Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-02-13
Mine owne RS Suggest Way
To Prevent Explosions.
HOLES SMALLER In SIZE
List of the Propos cd Rules as Arrans;
! ed at a Meeting OF operators7i in Des1
Moines Yesterday'-say That They
i Will Make Mining Safe. lao.
IFrom Saturdays Da,uy.l

From Saturdays DalnS.1
The members of tile State Mine OPP
orators association, who have mines
in the shooting dist ricts,'' at a meet
ing held in Des Moin, IS yesterday, drew
up a set of rules wi lich, if enforced,
will, they contend, clio away entirely
with explosions in m. ines such as the
one at Lost Creek re Gently, and will
thus benefit mankind, especially the
mining classes, more than anything
that has been done for" them in years.
The system is one by which the min
ers do not lose while tt lie operators, to
certain extent, do, bu t this they say
they are willing to do ins order to bring
about the good that will accrue to the
miner, as well as to pre- ,tect the prop
erty in the mines and promote a
friendly feeling betwee miners and
operators. =,
Cause of ExpIo, sions.
The operators set fortl as their rea-
sons for proposing these rules, the ar
gument that practice has grown up
within the past twelve or fifteen years
among miners of Iowa, ito blast coal
off the solid without Gu tting or min.
ing, by the use of larg e and unnec-
essary quantities of pow der, and that
such practices endangeIf the life of
the miner and the proper y of the own
er Of the mine, by prof. noting eXplo-
sions in mines.
This practice has be Ven brought
about, the operators of tn e state main
tain, by the drilling of lae rye holes for
blasting. The machines which do this
work have never been : extensively
used in mines of this sta he until with
in the past twelve or fife en- years, and
the fact that the explosi ors like that
at Lost Creek have neal ly, if not all,
occurred within that san ne time is in
dicative of the fact that here is truth,
as the operators say, in 1.-THE statement
that the large hole and t he consequent
big charges of powder are the real
causes of the explosions.
This they explain very clearly They
say that the holes made by the ma
chimes, which measure ommonly from
3A to 31a inches in dial neter,are much
larger than the holes that were for
merly used for blasting, when the
miners used their picks instead of the
machine drills This Increase in the
size Of the holes ADM is of using a
much larger quantity OF powder, which
increases the force of the firing of
shots and thus increa ses the danger
from these shots.
Machines Caus, e Dust.
This is not the only fault that is
found with the machftl les. They make
a great deal of small, fine, coal dust,
which, when ignited, burns almost as
fast as powder, altho ugh it does not
really explode, as SOME believe. This
dust, however, is used by many min
ers to lamp into the holes behind the
powder in lieu of wet dirt or fire clay,
which it was the TO rmer custom to
use. 1t will readily l,e seen that the
powder tamping maltes a shot that
is more liable to blow out than the old
kind because it is not and cannot be
tamped as hard and made as perma-
nent as can the clay or mud.
The Proposed Rules.
The proposed rules, which the oper-
ators have prepared for the considera-
ton of the miners, and which they
hope to have adopted by the miners,
are four in number, AS follows
/. That the hole drilled to receive
the powder in blasting coal from the
solid shall not exceed "a inches in
diameter in all mines in this state.
2. That it shall be- unlawful for any
miner to use fuse in exploding or fir
ing any shots in blasting coal from the
solid in all mines Of this state.
8. 1t shall be unlawful for any min
er in preparing blast to shoot coal
/, from solid in mining, to do SO ex-
cept by the use of copper needles and