El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-08-31

, went to waste. 1t cost a great deal
[ to carry II away from the furnaces,
and 1t formed unsightly mountains OF
refuse on the landscape Today at
the best plants the Stag is all saved.
At the great steel mills Of Alabama
they crush it TO powder with huge
balls OF steel which are raised by a
magnet. and from the powder make
some Of the most valuable fertilizer.
In the Illinois steel plant OF South
Chicago they turn the Stag ito q ce-
ment, which is used for the finest
concrete work and which is fit for
the concrete ships now being con-
structed as a part Of our war bridge
across the Atlantic. Millions Of bar
rels Of cement are now made from
Stag in one year
save Iron at Mines.
In addition TO the iron saved at the
mills, more than ever before is now
being saved at the mines. The richest
iron mines upon earth are those about
Lake Superior. They are supplying
most Of the steel for the war, and
for years they have been the chief
foundation Of American industry.
They produce millions Of tons Of ore
every month. and the deposits seem
to be almost inexhaustfble. Neverthe-
less they are being most. carefully
mined
Every little pocket and nugget Of
ore is taken out Of the beds. and the
ore which is Of a grade too low to
ship is piled up outside the mines in
order that it may be saved for the
future.
It used to be that every great gold
mine had its dump or waste heap.
That day has gone by, and the dumps
are being worked over for the min
erals left in them. This IS so not
only Of gold, silver and copper, but
also OF iron and coal The losses in
coal mining are beyond conception.
enormous, and the same is true Of
the coal after It gets to the homes and
the factories II all the coal now
cooked in the old baking ovens were
cooked in byprOduct ovens the carbon
saved would equal over 100000
horsepower.
Enormous Waste at Mines.
The loss OF the coal in the mines
is estimated by the experts OF the
geological survey as being oue-third
or one-half as much as the amount
taken out Charles L Parsons, one
Of the experts OF the bureau Of mines,
figures that one-third Of the bitumi-
nous coal is lost in the mines, and
that fully one-half OF the anthracite
IS not taken out. Another expert
anthracite and 5000, 900 OF btu
minous coal have been left IN the
ground, and that a large part OF this
comes from the fact that the mining
has been carelessly done. That amount
OF coal at our present consumption,
would last for eight years or more;
and II L could be put in the market
at the present prices its actual value
would be more than the amount we
have already spent on the war. Much
Of this loss comes from pillars which
have been left TO support the roofs
Of the mines and much from coal left
in thin beds because other mines or
parts OF the mine could be more
profitably worked
Loss, $1,000. 900 a Day.
At present about 100000 tons Of
anthracite is being left behind in the
mines every year, and that in such a
way that It cannot be recovered The
annual loss Of bituminous coal is
probably greater, the total loss OF all
coal deposits being equal to about
4lf0OO-OUO Tor every working day in
the year. Its value is enough to
build a structure as large and fine as
our library OF congress every week,
and to reconstruct the Panama canal
in less than q year and a half The
worst OF It is that this is a dead loss.
A bad wheat crop can be replaced
the year following. but It takes thou
sands OF years to grow one crop Of
coal, and the geological seeds Of the
crop cannot be planted by man.
Getting Greater Value From Coal.
Nevertheless. we are saving more
and more every year from the scrap
heap Of coal We are getting a greater
fuel value out OF that we burn in the
furnaces and are saving vastly by
using the coal dust and recovering
the waste that formerly went out
with the smoke. There are now a
half dozen coal companies which
make equipment for burning pulver-
lied coal in suspension and in 1915
there was burned in the United States
about 1906. 900 tons OF such coal
Much Of this was used in the Port
land cement industry, where the pow
dered fuel Is employed in burning
the cement in rotary kilns; and a
large part in the reduction works Of
the copper mines OF the west Pow
dered coal is now used in open hearth
pudding furnaces By means Of the
new equipment the cheap Ignite coal.
when pulverized, can be efficiently
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