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By G. S. Rice, J. A. Davis

The Péchelbronn oil field is located in the province of Alsace, in the Rhine Valley, about 30 miles north of Strasbourg. It is approximately 4 miles wide and 12 miles long, extending from the villages of Lobsann on the north to Wintershausen and Ohlungen near Haguenau on the south. (See Fig. 1.) The productive area includes about 44,000 hectares (107,680 acres). The name Péchelbronn signifies "pitch-spring" or "pitch-fountain." The first exploratory galleries were driven in from the hillside in 1735; and in 1745 the first official concession was granted by the French government and the first pit sunk to a depth of about 30 ft. Extraction by drilled wells was begun in 1879, supplementing the mining operations, and during the next 10 years 200 wells were drilled to an average depth of 172 m. (568 ft.). The bringing in of two "gusher" wells, in 1882 and 1888, respectively, was followed by the abandonment of all underground work. Underground mining, with a view to increasing the production of petroleum by recovering the oil left in the sands after drilling wells, was resumed in 1916. This mining operation started by sinking shaft No. 1 to a depth of 150 m. (495 ft.). The underground developments were pushed during 1917 and 1918 and the annual production of the Péchel-bronn field was increased to about 50,000 metric tons or 350,000 bbl. On the signing of the Versailles Treaty the province of Alsace, which had been taken by Germany as the result of the war of 1870, was returned to France, and the proprietary rights were taken over by the French Government. Concessions or leases, which embraced all the known oil-bearing territory of the field, were granted to the present operating company, Mines de Péchelbronn. This company followed both the drilling and the mining methods of the previous company.

Jan 1, 1927

By R. S. Cartwright

Two types of automatic drilling controls, the Halliburton and the Hild, are now available and are coming into more or less general use in deep drilling. The primary function of both is to maintain a safe limit of torque on the drill pipe, this being accomplished by automatically controlling the weight or pressure on the cutting tool. Neither type will necessarily increase drilling speed, but by permitting advantage to be taken of "breaks" in the hole higher average cutting speed may be maintained. The control is essentially a safety device, and should be considered as such. It is not the purpose of this paper to discuss the merits of drilling controls, although the advantages over manual feed at the brake drum are obvious, but rather to point out some of the limitations. The Halliburton Control The Halliburton control is designed to operate during drilling through the agency of the draw works. Automatic and constant control. of the torque on the bit is governed by clutches on the control itself, and the line shaft to drum shaft drives on the draw works. In operations other than drilling the control is simply a jackshaft between prime mover and draw works. It is, of course, adaptable to any type of power. Because control of the torque on the bit is dependent upon the various ratios or clutch combinations available on the Halliburton control and the draw works, it follows that there are certain limitations in points of control. Table 1 shows the possible ratios which can be obtained with the control and a popular type of three-speed draw works, it being assumed that the highest possible gear combination-the combination which when engaged will suspend the least amount of weight-has a value of 1.00.

Jan 1, 1928

By W. J. West, T. D. Mueller, J. E. Warren

The authors have presented valuable information on the influence of the interfacial tension and the contact angle on the recovery efficiency of the waterdrive process. It is considered, however, that the following points deserve a closer examination. 1. As pointed out by Wyllie and Spangler1 the displacement pressure PD i.e. the pressure required to initiate the displacement of the wetting phase from the core, is a measure of the maximum pore diameter dmax. If the capillary pressure Pe as a function of the wetting

Jan 1, 1956

By R. J. Wagner, F. F. Craig, H. G. Riley, J. D. Griffith

Peripheral water injection has been underway in the Sholem Alechem Fault Block "A" Unit, Stephens County, Okla., since 1955. In the engineering planning of the flood, it was recognized that maintenance of pressure in the large, dry gas caps was vitally necessary to prevent the loss of an estimated 27 million bbl of oil through saturation of the gas caps by the oil banks moving updip on the peripheral flood pattern. The development of an abundant, low-cost water supply and the rising cost of makeup-gas purchases indicated that gas-cap control by water injection was desirable from an economic standpoint, provided an eflective water barrier could be placed without premature water breakthrough into downdip oil producers. A laboratory model scaled to the existing reservoir conditions was comtructed to evaluate the feasibility of gas-cap water injection. Model studies indicated that (I) water injected at the edge of the gar-oil contact would form a continuous barrier between the oil and gas zones, and (2) water would advance uniformly downdip without segregation due to gravity effects provided a specified, minimum water-injection rate was maintained. The model test results also indicated that it was not necessary to fill the gas cap completely with water. Water injection at the edge of one of the gas caps was initiated in March, 1958, to field test gas-cap water injection. Water breakthrough occurred at a downstruc-ture producing well in April, 1959, after approximately 2.5 million bbl of water had been injected into the gas cap. This was the volume calculated to be required to form the barrier between the oil zone and gas cap. This performance indicates that prevention of oil encroachment into dry gas caps in a peripheral water flood by water injection at the gas-oil contact appears practical and that the model studies provided a valid prediction of field performance. INTRODUCTION The Sholem Alechem Fault Block "A" Sims Sand Unit was one of the fist major waterflood projects in Oklahoma to utilize a peripheral injection pattern. Design of control measures to minimize oil encroachment into the large crestal gas caps was one of the greatest single problems during engineering planning of this flood. Engineering studies indicated that saturation of the gas caps with oil displaced by the peripheral water flood could result in a loss of about 27 million bbl of oil, or over one-half the estimated waterflood recovery. This estimate was based on a residual oil saturation after water flooding of 35 per cent pore volume, compared to the negligible oil saturation initially in the gas caps. The Sholem Alechem Springer field, located in Stephens County, Okla., is an elongated anticline with structural dips varying from 400 to 1,000 ft/mile. The structure contains numerous faults, some of which are sealing. The portion of the field considered in this paper is Fault Block "A", which is the largest of the five major fault segments in the field. A map of the unit is shown on Fig. 1. The unit is bounded on the east and west by major sealing faults, on the north by a water-oil contact and to the south by a deterioration of sand development. Two domes, each having gas caps, exist in the unit and are separated by a north-south fault as shown in Fig. 1. The sands being flooded are the Sims sand members of the Springer series of early Pennsylvanian age. The Sims sands average over 100 ft in thickness in Fault Block "A" and have a porosity of approximately 19 per cent. Core permeabilities average 160 md, with interstitial water saturation of about 23 per cent pore volume. Three different zones can be correlated over most of the area. However, they are commingled in most of the producing wells. The two upper zones, designated as First and Second Sims, are the most important. Both the First and Second Sims have gas caps in the east dome, while only the First Sims has a gas cap in the west dome. These gas caps, whose limits are also shown on Fig. 1, initially occupied nearly 11 per cent of the total reservoir volume. The major concern of this paper is the control of the two gas caps in the First Sims sand. Fig. 2 is a cross section, to scale, across the east dome of this formation. Notable features are the relatively shallow dip, the deterioration of the First Sims sand on the south side of the gas cap and the water-oil contact on the northern edge. The formation dip at the gas-oil contact in this cross section is approximately 5".

By G. Van Esbroeck, M. Van Weyenbergh

The copper mines of the Katanga region in the Belgian Congo lie along the same mineralized belt as those of Northern Rhodesia. There are two distinct types of deposits in that belt, the dolomitic and the quartzitic. In the dolomitic type the metallic minerals are found in a dolomitic limestone country rock. Through oxidation and enrichment, large deposits of high-grade oxidized copper ores were formed, some of which are being worked by the Union Minière du Haut Katanga. Such deposits are all in Katanga. The quartzitic deposits are found in Katanga and Northern Rhodesia. Here the primary mineralization occurred in sandstones and quartzites, in horizons stratigraphically lower than the dolomites. These rocks are not favorable to secondary enrichment and the oxidized zone is poorer than the sulphide zone, which alone contains the ore. There are also in Katanga a few ore-bearing veins. One of them is being worked in the Prince Leopold mine at Kipushi. Prince Leopold Mine The Kipushi ore body fills a fault vein and invades the wall rocks more or less extensively by metasomatic replacement. The vein strikes north-northeast and south-southwest and dips to the west. The variable dip averages 60' to a depth of 300 ft., and more uniformly 80' below 400 ft. In the upper section the average width is 200 ft. and below the width is about 150 ft. The length of the ore body is 2300 feet. The eastern side of the vein—the footwall—is dolomitic and contains irregular masses of ore sometimes extending 100 ft. or more from the main

Jan 1, 1940

By M. Van Weyenbergh, G. Van Esbroeck

The copper mines of the Katanga region in the Belgian Congo lie along the same mineralized belt as those of Northern Rhodesia. There are two distinct types of deposits in that belt, the dolomitic and the quartzitic. In the dolomitic type the metallic minerals are found in a dolomitic limestone country rock. Through oxidation and enrichment, large deposits of high-grade oxidized copper ores were formed, some of which are being worked by the Union Minière du Haut Katanga. Such deposits are all in Katanga. The quartzitic deposits are found in Katanga and Northern Rhodesia. Here the primary mineralization occurred in sandstones and quartzites, in horizons stratigraphically lower than the dolomites. These rocks are not favorable to secondary enrichment and the oxidized zone is poorer than the sulphide zone, which alone contains the ore. There are also in Katanga a few ore-bearing veins. One of them is being worked in the Prince Leopold mine at Kipushi. Prince Leopold Mine The Kipushi ore body fills a fault vein and invades the wall rocks more or less extensively by metasomatic replacement. The vein strikes north-northeast and south-southwest and dips to the west. The variable dip averages 60' to a depth of 300 ft., and more uniformly 80' below 400 ft. In the upper section the average width is 200 ft. and below the width is about 150 ft. The length of the ore body is 2300 feet. The eastern side of the vein—the footwall—is dolomitic and contains irregular masses of ore sometimes extending 100 ft. or more from the main

Jan 1, 1940

By D. C. Livingston

The Pilares de Nacozari mine is located ill Sonora, 75 miles south of Douglas, Ariz. The town of Douglas is on the International Boundary and is the place at which the ores from the Bisbee mines are smelted. The Moctezuma Copper Co. owns the mines at Nacozari, and the copper-concentrates shipped to the Copper Queen smelter, at Douglas, make a good smelting-mixture with the Bisbee ores. The Moctezuma Copper Co. and the Copper Queen smelter at Douglas, as well as the railroad from Douglas to Nacozari, are owned by the Phelps, Dodge & Co. The ore-deposit occurs in the form of a large ellipse with a major axis of approximately 2,000 ft. and a minor axis of about 600 ft., the major axis bearing about 9" W. of N. The

Jan 1, 1913

E. G. Spilsbury, New York, N. Y.:—Do I understand correctly that the rolls are at first simple cylinders, one longer than the other, and that flanges are subsequently formed on the longer roll as the result of wear only ? Mr. Payne :—The flanges are formed by the wearing of the shorter roll into the other, which is about an inch longer. When the roll-shells are new, the longer one has machined at each end a ridge about 1/8 in. or 0.25 in. higher than the face. These slight projections help to center and steady the rolls, by locating the flanges in advance. Possibly they might be left off at the start; but Mr. Frazee has found it better, in machining the new roll-shells, to turn such small flanges upon the longer one. In his practice the feed-stream is extended a short distance beyond the two ends of the shorter roll-shell. This allows a small amount of crushing to be done between the flange-ftices and the vertical ends of the shorter roll-shell, which prevents any ridges from forming at the ends of the shorter roll-shell.

Jan 1, 1913

By H. O. Hofman

The object of refining copper in the reverberatory furnace is to obtain a metal which will have the highest attainable degree of malleability, ductility and electric conductivity, and present at the same time a level surface when it solidifies in the mold after casting. These desirable physical properties are governed by the character of the impurities and the forms in which they are present, by the amount of cuprous oxide retained by the copper, by the quantity of gas held in solid solution, by the casting-temperature, and by the thickness of the casting. The effects of impurities, of cuprous oxide and of gases upon the mechanical properties of copper have been studied by Hampe1 in his classical paper " Colitributions to the Metallurgy of Copper." The most recent research into the effect of metals upon the electrical conductivity of copper is that of Addicks. 2 The influence of cuprous oxide upon the electrical conductivity has been investigated by Walker3 and Addick. 4 The absorption of gases has received attention by Hampe: Stah16 and Heyn 7 The effects of casting-temperature have been noted by Stahl.8

Jan 1, 1908

By Robert H. Richards, E. E. Bugbee

Friends often ask how accurate the work of our little stamp mill is, or express the opinion that a little mill cannot do good work. As a reply we would like to place on record the results of a few tests. There are two periods of work in our laboratory; the fall term, when the class collectively goes through all our chief laboratory-processes, and the spring term, when the students work up their theses, each electing some one process or investigation and devoting himself wholly, or almost wholly, to that. Some of the tests, the results of which are recorded in this paper, were made in the fall term; the preparation of the apparatus, the sampling and the assaying being done largely by assistants, with the aid of the students. Others were made in the spring term as thesis-work, and the results are due wholly to. the students. The complete " tree " of our process is patterned after the-

Jan 1, 1904

By J. T. Michalak, H. W. Paxton

The recovery of the initial flow stress of poly-crystalline iron is characterized by a) a logarithmic time dependence; b) an increasing activation energy with increasing recovery; c) an increased ?,ate and fraction of recovery with decreased temperature of deformation; and d) an increased rate with increased deformation. Isochro)ml studies of the recovery of single crystals revealed more sluggish recovery. The original flou3 stress of single crystals could be regained by recovery anneals at 800"or 900°C. ThE great majority of the theoretical treatments and experimental studies of strain-hardening have been concerned with the close-packed lattices.' Very little effort has been expended on the bcc structure so that the theory of work-hardening of this lattice is essentially nonexistent. The limited amount of experimental data resulting from the direct studies on silicon-iron,2 low-carbon steel,3 and purified irons4"7 does not as yet permit a detailed analysis of the strain-hardening. Studies concerned with the effects of annealing following deformation have been few in number," have been somewhat limited in extent, and have had the disadvantage of using irons containing a substantial impurity content. The present research was undertaken to augment the limited knowledge we have of the characteristics of a bcc metal as regards strain-hardening and recovery from the strain-hardened state. The recovery of the flow stress has been employed since it was felt that the stress associated with the hardened state gives at least a fair qualitative description of the state of the imperfections causing the hardening. The study was concerned primarily with the recovery of flow stress following strain-hardening of polycrys-talline, zone-melted iron as a function of the amount of deformation, the temperature of deformation, and the time and temperature of the recovery anneal. A limited investigation of the recovery of the initial flow stress of single crystals of this same material as a function of the recovery temperature was also conducted in conjunction with the Lambot X-ray technique." MATERIAL The zone-melted iron used in this investigation was obtained through the courtesy of the American Iron and Steel Institute and Battelle Memorial Institute. The analysis, as given by the supplier indicated a maximum impurity content of 0.02 wt pct excluding those impurities listed in Table I. (The actual impurity content is very probably less than this since detection limits were considered as the amount of a particular impurity level.) Also listed in Table I are the interstitial impurity contents of the iron at various stages of experimental work indicating that these im-

Jan 1, 1962

A meeting of the New York Local Section of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, in joint session with the American Electrochemical Society, was held at the Engineering Societies Building, 29 West 39th Street, New York City, Nov. 20, 1913. Mr. Lawrence Addicks, Chairman of the American Electrochemical Society, presided at the meeting, in conjunction with Mr. Louis D. Huntoon, Chairman of the New York Local Section of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. The Chairman announced the subject to be discussed it the meeting as follows: As this is a joint meeting of the New York Sections of the Electro-chemical Society and the Institute, Mr. Huntoon has insisted that I share the responsibilities of the chair to the extent of introducing the speakers.

Jan 1, 1914

By J. Parke Channing

The Miami orebody occurs in an altered Pinal schist. It is popularly known as one of the '(porphyry " deposits but, as at Inspiration and Ray, the ore is an altered mincralized Pinal schist. The orebody mined is the zone of secondary enrichment. Speaking in general terms, the area of the orebody at Miami may be considered as 1000 ft. long and 800 ft. wide. The vertical thickness varies from 200 to 400 ft., so that it is an extremely irregular mass. The study of the ground movement and resulting subsidence at Miami is complicated by the fact that the formation is not homogeneous throughout the mining area, the orebody terminating on its eastern extremity at a fault plane adjoining the Gila conglomerate. This conglomerate is a recent sedimentary deposit somewhat analogous to glacial drift and consists of boulders of granite, schist, and other material cemented with clay, and at times is quite hard. The fault dips eastward at an angle of 45". The original method of mining was top slicing, the slices being 10 ft. thick. At first, there was a good deal of experimenting with mining methods. Some undercut rooms were tried, and the stopes were filled with broken ore with the idea of removing intervening pillars by top slicing. The adoption of the top-slicing method in itself involved considerable experimenting, including some experiments with a long-wall system. The method finally adopted involved the operation of top slicing areas 250 ft. square, each with a central supply raise and ore-gathering raises, each block being worked as a unit. Mining operations in the Captain orebody, which connects with the boundary of the Inspiration property, were started by the room-and-pillar system, the rooms extending across the orebody, with widths of 10 to 15 ft., with 15- to 10-ft. pillars between. The intent was to operate the rooms as shrinkage stopes, permitting the pillars to crush when the ore was drawn from the rooms. It was found that the shrinkage stoping was unnecessary, so a system of block caving was adopted. This system was so successful in the Captain orebody that, about three years ago, the method of mining in the orebody was changed from top slicing to block caving, the method now in use. The block caving system, as practiced

Jan 1, 1923

By J. Parke Channing

The Miami orebody occurs in an altered Pinal schist. It is popularly known as one of the '(porphyry " deposits but, as at Inspiration and Ray, the ore is an altered mincralized Pinal schist. The orebody mined is the zone of secondary enrichment. Speaking in general terms, the area of the orebody at Miami may be considered as 1000 ft. long and 800 ft. wide. The vertical thickness varies from 200 to 400 ft., so that it is an extremely irregular mass. The study of the ground movement and resulting subsidence at Miami is complicated by the fact that the formation is not homogeneous throughout the mining area, the orebody terminating on its eastern extremity at a fault plane adjoining the Gila conglomerate. This conglomerate is a recent sedimentary deposit somewhat analogous to glacial drift and consists of boulders of granite, schist, and other material cemented with clay, and at times is quite hard. The fault dips eastward at an angle of 45". The original method of mining was top slicing, the slices being 10 ft. thick. At first, there was a good deal of experimenting with mining methods. Some undercut rooms were tried, and the stopes were filled with broken ore with the idea of removing intervening pillars by top slicing. The adoption of the top-slicing method in itself involved considerable experimenting, including some experiments with a long-wall system. The method finally adopted involved the operation of top slicing areas 250 ft. square, each with a central supply raise and ore-gathering raises, each block being worked as a unit. Mining operations in the Captain orebody, which connects with the boundary of the Inspiration property, were started by the room-and-pillar system, the rooms extending across the orebody, with widths of 10 to 15 ft., with 15- to 10-ft. pillars between. The intent was to operate the rooms as shrinkage stopes, permitting the pillars to crush when the ore was drawn from the rooms. It was found that the shrinkage stoping was unnecessary, so a system of block caving was adopted. This system was so successful in the Captain orebody that, about three years ago, the method of mining in the orebody was changed from top slicing to block caving, the method now in use. The block caving system, as practiced

Jan 1, 1923

By J. L. Jernegan

IN the summer and fall of 1875, the author was present during a short smelting campaign at the Hall Valley works, and having had occasion to make a number of chemical analyses of the ores, fuel, and fluxes, deems that the results of the same, and also an account of the smelting operations, may be found of interest to members of the Institute. The mines and reduction works of the Hall Valley Silver-Lead Mining and Smelting Company (limited) are situated at Hall Valley, Park County, Colorado. The smelting works are located about half way from the mouth to the head of the above-named valley, and the mines high up on the mountains, near its head. The three principal mines of the company are the Whale, Leftwick, and Cold¬spring. They are all on different veins, running parallel to one another, with a general trend from southwest and northeast. The

Jan 1, 1877

By J. L. Jernegan

In the summer and fall of 1875, the author was present during a short smelting campaign at the Hall Valley works, and having had occasion to make a number of chemical analyses of the ores, fuel, and fluxes, deems that the results of the same, and also an account of the smelting operations, may be found of interest to members of the Institute. The mines and reduction works of the Hall Valley Silver—Lead Mining and Smelting Company (limited) are situated at Hall Valley, Park County, Colorado. The smelting works are located about half way from the mouth to the head of the above-named valley, and the mines high up on the mountains, near its head. The three principal mines of the company are the Whale, Leftwick, and Coldspring. They are all on different veins, running parallel to one another, with a general trend from southwest and northeast. The

I. PRESIDING OFFICERS. At all Business meetings of the Institute the President, or, in his absence, the Vice-President, or, in the absence of both of them, any other member of the Board of Directors to be chosen by the meeting, shall preside. At all other meetings of the Institute the President of the Council or, in his absence, one of the Vice-Presidents, if present, shall preside II. ORDER OF BUSINESS. At each Business meeting of the Institute the order of business shall be as follows 1. Reading of minutes of preceding meeting. 2 Report of the President. 3. Report of the Treasurer. 4. Report of the Secretary. 5. Election of Directors. 6. Reports of Standing Committees. 7. Reports of Special Committees. 8. Special Orders 9. Miscellaneous business. This order of business may be changed by a vote of a majority of the Members and Associates present in person or by proxy. The usual parliamentary rules shall govern all meetings of the Institute except in cases otherwise provided by the Constitution or the By-Laws. At all sessions of the Institute other than business meetings, the order of proceedings and the time of adjournment, shall rest in the discretion of the presiding officer

Jan 1, 1923

By W. R. Ingalls

I WAS led some time ago to draft a statement of economic principles immediately affecting our national welfare from the standpoint of the engineer. It was the intention to offer this to the American Engineering Council as a resolution to be adopted, or a declaration to be made, of course after suitable con-sideration and debate. The presentation has not been . formally made, but I have been asked to let it be made to the mining engineers through the medium of MINING AND METALLURGY, the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers being a constituent part of the Federated American Engineering Societies. I shall welcome any expressions of opinion that this statement may inspire. The statement follows: The engineers of, the United States, functioning through the American Engineering Council of the, Federated American Engineering Societies, feel it their duty to advise the American people respecting the present state of economic affairs in the nation, just as an individual engineer would his client. The people of the United States constitute a great corpora-tion, whose business affairs are analogous to those of a commercial company -multiplied many times. The engineers feel constrained to offer their opinion owing to the responsibility to do things which rests upon them. Confronted by the steady impoverishment of natural resources and the operation of the economic law of diminishing returns it devolves upon management, functioning through the engineering profession aided by scientists, to make such improvements leading to increased production and such elimination of wastes as to offset the increasing adversities of nature merely to hold our own; and to do more than offset them in order to improve the scale of living of the people. The engineers accept this responsibility, but in so doing they demand attention to their advice respecting fundamental economic matters, lest they be unduly hampered in the performance of the professional duties, which they acknowledge. The American Engineering Council therefore declares the following as the advice of engineers to the American people:

Jan 8, 1923

By S. W. Parr, A. R. Powell

FOUR general methods have been used in the study of the decomposition of coal. The first has been directed toward the processes of coal formation, the second has been by means of microscopic studies, the third from the data of destructive distillation, and the fourth has made use of various solvents. Applying these methods to the sulfur of coal, it has been found that the organic sulfur of plant and animal life enters into the formation of coal and remains in organic combination in the final product. The inorganic sulfur is almost entirely combined as iron pyrites and marcasite. The infiltration of hydrogen-sulfide waters is doubtless a large factor in these combinations. Sulfates are found in very small quantities except where free oxygen has entered the coal strata. The mechanical mixing of detritus with the early coal material is another source of sulfur. In this case the sulfur is distributed in microscopic particles throughout the mass. In destructive distillation, a part of the sulfur comes off as hydrogen sulfide and various thiophen compounds, but this furnishes little information as to the nature of the sulfur compounds in the coal itself. The use of solvents has given valuable data concerning the sulfur compounds in coal. Fremyl and later E. Guignet2 noted the action of alkaline solutions on coal after treatment with nitric acid and Anderson and Roberts3 showed the presence of large quantities of organic sulfur in the extract so obtained. In a study of the phenol extract of coal, Parr and Hadley4 found organic sulfur in the soluble organic material. These investigations proved the presence of organic sulfur in coal in addition to the inorganic forms, such as iron pyrites and sulfates. T. M. Drown6 attempted the analysis of the pyritic and sulfate sulfur as distinct from the organic forms by means of sodium hypobromite; no definite proof of

Jan 1, 1920

By George J. Bancroft

Western Australia (often popularly called Westralia) comprises all of the Australian continent west of the 129th meridian. The latest census, that of 1895, gives it a population of 101,235 persons. It includes within its bouiidaries 975,920 square miles. About half the colony lies within the tropics. The climate varies but slightly, considering the vastuess of' the area. The interior is dry and hot, and subject to very sudden changes. The coasts are warm, and the rainfall abundant, varying from 20 to 40 inches per annum. Perth is the capital and principal town, having a population of 20,000. Fremantle (pop. 9000), distant 12 miles, is the port of Perth, but because it is out of the track of the mail steamers, the mail and passengers are landed at Albany (pop. 3000) on St. George's Sound. A railroad, 338 miles long, connects Pert11 with Albany, and the running time of trains is about fifteen hours. Kalgoorlie is only about 200 miles from the coast at the little village of Esperance; but to reach Kalgoorlie one must land at Albany, travel to Northam, within 66 miles of Perth, and then east at an acute angle 325 miles to Kalgoorlie; in all about 600 miles. From Perth a railroad also runs to the Murchison gold-fields by way of Mingenew, Mnllewa and Yalgoo, to Cue. A branch goes down to the port of Geraldton. The government operates all the railroads and telegraph lines, and has been very energetic, all things considered, in extending them into the gold-fields. As to the accommodations afforded by the railroads, the less said the better. The comforts of travel are conspicuous by their absence. Of the 975,920 square miles of Westralia, the government, in its magnificent way, cleclares 256,060 to be gold-bearing. There are the Kimberley fields in the north, of 47,000 square miles; the Pilbarra on the northwest coast, of 45,600 square

Jan 1, 1899