The copper era., 1909-02-11
Mineral Wealth as Affected by Timber
 Product.

rev persons not directly inter- ested in mining realize the extent to which timber is used in this very important industry" said a govern ment expert in preservation ot mine timber recently. "The average man has only a vague understanding of the importance of the part that tim Der plays in the mining industry, and seldom thinks of the enormous quan- titles required each year to prevent the caving of overhanging ground and to keep clear the main working passages of mines.
 "There are two general classes of such timbers," he continued, "the first is used in bracing the 'stopes, as they are called, where the ore is being taken out. As the ore is mined the surrounding rock is held in place by bracing it with heavy timbers, framed into rectangular sets When ore directly above the first set is removed, a second set is built in on top, and so on. The service of these timbers ends when the ore is exhausted and the active mining transferred to another vein or ore body.
 After a time these timbers decay to point where the pressure of the rock walls crushes them, and a cave in occurs. This causes no damage if, as l have said, the mining work has been finished: but it sometimes happens that decay has weakened the timbers to such an extent that the cave-iu occurs prematurelv, and then lives are sacrificed, in such cases the remaining ore is also a loss, for when the ground has once commenced to move or work, as the miners call it, it is almost impossible to clean it out and back the rock so that the re- maining ore may be obtained.
 "But of still greater importance is the second-class of timbers used in the maIn working openings, tunnels, shafts, etc, which are to be main- tained for as long a time as possible Timbers for this service are chosen not only for their strength and firm ness but also for their ability to re- sist decay.
 ''In nine cases out of ten, when timbers are crushed, the indirect cause is decay, produced by low forms of plant life. The dwindling of our timber supply has driven con- sumers of wood all oyer the country to study decay and its prevention, and it is safe to say that Tn the very near future we shall see many more mines putting in small plants for the treatment of their timbers, after the pattern of the plants that have been designed and installed for this purpose by the United States forest service. By treating the permanent timbers with some one of the various preservatiOns, they must be made to resist decay almost indefinitely. The additional cost is slight
 "The work of treating mine tim bers is considered of such importance 'that one group of men in the forest service gives its entire attention to this subject. Investigative work car ried on by this branch of the service since it was organized has demon- strated that treating with an efficient preservative will prolong the life of timber indefinitely in places where before it was subject to rap de- cay, and the interest shown by the large consumers of timber and their eagerness to supply the information that has been obtained to their own particular problems has been wide spread and indicative of the benefits of wood preservation.
 At the last meeting ot the Cochise county board of supervisors the mat ter of the cut in the bills of the vari- Ous justices and consta bles were passed upon. Attorney George Neale on De half of several clients made a state ment to the board against the pro- posed cut and presented authorities favoriDg his contention of the legal aspect of the case. District Attorney Williams stated he felt eoure in the cuts as passed upon by his office and believed the items deducted were illegal. The board sustained the ac- tiOn of the district attorney by allow ing the bills as passed by that officer. The aggregate amount cut from the various bills for the one quarter ser vice reaches between $l, ,20U and $l, 800. The matter will now be carried to the courts for final adiudicatIon.