El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-09-26
The American Mining Congress
Holds Its Thirteenth Session
IMPROVEMENT OF CONDITIONS.

the American Mining congress
opens today in Los Angeles
! California. Many prominent public
( men will be there, in addition to the
usual contingent Of mining authorities
who attend these annual congresses.
Numerous important uestions will come
! up for consideration, one of the most
! interesting of which relates to the
| safety of miners. Other matters to be
discussed are the new Bureau of Mines,
conservation as applied to mining,
Workmens compensation, mining n
vestments, the oil industry, uniform
mining legislation ard the Increased
use of silver. The Mining congress
has accumulated such large amount
of mining literature that it has been
! thought wise to establish permanent
Headquarters. Such headquarters have
been opened at Denver.
Improving Mine Conditions
Great progress has been made in min
ing conditions since the last meeting
of the congress. The national govern
ment has authorized the establishment
of bureau of mines and many of the
states have embarke ed upon a program
of legislation looking to the proper
safeguarding of miners Illinois. the
first state to take up mine rescue work
has appropriated $50, 900 for the pur-
pose Of carrying forward this great
humanitarian activity. Thirty thou
sand dollars of this sum is to be used
for the construction of station build
ingS, S42,8O0 for their equipment and
$1,000 is to be reserved for contingent
cleS. III the appropriation for the
work allotted to the federal bureau of
mines, $4,000 is to be used in equip
ping new rescue stations and $4,000
for additional equipment in stations al
ready esta hlished. Another $4,000 is
made available for the study of ex-
plosives used in mines, $4,000 for the
study of electricity as applied to min
ing, and $4,000 for experiments with
devices for preventing mine accidents
Several rescue stations for miners
already haYe been established by the
federal government. One of these is
at Huntington. West Virginia, in the
center of the West Virginia mining dis
trict; anothet at Birmingham Ala
bama, in the heart of the Alabama coal
region; another at Wilkesbarre. Penn
sylvania, contiguous to the many big
mines in that Seceion. Others at
Billings. Montana, and in Utah have
been planned and soon will be in op-
Grafton. What fire department is TO
a big city, the fire rescue station in
a mining district is to the mines of
gency force ready to move at an in
stant's notice, carrying with l. such
equipment as will permit the most eff
ficient efforts in rescIing imprisoned
and entOmbed miners. When the force
is not on duty IL will be occupied in
conducting a training school at the
rescue station Here the miners who
are detailed to attend the school win
be taught the lessons of protection
from mining dangers and lay the
foundation for imparting this knowl-
edge to all miners engaged within the
district.
The Cherry Disaster.
The recent great catastrophe at
Cherry, Ill, where many miners lost
their lives. may prove to have been a
blessing in disguise A number of !
miners were cut off in a small cham
Der. They closed the opening leading /
were thus able to keep alive for many /
days and were finally rescued. This /
has led mining engineers to make /
careful study Of the possibility of con- !
structing refuge chambers in all &C
lively worked mines It is estimated
that by an outlay of $4,000 a suffi- !
cient number of such chambers could .
be constructed to make the average /
mine safe for the miner. Il this idea 4
shall prove, under actual test. to be I
it is almost certain that +
the government will eventually enact I
a law requiring the establishment Of /
such Ravens of refuge, just as it has /
required airbTakeS and automatic
on the railroads
At Birmingham, Ala, the Crittenden