coal trade bulletin - Clpdigital.org

neither operator nor miner should expect that
the right permissible explosive can be selected
without proper tests, nor should men who have
used black powder only be expected to know the
most efficient methods of placing and charging
shots of permissibles until they have gained experience.
In those districts where the prevailing practice
has been to shoot off the solid, the growth of a
sentiment in favor of undercutting the coal is
noticeable. Shooting off the solid—with the attendant
use of large charges of explosive which
shatter the coal, increase the proportion of fine
dust, and injure the roof—has been responsible
for more accidents to miners and more loss of
property than almost almost any other coal-mining
practice.
The state of Colorado has passed a law requiring
the use of portable electric lamps, except
safety lamps for testing, in all local mines, by
October 1, 1913, provided this bureau has approved
one or more patterns of such lamps by
that time.
The greatest proportion of the loss of life in
coal niining was, as usual, from
FALLS OF ROOF
and coal. In general such accidents are due to
carelessness and failure to prop the roof, and are
largely to be remedied by education and closer
inspection of the workings. The companies that
have been most successful in reducing accidents
from falls of roof have employed sufficient assistant
foremen so that the miners can be visited in
their working places two or three times a day.
The assistant foreman tests the roof, teaches the
miner to do so properly, and when a prop is necessary
or a piece must be taken down waits in the
place until the work is done. This supervision is
supplemented by giving lantern-slide lectures at
evening meetings, showing how accidents occur
and how they can be avoided. As already mentioned,
the mattei- of mine supports is being
studied by the bureau. A considerable number
of laboratory tests have been made to determine
the strength of various kinds of timber, concrete
pillars, and other types of roof support. Work
on a much larger scale is planned.
The bureau has begun an investigation of conditions
in the coal-mining industry, with special
reference to those factors that are directly related
to the conservation of life and the prevention
of unnecessary loss in mining coal. The ultimate
object of the investigation is to anticipate
as far as possible the probable changes in the
coal-mining industry with a view to aiding the
best utilization of the nation's coal resources.
Special attention is being paid to those changes
in methods of mine management that look toward
the prevention of lost time and idle equipment,
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. .33
and to the work being done to improve living
conditions in mining communities.
Work was begun in 1912 and five months were
given to preliminary work in the anthracite and
bituminous coal fields of Pennsylvania. The investigation
is being conducted by A. G. White,
mine technologist.
During the past year the bureau has acquired
by purchase or by gift the following
PARCELS OF LAND
on which to construct sidetracks as permanent
stations and headquarters for the various cars:
Car 1.—On its property at No. 4 colliery at
Kingston, a suburb of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., the
Kingston Coal Co. has laid a sidetrack and erected
a shed, without expense to the bureau, and has
furnished connections for supplying the car with
gas, water, steam heat, and electricity.
Car 2.—Through the courtesy of the Denver &
Rio Grande Railway Co., the bureau has acquired.
at a nominal rental, property in Burnham, a
suburb of Denver, Colo., on which a sidetrack
has been laid by the bureau.
Car 3.—By courtesy of the city officials of
Evansville, lnd., a piece of land, in the center
of the city and adjacent to the belt line and other
railways, has been donated to the Government
as a station for car No. 3. The bureau has laid
the necessary siding for this car, and should erect
housing for the protection of the car as soon as
funds are available.
Car 4.—This car has been provided with ground
for a station in the center of the business district
of Pittsburg, Kans., through the generosity
of the Santa Fe Railway Co., which presented the
land to the Government. Grateful acknowledgment
is made of the interest shown by the city
of Pittsburg, and by Governor G. H. Hodges, of
Kansas, as evidenced by an appropriation of
$3,500 for constructing a building in which to
house the car and its attendants. This building,
being on Government property, will be under the
custody of the Government, but is for joint and
co-operative use of the Bureau of Mines and the
state mine inspectors.
Car 5.—At the expense of the bureau, ground
for a permanent station for car No. 5 has been
provided at Billings, Mont., on which the bureau
has laid the necessary sidetracks.
Car 7.—As a permanent station for car 7 the
Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Co. has generously
furnished a piece of land along its
RIGHT OF WAV,
in the center of Huntington, W. Va., at a nominal
rental for a long period of years, and has also
laid the sidetrack.
Car S.—A permanent station for car S has been
provided in Ironwood, Mich., through the courtesy
of the Chicago & North Western Railway Co.,