At the present time the Mannesmann roll and the Stiefel disc-piercers are used, the Mannesmann rolls particularly for the larger size billets. Sizes produced at first were relatively small and the product was cold drawn to provide a smooth surface. The early uses of seamless material were chiefly for mechanical purposes, such as boiler tubes and bicycle tubing, and the latter for some years taking the heaviest tonnage. Improvements in the hot process were gradually made; the early Pilger type rolls were largely superseded by the two-high rolling mill for rolling out the tube after being pierced, the reeling machine for diagonal rolling, the sizing mill for giving exact outside diameter, and finally the sinking mill for reducing larger diameter tubes to smaller diameters.

Jan 1, 1932

By M .. K. Stewart

(Here follows descriptive movie.) CHAIRMAN KNOX: Thank you very much, Mr. Stewart, for this wonderful paper and picture. We are indebted to you. It certainly is the most interesting thing I have ever seen in connection with wire rope, except paying for it. I think there are a lot of questions that could be asked to bring out some points that we are not generally understanding of. Are there any questions at this time? I know Mr. Stewart will be glad to answer them. Come up to the front, Mr. Stewart. MR. STEWART: That's all right, thanks. CHAIRMAN KNOX: If there are any questions, let us have them. (No response.) Well, we will pass on to the next paper. CHAIRMAN KNOX: Our next paper will be "Self-Preservation, with Some Comments on Mechanical Loading," by Benedict Shubart and Charles Schloss.

Jan 1, 1935

By Andrew Franklin

The eightieth regular meeting and convention was called to order by the President, John T. Atkins, at 9:15 a.m. Monday, June 25, 1984 in the Colorado Ballroom of the Marriott's Mark Resort in Vail, Colorado. President Atkins welcomed the members and their guests to the convention and noted that the annual business meeting would be held Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. in the same room. A convention update was made by the Conven¬tion Liaison Officer, Loren V. Linville. This was followed with a program report by the Program Chairman, Doug Ingram. The chair then called on Clifford Barrett, Upper Colorado Regional Director of the Bureau of Rec¬lamation of the United States Department of the Interior. He presented the Bureau's Citizen Award to RMCMI former president Ira E. McKeever for his outstanding contributions to the joint private/ Federal effort and the open planning process for AQUATRAIN. According to Barrett, "from 1981 to early 1984, McKeever led private industry work in the AQUATRAIN project, a proposal for a 1,400 mile long pipeline system. AQUATRAIN was conceived as a possible alternative to solve the government's problem of rising salinity levels in the Colorado river, as well as the private sector's need for a more economical coal transport method. The Citizen Award cites McKeever's efforts in developing a model for future cooperative ventures between government and industry that can benefit the nation." Following this presentation, the formal program of the 80th meeting and convention began with the president, John Atkins, introducing the convention kickoff speaker, Andrew Franklin, President of Nerco Mining Co., Inc., followed by the convention keynote speaker, Dr. Margaret N. Maxey of the University of Texas. These speeches are printed in this Proceedings together with those of all other convention speakers. I'm Andrew Franklin, President of Nerco Min¬ing Company, and I'm delighted to be here to kick off the annual convention of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute. This has always been a very special convention in my eyes and I'm sure this year's will be no exception. I am also here to share my thoughts on the western coal industry and how we're all affected - for good and bad - by public policy decisions. Although the title of my talk is "Western Coal: An Industry Under Siege," I believe a more accurate title might be "Western Coal: The Pit and The Pendulum," because of the wide swings in public policy and coal development in the past 15 years which have cut a zigzag path for growth over this period. As one of the nation's largest coal producers, Nerco is well aware of the problems facing western coal production. Nerco Mining Company is the western coal mining subsidiary of Nerco Inc. We have been "in coal" for more than 25 years through our parent company, Pacific Power & Light. To state my conclusion at the outset, I feel it's extremely important that consistency and common sense should guide our national policy for the development of valuable energy resources. In particu¬lar, we must reduce the wide swings in government policy and activities which have affected energy development. In short, we must decide what kind of game we're playing so that the "players" and the "referees" can keep their eyes on the "ball." Business today faces two main types of uncertainty market uncertainty and public policy uncertainty. As businessmen, we expect and are used to facing the familiar challenges and uncertainties of the market in which we operate. Over the past 10 years, the market has appeared to be bullish on coal. But the facts make our future less rosy. Last year, western coal producers faced over 50 million

Jan 1, 1984

By J. J. Craron

MR. J. J. CRARON: If Ross Weber rings that bell of his, I think I have a few secrets on him that I will tell. It is not such a long time ago when the sales and executive departments of the coal industry were constantly urging the operating department to increase their output, and this cry for increased production resulted in vast development work and increased capacity to the point where the operating departments are today in position to produce coal upon sudden demand far in excess of the ability of their sales departments to dispose of it. So today our ability to produce coal is away ahead of our ability to market it. There are many reasons, of course, for this condition. First, the present economic situation, which has prevented even a normal consumption of coal. Secondly, the over-development and production of every commodity and industry as the result of war time and post-war time prosperity. Thirdly, the inroads made by competitive fields, particularly oil and gas, because of the desire of the public for automatic heat.

Jan 1, 1934

The 75th Regular Meeting of The Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute convened at The Mark Conference Center, Lionshead Village, Vail, Colorado, and was in session at 10:00 a.m. Past President, Shirl C. McArthur, President and General Manager, American Coal Company, Huntington, Utah, called the meeting to order. The membership was asked to stand and pledge allegiance to the flag. He introduced President Robert E. Murray, President, Western Division and Subsidiary Companies, The North American Coal Corporation, Bismarck, North Dakota. A biographical sketch follows: Since 1974, Mr. Murray has been President of the Western Division of The North American Coal Corporation, as well as President of The Falkirk Mining Company and The Coteau Properties Company, wholly-owned subsidiaries of North American. Previously, Mr. Murray, who has been associated with North American for twenty- three years, served as Vice President-Operations, Vice President - Eastern Division, and Assistant to the President of the Company. In these positions, he was responsible for North American operations in Pennsylvania, North Dakota and Utah.

Jan 1, 1979

PRESIDENT MOSES: I thank you, Mr. Emrick. Mr. Shubart would like to supplement your paper with another article. SECRETARY SHUBART: My paper really should not supplement Mr. Emrick's paper, because I secured some data from him, I knew Mr. Emrick had had a great deal of experience in shearing and I thought he could give you some useful data. (Here Mr. Shubart read the following:) "For the past two years, there has been considerable discussion among coal mining men concerning the advantages of a shearing cut in addition to the undercut, in mine work. We have had a number of requests for information on sheared coal. We were asked questions like these: What percentage increase in lump can be obtained from sheared coal? What has been the experience of mine men who have employed the shearing cut? Is the shearing cut a means of increasing the lump content? If so, is it increased to such an extent as to warrant the installation of shearing machines? Upon investigation it was found that no one could give us any definite information on the subject as no one had weighed separately the grades of coal produced from' the shearing cut. With a view of getting this information first-hand, the Goodman Manufacturing Company built up a shearing machine to be used in experimental work only. The officials of the Troy Coal Company were eager to share in the expense of obtaining this information, so that in May of this year we shipped to their mines our first type 319 shearing machine. The Troy Coal Company operates a mine at Troy, Illinois, in the No. 6 seam and produces about 275 tons daily. The coal seam averages five and one-half feet in thickness. Previous to the arrival of the shearing machine the coal was undercut six feet deep by a' Goodman Shortwall Machine. To break down the coal required two shots in the entries and three in the rooms. The percentage of lump measured over two-inch screens, averaged 58.2 per cent. The conditions of the mine were very favorable for obtaining accurate weights on the amount of lump and slack coal run over the shaker screens. The shearing machine easily cut the entire tonnage of the mine so that all coal dumped into the railroad cars had been produced from a shearing cut, in addition to an undercut. Accurate records were kept of the railroad weights and front this data the percentages of lump and slack were computed. During the month of June the percentage of lump produced over two-inch shaker screens was 69.9 per cent. This result demonstrated that the introduction of the shearing cut had increased the percentage of lump twenty per cent. The entries were driven ten feet wide and the rooms thirty feet wide The shearing cut was made near the center of the face in all places. A hole was drilled in each rib and the coal shot down with one-half the powder required when the places had been undercut only. The coal was broken down to the back of the cut so that very little pick work was necessary to load it out. The benefits derived from the shearing cut were as follows: 1. Increased percentage of lump, thus increasing the average price of coal per ton. 2. Preservation of a tender top due to the decreased amount of explosive used. 3. Facilitated handling of coal by the miner thus increasing the tonnage per man. 4. Eliminated coal yardage in entries and crosscuts of ten feet or less in width for the reason that the shearing cut provides a loose end from which to shoot the coal. This applies to the union fields only, as the non-union mines do not pay for coal yardage. Based on a price of $2.50 for lump coal and $1.25 for slack coal, the average price per ton was increased

Jan 1, 1926

The Wednesday morning session was called to order by President Geiger at 9:30 a.m. He asked Stan Shubart to conduct the meeting. Stan thanked Loren Linville and Bill Grant for the excellent job they did in their assignments. He called on John Schmidt, Chairman of the Auditing Committee, to report on the financial statement of the treasurer. Mr. Schmidt read the data and asked for its approval. A motion was made, seconded and approved. Stan called on Joseph Berta, Chairman of the Resolutions Committee, who submitted the following resolutions: (1) RESOLVED: Whereas, in the year since the last convention of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute, the Institute and the coal mining industry generally have suffered the loss through death of the services of: Clement Audin, Jr. C. Herbert Clendenin Donald Haske William H. Hays M. J. Keenan Fred W. Koelling James Mecca Neil Robinson C. M. Shott

Jan 1, 1974

By James F. Howe

Modern civilization is centered around a small group of essential occupations, the three principal ones which are agriculture, mining and manufacturing. Agriculture might be called the most important of the three, as it has to do directly with the supply of food for the human race. Mining, however, is certainly next in importance, as it furnishes the supply of fuel and many of the raw materials used in manufacturing. Without mining, modern machinery and many industrial operations would be impossible. Mining takes advantage of the, natural resources in fuel and minerals that lie underneath the surface of mother earth, and while at times some of these metals are hard to find and mines come and go, mining must continue to increase. Mining is no longer a haphazard proposition but one calling for careful study and complete plans of operation for years to come. The shafts, power houses, rock dump crusher, concentrator, and other machinery must be located advantageously in order to enable owners to make a profit. Many tons of rock or mineral must be mined frequently to get one ton of concentrated metallic ore or metal itself. Economy in mining is just as essential as it is in manufacturing. The mining engineer of today is called upon to utilize every branch of engineering, and not only, is a wide: range of knowledge required, but ingenuity to meet the unusual conditions which are constantly arising from week to week. On account of the wide variety of information required by the mining engineer, some things with which he is in almost daily contact may be passed over with only a small amount of attention, provided everything is going well, in order that time and attention may be focused on what might be termed the more important features of mining operations. Because competition has become keener than ever, owing to overproduction at times of certain minerals, it becomes a matter of first, importance to understand as far as possible the factors which enter into the cost of production of any mineral which may be mined. In such times of overproduction, the high cost mine is forced to close down while the low cost mine may, if desired, be kept running constantly. In keeping a cost record, wire rope on account of its high first cost 19 coming into the lime light, and a comparison of records of one mine with another is now frequently made in order to see whether the rope service is satisfactory or not. Every rope maker, on the other hand, is interested in seeing that the rope which he produces gives the maximum possible return for the money invested. Modern mining owes much of its success to the use of wire rope for hoisting materials from beneath the surface of the ground. Deep mining would be impossible without the use of wire rope as a means of hoisting. A study, therefore, of rope problems in mining work and a discussion of the points which are beneficial to maximum life will enable the mining engineer, manager, or superintendent to keep his costs down to the minimum while at the same time he provides a suitable and sufficient safety factor for operations at all times. Mining might be defined as the extraction of coal, metallic ores, or minerals from below the surface of the ground. This definition does not cover what is known as, open pit operations or quarrying but covers the

Jan 1, 1922

By A. W. Dickinson

Since the day when one of the most progressive of our flat-head for- bears used a pry pole to loosen large rocks to crash upon the head of his, enemy, thereafter making notes of his performance on tablets of stone, the arts of mechanicalization have developed and progressed to the benefit of mankind. In the early coal pits of England the crudest of tools were wielded in the most slavish of toil to win a very small amount of product. In our own country it is but a few years since coal was hewn by negro slaves in the mines of the southland. The past thirty years have brought the use of the mining machine, power drill and locomotive, and we now stand on the brink of the coal mining era that will change the toiler of the mines into a skilled mechanic and render far more safe the winning of the fuel necessary to the nation's need. The ingenuity of our citizens has made it imperative that coal be produced at a lesser cost. Vast supplies of fuel oil have been developed; enormous resources in water power are turning the wheels of many mills and, most commendable but distressing to the coa.1 producers, the high price of coal has resulted in efforts and accomplishment in fuel economies unheard of a short five years ago. The railroads of the United States alone in 1924 accomplished more hauling with $30,000,000 less in coal bills than in 1923. The loading of coal by machines has been under investigation and trial for some time past and in an effort to have its men informed of the practice of the eastern coal fields, The Union Pacific Coal Company sent the writer through a number of states to view as many operations as possible. Notes were taken of machines and processes seen and time was spent with engineers of the various coal companies; also with the United States Bureau of Mines Engineers, particularly Mr. Edwin H. Johnson, who devoted one year to the most careful study of the mechanical loading of coal. The writer wishes, at this time, to acknowledge the helpfulness of the information acquired through contact with Mr. Johnson.

Jan 1, 1925

By William Perry Pendley

Let us go back in time, back to when a Navy veteran from the South was President of the United States, a man from the Rocky Mountain West was Secretary of the Interior and a leading environmentalist was head of the EPA; and there followed what many perceived of as a war on the West-on our water, on our timber, on our oil and gas and mineral exploration, and on our small communities. It's easy to think that I'm talking about the administration of James Earl Carter, III of Georgia, but I'm not. I'm talking about this administration, the administration of George Herman Walker Bush of Texas. I say that as a life-long Republican who never voted for a Democrat and who worked hard to put George Bush in the Oval Office. Many of us wondered, in 1988, what Vice President George Bush meant when he said; "I am an environmentalist." Well, now we know. In his State of the Union address, which was otherwise lacking in specific detail, George Bush said two very specific

Jan 1, 1990

The Wednesday morning session was opened by President Max Robb at 9:30 a.m. He thanked the various committees, speakers and all participants in making the 67th meeting a success. He called on David M. Lane, Chairman of the Auditing Committee, to give his report. He read the report and asked for a motion to approve it. Motion was made, seconded and approved. (See Treasurer's Report on page 5.) Walter E. Duncan, Chairman of the Resolutions Committee, gave his report, which follows: RESOLVED: WHEREAS, since the last convention of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute, the Institute and the Coal Mining Industry generally has suffered the loss through death of the services and fellowship of: Kenneth G. Eaton Frank Field C. M. McConnell George H. Smith Glen E. Sorensen Harry Tibbs Carl H. Zietz NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That this Institute does give recognition to the contribution of these outstanding men to the Coal Industry and to the programs and objectives of the Institute, in recognition of which a copy of this Resolution shall be included in the permanent minutes of the organization and transmitted to their respective families.

Jan 1, 1971

PRESIDENT BOTTOMLEY: Gentlemen, the next order of business, if you wish to discuss it is Mechanical Loading. We still have a little time left that could be devoted to that subject, and the meeting will be open now for that purpose. Where is Mr. Edge- worth? J. E. EDGEWORTH (Foreman, Union Pacific Coal Company, Rock Springs, Wyoming): Here. PRESIDENT BOTTOMLEY: Yon start the ball rolling. Tell us what you are doing in the Rock Springs District, on the mechanical loading. SECRETARY SHURART Mr. Edgeworth is the man at the face handling the coal. He never sees the light of day these late winter mornings.

Jan 1, 1927