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By Gilbert Cady

EXTENSIVE Sampling of coal in Illinois during the past 10 or 12 years by the State Geological Survey, in cooperation with various organizations, such as the U. S. Bureau of Mines, the University of Illinois, and the Illinois Cooperative Mining Investigations, has made possible the delineation of two areas of low-sulfur coal in the southern part of Illinois. The sulfur content is less than 1.25 per cent., so that, if otherwise suitable, these coals can be employed for metallurgical uses and for the manufacture of water-gas and retort gas. One of these areas is small and lies in Jack-son County, near Murphysboro, the other is much larger and includes a large part of the famous Franklin County field. A small area of No. 2, or Murphysboro, coal has been worked for many years near the town of Murphysboro, Jackson County, Ill. In two mines, at least, the coal has a sulfur content of less than 1.25 per cent. It is doubtful, however, whether this field will ever be a source of large tonnage as the total area underlain by low-sulfur coal in workable thickness is probably less than 15 sq. mi. (24.14 sq. km.), and a large part of it has already been worked out. The location of the area of low-sulfur coal in the Franklin County field is shown in the accompanying map. The small area underlain by the Murphysboro low-sulfur coal is shown near the town of that name in the central part of Jackson County. The larger area lies in the west side of Franklin County, extending also about 6 mi. (9.65 km.) south into Williamson County, about 4 mi. (6.43 km.) west into northern Jackson and western Perry County, and northward an undetermined distance into Jefferson County. All but the northern limit of the area is fairly well defined by sampling in numerous mines. The inner cross-lined area is underlain by coal having less than 1 per cent. sulfur, the outer boundary surrounding the area Underlain by coal having less than 1.25 per cent, sulfur.

Jan 7, 1919

By Walter F. Pond, Kendall E. Born

Production of crude oil in Tennessee during 1935 approximated 20,000 bbl., an increase of about 5000 bbl. over 1934. The total production for the state is an estimate, since the only definite figures available are those for Scott and Morgan counties, where 12,377 bbl. were marketed during 1935, an increase of 4305 bbl. over the preceding year. The oil fields of Scott and Morgan counties are near the eastern margin of the Cumberland Plateau where Pennsylvanian sediments rest uncon-formably upon the Mississippian. Near Glenmary, in Scott County, the production is from the middle Mississippian, probably near the top of the St. Louis limestone. Accumulation is due to a low, east-west anticline which has been cut by a fault. This field is now 20 years old and only a few wells are pumped at present. Oil was Struck along Boone Camp Creek in Morgan County in 1924 and there has been small production since that time. The oil comes from the middle of the Fort Payne formation of lower Mississippian age at a depth of 1400 ft. Geologic work in the area has shown that a terrace and porosity conditions in the Fort Payne formation account for the accumulation. The production figures on a number of small producing wells in Clay and Overton counties are not available. As pointed out by Glenn1, the installation of small local skimming or topping plants in the fields has curtailed the shipment of crude oil out of the state and as a result it has been impossible to secure accurate production figures in these counties. The operators, in most cases, are reluctant to give information, and there is no state law requiring them to do so. Based upon information available to the writers, it is believed that between 7000 and 8000 bbl. is a fair estimate of the production in Clay and Overton counties during 1935. More than 500 wells have been drilled in Clay County, the majority of which were drilled east of Cumberland River. Some eight small oil fields have been developed in the county within the past 12 years, a

Jan 1, 1936

By B. C. Craft

Development and exploratory work in Mississippi during 1934 was rather active, resulting in the expansion of the proven area and the drilling of a number of important wildcat wells. Mississippi showed a decrease in drilling operations during 1934. There were 36 completions from 18 counties during this period compared with 58 completions from 22 counties during 1933. There was a considerable decrease in activity in the Jackson gas field in Hinds and Rankin counties with only 9 completions, resulting in 8 gas wells and 1 dry hole compared with 17 gas wells, 2 oil wells and 7 dry holes during 1933. Leasing and geophysical work was reported from several sections of Mississippi last year. Extensive exploration and drilling were carried on in Lamar, Hancock, Pearl River, Greene and Stone counties and on the flanks of the Jackson anticline. Exploration will be continued in these areas during 1935. Four important wildcats were completed during 1934, all of which were reported as being structurally high, but without having important shows of oil or gas. These tests were: Hix and Germany's, J. J. Newman Lumber Co. No. 1, sec. 21-4N.-15W., Lamar County, abandoned at 3520 it. in the Wilcox; United Gas Public Service Company's Davis No. 1, sec. 30-1N.-5W., Greene County, abandoned at 7439 ft.; Gulf Refining Company's May L. Williams No. 1, sec. 33-5S.-17W., Pearl River County, abandoned at 4800 ft.; and Clarke County Oil Company's S. B. Kirkland No. 1, sec. 10-2 N.-16E., abandoned at 4002 ft. in the Eutaw. Another interesting wildcat was Gulf Refining Company's Dantzler Lumber Co. No. 6, sec. 22-4S.-llW., Stone County, abandoned at 7700 ft. (according to reports below the Selma chalk). A total of 114 of the 132 gas wells completed in the Jackson gas field are still producing and have a combined open-flow capacity of 4,145,-696,000 cu. ft. Four of the abandoned gas producers were never connected to the lines. The open-flow capacity of three wells in the Amory field is approximately 1,000,000 cu. ft. Producing against a line pressure of 50 lb., the demand during December greatly exceeded the capacity.

Jan 1, 1935

By Kendall E. Born, Walter F. Pond

Production of crude oil in Tennessee during 1935 approximated 20,000 bbl., an increase of about 5000 bbl. over 1934. The total production for the state is an estimate, since the only definite figures available are those for Scott and Morgan counties, where 12,377 bbl. were marketed during 1935, an increase of 4305 bbl. over the preceding year. The oil fields of Scott and Morgan counties are near the eastern margin of the Cumberland Plateau where Pennsylvanian sediments rest uncon-formably upon the Mississippian. Near Glenmary, in Scott County, the production is from the middle Mississippian, probably near the top of the St. Louis limestone. Accumulation is due to a low, east-west anticline which has been cut by a fault. This field is now 20 years old and only a few wells are pumped at present. Oil was Struck along Boone Camp Creek in Morgan County in 1924 and there has been small production since that time. The oil comes from the middle of the Fort Payne formation of lower Mississippian age at a depth of 1400 ft. Geologic work in the area has shown that a terrace and porosity conditions in the Fort Payne formation account for the accumulation. The production figures on a number of small producing wells in Clay and Overton counties are not available. As pointed out by Glenn1, the installation of small local skimming or topping plants in the fields has curtailed the shipment of crude oil out of the state and as a result it has been impossible to secure accurate production figures in these counties. The operators, in most cases, are reluctant to give information, and there is no state law requiring them to do so. Based upon information available to the writers, it is believed that between 7000 and 8000 bbl. is a fair estimate of the production in Clay and Overton counties during 1935. More than 500 wells have been drilled in Clay County, the majority of which were drilled east of Cumberland River. Some eight small oil fields have been developed in the county within the past 12 years, a

Jan 1, 1936

By Alfred H. Bell

The year 1937 has been outstanding in the history of the Illinois oil industry. During the course of the year the state's daily production has been trebled, increasing from 12,000 bbl. per day at the beginning to 37,000 bbl. per day at the end, and the year's total, 7,426,000 bbl. is 66 per cent above the previous year's production of 4,475,000 bbl. The production in January was 368,000 bbl.; in December it was 1,085,000. Production from the old fields increased slightly. Most of the new production is from fields in the central part of the Illinois Basin, an area that for many years was considered unfavorable to the occurrence of oil and gas. The principal producing horizon of the new fields is the McClosky "sand," an oolitic limestone in the Ste. Genevieve formation of lower Mississippian age. Although development has not yet gone far enough to permit accurate estimates of oil reserves in the new fields, it is believed that they are of the order of 100,000,000 barrels. The following are the oil fields discovered in 1937 listed in order of amount of daily production at the end of the year; Noble (Richland County), Clay City, including Southeast Clay City (Clay and Wayne counties), Patoka (Marion County), New Centralia (Clinton County), Olney (Richland County), Cisne (Wayne County),.Beecher City (Fayette County), and Rinard (Wayne County). One gas field, the Russellville, in Lawrence County, was discovered in 1937. For locations of the new fields see Fig. 1. A generalized geologic column for Illinois, showing producing horizons in the new fields, is given in Fig. 2. The total productive area of the new fields at the end of 1937 was 1712 acres, in which 230 wells were producing. Thisrty-five dry holes were drilled within 1/4 mile of producing wells. At the end of the year there were 19 drilling wells, 28 rigs standing, 18 rigging up and 4 new locations in these fields. In the whole state 447 wells were completed, of which 284 were oil producers and three gas producers. Total initial daily production of

Jan 1, 1938

By D. M. Waldorf

Steam permeability measurements have been made in the laboratory on several samples of natural reservoir materials. The steam temperatures and pressures were selected to simulate conditions which might exist in a reservoir during the injection of steam. For each sample tested, the experimental permeability to superheated steam was comparable to that measured with air and no evidence of plugging was detected. Some samples were exposed to water at various temperatures and plugging was found to occur in materials which contained significant quantities of monmorillonite clay. Temperature had little effect on the degree of plug-ning between 75 and 325 F. The measured pemeabilities tended to increase slightly with temperature, but the changes were small compared with the initial loss of per~neability on wetting. Sequential pemzeability measurements were made on two samples using air, water, steam, water and air, in that order. Both samples were water-sensitive and plugged extensively after the initial injection of water. Upon exposure to superheated steatm the samples dehydrated and their permenbilities to superheated steam were comparable to those initially measured with air. The remaining measuretnetzts with water and air confirmed that the water plugging was reversible and that the samples were not seriorrsly damaged during the tests. INTRODUCTION The swelling of water-sensitive clays during water floods has long been recognized as a potential source of reservoir damage. The recent extensive application of steam injection and stimulation has compounded this problem since both hot water and steam (as well as fresh water at reservoir temperatures) are, at sume time, in contact with the producing zone adjacent to the bore of a steam injection well. The purpose of this paper is to present data which compare the sensitivity of some natural sedimentary rock samples to water at various temperatures, and to super-heated steam. Some properties of montmorillonite clay are briefly reviewed, and comparisons are drawn between empirical data and the predicted behavior of the montmorillonite known to be present in the samples. PROPERTIES OF MONTMORILLONIT E CLAY Water initially adsorbs on dry N a -montmorillonite clay in discrete layers in the interlaminar space between clal platelets. The platelet spacing, which is 9.6 A (angstroms) for a dehydrated clay, has been observed to expand in discrete steps to 12.4, 15.5, 18.4 and 21.4 A spacings, indicating the formation of four discrete layers of regularly oriented water molecules.' The first two layers are easily formed by hydrating a dry sample to equilibrium in an atmosphere with carefully controlled humidity. The formation of the higher layers is more difficult. The usual X-ray diffraction patterns of the more highly hydrated samples indicate a gradual increase in the average spacing betwcen 15.5 and 19.2 A, followed by a discontinuous expansion to 31 A when the weight ratio of water to dry clay is between 0.5 and 1.2.' Platelet expansion above 31 A proceeds monotonically as the moisture is increased and no regular arrangement of the platelets ib observed. Water-sensitivity in sedimentary rocks is usually associated with Na-montmorillonite clay when it is in the noncrystal-line state. Mering3 found that the average lattice spacing of sodium montmorillonite hydrated at 68 F and 70 per cent relative humidity was 15.5 A, and that the spacing, at 92 per cent humidity was 16.5 A. The water adsorbed at the higher humidity has the same free energy as liquid water at 65.6 F. Kolaian and Low' used a tensiometer to measure the thermodynamic properties of water in diffuse suspensions of montmorillonite clays relative to pure water. They observed that water in suspensions as dilute as 6 per cent clay became partially oriented when left undisturbed. The bonding associated with this orientation was not extensive because the free energy difference between the water in suspension and pure water was only a few millicalories per mole. They also found that the measured free energy difference decreased rapidly with temperature and became negligible above 100 F. This evidence indicates that montmorillonites contained in sedimentary rocks would dehydrate to a crystalline structure when exposed to superheated steam, and that the rock permeability measured with steam would be equivalent to that measured with air. The effect of elevated temperatures on the swelline of montmorillonite clays in aqueous suspensions has not been investigated. The Gouy-Chapman diffuse-ion-layer theory has been used to predict the swelling pressure of clay suspensions in dilute salt solutions at room temperature with reasonable success. theory also correctly predicts the direction of the thermal response of Na-mont-morillonite swelling pressures in dilute salt suspensions, 9 Over the temperature range of 33 to 68 F, an increase in

Jan 1, 1966

In the history of American mining, so far as I know, there is no cleaner, brighter, or more completely successful mining adventure than that of the United Verde Extension.* It deserves to be placed on record here. The mine is at Jerome, 25 miles northeast of Prescott, in Yavapai county, Arizona. For 30 years before the U.V.X., as it is known to mining men, achieved celebrity, the Jerome district was identified with a copper mine, the United Verde, one of the great mines of the world. The success of this mine, of course, stimulated the search for similar orebodies, or for an extension of those already known, in adjacent ground; but, despite vigorous prospecting, the United Verde remained for many years alone in its glory. The reason for this solitariness was geologic: a fault with a big throw frustrated the effort to trace the ore-zone, thereby causing exploratory work to be both uncertain and costly. Despite these failures to develop other mines in the vicinity, the belief persisted that all the ore was not localized in the United Verde mine, but before we consider the reasons for such a belief we must look at the geologic conditions. The basal rock of the Jerome district is a schist, which has been correlated with the Yavapai formation of the Bradshaw quadrangle. This schist is geologically ancient, for it is of pre-Cambrian age. It is composed of volcanic tuffs, together with sediments, both argillaceous and siliceous, all of which

Jan 1, 1932

By E. V. d’Invilliers

The position of these magnetic ore-mines, with reference to the county-seat, is shown in Fig. 1. They are situated on the south margin of the Great Valley, five miles south of Lebanon, and about midway between Reading on the Schuylkill River and Harrisburg on the Susquehanna River, in three prominent, contiguous hills, standing in front of the Mesozoic red shale arid sandstone hill country of northern Lancaster and southern Lebanon counties, and overlooking the great limestone plain to the north. The three hills, named respectively Big, Middle, and Grassy Hills, and separated from each other by two branches of Furnace Creek, range in a nearly east and west direction for a distance of about one mile. Their summits are respectively 870, 715, and 700 feet above tide. The railroad line opposite the base of Middle Hill is 575 feet above tide at Cornwall and 471 feet at Lebauon. These features are all distinctly illustrated in the contour-line map accompanying this paper, but are made still more clear in the relief. map, Fig. 2, comprising, as it does, about six square miles of territory contiguous to the ore-mines. This is a photographic plate of a model made by Mr. A. E. Lehman, from surveys of my own and Mr. W. F. Shunk. The model was built in layers of cardboard, each layer representing one 10-foot contour-carve line. The scale was the same as the original map, 400 feet= 1 inch, without any vertical exaggeration. The lowest contour-line is 530 feet above ocean level; the highest, 1075 feet. The center of the model was made the focusing-point of the view, which was taken—according to scale—51/2 miles north from and 24 miles above the focusing-point, looking southward. When first mined in the last century these hills exhibited smoothlyrounded surfaces, composed of soft weathered ore of great parity, beneath which lay the great mass of hard ore, constituting the whole

Jan 1, 1886

By Samuel Wyer

1. THE following is an abridgment of a recent report made by the author, covering an investigation of (A) The necessary use of natural-gas compressors; (B) The effect of gas compressors on natural-gas field operating conditions in Ohio, with special reference to the working pressure relations of gas wells of one company discharging by natural rock pressure flow without compressors, and adjacent wells of other companies, discharging into intake lines to gas-compressing stations. Tests were made at 107 different places in the counties of Fairfield, Licking and Knox, Ohio, which required 7,000 miles of automobile driving, and consumed 6 months' time. 2. A proper conception of. the necessary use and effect of natural-gas compressors in natural-gas production necessitates a clear understanding of certain fundamental definitions and judicial doctrines, which are given herein. 3. Gas is a fluid composed of a large number of molecules which are vehicles of energy continually in motion, and having an inherent. tendency to get farther and farther apart. The range of motion of the molecules is limited only by the volume of the closed containing vessel in which they constantly move to and fro. The most distinguishing characteristic of gas is its universal property of completely filling an inclosed space.

Jan 2, 1916

By E. Gilpin

The following notes may serve to bring before your Institute an idea of the iron-ore resources of Pictou County. Enough work has been done to permit an estimate to be formed of their quality and probable extent. As yet the systematic mining and smelting of ironore in Nora Scotia is confined to the operations of the Steel Company of Canada, in Colchester County. Although the locality I am about to describe appears, in many respects, well adapted to iron smelting, etc., no attempts have yet been made to begin work. Nora Scotian capital is more readily turned to lumbering, fishing, and shipping ventures; and such an investment appears equally foreign to the rest of the Dominion. I need not, however, go further into this part of the subject, and can only hope that my notes may prove serviceable as indicating a probable field for future development. The accompanying map shows the position of the harbor of Pictou relative to the coal and iron-ore fields, and to the railways which intersect them. The branch of the Intercolonial Railway, running from Truro to Pictou, forms the western boundary of the iron-ore district, which extends beyond the point where the New Glasgow and Cape Breton Railway crosses the French River. The iron-ore district may be roughly described as a triangle formed by the ore-outcrops and the two railways, the former making the base, and the latter the sides of the triangle, the apex resting on the coal-field at New Glasgow. The drainage of the country is toward the Gulf of St. Lawrence, through the Middle, East, Sutherland's, and French rivers; and the surface is undulatory, seldom exceeding two hundred feet above the sea-level, except in the district lying between Glengarry and the upper waters of the French and Sutherland's rivers, where a maximum height of about five hundred feet is reached at several points. Geologically speaking, the district embraces two divisions, the Carboniferous and the Silurian, the latter resting on strata provisionally considered to be of pre-Cambrian age. As no geological

Jan 1, 1886

By R. H. Landshof, Reynold Q. Shotts, James A. Redding

GENERAL INTRODUCTION by R. Q. Shotts The sizing of coal particles is one of the most important beneficiation operations performed from the time coal is broken at the face until it is delivered to the customer. Indeed, in many cases it may be virtually the only such operation performed in that interval, although it is most often accompanied by some comminution. Sizing, as the term implies, is a separation of the broken coal particles into arbitrary groups, each group containing particles within restricted mass, volume or size limits. Size itself is not a rigidly defined property, but is actually determined more by the operating principles of the sizing device than by unique properties of the particles themselves. Particle size cannot be uniquely defined independently of particle shape. Taggart l says, "In fact, it is not possible to state the size of a single irregular body by means of a single dimension; such possibility exists only for regular polyhedra and their limit, the sphere." In view of the scarcity of regular polyhedra among coal particles, even though most appear to approximate a cube, we actually define size in terms of a surface opening through which the particle barely will or will not pass, or of two openings, the smaller of which retains all particles of the group under study and the larger of which passes all of them. Alternatively, size is expressed in terms of rate of settling of particles in a fluid under closely controlled conditions. Historical Sketch2-Taken from Coal Preparation, 2nd Ed. "Sizing is the process of separating mixed particles into groups of particles all of the same size or into groups in which all particles range between certain definite maximum and minimum sizes. In coal preparation, sizing is generally accomplished by passing the coal over screens. Separation by differential settling in air or water currents has been adapted to the special field of separating very fine sizes, and these processes are in commercial use to a relatively small extent in the coal industry. Separation with screens is a very old industrial practice. Agricola described the use of screens for ore treatment in the middle ages. In the literature of the British coal industry references were made to the screening of coal as early as 1589, but the practice of extensive sizing for the market did not become general until the last half of the nineteenth century. "In America, the practice of sizing developed first in the Pennsylvania anthracite region, beginning with the use of rakes in the mine working places to recover coarse coal. The mining procedure left the fines in the mine.

Jan 1, 1968

By G. F. Loughlin

THE matter of grading Indiana oolitic limestone has been under a cooperative study by the Supervising Architect's office, the U. S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Standards, and the former Indiana Limestone Quarrymen's Association. As the criteria for grading are necessarily based on a number of geologic and related factors of which those quarrying and using the stone had only imperfect appreciation, the first part of the report is a very elementary account of the origin, structure, and the chemical and physical properties of tie stone, and their relations to durability and utilization, and serves as a foundation for the second part, which discusses grading and pro- poses limits for grades established by the quamymen. Salient features of Part I of a report that has been prepared are the variations in uniformity of stone due to cross bedding, and local uncomformities; the relative prominence of weathering effects on the coarser uneven grained surfaces, and its apparent absence on fine, uniform grained surfaces, although the amount of weathering is the same on each; the attributing "crow feet" (stylolites) to solution under pressure, and the explanation that, whereas the thinnest "crow feet" have no noteworthy effect on weathering quality or strength, the thicker ones are likely to weather out rapidly and to promote splitting; the influence of fracturing on the oxidation of the original gray or "blue" to buff color above the ground water level; the interpretation of chemical analyses and the pointing out that both the gray and buff colors are due mainly to organic

Jan 1, 1929

By R. G. Lazzell

THE British are worried about the postwar possibilities of their coal mining industry. Indeed, there are causes for this worry, with the aver- age 1943 cost of production at about $5.40 per long ton, compared to $3.20 in 1938. Average production per man day has dropped from 1.12 in 1938 to 1.03 long tons in 1943. As a comparison, production per man day in the United States is approximately 5 long tons. The average day wage in the British mines is now a little aver $4; in 1938 the average day wage was about $2.25. Great Britain produced 227 million long tons in 1938 from their deep mines, and in 1943 production was 194.5 million, with an additional 4.5 million from strip mines. To meet present wartime needs, output is being supplemented by the production of strip- mined coal, an industry that did not exist prior to the war. Strip mining is now producing at the rate of 15 million long tons per year.

Jan 1, 1944

By H. M. Chance

In the early part of 1893, I had occasion to make for the owners a professional examination of the Rich Patch tract; and, with their permission, I present in this paper, omitting the commercial portions of my report, those portions which may be valuable to future students of that region. Location, Topography And Geology. The Rich Patch tract comprises about 9000 acres, located about 3 miles west of Low Moor, on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, in Alleghany county, Va., and immediately adjoining the Low Moor property. In shape the tract is roughly quadrangular, being about 3 miles broad in a northerly and southerly direction, by about 6 miles long from east to West. Potts creek and Jackson river run along its northern boundary. It is drained by Hayes Gap run, Mill branch and Laurel creek, which flour north into Potts creek, and by Karnes creek, which flows northeasterly through the Low Moor property into Jackson river. The topography of the tract is shown by the accompanying map (Fig. I), and need not be described here. The valleys are cut down from 1000 to 1500 feet below the mountain summits, which generally reach an altitude of about 3000 feet above tide. The geological structure of the district is indicated by the geological cross-sections shown in Figs. 2 and 3. These sections show that the formations underlying the property extend from the Lower Silurian lin~estones up to the Devonian slates, including the numbers of the Paleozoic system of rocks as defined by the geological surveys of Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York, from No. 11. to No. VIII. • No. IX. Old Red Sandstone, No. VIII. Slates and Shales, Devoman-

Jan 1, 1900

A PAPER on "Iron and Steel Scrap in Blast-fur-nace Burdens," by W. C. McKee, general super-intendent, Federal Furnace plant, By-Products Coke Corp., Chicago, was published in the October issue of MINING AND METALLURGY, and written discussion by Richard Moldenke was published in the December issue. Following is the stenographic report of the oral discus-sion that took place when this paper was presented at Pittsburgh. J. N. REESE, Monessen, Pa.-I came to the conclusion that Mr. McKee must be using a poor grade of scrap, therefore his loss was high. Mr. Franchot said that there was ex-cess heat in the stack. There is no excess heat in the hearth, therefore, any heat that is used to melt this scrap must come from the stack. By using scrap in a blast furnace you can utilize this excess heat in the stack. The amount of scrap that can be used in any particular furnace involves a direct relation to the efficiency of that furnace. If a furnace is running on a very low-coke rate, you will not be able to use much; if on a high-coke rate, you can use considerable scrap, probably several times as much as that mentioned in these papers-without using any additional coke. This excess heat can be utilized with-out practically any serious mechanical and operating diffi-culties such as might be occasioned by removing gas from a point other than the top of the furnace. I do not think, scrap has any effect on the iron, although I think some foundrymen are trying to prove that it has, and perhaps some open-hearth men may have that idea.

Jan 1, 1927

By H. M. Chance

WITHIN the last 10 years the subject of mine taxation in its relation to coal-mining interests has come to have growing importance, not only to those engaged in the mining of coal, but also to the owners of land underlain by coal. A disposition has developed among legislators to accept the principle, which has been laid down y many judicial decisions, that coal underlying the surface must be regarded as a part of the real value of all properties so underlain, and as such is chargeable with such burdens of taxation as the necessities of the government may impose. These necessities arise from the normal expense of maintaining State and local governments, and in the past have been met principally by, taxes based upon assessments of real estate values, which values in many cases have been confined principally or wholly to the value of the surface, without taking into consideration the value of minerals underlying the surface. It is not proposed here to deal with the question of Federal taxation, whether levied on production, or on products transported from one State to another, or exported from the country, or upon thegross or net earnings of corporations engaged in interstate commerce, or upon the production of materials which may be transported from one State to another, or levied. upon the profits or upon the obligations of corporations. The present discussion will be confined to the appraisal of coal lands as assessed for State, county, township, or borough taxation. The methods heretofore and at present in use in the different States vary widely and have resulted in more or less litigation. Discussions appearing from time to time in the technical and trade journals and in the proceedings of mining and engineering associations frequently direct attention to the need for the adoption of fixed principle in levying taxes, and of uniform methods for applying such principles, but there does not seem to be a general demand from the public for the adoption of such methods.

Jan 7, 1914

By J. S. Vanick

AN extremely hard, tough, and strong, white or chilled cast iron has been applied for the past several years to industrial and mining services in which its unusual properties have been confirmed by its ability to deliver in many instances much better performance than plain chilled iron, or other wear-resistant materials. It is being produced regularly by alloying a good base composition of chilled or white cast iron with essentially 4 to 6 per cent of nickel and 1 to 2.5 per cent of chromium. Such a material can attain a hardness exceeding 600 to 750 Brinell as against 380 to 530 for corresponding grades of plain chilled iron. The strength is approximately doubled and the toughness significantly increased. These properties make it especially useful for many applica-tions requiring a high hardness for resistance to wear, abrasion, attrition, deformation; to some extent to high compressive loading and to a lesser but important degree to corrosive action. A wide variety of commercial castings is being successfully produced from this iron, ranging in size from the small-grain grinding plates or burrs through medium-sized castings such as sand pumps up to large, heavy castings such as rolls for metal rolling or cement grinding. The composition of this white cast iron may be roughly bracketed within the range shown in Table 1.

Jan 1, 1933

By H. S. Munroe

The native copper of Lake Superior occurs in the form of fine grains and scales, disseminated in small percentage through the copper-bearing rock ; and in large and small masses, from a few pounds to several hundred tons in weight. Formerly the bulk of the copper came from the mines of Ontonagon and Keweenaw counties, producing mass copper. At present these mines furnish less than one-tenth of the total product, and fully one-half of this is from a single mine. The masses are usually found irregularly distributed in nearly vertical fissure veins, and require much dead work; in sinking, drifting, and stoping for their development. The risk and expense attending the working of these mines have made them, with few exceptions, anything but profitable.

Jan 1, 1880

By J. P. G. Farr, R. Brownsword

THE role of solute segregation in the formation of cellular solidification substructures in tin and its dilute alloys is well-established, see, e.g., Ref. 1. Segregation has been shown to persist during cooling, enabling solidification structures to be studied from sections taken at some distance behind the interface. In the present work, a single crystal of commercial nickel, 99.965 pct, was examined in this way. The crystal was cut from the center of a rod given a single pass in an electron beam floating zone melter. Polished sections of a nickel specimen taken normal to the growth direction showed a very fine precipitate phase, the distribution of which varied over the section. The identification of the phase proved difficult because of the small amount present and the small particle size, about 1 p: but it was shown by probe microanalysis to contain only nickel and oxygen in detectable concentrations and was probably nickel oxide, NiO. Bulk analysis of the material before melting showed there to be only 3 to 4 ppm of oxygen present, thus demonstrating a very considerable segregation concentration effect. In some areas of the section the precipitate formed a discontinuous hexagonal network suggesting decoration of the cellular boundaries known to be present in the sample2 whereas in a restricted region the precipitate formed small clusters. Occasionally it could be seen that the clusters were at the intersections of an hexagonal network of cellular dimension. It was suggested3 that this was the result of enhanced segregation to the cell boundary intersections whereas general cell boundary segregation was insufficient to give a precipitate. Enhanced nodal segregation has since been demonstrated in a number of systems.1, 4-8 The development of a suitable electrolytic etching technique (perchloric acid 20 pct v/v; ethyl alcohol 70 pct; glycerol 10 pct; current below electropolishing plateau; 1 to 2 sec etching) suggested the association of the phase with regions of solute segregation (where ko < 1); in these regions anodic attack produced grooves or depressions. In a study of the variation of solidification substructures with degree of constitutional supercooling, Biloni et a1.&apos; appear to have used standard growth conditions and varied the solute concentration. They were able to produce in a series of individual tin crystals examples of substructure ranging from planar interface through various cellular structures to den- Fig. 1—Electroetched section taken normal to the rod axis; the center of the rod lies to the left and the periphery to the right of the micrograph. The variation of structure across the section is evident. Magnification 60 times. drites. It was possible in the present nickel crystal to observe a continuous range of substructures varying with degree of supercooling across a single section as shown in Fig. 1. Growth rate, 13 mm per min, and temperature gradient were essentially constant; the variation in structure is thought to be due to a radial gradient in solute concentration ahead of the solid interface. The liquid at the interface is likely to have been richer in solute toward the periphery of the zone, the result of curvature of this interface. The type of substructure was seen to vary with increasing constitutional supercooling as follows: a) region free of precipitate. top left, Fig. 1: 6) region of nodal precipitates which became arranged in hexagons on passing from the center of the rod: c) irregular hexagonal cells with incomplete boundary precipitation; d) regular hexagonal cells of decreasing size with complete boundary precipitation. Fig. 2 shows the transition from stage 6 and Fig. 3 shows the structure in stage d. Within stage 0, the range of conditions over which irregularly positioned nodes occur appears to be small and the nodes are soon recognizable as taking up positions at the intersections of an hexagonal network as the supercooling increases.

Jan 1, 1970

By O. H. Hahn Eureka

I HAVE lately had occasion to conduct a campaign at the works of the Empire City Company, in Railroad District, Elko County, Nevada, which, if not highly satisfactory, was at least very interesting in a technical point of view, and which I therefore think worthy of communication to the Institute. The lead ores in this district occur in lenticular masses along and near the contact of crystalline limestone with a dioritic porphyry, and consist of argentiferous carbonate of lead and galena, the latter occurring in solid blocks, or in ribbons running through the limestone. Associated with these are silicate, carbonate, and suboxide of copper, and brown and calc-spar. Adding to this, that the proportion of galena in the ore is small, and that no iron pyrites exists in the district, it is at once evident that the ore-mixture is difficult to treat. For a successful reduction by smelting, it would be necessary to introduce into the charge : 1. The proper quantities of sulphur-bearing ingredients, to effect a complete separation of copper and lead ; and, 2. Sufficient silica and iron oxide, to form with the lime and magnesia of the ore, a slag of the required fluidity. The first condition could be fulfilled only very imperfectly, there being no iron pyrites in Railroad, nor in the surrounding districts. The nearest occurrence is in Battle Mountain, whence a supply could not be procured in time. The second condition, i. e., the addition of iron ore and quartz, was easily complied with, there being an abundance of these materials in the vicinity. The furnace of the Empire City Company, is a small shaft¬furnace, with an area of hearth of six square feet, and is supplied with blast by a No. 4 Root blower. In spite of this small size the furnace smelted during this campaign, which lasted 31 days, an average of 28 tons of ore, and 13 tons of fluxes, together 41 tons of charge, per twenty-four hours. The following tables give the complete data in regard to the smelting process, and the results obtained

Jan 1, 1875