The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1920-09-09

miner two of them were also over
come; ultimately these two and the
first man We're removed from the point
at which all were asphyxiated, which
was practically at the foot of the raise
In this case the explosive was
seven eighths straight nifroglycerine.
used because the ordinary one and
one-fourth gelatin was temporarily
unobtainabie, though the holes were
drilled for the larger sized stick: the
explosive. too was about a year old.
/ While two of the IL holes missed fire
there was no Obtainable evidence Of
burning of explosive. but later on
after blasting these two missed holes,
containing possibly three pounds Of
the explosive. an air sample taken
few minutes after blasting. and essen
TALLY at the point at which the three
men had been asphyxiated. gave O.79
per cent co carbon monOxide), or
sufficient to cause death after having
been breathed a comparatively few
minutes. 1t was thought locally that
the deaths were due to other gases.
but analyses indicate strongly that co
was responsible.
"These accidents indicate forcibly a
danger daily confronting men working
in metal mines. and especially in small
or prospecting mines. In one case the
dangerous fumes were in a shaft, in
the other in a raise, the deaths in the
In .aft.a coll
on the tunnel level Compressed air
constituted the usual method for re-
moval of dangerous gases, and in both
cases it failed.
Explosive Not Defective.
I'm both cases there is at present no
obtainable evidence of Effectiveness Of
explosive or of method of firing, hence
the situations are practically such as
may be encountered at any of our OPP
Grating metal mines, especially those
operating on a small basis, and the
question arises as to possible proven
ton of such occurrences.
"These two disasters are recent, and |
the loss of life makes them of serious /
concern yet the situation brought out /
is one which confronts nearly all metal /
mines in the country-large and small. /
The bureau of mines has been asked !
to attack the problem from various /
points of view; some companies having
several mines and employing hundreds
Of men have numerous cases of pow
der gassing" annually, frequently with
fatal results and have asked the
assistance of the bureau largely as to
the possible finding of methods of
firing of explosives such that no poi
sonous fumes will be developed: others E
wish experimental work along the line /.
Of developing a "foolproOf' supersafe /.
explosive such that, practically ire L
5pective of methods of handling, sur
sounding conditions. etc, no danger
JUS fumes may be found: and still
others. realizing the probability that
dangerous fumes will be generated
irrespective of present-day available
precautions, wish information as to Il
positive methods of handling danger
JUS fumes with idea of their removal
Theoretically, there are in exist
nee today explosives with constitu- ;
,nts chemically balanced such that,
With complete defamation, there should
,e no resultant gases of more poten-
ial danger than COZ carbon dioxide)
which, mixed with the almost invari-
ibly larger quantities of ordinary air
resent would be diluted to such an
,xtent as to be practically harmless.
rhe bureau of mines has in several i
(notably in bulletins As
md 81, and technical paper 10 given /
Iata as to proper methods of blasting, j