Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-06
QUICKLIME TO DYNAMITE.
Changes in Methods of Mining as
Noted by an Expert.

Snnn8es In Methods OF Mining as
Noted by an Expert.
From the Helena CMont.) Independent
Few mining men in Montana are better
known than is William Hall of Butte, who
was for long time the superintendent Of
the Alice mine, but is now operating in
British Columbia. Mr. Hall is an English
man and practical miner.
There is no profession in the world that
has made the rapid progress in the last
half century that mining has," he said the
other day. being at that time on his way
home from an expedition to British Co
lumbia, and referring to an observation
that came naturally in discussion of min
ing matters in general way. Il can re-
member the time when there was no such
thing as steel drill or a steel-faced ham,
mer Safety fuse wasn't known when I
was a younster, and, as for the rest of the
improvements, why. no one would have be-
lieved you if you had predicted the half of
them.
when the steel drills came out we
looked upon them with a reverence that
amounted to awe The iron drills that had
been used up to that time were dull things,
and the hammers were of the same metal,
so that when the miner struck the drill
with the hammer it gave out dull. heavy
sound like the falling of lead on lead The
steel rang out as clear as a bell, and it
was real music to our ears. There was
time when we made 1t rule to carry out
piece of cloth to lay the drills on when
they were not in use, but that feeling grad
ually wore off, and in time we came to
throwing them around just like any other
tool. But 1t was not all at once.
Then came the safety fuse. 1t was
wonderful stride. we thought, and we were
not prepared to believe that science would
rags in our pockets to wrap around it when
We put 1t into the hole. But in the course
of time we learned that it, too, was made
to be useful, and that 1t would stand as
much tamping squib.
What is a squib? In the olden times we
ran long needle made of Norway iron
down the hole when we tamped in the
charge. Then the needle was drawn out
ard in the hole was inserted a sQuib. 1t
was made by splitting straw and charg-
ing 1t with powder, with bit of a greasy
rag on the end. The straw was creased
well. and the tallow was worked into the
fammable things you could imagine. The
miner would light the end and run. When
the fire came to the Squib there was a
flash and the explosion came.
1T may surprise you to learn that have
blasted many hole with quicklime. 1t is
done by putting in first bit of the lime
and then squirt of water. then another
bit of lime and another squirt of water.
The whole was tamped down solidly as
quickly as it could be done, and in time, as
the lime slaked, the rock was rent asun-
der. 1t was slow work, work goes now,
but it was considered pretty good in those
days.
I'm my boyhood days the miners of the
old country used to think they We're doing
well if they sunk seventy-five feet of de-
velopment shaft in a year. Now they do
more than that in this country in month.
I have myself sunk a three-compartmen
shaft one hundred feet deep in twenty
seven days. There was no such mining in
England half a century ago. And the i'm
prOyemeDtS mining
the world 1 have only spoken of a few of
those that seem to show the strongest con-
traStS."