The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1912-11-07
GIVE PRIZES FOR DRILLING;
WHY NOT FOR MUckiNGI

/
World contains a very sensible sug-
gestion and II 1t Is followed out gen.
orally may prove of much benefit. In
the Occur d'Alenes, however, mucking
contests are not new. Upon two occa-
sions at Kellogg within the past few
months big crowds have watched the
efforts of husky muckers with delight
Hand drilling contests are indeed
spectacular We know Of nothing so
inspiring as the play of. the muscles
across the driller's back as he strikes
the drill. Nothing is more clever than
good change of drills in a double
hand contest. The way that they gain
a blow on changing positions also Is
inspiring We hope that drilling con-
tests will long continue to be well pat
ronized, for they inspire respect for
mining among the miners that is well
for the industry. 1t is one Of the fin
est Of sports, but they have little other
value.
Hand drilling is thing of the past.
1t is fast becoming thing Of the past
even where labor Is much cheaper
than In the United States. for the air
drill manufacturers are fast meeting
the requirements Of working narrow
deposits. But shoveling. or muck
ing" will long remain the only way to
ge the ore either into cars or chutes
True, there has been some attempt to
develop mucking mucking machines.
But these efforts as yet have proved
abortive, and 1t is not unreasonable to
think that for most ore occurrences
they never will prove efficient owing
to the cramped openings from which
the actual stopping has to be done.
Smelter shoveling, surface shoveling
Of many different kinds, has been in
vestigated, but there has been little If
shoveling methods. 1t is far differ
ent thing shoveling a pile of ore in a
mine from shoveling the same pile of
| ore on surface, as from smelter bins.
would be to approximate except as to
the bad air, all the conditions that at
tend shoveling in different methods of
mining, such as topslicing, squares set
mining, open stope shoveling from a
| rough pile, as in ore filled stopping.
shoveling into high and low cars,
from rough bottoms, as in drifts, and
also from levels as is done in the
hard ore iron mines and the flatter
dipping of the copper amygdaloids of
Michigan. Let the men use long or
short HANDLED shovels with D.
handles or with plain handles. Let
the contests cover periods of say 2
or hours or better, even longer.
At present the long handled shovel
is used in practically all the mining
districts of the west except Cripple
Creek. In the east the short D-han-
| died shovel is used in practically all
| branches of mining. The mining man
Of western experience thinks that the
| former shovel is the BEST the mining
man of the east is equally sure thai
the short D-handled shovel Is the only
| implement for the economical han
ding of ore under ground and on sur
face. This is an important matter. 1t
means the saving or loss Of hundreds
Of thousands of dollars in the cost OF
mining ore in this country alone.
| A shoveling contest, while not being
| so spectacular as drilling contest
would be thousand times more val
liable and useful. We do not mean tc
1isparage the former But why not
have both? Surely mucking contest
| would be well worthy of the efforts of
the American Mining congress.
1t Is not too late even now for such
a contest to be included in the pro-
gram for this year. We venture to
predict that the Calumet & Hecla
Mining company, the oliver Mining
company, the Cleveland Cliffs COM
pany the Joplin operators, some of
the southeastern Missouri companies
as well as the Anaconda company
Copper Queen. possibly Greene Cana
nea, surely Miami the Detroit Copper
company and the Federal Smelling
company as well as some Of the gold
mines of Nevada and California, as
we'll as some Canadian companies
would be willing to help financially
their best shovelers to participate in
such contests that would mean so
much to practical mining.