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Edward Payson Mathewson EDWARD PAYSON MATHEWSON, President of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgi-cal Engineers, was born in Montreal, Canada, Oct. 16, 1864, of Scotch-Irish ancestors. After preparation in private and public schools, he graduated from McGill University with the degree of Bachelor of Applied Science, in 1885, having specialized in mining engineer-ing and metallurgy. He spent the succeeding summer as a surveyor with the Canadian Geological Survey, being employed in the lake region of Ontario. The following spring he left Canada for Colorado, where he immediately obtained a position as assayer with the Pueblo Smelting & Refining Co. Within three years he became superintendent of the plant, and his success in this position brought him to the attention of the Guggenheim family, whose employ he entered in 1897. He was first in charge of their Pueblo plant, but was soon transferred to their refinery at Perth Amboy, N. J. During the succeeding five years he was in charge of important smelting operations conducted by the firm in Mexico and South America. In June, 1902, Mr. Mathewson accepted a position at the Washoe reduction works at Anaconda, soon thereafter becoming manager of the property. It is unnecessary to recount the improvements and enlarge-ments instituted at that plant under his management, until it became the Mecca of all metallurgists visiting the United States. The esteem in which Mr. Mathew-son was held, not only by the men directly under him, but by all his fellow citizens, was expressed in a send-off such as probably no other plant manager has ever received, when he left Anaconda in October, 1916, to accept the general managership of the British America Nickel Corporation, at Nickelton, Ont., Canada. Soon thereafter Mr. Mathewson accepted an appoint-ment as director of the American Smelting and Refining Co., acting as consulting metallurgist for the company and its subsidiaries. In November, 1919, he resigned this position and opened an office in New York City as a consulting metallurgist.

Jan 3, 1923

By J. J. Mulligan, F. F. Colcord, E. F. Kern

The electrolytic separation of silver and gold has been practiced by the refineries in the United States for a good many years, and probably because of frequent visiting between officials of plants and the consequent exchange of views, operations in the various silver and gold refineries are very similar. We find, for instance, they practically all use electrolytes of approximately the same composition, which, no doubt, is more the result of experience than of studies of electrolytes. At the new electrolytic parting plant of the U. S. S. Lead Refinery, Inc., East Chicago, Ind., considerable attention has been given to the composition of electrolytes, especially to their conductivity and their effect on the character of the silver deposit. We are not aware that anything has been recently published on this subject and are, therefore, presenting such data as we have with the idea that, although it will not be wholly new, it may stimulate interest in the subject. Effect of Copper Content on Conductivity The first work was to determine the specific conductivity of silver nitrate and copper nitrate solutions. Concentrated solutions of silver nitrate and copper nitrate were prepared by dissolving analyzed chemically-pure salts in distilled water, and determining the silver and copper in each. Definite amounts of the concentrated solutions were taken, mixed and diluted to a definite volume. The silver and the copper were determined in each of these solutions and the conductivity was then determined. The plotted results are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The effect of increasing quantities of silver and copper is readily seen. A comparison of the two sets of curves shows conclusively the benefit of holding the copper content of the electrolyte above 5C g. per liter, as its effect is to increase greatly the conductivity in an approximate propor-

Jan 1, 1926

By Rossiter Raymond

IT is scarcely necessary to augment or amend the "Appreciation" of Dr. Douglas, from the pen of Dr. Albert A. Ledoux, which appeared in January, 1916, in Bulletin -No. -109 of the Institute. The author of that admirable summary enjoyed the great privilege of expressing while Dr. Douglas was yet among us (though already marked for death) the love and esteem with which we all regarded him. But now that his earthly life has ended, the historian must still be the eulogist. No line need be added or deleted in the portrait of him already drawn; it has only to be accepted now as a true likeness, and hung in the gallery of the immortals, illuminated' by the crowning glory of another world. . James Douglas was born at Quebec, Canada, November 4, 18:37. His father, James Douglas, was a distinguished physician and surgeon, known in many lands, especially in the Orient, and famous in his own country for his philanthropy as well as his skill, having established and directed for many years the first retreat for the insane in the Dominion of Canada. One of the latest literary labors of the son was the editing and publishing of his father's journal and reminiscences-a fascinating volume, the review of which, though a tempting task, I must here forego. Nearly fifty years ago, I had the great pleasure of spending an hour with the elder. Douglas, who guided me through his collection of Egyptian and Asiatic treasures. I might almost say souvenirs; so many of them were connected with personal experiences and exalted personages. The veteran's memory had already begun to fail with age, but his vivacity and imagination glowed all the, more brightly; and his reminiscences of travel and adventure were embroidered with Oriental magnificence. I felt, after that hour, as if I had visited a stately, half-ruined edifice, overgrown with vines and flowers. The father's genius, adventurous spirit and generous philanthropy descended to his versatile, yet practical son. Like other men of such temperament, James Douglas tried many things before circumstances beyond his own control forced him into the line of his, principal lifework. At the age of 18, he was sent to the University of Edinburgh, where he studied for two years. Returning to Canada,, he entered Queen's University, at Kingston, Ontario, where he was graduated as Bachelor of Arts in 1858. Subsequently he studied medicine at Laval University, Quebec;

Jan 9, 1918

By Jennings S. Cox

The following notes, prepared in 1908, as the result of a personal examination and extensive explorations under my direction in 1906, have been revised and greatly augmented after two subsequent visits and further explorations in 1910. The hard iron-ores of the south coast of Oriente Province, in the island of Cuba, have been known for many years, in fact one mine has been in operation for more than 20 years; but it is only within the past four years that the large mantle-deposits of brown ores of the north coast have attracted serious attention. A. C, Spencer' has described these ores in a paper, entitled Three Deposits of Iron Ore in Cuba, which refers to the Mayari, Moa, and Cubitas deposits. C. M. Weld,2 in a scholarly paper, The Residual Brown Iron-Ores of Cuba, has discussed the character and possible genesis of these deposits with particular reference to the Moa field, calling attention also to the Taco and Navas fields in addition to those described by Spencer. Descriptive articles with reference to the Mayari field, and a few words about the Moa deposit, have also appeared3 It is the purpose of the present paper to give some account of the exploration of the Moa deposit arid to call attention to its commercial importance. Location. The Moa district is situated on the north coast of the Province of Oriente, which is the most easterly province of the

Jan 1, 1912

By C. W. Purington, H. B. C. Nitze

The Kotchkar mining-district, known as the Kotchkar System, is situated in the Orenburg government, in Eastern Russia, in the great plateau- or steppe-country immediately adjacent to the eastern slopes of the Ural mountains. Its longer dimension is north and south about 27 miles, while in the widest (northern) portion the distance across is 22 miles. The district lies 40 miles southwest of Miass, a station of the Trans-Siberian railway, and half-way between this village and that of Troitsk. It contains also the not inconsiderable settlements of Kotchkar and Eosobrodskoit., the last a Kossak town. So far as explored, the district is known to contain from 300 to 400 auriferous veins. ? Although the topography is generally of an exceedingly flat character, the country is traversed by several small rivulets running from west to east, and flowing into the Sanarka and Kamenka rivers. Since 1844 placers have been worked in the district, but it was not until 1867 that veins were discovered, and these have been worked only since the impoverishment of the alluvial deposits. The deposit with which this paper especially deals is known as the Ouspensky mine, one of twelve owned by MM. de Zelenkoff & Cie., five of which are situated in the Kotchkar System. An opportunity of visiting this mine was afforded the writers, in eonnection with an excursion of the VII. session of the International Geological Congress; held in Russia during the summer of 1897. The mine is reached by a 40-mile '(troika" journey from the railway station of Bichkil, itself

Jan 1, 1899

Discussion of the paper of E. G. Woodruff, presented at the Butte meeting, August, 1913, and printed in Bulletin No. 78, June, 1913, pp. 1001 to 1010. F. A. LINFORTH, Butte, Mont.:-I have not had an opportunity of reading this paper thoroughly, but I would like to call attention to the possible use of the contours on fault planes. It is obvious that if the contours of fault surfaces call be determined, we will be able to determine the axes of the hollows in the fault surface. It seems probable, and there are examples to point to the accuracy of, the assumption, that the axes of these hollows may be the direction of movements on the faults, and if that is true it will aid materially in locating faulted ore bodies or the shoots of ore on the opposite sides of faults. A few such contour maps of faults have been attempted on some of the faults of the Butte district, and those faults which are believed to have the nearly normal movement exhibit for the axes of these hollows a line nearly up and down in the plane of the fault, but in those cases where the throw is believed to bee nearly horizontal we find that the axes of the hollows are almost horizontal lines. In other words, the movements on faults, I believe, would be more nearly indicated by the larger grooves in the fault surfaces than by the small slickensides and minor hollows that are seen, so that contour maps might be valuable in geology in that way. C. W. GOODALE, Butte, Mont.:-I received a letter from Mr. Woodruff asking me to take part in the discussion of his paper, but I have not had time to give the paper any study. I can certainly add my opinion to that of all the engineers here that the topographic maps of the government are of great aid to the engineer. When I visit a new district, the first thing I do is to see if that district has been covered by the U. S. Geological Survey avid if topographic map has been issued. And I find that some of the younger engineers frequently come into my office to see if I have such maps. I know in some cases the reports made out by engineers contain copies of these topographic maps, or clippings from them. I am sure that. the topographic maps furnished by the government are of very great value to our engineers.

Jan 11, 1913

By John S. Johnson

The maintenance cost, or renewal cost, in any preparation plant is a large item of expense and reflects in the total cost of producing and preparing the ton of coal. It is given constant study to the end that ways and means of controlling and reducing this proportion of the total cost may be developed. Study of this item of cost has proceeded along usual lines, which are: proper functioning of the maintenance organization; systematic and thorough inspection to prevent breakdonns; the making of repairs before renewals are needed; maintenance work done thoroughly the first time, instead of patching, study of parts needing frequent renewal or repairs or conditions resulting in delays, thorough knowledge of cost by the mall responsible for maintenance; and the use of special equipment and materials. This paper is to deal with special equipment and materials to reduce the maintenance cost hut before going into that I want to express an opinion on the general subject. Maintenance Organization Usually maintenance is taken care of by a group of men who perform their work on the off shift. The work is arranged by the operating official who should be thoroughly familiar with maintenance, so that materials needed may be made up for the particular job and waste of time in looking up materials be prevented. To perfect the maintenance organization, all operating attendants should be thoroughly trained to be familiar with all working parts of their equipment, to make a thorough inspection and to write out the slip for the work required. This requires job analysis, but it is worth the effort, because the attendant usually is better informed than anyone else about his particular equipment. The operating official can judge the scope of the work to direct the repair and to have material ready. Lubrication is an important item in maintenance, and a subject by itself. Usually the breaker oiler is designated to perform this task. This man should be picked for his ability and put in line for promotion to machinist. He should be trained as an inspector, as he is constantly visiting most parts of the breaker and has an opportunity to observe needed maintenance. The first thing is to lay out maintenance work and arrange to have it done; the next is to check the work and see that it has been properly done. This check should be made by the operating official, and through the attendant. The cost statement showing the various items of maintenance cost is not often understood by the man in direct charge. Cost sheets should be simplified and worked up by breaker sections; e.g., the cost of

Jan 1, 1947

By John S. Johnson

The maintenance cost, or renewal cost, in any preparation plant is a large item of expense and reflects in the total cost of producing and preparing the ton of coal. It is given constant study to the end that ways and means of controlling and reducing this proportion of the total cost may be developed. Study of this item of cost has proceeded along usual lines, which are: proper functioning of the maintenance organization; systematic and thorough inspection to prevent breakdonns; the making of repairs before renewals are needed; maintenance work done thoroughly the first time, instead of patching, study of parts needing frequent renewal or repairs or conditions resulting in delays, thorough knowledge of cost by the mall responsible for maintenance; and the use of special equipment and materials. This paper is to deal with special equipment and materials to reduce the maintenance cost hut before going into that I want to express an opinion on the general subject. Maintenance Organization Usually maintenance is taken care of by a group of men who perform their work on the off shift. The work is arranged by the operating official who should be thoroughly familiar with maintenance, so that materials needed may be made up for the particular job and waste of time in looking up materials be prevented. To perfect the maintenance organization, all operating attendants should be thoroughly trained to be familiar with all working parts of their equipment, to make a thorough inspection and to write out the slip for the work required. This requires job analysis, but it is worth the effort, because the attendant usually is better informed than anyone else about his particular equipment. The operating official can judge the scope of the work to direct the repair and to have material ready. Lubrication is an important item in maintenance, and a subject by itself. Usually the breaker oiler is designated to perform this task. This man should be picked for his ability and put in line for promotion to machinist. He should be trained as an inspector, as he is constantly visiting most parts of the breaker and has an opportunity to observe needed maintenance. The first thing is to lay out maintenance work and arrange to have it done; the next is to check the work and see that it has been properly done. This check should be made by the operating official, and through the attendant. The cost statement showing the various items of maintenance cost is not often understood by the man in direct charge. Cost sheets should be simplified and worked up by breaker sections; e.g., the cost of

Jan 1, 1947

By E. A. Jones

THE Southeast Missouri division of the St. Joseph Lead Co. normally hauls and hoists over 5 million tons of lead ore each year. This ore is mined in the stopes and headings of 20 mines, hauled to a main line system, see above, and transported up to 6.4 miles to ore-hoisting shafts. Average haulage distance is 2.16 miles. A few years ago a distinguished mining engineer visiting this area for the first time remarked, "You do not have a mining problem; yours is a haulage problem." Its relative importance may be gaged by the fact that mine haulage represents about 25 pct of the total cost of mining ore, the most costly single underground operation. The Southeast Missouri lead belt is a mining district located about 65 miles south of St. Louis. This district is roughly 6 miles wide and 10 miles long. The ore horizon lies about 400 ft below the surface where most of the ore is mined from flat-lying beds of dolomitic limestone. This paper deals with the central part of the district, namely, that portion which contains a group of interconnected mines all in a central haulage system, serving four hoisting shafts. The two major hoisting operations are carried out at Federal No. 17 shaft and Leadwood No. 12 shaft. No. 17 accounted for about 70 pct of the ore hoisted in the district during 1950, averaging about 14,000 tons per operating day. The underground dumping and skip-pocket system at this shaft is similar to those of the other shafts except that it has two rotary dumps. The other ore-hoisting shafts have only one. It might be mentioned that waste rock is hoisted at still other shafts, hauled off, and dumped on the surface by trucks. The hoisting shafts are on a connected system of about 200 miles of underground 24-in. gage main line railroad. There is also the Bonne Terre system, with its own ore-hoisting shaft, which consists of 13.5 miles of 24-in. gage main line, located in the extreme north portion of the lead belt area. Smaller outlying mines such as Doe Run No. 12 and Hayden Creek operate on trackless or shuttle car haulage. In addition to the system of main line haulage, each contributing mine group has its own extensive system of stope or heading railroad. Trackless mining is making considerable headway in the Lead-wood and Desloge mines. Here the shovel loads into a shuttle car which in turn dumps into mine cars spotted on the main line track system. When the merits of underground haulage and surface transportation are compared, it must be remembered that in early days there were many individual

Jan 1, 1954

By Hugo L. Johnson, Robert Wallace

THE Midvale plant of the United States Smelting Refining and Mining Company consists of a flotation mill for concentrating sulphide ores of lead and zinc by differential flotation to produce three separate concentrates, one of lead, one of zinc, and one of iron pyrite; and a lead smelter for smelting ores and concentrates to produce base lead bullion, The plant, including its shops, laboratories, office, railroad yards which serve both mill and smelter, and areas reserved for tailing ponds and slag dumps, covers 646 acres on the right bank of the Jordan River at Midvale, Utah. It is twelve miles south of Salt Lake City and sixteen miles east of the West Mountain mining district at Bingham Canyon from which is drawn a large part of its ore supply. Custom ores are treated as well as the product of Company mines.

Jan 1, 1948

By Ernest R. Lilley

While American scientific literature contains much information upon geologic conditions controlling the production of oil in Rumania, copper in Chile, and other fuel and metallic resources in many foreign countries, it is singularly lacking in data about the nonmetallics outside of the United States. Thus, though the United States is the outstanding market for European high-quality refined kaolin, and for the chinaware, porcelain, and other products of the European ceramics industries, American literature contains only the briefest references to the deposits from which the raw kaolin utilized is obtained. To the writer, to whom has come in the past year the opportunity of visiting a number of these deposits personally, they have proved of extreme interest both commercially and geologically. It is the latter phase that is discussed in this paper. The older and now largely crystalline rock areas of France, Germany, and other parts of western Europe contain numerous pegmatite dikes of which the upper portions have been subjected to surface weathering and kaolinization in much the same way as those of the eastern portion of the United States. Like the latter, the European pegmatite kaolins have long been known for their freedom from iron and other impurities offensive to the china and porcelain manufacturer. Unfortunately, they are also, like the American deposits, individually of small size and noted for their high costs of production. Deposits of sedimentary clay similar in many respects to the high-quality sedimentary kaolins of Georgia and South Carolina are known and worked, notably in southern Germany and in the Newton Abbott district of Devon and Dorset in England. In general, their relationship to the parent rock from which they were derived is more evident than in the United States and the individual deposits are of smaller areal extent and less regular in outline. While these deposits are of considerable economic importance they did not, because of their similarity to deposits in America, attract and hold the interest of the writer to the extent that several other types of deposits did. It is to the latter, which are so different from the kaolin

Jan 1, 1932

By James H. Bechtold

The yield strength of annealed tungsten was found to have a strain rate exponent 12 times as great as that of low carbon steel. The effects of temperature and strain rate could be correlated through the Zener-Hollomon parameter with a heat of activation associated with yielding of 32,000 cal per g-atom. This heat of activation is independent of strain although both the temperature and strain rate dependence of the yield strength vary with strain. MOST metals have mechanical properties that are relatively insensitive to strain rate, especially at temperatures below that at which creep is important. In iron and molybdenum," however, relatively large strain rate effects are observed in the temperature range where the rapid increase in yield strength occurs which leads to the ductile to brittle transition. In this temperature range Zener and Hollomon' have suggested that the effects of strain rate and temperature T on the yield strength could be correlated through a single parameter, P, in the following manner where Q is a heat of activation characteristic of the metal and associated with some unspecified relaxation process. They also observed that if the temperature is restricted to a relatively narrow range— below room temperature for steel—that the logarithm of the yield strength could be expressed as a linear function of the logarithm of P. From this relation the logarithm of stress should be a linear function of the logarithm of the strain rate at constant temperature: where r will be referred to herein as the strain rate exponent. At a constant strain rate the logarithm of stress should be a linear function of l/T, ay(e = C) ~ eT [4] where q = Qr [5] and is referred to herein as the temperature exponent. These equations have been found to relate the effects of temperature and strain rate on the yield strength of molybdenum in the temperature range wherein the ductile to brittle transition occurs, —75° to +150°C.2 Bechtold and Shewmon3 have shown recently that the ductile to brittle transition in annealed tungsten occurs in the temperature range +150° to +350°C. In this temperature range the yield strength in-

Jan 1, 1957

By C. N. Schuette

The material presented in this paper has been gathered by the writer during a long and varied experience on matters pertaining to the quicksilver industry. During the past 18 years he has visited practically all of the quicksilver mines of the United States and has had occasion to review the literature on quicksilver mining the world over. In a previous publication1 the conclusion was expressed "that the greatest opportunity for increasing the economy in quicksilver production lies in giving more attention to the geology of the deposits ... " The present paper is a contribution toward that end. Due to a lack of correlation of the observed facts, a great deal of confusion exists in the views of various writers concerning the mode of occurrence of quicksilver ores. This paper attempts to show that certain common factors underlie the formation of all quicksilver orebodies. It attempts to present a framework on which to marshall the observed facts and thus make clear the interrelation of various observations which at first sight appear to be contradictory. The material presented is fragmentary in many respects and it is hoped that readers familiar with the deposits mentioned may supply the deficiency. The reader is asked to refer to the publications cited for maps and additional information on the individual orebodies, as this review, in covering so much territory, must necessarily confine itself to a bare outline of the facts concerning each occurrence. The writer hopes that this paper will elicit comment and criticism from the many competent men interested in the quicksilver industry and to all of them he would express his indebtedness for the many courtesies that they have extended to him at various times in the past. Theory op Primary Concentration The mode of occurrence of any given orebody presents an individual problem to the miner engaged in exploiting it. No two orebodies are exactly alike in their geological relationships, therefore an understanding, in detail, of the geology is necessary if the orebody is to be exploited in the most economic manner.

Jan 1, 1931

By Carl Scholz

During November and December, 1907, four serious mine-explosions occurred in the Appalachian coal-field, which resulted in the loss of nearly a thousand lives and caused an eliormous damage to propcrty. These accidents attracted more than the usual attention; coal-trade and engineering papers contained many comments and suggestions on the cause and prevention of accidents; the daily press in many instances condemned the coal-operators and charged these accidents to their negligence, or their anxiety to make money without adopting precautionary measures. Immediately after cach accident the respective State authorities ordered close investigations to be made, with the view of establishing the cause and suggesting remedies to prevent recurrence. Representatives of the Technologic Branch of the IT. S. Geological Survey, to whom the investigation of mine-accidents had recently been delegated by the Secretary of the Interior, visited the mines and co-operated with the local authorities in their determinations. It may be safe to say here that an investigation of a mine after an explosion has occurred discloses but little, because the causes hare been removed and conditions have been entirely changed. On Jan. 8, 1908, the coal-operators of West Virginia organized an association at qTashington for the purpose of making extensive investigations, and sufficient funds were pledged to carry out this work. At this organization meeting, the representatives of the Geological Survey present had no suggestions to offer as to the cause of these accidents. An examinatiou of the various reports concerning these accidents indicates that the explosions were caused by the ignition of gas or dust; they show the point of origin and the direction in which the force was expended, and give a detailed description of the damage done. Very little has bee11 said as to what

Jan 1, 1909

By John B. Hastings

Chief among the varied problems facing the mine-manager is that of vein-structure and origin, which is highly important as a guide to successful discovery and development. If metalliferous deposits can be traced to the intrusion of waters along definite lines, then is there something tangible for him to study. But when he is told by a geologist that metalliferous deposits are due to some other cause, like magmatic differentiation, while not perhaps discouraged, he is impressed with a vague sense of new worlds to be conquered. In 1897, while manager of the War Eagle mine at Rossland, B. C., where, previously, the ore-bodies had not been supposed to occur as veins, I suggested to visiting members of the Canadian Geological Survey that, perhaps, the structure of the pyrrhotite-bodies of that mine, which had been proved to occur along well-defined fractures, might throw some light on the similar deposits of Sudbury, then held to be basic aggregations from the original magma. Later investigation has at least provoked discussion of this last deduction, questioning its correctness and suggesting that, perhaps, the deposits are actual veins. The following extract from a paper by J. E. Spurr' is quoted, because it sets forth Mr. Spurr's theory of the quartz-occurrences of the Silver Peak mines, which will be discussed in this article. It also graphically describes the attendant geological features. "The Drinkwater group of mines, which is the most important part of the Blair gold properties, and which has produced practically all of the million dollars' worth of ore, as above stated, may be taken as typical of the gold-veins which, though widespread and numerons, show a wonderful similarity of character. On the surface two adjacent veins outcrop, the Crowning Glory and the

Jan 1, 1906

By Alfred James

Some months since, in the Johannesburg gold-fields of South Africa, the attention of the author was directed to certain statements to the effect that the gold-contents of foul or extremely dilute cyanide-solutions could not be effectively precipitated in practice by the usual zinc-method. Such statements caused all the greater surprise, because it is well known that this difficulty is not encountered in other wellknown districts, as, for example, in New Zealand, where solutions containing less than 0.05 per cent. of KCy are regularly reduced in practice to below 1 grain of gold per ton, while in Mexico and the United States almost equally satisfactory precipitations are not uncommon. As a result of these representations, however, the author visited several plants at work in the Transvaal, and noted that while at some few mines the precipitation was really excellent, at others the effluent, after treatment, was much too high in bullion-contents. An investigation into the causes of these unsatisfactory results disclosed the fact that more attention to the close packing of the zinc-shavings in the extractor-compartments tended to improve the results, even with the most dilute solutions. The function of the zinc being one of surface, it stands to reason that a compartment well filled with zinc would be more effective than a half-filled one. Moreover, the quality of the zinc was inferior. This should be in long, tough, thin, light threads; light enough to ignite readily, and tough enough not to disintegrate easily into a slime. The coarse shavings too frequently employed appear to give the reverse of the best practice ; they are brittle, contain less surface, and take up more room. It is almost impossible to pack a compartment properly

Jan 1, 1898

By Henry E. Wood

Cleveland Meeting, October, 1912.) IN my opinion, the concentration of minerals by flotation is the most interesting problem in ore-dressing, and will command eventually far more consideration than it has at present. For many ores it furnishes a complete method of concentration absolutely independent of specific gravity, and thus simplifies the milling of many difficult combinations. Not having to recognize the influence of specific gravity, we are also able to dispense with some of the complications resulting from classifying-conditions. Where flotation cannot be used for a complete separation of the minerals from the gangue, it will be found, in nearly all cases, to save those portions which are generally lost by reason of their fine state of division. For this reason, it should be looked upon mainly as an aid to general concentration, although there are many ores so well adapted to flotation that more than 90 per cent. of the valuable metals can be recovered from them in one operation by this process. In presenting the results of my investigations in. flotation, I have endeavored to theorize as little as possible. That side of the subject has been extensively discussed by others. My earliest work with flotation was done in 1895, when I used various oils, grease, soap, etc., with results that were remarkable. I did not realize then that with water alone equally good separations could be made. Up to 1906, my endeavors were confined to attempts to keep the concentrates on the tables well wetted and away from exposure to the air. In common with others, I observed that when there was any obstruction in. the wash-water on the table of sufficient size to divert the water to either side, the concentrates collected, and, on exposure to the air, would promptly float away. This convinced me that the sulphides were all good " swimmers," and that if,

Nov 1, 1912

By E. C. Pechin

The attention of the members of the Institute of Mining Engineers is asked to a description of the minerals of Southwestern Pennsylvania, as representing the minerals of an enormous area, stretching continuotisly, with local variations, along the western slopes, and at the base of the Alleghany Mountains, through Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky, and destined to play no mean part in the future of the iron trade of the country. The particular locality is at and near Donbar, in Fayette County, where the most careful examinations and extensive developments have been made. The deep gorges cut by the Youghiogheny and Monongahela Rivers, in their passage through the mountains and lower lands, give admirable facilities for observing the measures lying between the sandstones of No. 11 and the upper coal measures. Apart from its varied mineral and agricultural resources this section of country has great historic interest attaching to it. It was down the Monongahela that Braddock led his ill-fated army to its defeat under the wails of Port Duquesne, and it was up the Youghiogheny River and Dunbar Creek that the shattered remnants hastily fled to gain the camp of Colonel Dunbar, the second in command, who was entrenched upon a high knob, at the head of the creek which bears his name, and which is still known and visited as Dunbar's Camp. Numerous streams, runs, and localities preserve the names of the guides and pioneers who accompanied, in early colonial times, young George Washington, who was pushing his surveys into the trackless and hostile wilderness, and many of them taking up large tracts of

By E. C. Pechin

THE attention of the members of the Institute of Mining Engineers is asked to a description of the minerals of Southwestern Pennsylvania, as representing the minerals of an enormous area, stretching continuously, with local variations, along the western slopes, and at the base of the Alleghany Mountains, through Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky, and destined to play no mean part in the future of the iron trade of the country. The particular locality is at and near Dunbar, in Fayette County, where the most careful examinations and extensive developments have been made. The deep gorges cut by the Youghiogheny and Monongahela Rivers, in their passage through the mountains and lower lands, give admirable facilities for observing the measures lying between the sandstones of No. 11 and the upper coal measures. Apart from its varied mineral and agricultural resources this section of country has great historic interest attaching to it. It was down the Monongahela that Braddock led his ill-fated army to its defeat under the walls of Fort Duquesne, and it was up the Youghiogheny River and Dunbar Creek that the shattered remnants hastily fled to gain the camp of Colonel Dunbar, the second in command, who was entrenched upon a high knob, at the head of the creek which bears his name, and which is still known and visited as Dunbar's Camp. Numerous streams, runs, and localities preserve the names of the guides and pioneers who accompanied, in early colonial times, young George Washington, who was pushing his surveys into the trackless and hostile wilderness, and many of them taking up large tracts of

Jan 1, 1875

With the exception of the mentions of coal in Illinois in the period 1660-1680, already referred to, the first coal found in the United States was in the James River, Virginia, field. In 1699 a large tract of .land above the present city of Richmond was allotted for a settlement of French Huguenots by the colonial, government, near the present Manakin, about fourteen miles above Richmond. They soon found coal, tradition says it was uncovered by a hunter pulling out a small tree in a. steel) bank near a stream, and Colonel William Byrd, F.R.S., the most prominent man of his day in the colony, wrote to the Colonial Council of Virginia, May 10 and 11, 1701: "The 10th of May, last., I with Coll. Randolph, Capt. Epes, Capt. Webb, &c., went up to the new settlements of ye French Refugees at ye Manaken Town.... We went tip to ye Cole, w'ch is not above a mile and a half from their settlement on the great upper Creeke, w'ch, riseing very high in great Raines hath washed away the Banks that the Coal lyes bare, otherwise it's very deep in the Earth, the land being very high, and near the surface is plenty of Slate.", Some of the Frenchmen were evidently familiar with the use of coal, as on May 22, 1702, "David Menestrier a black smith and one of ye french Refugees Inhabiting at Luciana Petitioning his Excellency that he may have leave to use ye coal mines lately discovered there for his forge his Excellency by and with ye advice of ye Council loth hereby give Leave to ye said David Menestrier to take what coales he shall want. out of ye said Coal mine for ye use of his forge according to ye Prayer of ye said Petition."2 There was some uncertainty about the grant of these lands to the Huguenots which caused the request for leave to use this coal, as a Virginia patent in its usual form allowed the owner to mine all minerals excepting gold and silver, which were subject to royalties for the Crown. After the visit to the coal above mentioned, "Wm. Byrd, understanding the land had not been granted to the French, took out a patent for 344 acres, including the same, (the coal) which patent was dated October 20, 1704".3

Jan 1, 1942