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Discussion of the paper of H! M. CHANCE, presented at the Pittsburgh meeting, October, 1914, and printed in Bulletin No. 91, July, 1914, pp. 1461 to 1466. R. V. Norris, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.-In his resume of coal-taxation methods Mr. Chance has apparently confined his investigation to bituminous coal, so a summary of the anthracite situation as to coal assessment should be of interest. The anthracite region of Pennsylvania in its 484 square miles of measures lies in the counties of Wayne, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Carbon, Schuylkill, Northumberland, and Dauphin, and in each of these different methods of assessment have been adopted. The assessments for taxation in Pennsylvania are made under Acts of the Legislatures of 1841 and 1842, under which the assessors are re¬quired to "assess rate and value every subject of taxation according to the actual value thereof, and at such rates and prices as the same would bring at a bona fide sale after due notice." Under this general law coal land has been assessed as such, but up to about 25 years ago the coal was assessed at rates so low as to be unimportant, though the rates in each township and municipality, even in the same county, showed no agreement or ascertainable basis. In the late '80s, the need for greater revenue drew attention to the possibilities of collecting much larger taxes from the coal lands and, spurred by public demand, the assessing authorities in some counties undertook a reassessment of coal. The method pursued was to demand from each owner a statement of the area and average remaining thickness of coal on his lands. On this return, made in some cases under oath, an assessment based on foot-acreage was levied, with a resulting great increase in valuation, but the valuation per foot-acre was low and no serious objection was made. This assessment with occasional increases of rate remained in force until 1907, when, in the triennial assessment of that year, a complete revision of the valuation was again attempted, engineers were employed by the counties to check the accuracy of the returns from the owners, and, based on the foot-acreage thus obtained, an enormous increase, to $65 per foot-acre, was made in the valuation. This assessment was resisted in the courts by appeals resulting in very extensive litigation, and a final determination of the validity of the 1907 and all subsequent assessments has not yet been obtained. In the first appeals tried the rate calculated on a foot-acre valuation was reduced by the Luzerne County court to about $45, while the. Lackawanna County courts reduced a larger rate to $67. The county authorities were, how-

Jan 4, 1915

Discussion of the paper of E. C. HARDER, presented at the Pittsburgh meeting, October, 1914, and printed in Bulletin No. 94, October, 1914, pp. 2573 to 2586. I. C. WHITE, Morgantown, W. Va.-I have seen some of the great iron-ore deposits described in this paper. -One of these in the State of Minas Geraes appears to be an immense mountain of iron ore about 2,000 ft. in height. All over its surface from bottom to top may be seen large masses of rich iron ore, varying in weight from a few pounds to several tons, and from all that one can judge without exploitation, the quantity of available ore is certainly very large in this particular mountain. Whether it will prove a mere surface deposit or shell, like the famous Iron Mountain of Missouri, is for future exploration to determine. The question of transportation is the main factor in determining the availability for exportation of these Brazilian iron ores. There is no coal in Brazil that can be manufactured into coke without expensive previous treatment, since the best of the raw coal in the States of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catharina, and Parana, contains about 35 per cent. of ash, of which about 6 per cent. is sulphur, and coal of this composition cannot be utilized in iron smelting without purification. When I was chief of the Brazilian Coal Commission in 1904 to 1906, I had a cargo of this coal shipped to Balk, Germany, and treated in the great coal-testing plant of the Humboldt Engineering Works, located just across the Rhine from Cologne. It was found that by crushing and washing the Brazilian coal, it yielded 33 per cent. of briquetting coal, containing only 10 to 12 per cent. of ash (of which 1 per cent. was sulphur), and 42 per cent. of slack coal, with 25 per cent. of ash and low in sulphur, so that about 33 per cent. of the Brazilian coal could be converted into coke of fair quality, as shown by the following average of three analyses, using air-dried coal, of briquets made from the Barro Branco coal bed, State of Santa Catharina: Moisture 1.56 Volatile matter 31.66 Fixed carbon 56.73 Ash : 10.05 Total 100.00 Sulphur 1.34 Phosphorus 0.003 B.t.u 13,395

Jan 4, 1915

Discussion Of the paper Of GEORGE K. BURGESS, J. J. CROWE, H. S. RAWDON, and R. G. WALTENBERG, presented at the Pittsburgh meeting, October, 1914, and printed in Bulletin NO. 93, September, 1914, pp. 2433 to 2437. ALBERT SAUVEUR, Cambridge, Mass.-The Bureau of Standards has once more rendered a public service. Manufacturers and consumers of steel rails alike should welcome the important results now laid before them by Dr. Burgess and his co-workers. Personally I welcome these results all the more that in the past, as some of the members may remember, I have never failed, when occasion arose, to call the attention of rail manufacturers to the importance of controlling the finishing temperature of their rails. The pioneer metallographic work conducted at the South Works of the Illinois Steel Co. in the early '90s clearly brought out the close relations existing between the manufacture, properties, and finishing temperature of steel rails and I think I may say without fear of being contradicted that the results of this early investigation had considerable influence in drawing the attention of manufacturers to the importance of finishing temperature and of heat treatment in general. The results now before us should be, it seems to me, of great value to rail manufacturers in their efforts to produce a better and, above all, a safer rail. It seems to be demonstrated in this paper that there is no difficulty in installing in rail mills pyrometric outfits, making it possible to record, without interfering in the mill operations, the temperature of the rails as they leave the finishing rolls, or of the ingots as they are withdrawn from the soaking pits, or at any intermediate point in the process of manufacture. The inference necessarily follows that manufacturers should see to it that such pyrometric installations are made, in order that they may actually know, instead of guessing at, the temperature of their rails;, and, for obvious reasons, rail consumers should insist upon such installations. In the rolling of heavy sections especially should care be taken to lower their finishing temperature, seeing that the present tendency is to finish them at higher temperature, whereas, owing to the slower cooling of their central portions, which makes for coarseness of grain, they should, if anything, be finished at a lower temperature than lighter rails.

Jan 4, 1915

Discussion of the paper of O. P. Hood, presented at the Pittsburgh meeting, October, 1914, and printed in Bulletin No. 94, October, 1914, pp. 2607 to 2611. R. V. Norris, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.-I have had a little experience with gasoline locomotives and I want to indorse very strongly Mr. Hood's point with regard to the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. I think .the terrible danger is not fully realized. I was foolish enough some time ago, in investigating a gasoline locomotive, to attempt to walk out of the mine entry behind it, and for several days I felt very seriously the carbon monoxide effects. The use of gasoline locomotives ought to be confined to mine entries where there is a very large amount of air. One of the grave dangers is their great convenience and the temptation to run them into chambers for just a few moments to get a car or two. GEORGE S. RICE, Pittsburgh, Pa.-Apparently one of the great dangers is in the style of the gasoline engine. When my attention was. first directed to the type of gasoline locomotives which I saw in the foreign mines-France, Belgium, and Germany, I was most favorably impressed with them, and they have given no trouble on account of fumes, so far as I could learn. Large numbers of them were being used, but all were of small capacity, and of a kind in which the speed control is by a governor of the hit-or-miss type, the engine running continuously. Their power capacity was very low, if I remember correctly it was not over 4 or 5 h.p., but they were used under favorable conditions where the grades in the mines were slight, since the entries or tunnels bad a slight grade in favor of-the load, making about the same pull for the empties against the grade as for the load with the grade. I understand the hit-or-miss valve arrangement enables a setting that will give more perfect combustion than can be insured with the valve controlled by the operating man, as in the automobile type of valve and engine used in this country. Apparently the European type of locomotive does not have the capacity to permit use under the conditions existing in this country, where most of our entries or tunnels have variable grades and long heavy trips of mine cars are used.

Jan 4, 1915

By R. W. Raymond

(Reprinted With some additions and changes from the Engineering and Mining Journal)] THE death of Prof. Samuel Benedict Christy on the 30th of November,. at the age of 61 years, cuts short a brilliant and influential professional career. He was born in San Francisco, Aug. 8, 1853, and was graduated as Bachelor of Philosophy at the University of California in 1874. For the five years that followed, he studied mining and metallurgy as a post-graduate in the same institution, serving also as instructor in analytical chemistry, and becoming in 1879 instructor in mining and metallurgy¬a position which he held until 1885. During this period he became known also by his contributions to technical literature, the earliest of which, perhaps, was his report on the Monte Diablo coals (in 1875); but the first which drew my attention to him was an exceedingly able discussion (in 1879) of the genesis of the quicksilver deposits of California, in which he followed with much acuteness and originality the lead of Professor Becker, who had been teaching at the University of California. The notion of the thermo-aqueous formation of such deposits was then new; and the laborers in a field now familiar to every student deserve the credit due to pioneers. For some years the subject of quicksilver seems to have occupied much of Christy's attention. In 1877, he described the mines and works at Almaden, Spain; in 1884, the Imperial quicksilver works at Idria, Austria; in 1889, the New Almaden mines of California. But his great work was the creation of the school, of mining and metallurgy at the University of California, which may be said to have begun with his occupancy of a full professorship of these branches. It is not necessary here to recount the early difficulties and perils of the University, and its long struggle for academic independence of political control or interference. The battle is over, and the institution is now upheld by the intelligent loyalty of the citizens of California, without regard to party. But while the issue was uncertain, the development of special schools of applied science was scarcely practicable. Doctor Becker and William Ashburner had given up the school of mines as a hopeless task when Christy, younger and less experienced, took it up. As he wrote me in February, 1901-

Jan 4, 1915

Discussion of the paper of C. W. WASHBURNE, presented at the Pittsburgh meeting, October, 1914, and printed in Bulletin No. 93,. September, 1914, pp. 2365 to 2378. ROSWELL H. JOHNSON, Pittsburgh, Pa.-It seems to me rather important to bear in mind one thing which is sometimes lost sight of, that the marine sedimentary rocks are laid down in water. We have to start with an initial charge of water. That being so, and the surface tension between the water and the -oil being as slight as it is, as referred to by Mr. Washburne,. the phenomena of capillarity are bound to be most important as between the liquid surface and the gas surface. So far as the liquid-gas surface is concerned, capillarity, in my opinion, is of the utmost importance, and it seems to me this paper of Mr. Washburne's is of great value to us for that reason. Starting out as we have, with our attention concentrated upon gravitational sorting, we have had to wait for the discussion of movement furnished by Munn, and this discussion of capillarity by Washburne, for a more balanced view of the situation. It seems to me that in the accumulation of oil and gas we have a problem of the interworking of gravitational sorting, capillarity, viscosity, immiscibility, and movement. All five things seem to me to be important. I would have expected Mr. Washburne to have given a fuller treatment of the relation of movement to capillarity. In my own experiments I find that gravitation and capillarity alone seem remarkably impotent when everything is at rest, but if I furnish a little movement, gravitation and capillarity step in and accomplish a great many results that one would not expect. Take a horizontal tube and fill a portion at the middle with an ordinary sand saturated with oil, and then put water and sand in each end, and the tube may remain at rest a very long time without that oil distributing itself along the top of the tube. But with a little motion that oil will gradually work up to the upper side. So gravitation and capillarity alone are rather impotent unless they get this element of movement. It would not be necessary to have very extensive movement, but some degree of movement is essential. Now if natural gas, in addition to the method of origin by the action of bacteria on organic matter in mud, may also arise by pressure at great depth, as the overburden is added, a great deal of motion may result. I think more motion is produced in this way than by the descent of meteoric waters.

Jan 4, 1915

Discussion of the paper of HOWARD N. EAVENSON, presented at the Pittsburgh meeting, October, 1914, and printed in Bulletin No. 94, October,' 1914, pp. 2637 to 2660. GEORGE S. RICE, Pittsburgh, Pa.-I think it is very wise to point out the greater liability to explosions in certain parts of the year, if there be such difference, with the caution, however, that vigilance be not relaxed at other times. In comparing the figures for the United States with those of Europe, I think we should separate them as far as possible according to cause of origin and means of propagation. That is to say, it would appear to me that the majority of our explosions are due more directly to the ignition of coal dust directly from the flame of explosives, whereas, judging from my inquiries and observations in some of the mines of Europe, the majority of their explosions have been caused by the ignition of fire damp. Now, in the case of fire damp, I do not think that anybody has yet attempted or has been able to find any connection between the seasons and the issuance of methane into mines. One thing must be borne in mind, that if you get a strong explosion of fire damp, dust of a character that might not ignite readily by itself might assist in the extension of an explosion of fire damp through a considerable area in the mine, if not throughout the mine. While it is true we have many lesser explosions in this country attributable to fire damp, it would appear that the majority of all the mine explosions of the country, in considering the means of propagation beyond the locality of the origin, are due to coal dust; and it is the liability to coal-dust explosions that appears to be affected by seasonal changes. Hence the desirability of separating statistically (if it could be done by the inspectors) fire-damp explosions from coal-dust explosions, in order to obtain the true value of the seasonal effect. Nevertheless, in spite of the inclusion of fire-damp explosions with coal-dust explosions, the preponderance of the evidence, as indicated in Mr. Eavenson's figures for American mines, has shown that' in this country there were more explosions in the winter and spring months, when the mines are drier; that is, when the mines are apt to be drier. Whereas, according to the European figures that he has gathered, it seems to be very clearly demonstrated that in France, England, and Belgium, the time when explosions occur has no connection with any particular season. That, I think, is partly due to the point just mentioned, that a majority of their explosions have originated from fire damp. The European mining men have been more careful, generally speaking, with the use of explosives than we have, so that the cause of ignition from that source has been less. Only comparatively few of the mines in foreign

Jan 4, 1915

Discussion of the paper of O. P. Hood, presented at the Pittsburgh meeting, October, 1914, and printed in Bulletin No. 94, October, 1914, pp. 2607 to 2611. R. V. Norris, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.-I have had a little experience with gasoline locomotives and I want to indorse very strongly Mr. Hood's point with regard to the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. I think .the terrible danger is not fully realized. I was foolish enough some time ago, in investigating a gasoline locomotive, to attempt to walk out of the mine entry behind it, and for several days I felt very seriously the carbon monoxide effects. The use of gasoline locomotives ought to be confined to mine entries where there is a very large amount of air. One of the grave dangers is their great convenience and the temptation to run them into chambers for just a few moments to get a car or two. GEORGE S. RICE, Pittsburgh, Pa.-Apparently one of the great dangers is in the style of the gasoline engine. When my attention was. first directed to the type of gasoline locomotives which I saw in the foreign mines-France, Belgium, and Germany, I was most favorably impressed with them, and they have given no trouble on account of fumes, so far as I could learn. Large numbers of them were being used, but all were of small capacity, and of a kind in which the speed control is by a governor of the hit-or-miss type, the engine running continuously. Their power capacity was very low, if I remember correctly it was not over 4 or 5 h.p., but they were used under favorable conditions where the grades in the mines were slight, since the entries or tunnels bad a slight grade in favor of-the load, making about the same pull for the empties against the grade as for the load with the grade. I understand the hit-or-miss valve arrangement enables a setting that will give more perfect combustion than can be insured with the valve controlled by the operating man, as in the automobile type of valve and engine used in this country. Apparently the European type of locomotive does not have the capacity to permit use under the conditions existing in this country, where most of our entries or tunnels have variable grades and long heavy trips of mine cars are used.

Jan 4, 1915

By W. R. Shimer

IN his valuable report on Finishing Temperatures and Properties of Rails, I Dr. G. K. Burgess, Chief of the Division of Metallurgy, U. S. Bureau of Standards, has begun a line of investigation which should be continued by those interested in the subject, and who have proper facilities for carrying put the work. For the past year or more the Bethlehem Steel Co. has been conducting experiments to learn the effect of rail finishing temperatures on their physical properties and microstructure and the results are here given for the consideration of those interested in the rail situation. . Considerable differences of opinion have been expressed by various authorities, in the past, as to the effect of large or small grain size and high or low finishing temperatures of steel rails on their physical properties and wearing qualities. Low finishing temperatures and, therefore, low shrinkage, have been advocated on the theory that the wearing qualities would be improved. Others have recommended high finishing temperatures. The generally accepted cause for rail failures, due to the development ,of transverse fissures, is excessive wheel pressure on hard rails. One of the causes advanced for hard rails has been that they contain too high per centages of carbon and manganese; another that the rails were finished at too low a temperature, i.e., at or near the critical point. In the experiments herein described the rails were rolled from reheated blooms. All the rail blooms were charged hot in a reheating furnace and brought up to about the original ingot-rolling temperature before rolling into rails. These rails gave better results in deflection, withstood a greater number of drops before breaking, and showed greater ductility, than. rails of identically the same composition and section which were rolled, direct from the ingot. Rails rolled from reheated blooms, finished at somewhat higher temperatures than when rolled direct from the ingot, have a different microstructure, which the writer does not believe is due so much to the difference in finishing temperatures, as to the difference in

Jan 3, 1915

By Walther Mathesus

INTRODUCTION THE use of high blast heats on furnaces melting Mesaba ores is still the exception, the average blast temperatures carried on Mesaba stacks seldom reaching 1,100° F. Some 15 years ago, when the use of fine Mesaba ores in larger proportions to the total burden first came into practice, it was found difficult to employ even those blast heats which it had been possible to carry with the Old Range ores. The furnaces refused to "take" high heats, and would persistently labor with irregular stock movement, which impaired the practice and increased the coke consumption. By lowering the blast temperature, the working of the furnace became smoother, and experience taught that with the softer and more easily reduced Mesaba ores, satisfactory practice could be obtained with comparatively low blast heats. Therefore a large number of Mesaba furnaces have ever since been operated on very low blast temperatures, ranging between 800° and 1,000° F. In the face of these difficulties, furnace men were slow to recognize that furnaces could be so designed as to permit a free movement of the charges in combination with the use of higher heats. Since higher blast temperatures did not seem to offer great advantages in the smelting of Mesaba ores, investments in hot-blast stoves were not as attractive to the furnace man as labor-saving devices and means of obtaining greater tonnages. The effect of this preference is keenly felt at the present time. It has brought about the peculiar situation, that the majority of our furnace plants (among them some of the most progressive) lack modern and efficient stove equipment. The result is that, even where the proper furnace lines have been adopted and conditions are now favorable to the successful employment of higher blast temperatures, the heats required for the greatest fuel economy are not available.

Jan 3, 1915

By S. J. Hardison

IN the fall of 1912, the appearance of water in the oil of the Nevada Petroleum Co., Coalinga, Cal., made necessary the installation of a dehydrating plant to reduce the water below the 3 per cent. limit prescribed by the agency. Unlike the mining industry, technical literature of the oil industry is limited and extremely unsatisfactory. Until the recent efforts of the Petroleum and Gas Committee of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, no concerted movement has been instituted to secure publication of papers dealing with the problems of the oil business, and because of the additional fact that dehydrating of oil has not been practiced in California to any extent up to comparatively recent time, it was found necessary to experiment in order to determine the most satisfactory plan for this purpose. It is easy to write regarding successful enterprises, but, while not so pleasant, it is equally desirable to write of failures so that others may be saved the loss incident to such investments. The water in this oil occurs both free and as an emulsion. Free water easily settles out, but the emulsion requires treatment. So far as can be determined, the emulsion consists of globules of water surrounded and enveloped by a film of, oil. Starting with this hypothesis, the theory has been evolved that in order to break up this emulsion the water must be heated at least to boiling point, when an explosion takes place destroying the globule. Unfortunately, this condition was not recognized in the installation of the first plant, which was planned on the following lines: A heater was arranged so that all the oil from the wells could be heated before reaching the shipping tanks, these being already fitted with coils for steam heating. Tanks were filled with about 4 ft. of water, live steam was turned into the coils and the water brought nearly to the boiling point, when the heated oil was run in. This for a time was partly successful, but the length of time necessary to apply this heat was too great for practical operating.

Jan 3, 1915

By Noel Cunningham

MANY excellent descriptions of the mills of the, Porcupine district have been written, but no discussion exclusively devoted to the metallurgical technology has been given. These notes are intended to cover this feature briefly. They are based upon 2 ½ years' mill operation in the district-i.e., practically since the beginning of metallurgical operations. Character of the Porcupine Ore.-There is no oxidized ore in the district, the surface having been deeply planed by glacial action in recent geologic time. The precious-metal content is about in the proportion of 85 of gold to 15? of silver by weight; hence, the silver is practically negligible. There are two classes of Porcupine ore, having very different characteristics; these will be referred to throughout this paper as Class A and Class B. Class A ore is a pure quartz with inclusions of schist. Generally it is heavily fractured .and breaks down readily to sharp, hard grains, about minus 10 plus 20 mesh, requiring further comminution to release the gold. It carries very little pyrite; the gold is entirely free and apt to be coarse, but often spongy, going into solution readily on that account. This gold is 60 per cent. to 85 per cent. free milling, depending on the grade of ore. Class B ore is an iron silicate schist, strongly laminated, carrying 4 to 5 per cent. pyrite; its specific gravity is 2.8 to 3.0, depending upon the amount of mineralization. In breaking the ore in the mine, generally over 25 per cent. of material through a ½ -in. ring is made; the ore readily breaks down in milling and makes a comparatively large amount of non-crystalline slime; owing to its high specific gravity, however, it is quick settling.' In my opinion, the gold in this ore is free, but so finely divided that it will neither pan nor amalgamate; it appears to be disseminated through the rock and not chiefly associated with the pyrite. Veins of Class A ore occur with or without side walls of Class B, and veins of Class B occur unassociated with Class A; more often the veins are closely banded, Class A and Class B alternating, generally with Class B in excess. Both classes of ore are more-or less blocky at times, and with ref¬erence to Class B this is indicative or low gold content.

Jan 3, 1915

By William Phillips

THE possible sources of potash salts in the United States have been considered from many points of view during the last several years, but it is only within the last two or three months that the situation has become acute. We import from Germany, the only source of large supply, more than $10,000,000 worth of potash salts annually, and this business has been badly crippled by the European war. If there was ever a time in our industrial existence when the necessity of providing for our own needs was more acute than it is now, we are not aware of it. One has only to study the price, lists of chemicals sent out by the large supply houses to see the change wrought within a very short time. Whether or no these prices are to maintain for a considerable time, no one can say; but it appears to be probable that we shall not see prices materially lower for a period of uncomfortable length, to say the least. It is not my purpose at this time to discuss the various sources of supply of potash salts that have been suggested or recommended. Some of them might afford a pleasing relief but all of them combined would not affect the situation seriously. If we are to have our own sources of potash salts, they will have to compare, in some efficient manner, with the sources upon which we have drawn during the last 20 or 30 years; i.e., they must exist-in minable quantities. It seems to me to be quite idle to speculate upon our domestic sources of potash if those sources are not of a character similar to those upon which we have so long depended. A few thousand or, perhaps,, a few hundred thousand dollars' worth of chemically derived 'potash may be produced under the stress of present conditions, but when we consider that each year demands more than $10,000,000 worth, we must look to underground sources; we must look to mines similar to the famous Stassfurt and Halle deposits. If we cannot mine potash salts, we shall have to do without them for a while.

Jan 2, 1915

By Charles Malcolmson

IN the United States, improvements in methods of combustion have made possible the use of the smaller sizes of anthracite. This coal is now being reclaimed from the culm banks accumulated by the miners in the more prodigal years. To-day the freshly mined "slush" is segre¬gated and stored against the time when, through briquetting or some other means, it may be utilized as a commercial fuel. For many years Europe has achieved enviable results in the conservation of her small coal by briquetting. This profitable industry, first placed on a commercial basis in France in 1842, has grown to such magnitude that the "'production during 1913 exceeded 36,000,000 short tons. Briquets produced in Great Britain are used principally for steam purposes and the greater part of the output is either exported or taken by the Admiralty. On the Continent the briquets are sold in all branches of the coal trade. The French railways consume from 16 to 40 per cent. of their fuel in briquet form, and in Germany the lignite briquets, (of which 20,000,000 tons were produced in 1913) are as familiar and interesting to the American traveler as the huge porcelain stoves in which they are burned. It is not strange, therefore, that aggressive and far-sighted promotors heralded this means of converting our ubiquitous coal waste into revenue. To the superficial student the briquetting process seemed so simple as to make success easy. It is for this reason principally that the path of the industry in America has been strewn with failures. The rash enthusiast had either not worked out the mechanical problems involved or had failed to grasp the local conditions under which the briquets must be made and sold. It may be confidently stated, however, that in spite of the many vicissitudes through which it has passed, coal briquetting is now an accomplished economic success in this country, and as a profitable adjunct to the coal industry it has come to stay.

Jan 2, 1915

By P. B. Scotland

THE mines of the Arizona Copper Co. are situated in the Morenci-Metcalf copper district in southeastern Arizona. This copper-bearing district covers a triangular mountainous area of about 3 square miles, rising abruptly from the gravel plateau of the surrounding country. In this area, an immense intrusion of porphyry has displaced, shattered, and engulfed the shales, limestones, and quartzites formerly bedded on the basal granite. Outcrops of oxide ore were discovered in 1873, and these surface ores were found to connect in depth with large bodies of high-grade oxide ores in the limestones and shales. The smelting of these ores in blast furnaces continued until about 1893, when the rapid exhaustion of the high-grade ore led to the discovery and exploitation of the low-grade sulphide ores in the adjoining porphyry. Methods of concentration were then devised and the low-grade ores finally rendered profitable. The Arizona Copper Co. and the Detroit Copper Mining Co., operating in the same district, were the pioneers in the successful development of the low-grade "porphyry" properties of to-day. The largest mines of the Arizona Copper Co. are the Humboldt and Clay at Morenci, and the Coronado, Metcalf, and King at Metcalf. These mines produce about 4,000 tons daily of concentrating ore containing from 2.5 to 2.8 per cent. copper. The topography of the country is very rugged and mining operations are conducted principally through adit levels. A few of the mines are opened by shafts, the deepest being 1,100 ft., in the Coronado mine. ORE OCCURRENCE The low-grade sulphide ore occurs as: (1) disseminated deposits in the main stock of quartz porphyry; (2) lode deposits in fault fissures in granite. The high-grade oxide ores were found as tabular deposits in limestone and shale close to contacts with porphyry. Low-grade oxide ore formed the outcrop of some-' the sulphide orebodies; the majority of the outcrops, however, were barren.

Jan 2, 1915

By David Cole

THE appearance of the Wilfley table in 1897 marked an epoch in the art of concentration of ores. The table has merited and received an almost unprecedented measure of public approval, lasting through its whole patent life. It has been very little improved in itself, or improved upon by competitors. The new machines bidding for popular favor have been of the Wilfley family, but without ability to do markedly better work than the parent m:-chine, or to (to more work except by the use of superimposed decks, the latter having obvious disadvantages. FIG. 1.-The- Butchart RIFFLE System. During the past three years there has been developed at Morenci a new type or arrangement of riffles applicable to the Wilfley type of concentrating table which corrects many of the objectionable features or limitations of the older system and obviates most of the difficulties encountered with it, particularly when handling ores having a low ratio of concentration. The new type is known as the Butchart1 riffle system, and its general arrangement is shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Jan 2, 1915

By Benjamin Tillson

The hammer drill rightly receives the credit for having made the one-man drill possible, and so many economies seem possible through the proper application of :different types of hammer drills to various mining, quarrying, and, excavating operations, that an indication of the economies effected by the New Jersey Zinc Co. at its Franklin mines may be of pertinent interest. When this company commenced its trials of hammer drills in 1907, these tools had not I been developed to one-fourth the capacity and refinement which they have at present. At that time it was frequently stated that such a small tool, drilling holes of less diameter than the reciprocating rock drill, could not drill enough holes in a shift to permit the placing of sufficient explosive to break a tonnage of ore comparable with that produced by the"' rock drills;" that the placing of small holes inclined upward, at angles steeper than 40° above the horizontal, could not be expected to produce results equal to the large flat, wet or dry, holes in the breasted back of an overhand stope, and would only shatter the ground so as to make the back unsafe. In' spite of these adverse opinions, the hammer drills first showed their superiority over both heavy and light reciprocating drills in raising and in stoping, and then in drifting and quarry work. As a result, all of the reciprocating drills at the Franklin mines were scrapped, three years ago, all of the mining work being accomplished with increased efficiency, as shown in detail in this article. With the advent of the hammer drill in this property, it was considered advisable to make comparative tests of all the tools accessible, and it has since been the policy to investigate the merits of any advance of the drilling art in order to get the maximum amount of work from the tools. The necessity of devising some means of standardizing drill tests, and of measuring the consumption of compressed air as well as the drilling speed, was early realized.

Jan 2, 1915

By Roswell Johnson

WHAT becomes of the water which must have filled the oil and gas sands at the time of deposition, has long puzzled students of oil and gas and has found expression in Munn's well known article on the hydraulic theory. Both Munn and Clapp have pointed out that in the Appalachian field the deeper sands carry increasingly less proportionate amounts of water. It seems to me probable that the principal source of oil and gas has been in the shales in proximity to the sands which now contain these products. The sand spits which mark off the lagoons from the sea comply particularly with the requirements of a limited sand imbedded in shales rich in organic matter. Cunningham Craig has objected to this view that the rich organic muds of lagoons are found only at the surface. That such muds do extend to considerable depth 1 am assured by Prof. Douglas W. Johnson, who has made an extensive study of the Atlantic Coast marshes. As any particular sand body becomes weighted by a heavier and heavier overburden, the result of increasing deposition, a part of the very large percentage of water in the uncompacted sand and mud is forced pout. The water percentage of freshly settled mud is vastly higher than that of the resultant shales, or even of a very porous sand. If beds of less compressible material meet or underlie the shales in question, there will. frequently be a lateral motion along such beds to some point where the upward movement will be resumed. We find in our laboratory work here that oil, gas, and water have extremely slight capacity for gravitational sorting while in a state of rest but when moving the gravitational sorting is readily accomplished. As the oil, gas, and water pass a body of larger pores, the gas, owing to its lack of capillary attraction, is retained in .the large pores.

Jan 2, 1915

By C. A. Heberlein

INTRODUCTION THE present war in Europe seems to have stimulated the demand for quicksilver. In July last, the price ranged around $35 per flask of 75 lb., while to-day it seems to fluctuate between $47.50 and $50. The use of quicksilver in the form of fulminate, containing 70 per cent., and as corrosive sublimate, containing 73.8 per cent., must be extensive and a further market advance may be expected. With such an advance, some revival in quicksilver mining maybe looked for, particularly in California, where many abandoned properties exist. What can be done with low-grade quicksilver ores under favorable conditions, particularly with low mining cost, may be seen from the following description of the Oceanic mine, near. San Luis Obispo, Cal. Its operations date back to 1876, when rich sand ores were discovered. In three years 7,400 flasks of quick-silver were produced, but since then the deposit has been only sporadically worked. Until two years ago various attempts had been made by the Oceanic Quicksilver Co. to mine the more refractory "mud rock," which was encountered lying beyond the "sand rock." Mud and sand rock in varying quantities were treated together with poor results, but operations were successful with sand rock of fair percentage. About two years ago,, when all the sand rock had been exhausted, Murray Innes purchased the Oceanic mine. He found large quantities of low-grade mud rock, varying from 6 to 8 lb. of quicksilver per ton, which at the prevailing low price of quick-silver demanded very cheap mining costs, in conjunction with high but cheap metallurgical extraction. At that time the extraction of quicksilver from mud rock ranged between 40 and 50 per cent., as far as I am able to, learn.

Jan 2, 1915

By Frederick F. Sharpless

The term "segregation," as here used, means the separation of certain natural resources into groups, consisting of one or more members, with the idea that when thus segregated, each group may be more easily and effectively administrated. We may, for example, consider surface rights as distinct from underground rights, and stop there; or we may go further, and deal separately with timber, water, and agricultural rights, or, going underground, we might deal separately with such groups as precious and base metals, clay, oil, gas, etc. The present paper contemplates only the separation so far as practicable, for administrative purposes, of surface from mineral rights. " Classification," in this paper, has reference to the groups into which the government has divided, is dividing, or will hereafter divide its natural resources; first, into the broad classes of mineral and agricultural lands; and, second, into coal, oil, phosphate, brine lands, etc., the central idea being the separation into natural groups for the purpose of simplifying administration and for the purpose of encouraging maximum development and minimum waste. The two subjects are in some respects quite distinct, but as my argument develops, I think it will be obvious why they are discussed in the same paper. In the pursuit of our professions as mining engineers, geologists, or operators, we are continually confronted by conditions with which our present mining laws or regulations are incompatible. It may be a conflict, hardship or injustice, a piece of favoritism, or of unnecessary red tape; or we may see lack of development in a promising locality, and wonder what is the reason. Often we can see where a modification, slight or radical, in the laws would have obviated the difficulty without doing harm to any of those immediately concerned. Such alterations as individuals could intelligently suggest would be based on a relatively small number of situations occurring in their experiences. The published replies to the queries formulated by the various committees on mining law appear generally to reflect personal experience. Concerning a few points, there is a marked uniforhity of opinion, while on other points opinions

Jan 1, 1915