The bee. (Earlington, Ky.) 1889-19??, 1914-01-13
Problems Encountered in Mining Coss
in The COal6slds Of Western
Kentucky
BY Newell, g. Afford, Assistants
Engineer, St. Bernard Mining
Co., Earlingtan, Kentucky.
Presented Before The Kentuckr
Mining Institute, Lexington.
Ky, Dec. 18th, 1913.


The average man practice WI
admit that, even AZ its best, MINING
coal demands high grade OF in
genuity on the part ofmanagers and
engineers. Managers and engineern
can readily recall the instances
when they thought they saw their
strings end as TO the solution OF
certain coal mining problems. But
just as the darkest hour OF night
precedes the dawn Of day, so are
these moments of unexpressed anx-
iety transformed into those Ofrelief
IT only requires q given length Of
time including a given number OF
problems" until the manager or
engineer becomes imbued with o.
profound faith in the old belief that
everything comes out al right
Even at the muleless, traekleze,
mOtorless mines of Kansas, where
the coal is stripped with. dlnkey
engine and a derrick problem e1-
list. So taking ali in all, the wesi--
ern cOalfields of Kentucky loses
nothing through it's need for solu-
tions to the problems. Of coment
which surround it.
Before entering a discussion of the
problems, it is best to scan the lat
est available report of the Kentucky
mine Inspector and the governments
Geological Surveys Production OF
Coal in 1912"
In these reports 1t is estimated
that the total acreage Of the stato
underlaiD by available coal meas-
ures, Is approximately 1850 square
miles, Of which the Western KEN
lucky eOalfield embraces 1873 per
cent. We also find that Kentucky'e
coal productlonin 1912 was, In toune
numbers, l6,4el 900 tons-47.7 per
cent Of which was produced In the
western field.
In connection with this Az per
cent, which amounts to slightly less
than 100000 tons, it is interesting
TO note that this tonnage was pro-
duced by 100 mines, operated by e9
companies. A detailed classified
tiOn of the just mentioned mines and
their outputs has been arranged ny
the writer,
OF the 1870 mines:
u per cent produced less than TO-
600 tons.
81 per cent produced less than co.,
600 tons.
% per cent produced more than
100000 tons,
companies operating Is mineg
produced 2,750,O0O tons.
The most important problems IA
the Western Kentucky field, dis
cussed in this paper, are dealt with.
IN the following order:
/. Robbing Pillars.
2, Air passing through old weTKs
3. Ignition Of No. II coal in old.
workings.
Prevention Of oxidation,
;. Coal Dust,
6. Shooting of the solid
2. Fatalities,
8. Roof.
8. Wastes
10. Pond Sites.
IL, Competition.
The workable measures ia Tue
western Kentucky field, under the
present development, are with but
few exceptioes No and No. Ii as
identified by the Kentucky Stare
Geological Survey, Being more
consistent IL oecurauce, No 9 sup
plies about three fourths Of the fotnl
output Ofthe Geld. This seam whinh
is present IN eight counties, accord
ing to Investigations to date, ave-
RACES feet in thickness. While this
bed Is most generally approached Dg
shafts 800 feet or less IN depth, there
are dsDressiQns in some yicinities
which make entrance possible hy
slope on shaft.
Seam No ID, which lies from AZ 10
100 feet above No ., is the bed next
in impOrtsne in this Held. IL ave-
RACES feet in thickness.
Scheme Of Working
Without a single exception Tue
miues Of Western Kentucky are de-
veloped by the room and pillow me-
thod, with double or triple entries.
The triple entry system is used only
ia the larger mines where the motot
partings are projected In the central
entry the side entries are used Tor
mule haulSge and ventilation ,e-
spectiyely. This not only facilitates