Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-09-26
Things You Want to Know Mining Hss t ao"ss::.

aggregates S.SOoOOocO. steel, coal and
steam have worked hsnd-in-hand for the
welfare Of humanity aud have made them
selves the great triumvirate which has
moved the industry and commerce Of the
world The steel is used to confine the
steam that lifts the coal that makes the
steam, so that We have In the three a
modern house that Jack built Some idea
OF the Importance of tue coal industry may
be gathered nom the recent announcement
that a single coal company has contracted
with a single steel company to deliver,
during a twenty year period, Si6O0o0O
worth OF coal at the steel works This Is
the largest single mineral contract ever
made.
At coal-ditlhng contest in Calumet.
Mich. few weeks ago a team of Butte
miners won the $1,OO0 Ryan prize 10y drill
ing a hole in granite fifty-three and a half
inches deep in fifteen minutes. Thus sur
passes. by five and one-fourth inches. tho
former worlds record Tor double-hand
drilling made In 1904 at El Psso, Tex.
In the recent Balltngcr- Pinchot invest-
CATION It was testified 10y A. H. Brooke
of the United States Geological Survey.
that the important coal deposits OF Alaska
were une-half cent a ton I'm the ground.
ouch price impreSScs the unintiated as
being almost nothing, and many an editorial
writer was constrained to comment upon
the low price put upon Alaskan coal in
place by the Geological Survey. As a mat
ter OF fact, however, this is "a price rela-
lively higher than is paid for bituminous
coal in the Pennsylvania and West Virginia
fields. The calculations OF the survey show
that one-half cent ton means from $50
to $500 per acre for the land underlaid with
mi In In lao Art
of the United States recently was sold for
as little as one thirteenth OF one cent per
ton for the coal underlying it.
During the last year there has been much
discussion among mining engineers as to
the ultimate source OF the mineral deposits
of the earth. Some have believed that
minerals are Of deep-seated origin, grad
ually working themselves toward the sur
face, in the evolution wrought by time.
Others have contended that they have come
from the rocks by a sort OF leeching pro-
ctss. Still others have claimed that they
come directly from the sea. The most re-
cent view seems to be that the majority
OF minerals are of celestial origin rather
than terrestrial. 1t is pointed out that
the earth is constantly travelling through
great masses OF star dust, which. though
invisible to the human eve, is perpetuauy
falling to the earth We sec the big meteo-
ties, but the amount of mineral brought
down by the them Is small in comparison
/ to the constant showers of microscopic
| dust that falls. Sometimes we are aware
| of the presence of this dust when It forms
| the nucleus of hail stores. 1t is claimed
| by some authorities that In every rain
drop there is a tiny bit of dust around
which the water has been able to gather
! The celestial original of minerals Is fur
| A.. IA
arctic SHOWS there are found deposits OF
nickel iron cobalt, copper and other min.
erals. The banded appearance of glaciers
| in northern regions Is another corrohora-
ton OF the stellar hypothesis Of mineral
origin In desert regions and on high
mountain peaks where rarified atmo
sphere is found, meteoric> showers are wit
messed almost any night II is assumed
that these showers occur as frequently n
other regions, but that they merely escap,
attention. Likewise the great freouenc,
of meteorites in desert regions is explained
by the fact that the conditions are no
favorable to their disintegration. II is con
cluded that equally as many meteorite
fall in other regions, but they do not re
tain their identity for such great period
of time. II was estimated not long ago h,
one of the leading astronomers that from
100000 to 100000 meteorites enter on
atmosphere every day, and that this rat
kept up through long centuries OF tim
would account for the known areas o
minerals in the earth.
One scarcely can find the earliest dat
at which metals Of one kind or anothe
were first used by man Our first glimps
OF the race gives us a picture of the ston
age. when a man was indeed little NOR
, than brother to the OK" Then we com
, to the copper age, and this in turn nv tn
iron age. The bronze age was made posi-
7 BILE by the discovery of tin. and the bronz
equipped warrior easily triumphed owe
, him who carried weapons Of stone Late
the warrior with implements Of iron easl
put down the one with the bronze weapon
I and remained supreme until some one in
vented gunpowder and thereby ushered &
s the modern age of steel.
: ny FREDERIC HAsKIN.
Tomorrow Lawn Tennis"