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By Robert T. Hill

The successful completion, January 10,1901, by Capt. A. F. Lucas, of a well, near Beaumont, Texas, whereby an enormous flow, estimated at '75,000 barrels a day, was obtained, opened a new oil-field in the United States, kindled a frenzy of exploitation and speculation, revolutionized the fuel industry of a large region, and brought gain to thousands of people. Even to-day, it is impossible to cast up the present results or to prognosticate the future influence of this event. It has caused the revival of attention in other localities where oil had been suspected, and exploration for oil throughout the Texas region. It has attracted notice to the mineral resources of the Texas region, and created an interest in the geological conditions of that great State. This State, which has increased in population and wealth, as recorded by every succeeding census, with leaps and bounds such as are exhibited by no other part of the Union, now stands fifth in population and first in productive wealth per capita. Its fields, pastures, forests and mines teem with raw material. The whole economic evolution of the State has gravitated toward a focal point where these products were available for the coming of the kiln, the machine and the factory. The only drawback to the prosperity of the State was the lack of an economic fuel, inferior coal costing an average of $5.00 per ton at the time of the Beaumont discovery. This

Jan 1, 1903

By Yang Tsang Woo

I will endeavor to describe the methods of silver-mining and smelting employed by the natives in Mongolia. Modern methods have been applied there, but with little success; and, since they are familiar to most members of the Institute, I will simply mention that the failure was due to the high price of coke used in smelting the ore in modern furnaces, and to the unsuitable mill-machinery employed for concentrating the galena, which is finely distributed in the ore. The Jehol silver-mines are situated about 45 miles NE. of Jehol, the capital of Mongolia. They embrace two mines, 5 miles apart,—the Ku Shan Tze mine and the Yen Tung Shan mine. They were first worked by natives 50 years ago, about the time when mining was so flourishing in other parts of the world,—for instance, in California and Australia. The upper part of the vein is galena mixed with iron-stone, and is 2 to 4 ft. thick. At lower levels the vein is composed of silver-lead ore running between quartz-porphyry walls. Limestone, talc and black shale, colored by graphite, are found in other parts of the mine. Crystalline limestone is found 1 mile NE. of Ku Shan Tze. Granite is encountered in the Yen Tung Shan mine. Mining.—The native method of working the mines is most primitive. The same method may have been employed a thousand years ago. A small inclined shaft, 4 ft. by 4 ft., is sunk in the vein-stuff where the appearances are most favorable. Another shaft is sunk 20 or 30 yds. away, for ventilation. The shaft follows the vein in a zigzag fashion in whatever direction the vein appears to be richest. Timber is used only in soft ground. Where the ground is hard, the roof is cut into an arch-form. In some places, instead of using ladders, steps are cut in the rock, just wide enough to hold one foot. The deepest native workings are 400 ft. below the

Jan 1, 1903

By Walter G. Perkins

As this particular product holds a place by itself, it seems desirable to give a paper dealing especially with it as a corollary to my paper entitled " The Litharge Process of Assaying Copper-Bearing Ores and Products, and the Method of Calculating Charges."* The process is first to convert the metallic copper into matte by the addition of sulphur, allowing the two elements to combine at the bottom of the crucible when heat is applied. The

Jan 1, 1903

By E. T. Dumble

Introduction..........914 I. Topography,........915 The Nueces Basin........915 The Coastal Slope...........918 Streams..........919 II. Geology..........921 Eocene..........923 Basal Beds .......923 Lignitic Stage........923 Atascosa Sections......924 International and Great Northern Sections .. . 928 Leona Sections.......929 Nueces Sections....929 Rio Grande Sections.....930 Lower Claiborne Stage......932 Marine Beds ........933 Atascosa Sections....... 933 International and Great Northern Sections .. . 934 Frio County Sections,.....935 Rio Grande Sections.....936 Yegua Clays........938 Atascosa Sections......938 Tilden Sections.......941 International and Great Northern Sections .. . 942 Rio Grande Sections.....942 Fayette Sands........945 Atascosa Sections......946 Tilden Sections......948 Rio Grande Sections.....950 Frio Clays........953 Atascosa-Frio Sections.....953 Tilden-San Diego Sections....955 Rio Grande Sections......955 Neocene ....966 Oakville Beds.......957 Lapara Beds,....... 987 Nueces Sections......958 Bartlett's Ford Sections.....959 Fort Merrill Section......963 Lapara Sections,.....964 Tilden-San Diego Section.....967 Lee Tiendas.......969

Jan 1, 1903

By Walter Harvey Weed

The enrichment of mineral-veins as a result of the migration of material from an upper oxidized or disintegrated part of a vein to a lower level, where it is redeposited, is now, I believe, quite generally accepted as one explanation of the occurrence of bonanzas in gold- and silver-veins, as well as that of bodies of high-grade ores in cupriferous deposits.* Vogt has called attention† to the fact that there are numerous examples of such rich shoots which are " of exclusively primary character, and dependent upon the laws which governed the original ore-deposition." To this I would add that there are also other examples which are neither of primary origin nor due to descending waters, but. result from a reopening of the veins and their penetration by ascending heated waters whose metallic contents are deposited by reaction with the primary pyrite (and possibly other minerals), forming "secondary" enrichments. My studies of the copper-veins of Butte, Montana, show: That the veins there are of several ages and systems; that the older primary quartz-pyrite veins were reopened by later movements, correlated with a period of volcanic activity; and that they were penetrated by hot alkaline waters carrying copper and arsenic in solution, which was deposited presumably by reaction with the pyrite of the original vein. The enormous development of the Butte deposits, attendant upon the extraction of nearly 10,000 tons of ore a day, has revealed many facts concerning the nature and distribution of the ores. Enargite, the copper sulpharsenate, formerly a relatively rare mineral, is now found to be the chief ore of some veins,

Jan 1, 1903

By Walter P. Jenney

In the limestone area of Tintic and other mining districts of the Great Basin region of Utah, it has been observed that surface-outcrops of ore occur but seldom, and are mainly confilled to points of relatively low elevation, where the veins cross some basin or ravine. Nowhere does a considerable body of ore outcrop on the tops or high up on the slopes of the hills. Mining operations, on the other hand, have shown that large and continuous ore-deposits frequently occur in depth in the limestone, beneath large masses of barren rock. Such orebodies, when followed upward in the lodes, are found to terminate at well-defined levels, without reaching the surface. Yet the minerals-bearing fissures themselves extend above the top of the ore, being often traceable, though barren of all valuable minerals, for hundreds of feet above the stopes in the mines, and even observable in outcrops at the surface. This abrupt cessation of the ore at a uniform horizon does not appear to be connected with any change in the countryrock adjacent to the lodes. The strata above and below this horizon seem to be in every way equally favorable to ore-deposition. Explorations above it have developed an open-fissured country, barren not only of ore, but also of indications that minerals bearing gold, silver, lead or copper were ever deposited in the strata at that elevation. The height reached by the ore, while usually constant throughout the length of a given lode, may vary in particular sections, from the operation of local causes. Each lode in a district has its own distinct horizon, above which the oredeposits do not extend. Where the ore-bodies are continuous

Jan 1, 1903

By William M. Courtis

While assaying some copper carbonate ore from the Frazer claims, Similakameen, B. C., I noticed that on parting the gold button a deep orange solution was formed. The button gave off pink bands in the nitric acid, which became deep orange at a short distance from it; and as it traveled over the surface of the porcelain dish, it left a deep orange track behind. As the button brightened in the cupel, it appeared to have a bronze color; but I have since found that when amarillium is in large excess of the gold, the button is a very dark gray. The button parted easily. To the orange solution I added a salt (NaCl) solution, shook in a silver testbottle, and filtered. With H2S I obtained a precipitate, which I supposed due to platinum. However, on further tests, it did

Jan 1, 1903

By T. A. Rickard

In a former paper* the writer has described the essential features of the general geology of the Cripple Creek region. In the present account it is intended to examine into the occurrence of the ores, the value of which has made this district the most important among existing American gold-fields. The production of Cripple Creek from its discovery, in 1891, to the close of 1901, has reached a valuation of fully $125,000,000. During the past year (1901) the output amounted to $17,285,470. In 1900 it was $18,174,681. The first discoveries, which led to the development of the district, were made in the spring of 1891, but it was not until 1893 that vigorous work was commenced. A great impetus was then given to the exploration for gold on account, of the sudden drop in the market-price of silver, caused by the closing of the Indian mints in the summer of that year. This induced an energetic population from the older silvermining camps of Colorado to go to the new gold-field, which was then beginning to attract attention. Prospecting, at first, was hindered by the comparative absence of outcrops, due to the fact that the surface of the hills is covered with a considerable thickness of shattered rock, resulting from the action of frost at a high altitude; but so much indiscriminate digging was done that a number of rich veins were uncovered, and this stimulated the search for others. The advanced condition of the mining industry of Colorado offered unusual facilities for exploration and reduction; progress was therefore rapid, with the result that the district soon achieved great prominence.

Jan 1, 1903

Jan 1, 1903

MR. Woo's succinct description of the mining and smelting of silver-lead in Mongolia, with the roasting-and-reduction process and cupellation, has much interest as a picture of methods that not only may have been in use, as he suggests, a thousand years ago, long before the existence of mining schools or chemical laboratories, but probably vary little, if at all, from the practice of prehistoric times, when King Priam's handsome silver vases, cups and bowls were formed. For it is highly improbable that such large objects were made from comparatively rare native silver, and the metal must have been smelted from ore, and most likely in great part from galena,, with cupellation of the lead. Dr. W. A. P. Martin, in his excellent book on the Lore of Cathay, points out that Chinese alchemy is over 2000 years old, antedating the European by at least six centuries; and he infers that the Chinese skill in metallurgy and many branches of practical chemistry owes its origin to " those early devotees of the experimental philosophy who passed their lives among the fumes of the alembic." Those alchemists, however, may have more likely derived some of their leading ideas from the mys terious, and at that time wholly unexplainable results observed in already very ancient metallurgical processes; in which, for example, certain stones were transmuted, as it were, into metals widely divergent in character from their ores, and even silver and gold were obtained from the most unlikely-looking mate rials. It is therefore, in any case, not improbable that the Chinese may have preceded western nations in the discovery of metallurgical methods. At all events, it is now evident that the Japanese acquired these arts from China, the former source of all their higher civilization. My own observation of old-fashioned silver-smelt ing at Hosokura, on the main island of Japan, and about 220

Jan 1, 1903

Jan 1, 1903

Gus C. Henning, New York City: In taking up the discussion of these specifications it is necessary that I give definitions of what I understand under the term " Specifications." There may be three kinds, viz.: (1) Specifications in general; (2) Standard Specifications; (3) Standard International Specifications. 1. A Specification is a document used in commerce which should clearly define the qualities of material to be supplied by the producer, the tests which shall be applied for their determination, and the methods which shall be applied for the purpose of determining that the entire product shall possess such qualities, properties and finish as are desired. The terms used in such document must be applied in accordance with their strict technical definitions as used by those most conversant with them, and the language should be of such accuracy that there can be but a single interpretation of each and every clause. A specification is a part of a contract, and should be legally perfect and accurate. Inaccuracy of definition and dic-

Jan 1, 1903

Willet G. Miller, Toronto, Canada (communication to the Secretary): In his interesting paper Mr. Lindgren says: " As to ultimate results, it would seem as if we should be justified in concluding, with Prof. Suess, that the gold-supply of the world will gradually decrease if no further important improvements are made in the processes for the extraction of this metal; but regarding events so far distant no predictions may safely be made." It seems to the writer that no very important improvements require to be made in order at least to keep up the present production for many years to come. In many parts of the world there are large deposits of auriferous material which can be worked if present conditions are slightly changed. In the territory occupied by the Archean protaxis of the Province of

Jan 1, 1903

Since I have had the pleasure of watching the development of this process very closely, I feel that I ought to say a few words on the subject, although I cannot add much to what Mr. Roe has already said. I wish, however, to bear witness to the hard work, persistence and skill which have been exercised during the past two years, and which have so well deserved the success attained. Those of us who remember the history of the past efforts in this line, such as the rotary puddlers, in which also some of us had a part, can easily appreciate the problems involved, and may well be skeptical as to the outcome. Such, at least, was my frame of mind when the process first came under my notice. Now, after having seen every heat, but three, of the many made, it really seems to me that a process and plant for the mechanical puddling of iron has at last been developed which is practical, economical and successful. Of course I do not mean by this that either the process or the machines are developed to their highest point, technically or economically, but that, in my opinion, these goals are in plain view, and that the difficulties which remain are such as will be overcome by developing the skill of the operator through practice ;

Jan 1, 1903

George Smith, Sydney, N. S. Wales (communication to the Secretary): The very interesting paper by Mr. Emmons on " The Secondary Enrichment of Ore-Deposits " has just come under my notice; and its reference to my own paper* on " The OreDeposits of the Australian Broken Hill Consols Mine "† is therefore only noted some two and a half years after its publi-

Jan 1, 1903

In traversing lately the Sierra Madre, west of Sail Pedro and Guanacevi, I estimated the topographic summit at several points, by aneroid barometer, at about 8,500 ft. Mr. Weed's measurements, 40 miles further north, are from 9,000 to 9,500 ft., and indicate the correctness of the impression I obtained at the time, namely, that the greatest movement in the elevation of the Sierra was between Guanacevi and Guadaloupe y Calvo. This is suggested also by the course of the headwaters of the Rio Conchas and of the Nazas, and by the relative corrasion of the branches of the two streams. Mr. Weed's statements as to the unevenness and great relief of the andesite floor underlying the later dacites and rhyolites are very interesting, and lead me to add that the floor of the andesite breccias and flows is uncovered for several square miles east of Guanacevi. This floor is of reddish, bluish and gray shales, lying horizontal or dipping slightly east. Their age is unknown; but from the interbedded occurrence of copper sulphides, I took it to be Triassic,

Jan 1, 1903

Professor Jenney has performed a notable service in presenting this summary of the steadily increasing body of observation on the presence of carbon in rocks of all kinds and its probable influence upon ore-deposition, and in formulating a mode of comparing directly the relative resistance of minerals to oxidation, as well as their reducing-power, and the protective action which minerals having higher reducing-powers exert in preventing the oxidation of associated minerals which possess relatively lower affinities for oxygen. I have had an opportunity of observing a vein which falls within the scope of his interesting discussion. The vein at Ku Shau Tzu, Mongolia, lies directly across a contact of limestone and overlying bituminous shales. Probably it occupies a compression-fissure. The shale has been reduced to such a condition of' non-coherence that much of it can be crushed in the hand, producing a handful of angular fragments resembling beech-nuts in shape and size. In the limestone the metals are principally in argentiferous galena with some pyrite and blende; but the latter two are very subordinate in quantity to the galena. In short, it is an every-day lead-vein in limestone, with siliceous limestone gangue. It is one of those veins in which the ore is not continuous, but consists of a band in the country-rock in which seams of lead sulphide begin at one wall and cross in a bent form, increasing in thickness, to the other wall, where they thin out and end. This may indicate torsional stress, but the shape of the lenses points to some other action. They often ran nearly parallel to the hanging-wall for a considerable distance and crossed the vein on a moderate angle, but turned sharply along the vein on approaching the foot-wall. The intermediate rock contains nodules, bunches and specks of ore, and the lenses vary exceedingly in size, shape and position in the vein.

Jan 1, 1903

David T. Day, Washington, D. C.: The paper of Mr. Adams is chiefly valuable because it emphasizes the ease with which petroleum can migrate in the earth's crust. Concerning this migration, I have little faith in the rôle of water as a carrier of gaseous or liquid hydrocarbon, suspended or mixed in the water in any way. My lack of faith is due to observation of

Jan 1, 1903

In Mr. Weed's interesting paper, frequent reference is made to the Cananea copper-deposits, which are said to have been so vigorously exploited that they produced 14,000,000 Ib. of copper in 1901. The ore-bodies which yielded this large quantity of metal are described as a product of contact-metamorphism, and in Mr. Weed's genetic classification of such deposits, they receive a place under the sub-heading, "Deposits impregnating and replacing beds of contact-zone."* They are considered by Mr. Weed to represent a special type under this head, and are further classified as: " l. Chalcopyrite deposits: (a) Pyrrhotite ores; (6) Magnetite ores, Cananea type." In condensing much information into a comparatively small space, the presentation of a subject may be so abbreviated as to detract from its clearness. The situation at La Cananea, considering its importance from an economic as well as scientific standpoint, may he worthy of more detailed description. As Mr. Weed rightly remarks, " structural differences are so important, and have SO marked a bearing, not alone on the theory of their genesis, hut also on the working of the deposits and a determination of their value as mines, that they merit a full discussion."† It is my present purpose: (1) to show that it is doubtful whether the copper of La Cananea is mined, except to a limited

Jan 1, 1903

By Charles V. Jenkins

The structure of steel, when rendered coarse by over-heating, is made fine by re-heating to a certain temperature, the determination of which has received much attention from eminent metallurgical authorities. Among these, I may particularly mention Prof. D. Tschernoff' [Chernoff], who, about thirty years ago, studied this question in connection with his investigations on the structure of steel in genera1. † Some years later, Mr. J. A. Brinell took up the inquiry, and arrived at many important conclusions, stated in his well-known rules on the treatment of steel. ‡ These two gentlemen, however, based their reasoning chiefly upon the aspect of fractures—a method which, though it affords valuable information, does not readily reveal the different steps by which a change in structure takes place. For further light on the subject, we owe much to more recent microscopic investigations, which have made us better acquainted with the internal structure of metals. Such an investigation, closely connected with the present subject, and made by Mr. John E. Stead a few years ago, was first published in 1898.6

Jan 1, 1903