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By Eugene A. Stephenson

THE year 1935 is noteworthy for the superior legislative measures passed by several states. Sincere efforts have been made to establish equity between the various producing tracts in oil and gas fields. Outstanding legislative measures include the New Mexico law, known as Senate Bill No. 79, approved on Feb. 23; the Oklahoma law on April 22; the Texas law on April 30; and the Kansas law, which became effective July 1. Primarily designed to prevent waste, but more or less the direct out- growth of the current excess of potential oil and gas production, these statutes fall in the class of "Proration Laws."

Jan 1, 1935

By S. K. Bradford

(Pittsburg Meeting, March, 1910.) FOR years past I have traveled in quest of promising mining-properties, over almost impassable mountain-trails to remote places in the mining-regions, usually, many miles from an assay-office. If, upon examination, the formation and the ore-deposit appeared favorable, a quick determination of the value of my samples was necessary, in order that I might take intelligent action with reference to the acquisition of the property. A journey with my samples to civilized regions often meant weeks of delay, and perhaps loss of opportunity. How many, under similar circumstances, have returned with their assay-results from such a journey, only to find that some audacious speculator had " optioned" the property ! True, a first payment could have been made and the chances taken on the results; but experience has taught that rich-looking ore is not of necessity valuable. Personally, I would not hazard a ten-dollar bill on any property without first determining by assay the value of the ore. To carry the usual complete assay-paraphernalia over such mountain-trails was impracticable by reason of the loss of time involved, the great expense of transportation (charged according to weight), and the fact that a few such trips would almost certainly wreck the outfit. For these reasons I began a process of elimination and substitution which finally enabled me to carry, in an ordinary 26-in. valise, sufficient apparatus and supplies for, say, 100 assays of adequate commercial accuracy. My final outfit was as follows: APPARATUS. Small hammer; steel mortar (2.5 in. wide, 3 in. high, with stand sawed off flat, so that it can be used as an anvil and for

Jan 1, 1911

By Myron Read

DURING the past 25 years, mining engineers have seen the development of a multitude of specialized engineering curricula in the mineral industry field. Bachelor degrees are now !ranted in the fields of mineral dressing petroleum engineering, geological engineering, fuel technology, and many others. These fields were all, previously considered to be part of a mining enginieer's work and elementary phases of them were included in mining engineering curricula. Their emergence has left some mining engineers with the fear that nothing will he left for a purely mining engineer to teach, or that mining engineering graduates will be unable to complete in any of these fields with the more specialized students and thus will have neatly restricted employment opportunies. A secondary reaction has been that if students who began to say that the pining engineering curriculum taught everything but mining, since so many of :he subjects that had always been udedAuded in the mining engineering curriculum now were fields in their own right.

Jan 1, 1946

George E. Collins, Nacoochee, Ga. (communication to the Secretary): The results tabulated below were obtained at the Reynolds mill, White county, Ga. They were noted, not with a view to investigating the point discussed by Mr. Clark, but in course of a test on a working scale to determine the com parative saving from a given free-milling ore on copper and silvered plates respectively. In every case the bullion assayed was the result of a separate clean-up on a considerable quantity of ore. The ore varied widely in grade and in other respects, but the runs bracketed in the table were made at the same time, in adjoining batteries, and on similar types of ore. In a * Result modified by the addition to the bullion-shipment of a little impure bullion left over from previous clean-ups.. On these occasions, the strips of copper were removed from the tables, and: their lower surfaces were cleaned. Hence the higher yield reported.

Jan 1, 1900

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

By Dwight L. Sawyer

IF it had not been for the testimony of former Secretary of the Interior, Harold L. Ickes, before the Senatorial investigating committee the public would have heard little about the Federal Government's suit against California for the ownership of the tidelands. The Ickes-Pauley dispute brought to public attention that the California tideland oil deposits are the last remaining large Federal oil reserves. Ickes contends that these tideland oil deposits belong to the nation for the benefit of all the people of all the states and not solely to the State of California. Ickes also accused California oil man Ed Pauley of offering to give $330; 000 to the Democratic party fund if Ickes would drop the Federal Government's suit against the State of California for the ownership of said tidelands. The tidelands may be considered as the land bordering the coast line between mean high tide and outward under the ocean for a distance of a marine league, or about three statute miles. This strip of land along the coast of southern California contains large oil deposits which have a present and future prospective value of several billion dollars.

Jan 1, 1947

H. H. Stoek, Scranton, Pa. (communication to the Secretary): Mr. Rothwell's condemnation of my paper on the International Correspondence Schools as not giving an impartial view of the whole field of such enterprises, because it was confined to the description of a single one, might be legitimate if I had undertaken or professed to do anything else than that which I was requested by the Secretary of the Institute to do—namely, to give an account of this particular institution. This is a sufficient answer to all his direct or implied criticisms upon my omission to mention either persons or organizations outside of the special limits set for me. Recognizing fully that personalities have no place whatever in the Transactions, I regret the necessity of making the following statement in answer to Mr. Rothwell's charge that I omitted to give due credit to Mr. Ewald, a former principal of the International Correspondence Schools. The Colliery Engineer School of Mines was started in 1891, and its first student was enrolled October 16, 1891. During the fall of the same year the mine-mechanical course was laid out along the same general line that had already been followed in the mining course. This mine-mechanical course was the foundation from which sprung the later developments of the several mechanical courses. The latest circulars of information of the International Correspondence Schools give the following as their distinctive features: (1) courses of instruction for particular occupations,

Jan 1, 1900

By Arnold K. Reese

It is not the purpose of the writer to set forth in these notes anything new or surprising in blast-furnace practice, but simply to lay before the Institute the somewhat unusual results obtained during a period of six consecutive months, ending April 30, 1896, at the Dover furnace of the Penn Iron and Coal Co., and to give, with these results, the conditions under which they were obtained, and all figures pertaining to that period. This plant was entirely rebuilt, on thoroughly modern and improved plans, in the spring of 1895, by Frank C. Roberts & Co., of Philadelphia.

Jan 1, 1898

By David T. Day

IN 1897 I published a proposed explanation t for the variation in color and specific gravity of Pennsylvania oils. A resume of this subject was also presented at the First International Petroleum Congress, in Paris, in 1900. Since that time much experimental work bearing upon this explanation has been carried on by myself, in the United States Geological Survey, and under my direction, by Dr. J. Elliott Gilpin, Marshall P. Cram, and 0. E. Bransky, at the Johns Hopkins University. The experimental results thus accumulated seem to throw considerable additional light upon the variations in color and specific gravity of petroleum, as found in different parts of the world, and also upon the variations in chemical composition. Therefore, it seems as if a, summary of the evidence thus obtained might be of value to those members of the Institute who are interested in the examination of oil-fields. The summary is here presented for that purpose. The phenomenon has often been observed in many oil-fields that oils of different color, specific gravity, and chemical composition may be found within short distances of each other. A conspicuous example of this is the occurrence at Jennings, Welsh, and Anse la Butte, La., of petroleum chemically somewhat similar to Russian petroleum; that is, characterized by the presence of naphthenes. Another characteristic is the presence of considerable percentages of asphaltic compounds, sufficient in quantity to disguise the presence of solid paraffin wax, and perhaps also to render that paraffin wax more soluble * Published by permission of the Director of the United States Geological Survey. 1 Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, vol. xxxvi., No. 154, pp. 112 to 115 (January, 1897).

Jun 1, 1910

By Frank W. Dickson, George Tunell

Five hot spring areas of the western United States show evidences of present day deposition of HgS; two also show evidences of accompanying Sb2S3 deposition. Sulfide minerals are depositing at or near the surface from hot waters that differ for each spring ai:ea in amount and kinds of dissolved matter. All the springs contain dissolved substances that act as buffering agents and that cause increased alkalinity with increasing temperature. Transport of Sb2S3 is possible in H2O and in boron and sulfide solutions. Increasing alkalinity and temperature enhance stibnite solubility. Quantitatively important transport of HgS appears restricted to alkaline sulfide solutions that contain HgS2=. Elemental mercury probably forms in deep hot waters because HgS breaks down into mercury and sulfur above 200°C, and free S is removed by reaction with water. Elemental mercury should accompany HgS2= in solutions that were at 200°C or higher. Cinnabar deposits from saturated alkaline sulfide solutions because of combinations of temperature decrease, dilution, oxidation, and reactions with wall rock: Amedee Hot Springs, Boiling Springs, and Coso Hot Springs are areas in which HgS is the only sulfide deposited. Hot waters at Amedee and Boiling Springs are supersaturated with HgS or transport colloidal HgS. Steamboat Springs waters deposit mainly silica and stibnite, but they have deposited HgS recently. Sulphur Bank waters deposit mostly stibnite and some HgS. The hot-spring waters of all springs represent highly modified deep water. Field and laboratory studies support the concept of transport of HgS in moderately alkaline sulfide solutions as HgS2=. Fluctuating deposition of stibnite and cinnabar reflects availability of sulfide or variations in deep-source HgS and Sb,S,. Silica and HgS dissolve mutually in alkaline sulfide solutions, and cinnabar and quartz would be expected to deposit simultaneously. Free mercury given off by hot-spring waters would impregnate country rocks.

Jan 1, 1968

By W. A., Wasley

THE EL TIGRE MINE is a highgrade silver and gold producer located in the northern part of Sonora, Mexico. It has been worked continuously since 1903, producing 50,000.000 oz. of silver and returning handsome dividends. During 1930 and 1931 falling silver prices compelled the Tigre company to make representations before the Department of Labor in Mexico City showing the necessity for drastic reductions in wages and personnel. The delays in obtaining permission from the Federal Labor Board to make these readjustments caused the company to suffer considerable financial loss during those years. After the reduction in operations was finally effected, the Sonora state government headed by Señor Francisco Elias (former Governor, now Secretary of Agriculture) and Señor Rodolfo Elias Calles (present Governor and eldest son of Señor Plutarco Elias Calles, recently Secretary of War and former President of Mexico) have cooperated with the company to make continued operation possible by revising downward certain state taxes that would have been a factor in forcing the closing of this mine. Also, permission to change our workmen over to another system of mining was essential to continued operation.

Jan 1, 1933

By GUY B. HUNNER

THOSE magnetite ore bodies comprising the Clifton Mines are situated in the south central part of St. Lawrence County, New York, on the western slope of the Adirondack Mountains. The topography is made up of gently rolling hills densely wooded with second-growth maple, birch, and hemlock. Drainage is north and west to the St. Lawrence River.

Jan 1, 1943

By AIME AIME

READERS of a technical paper, or the audience if the paper is presented orally, judge the paper on several counts. The September 1940 issue of MINING AND METALLURGY contained an excellent short article by S. Marion Tucker en- titled "Are You Going to Present a Paper," which considered the general subject of presentation. In it Dr. Tucker referred to the large number of poorly prepared and badly delivered papers that are presented annually before the large number of technical and other societies that meet regularly, and he stressed the point that good delivery, length of paper, content, and composition are of great importance. All of Dr. Tucker's points were well taken; however, good illustrations are equally important in explaining certain phases of some papers.

Jan 1, 1941

"The Midvale. Plant of the United States Smelting, Refining and Mining Company, situated twelve miles south of Salt Lake City, consists of mills for concentrating lead-zinc ores and a custom lead smelter.The milling department includes a 475-ton gravity mill for ores from the United States Mines at Bingham, a 100-ton Huff electrostatic zinc plant and a 60-ton pilot flotation mill for differential separation of lead and zinc. The gravity mill and electro¬static plant are being replaced by a 600-ton differential flotation plant, now under con¬struction, for differential separation of lead, zinc and iron. This new mill will have cap¬acity for treating custom ores in addition to ores from the company's mines at Bingham.The smelting department is equipped to handle 1600 tons of charge per day through six blast furnaces, 48 inches by 160 inches at the tuyeres. All gases from both blast furnaces and roasters are filtered through baghouses, which remove the dust from the gases so effectively that even when the plant is running at full capacity no smoke can be seen coming out of the 450-foot brick stack handling rca2ter gases, nor out of the two shorter steel stacks which take the blast furnace gases. On this account the Midvale plant has come to be known as the ""smokeless smelter.""The blast furnace gases are filtered through 832 woolen bags, 33 feet 6 inches by 18 inches in diameter, and 1200 woolen bags, 28 feet by 12 inches in diameter."

Jan 1, 1925

By AIME AIME

THE annual meeting of the A.I.M.E. was fittingly closed with a joint meeting of the Metropolitan sections of the four National societies on Feb. 18, at which this subject was adequately discussed by leading engineers before an audience that completely filled the Engineering Auditorium. The large amount of publicity that has been given the Diesel electric loco- motive, and the often garbled reports of its performance and possibilities that have been circulated, makes it particularly fitting that the facts should be given the profession as determined by those who have aided in developing and operating this latest form of prime- mover in railroad operation. C. A. Stein, general manager of the Central R. R. of New Jersey, opened the meeting with a discussion of the problem of electrification, and the relation of the short haul, switching, and terminal service to heavy electrification. Referring directly to the problem of the Central R. R. of New Jersey, some subtitution for the steam locomotive is necessary within the city limits of New York because of local ordinances against the smoke nuisance. While the improvement in the design of the steam locomotive has been marked-the efiiency today is over fifty times that of the locomotive of 100 years ago-it has now probably reached the point of maximum perfection. If anything, it is open to the criticism of having Coo many appliances to get out of

Jan 1, 1926

By William S. Springer

A NEW preparation plant has been put in - operation to treat coal from the recently opened Concord mine, located about 15 miles west of Birmingham, Ala., by the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co., a U. S. Steel subsidiary. The mine produces metallurgical grade coking coal from the American seam for use as coke in the company's blast furnaces at the Fairfield and Enseley works. The capacity of the operation is 1000 tons of run-of-mine per hr, approximately half of which is delivered to the by-product coke plant at Fairfield after beneficiation to metallurgical grade. The remaining portion of the mine run is rock and refuse removed during preparation. No boiler coal or other fuels are produced by this mine. Preparation of the coal is done both under- ground and on the surface. The underground primary crushing station removes some tramp iron, and screens and crushes the oversize, most of which is rock, to protect the main slope conveyor. The surface plant consists of a crushing and screening plant, large blending bins, a two- process washing plant, a water clarification and

Jan 1, 1950

By E. R. Smith

ANALYSIS of the requirements for gun perforation equipment suitable for penetrating casing and cement showed that these points would be involved: (1) Powder charges electrically detonated under high fluid lieads and at remote distances. (2) Selective firing of sliots in sequence. (3) Sufficient velocity for the bullet to penetrate at least two strings of seamless casing and all cement beyond the strings. (4) Heat-treatment of steels to withstand great pressures and penetration. (5) Esclusiorl of fluid under extremely high hydrostatic pressure. (6) Stranded steel wire line acting as weight - suspending and current - carrying medium. (7) Firing controls operated above the surface. (8) Determining gun depth and suspended weight by means of the wire line. (9) Portability for field use.

Jan 1, 1936

By MARCELS CHLUMBER

BY the term making an "electrical log" the authors designate an operation conceived for the purpose of determining electrically the characters of formations traversed in drilling, the determination being carried out by means of measuring the electrical resistivities of the rocks along the uncased portions of drill-holes. As in the case of an ordinary core record, this process connotes a geological studs of the strata, and for that reason it is given a similar designation. The paper is divided into three parts, of which the first deals with the resistivities of rocks in general, since it is through this electrical parameter that they are to be characterized. The second deals with the technique, and the third with the description of practical applications of the electrical logs.

Jan 1, 1929

By W. G. SWART

THE best estimate on reserves of iron ore in the Lake Superior district is that made, in 1920, by Mr. R. C. Allen, amounting to 2,947,225,000 tons of assured and probable ore. This includes direct- shipping or so-called merchantable ores, and those capable of beneficiation by demonstrated processes. De- ducting from this the 287,000,000 tons shipped since 1920, leaves a present reserve of approximately 2,500,- 000,000 tons, or; about 50 years' supply. The assured ore in this estimate is given as 1,560,500,000 tons, which checks Mr. Lake's estimate of 1,528,948,000 tons, or about 30 years' supply. This is not a long time in the life of the steel industry, and it can be readily appreciated that the matter is important enough to war- rant the attention it is beginning to receive. The first question that engages our attention is, What is merchantable ore? In 1902 the average of all Mesabi shipments was 56.07 per cent iron and 4.35 per cent silica. Twenty-five years later it had dropped to 51.99 per cent iron, with silica up to 7.92 per cent. It has remained around these figures for' ten or twelve years and, except for a probable rise in silica, can stay there for an indefinite period. Most of these figures I am giving cover the Mesabi Range. Including the other ranges does not change the figures greatly, and the Mesabi Range commands the situation, since it produces about 65 per cent of the total annual tonnage and, according to Mr. Allen, contains 81 per cent of the assured reserves, 50 per cent of the probable reserves, and 66 per cent of both the assured and the probable reserves.

Jan 1, 1926

By Richard W. Smith

THERE are three distinct varieties of phosphate rock, in Tennessee, known commercially as: (a) the "brown" rock, which is the residual pro- duct of the weathering and natural concentration of certain phosphatic Ordovician limestones; (b) the "blue " rock, which is an unaltered phosphatic stratum of Mississippian or Devonian age; and (c) the "white" rock, which is the result of chemical replacement and deposition. Before 1894, South Carolina and Florida had supplied most of the phosphate of the United States, South Carolina leading until that date and Florida from then until the present time. In December, 1893, the blue phosphate of Tennessee was discovered almost simultaneously on Swan Creek, in Lewis County, by two independent parties-by one as the result of a careful and systematic search for a workable deposit of the long known kidney phosphate, and by the other through mistaking it for a "bloom" of coal. Leases were taken and, with further prospecting disclosing other deposits in the region, the development progressed as rapidly as 'could be expected without railroad transportation

Jan 1, 1924