The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1909-03-11
Baking THE GRIM
;. = REAPER IN MINES
Government Experiments to Lessen
Danger Meeting With Success.

ing loss OF lie IN the coal mines oil
the country, the United States
government is meeting with much
success. For several months an
experiment station, under the d.
rection of the technologic branch
of the United States geological
survey, has been in operation at
Pittsburg, Pa, with the purpose
of discovering the causes of mine
disasters and suggesting remedy q.
Along with the establishment of
this station and the agitation
which preceded the necessary leg
islation, there has been a falling
off in the number of deaths in the
coal mines for the year 1908, and
while the official figures have not
yet been attained, it is stated that
the number of deaths will be sew
eral hundred less than in 1907,
which was an unusual year. In
December, 1907, four explosions
took the lives of 700 men, one of
them-at the MOnongah mines in
West Virginia-being the greatest
mining disaster in the history of
this country. There were $50
victims. During 1908, there were
but two accidents in which the
loss of life was very heavy; one in
January at the Hanna mine in
Wyoming, with loss of 70 men;
the other, November 20, at the
Mariana mine in Pennsylvania
which resulted in I54 deaths.
Already at the experiment sta
ton two discoveries have been
made which will tend to decrease
the number of deaths in the mines
1t has been demonstrated that a
a number of the so-called safety"
explosives are anything but safe,
in fact the statement is made that
with the present explosives used
in mining, the miner takes his life
in his hand every time he touches
off fuse 1t is the purpose of the
government to continue these ex-
periments until the explosives of
the country are standardized in
such manner that the miner will
have a definite idea what these
explosives will do.
After the government has gone
far enough in its experiments. a
bulletin will be issued recommend
ing permissible explosives such as
stand the test. The facts learned
concerning these explosives will
be called directly to the attention
Of the state mining bureaus as well
as the operators.
Perhaps the most important and
far-reaching experiments so far at
the station are those in which it
has been definitely shown that
coal dust is an explosive equally
as dangerous as the deadly fire
damp. This has been a mooted
question among mining engineers
and miners alike, both insisting
that it is impossible to explode
coal dust unless there is gas pres
emf. That the coal dust will ex-
plode in the mine where there is
no gas has been repeatedly shown
to several hundred operators and
miners at the testing station, The
experts at the station are now
bending their energies to discover
some method by which this dust
can be prevented from being a
serious menace to the miners.
Experiments in wetting it have
been going on for some time, but
nothing of a very definite nature
has as yet been learned, unless it
is the fact that coal dust does not
ignite when there is a great amount
of moisture in it.
Every effort is being made at
the station to come as close to the
conditions in a mine as possible.
The tests various dynamites and
powders used in blasting coal are
being made in a mammoth boiler
plate cylinder which has previously
been filled with gas or coal dust.
The cylinder is 100 feet long and
6 feet in diameter. Safety valves
have been placed all along the top