Belt Valley times. [volume], February 19, 1925, Page Page Six, Image 6

About Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
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How tne Problem»
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U> THE vicissitude« of
the üijneral Industry may
vtalt feutte In never-end
ing procession, but
through them all there Is
one set of workmen who
sre sure of their Jobs—-the men who man
the mine pumps on the Butte hill.
Am long as there is an appreciable
quantity of recoverable ore in the
Butte mine* the pumps must be kepi
In operation. During each minute of
the 1.440 that go 'to make a 24-hour
day 8,700 gallons of water pour from
the pomp discharge, thuklng a stream
eight feet wide and five Inches deep,
flowing two miles ait hour. The total
discharge Is about two billion gallons
a year, or enough to Irrigate 8,000
A
acres of laud.
As the pulsing of the powerful elec
trie pumps sends'this huge Volume of
water surging onward tt> mingle with
the flow of the Columbia, on Itafway
tu thé sen. another torrent ta pouring
down the mine shafts—a torrent, nut
• of water, but of air. driven down sta
tion. level and atope to the rythmic
hum of the whirling fan».
A> each lulnuti
tees 3,700 gattm.s
of water lifted out
of the mines, so,
too, It sees 3,200,000
cubic feet of air
driven into the
mines, a quantity,
by the way, which
is three times in
excess of the legal
of
requirements
mine ventilation as
«et forth In the
statutes of The
great coal mining
state of Pennsyl
vania. where It is
ordained that each
miner must get 200
cubic feet of air per
minute. Butte pro
minute. pro
vides 600 cubic feet
minute per man, and tht* without
«oy legaL provision-governing.
electrical current Is
consumed In drUIng the ventilating
funs of the Butte hlU than in lighting
all the cities, towns and homes In
per
In fact, more
Montana.
Putting In the air Is a tusk to
which Butte has devoted Itself with
remarkable success —a success which
Is attested by the fact that when New
York was drivlitg Its vehicular tunnel
under the Hudson It was to Butte, that
the ventilation engineers appealed for
Information. It was to a treatise on
ventilation prepared hy a Butte man,
A. 8. Richardson, ventilation engineer
of the A. C. M. company, that the
metropeHtan ventilation engineer*
turned tor Information ns to the "frlc
ttoaal eo-efflclent" of resistance to air
currents in various types of air ducts.
«hoveling «ad tramming hard roçk,
Practically all of, the company's WW
drills, of widish 1.600 are "«topers." 4#»'
equipped * htV$\ hollow drill shanks.
Th rougi» fbose flows a constant stream
of w«ter. secured from the city's «ap
ply «« the surface, so that at every
Impact the ruWlHng dust is immediate
ly tranaformed to harm!«** mud and
the worker i* spaced from Inhaling the
fine particles of rock, to addition,
chutes, muck pUea. runway« and other
dn*t-cre«ttag pieces are regularly and
J&aXAlly «pr»y«d from hose provided
parpotW:
m«mK mil working in hard, dry
m,0$4 Aaaconda properties U a
Getting Rid of the Oust
Bqaatly adequate and thorough la
twn A®ar<?u nn
eliminating dust caused by drilling
's provision for
ülfe û
In the Front Rank
at
.
By GEORGE 8. RICE, Chief Mining Engineer, United States Bureau
of Mine«, In Bulletin No. 204, Department of the Interior, 1923.
"Tho mlnee In the Butte district, with their hot rook, nu me roue
veins, deep workings and Intens« and concentrated activities, present
to their operators many Intricate problème requiring the utmost en
gineering skill. Although the difficulties encountered are great, the
mining companies have grappled with them and ere making wonderful
progrès« In ventilation betterments.
"Tha duet situation has been largely eliminated by the adoption of
wet drills for practloally'eH drilling, by.ihe Introduction of water lines
for sprinkling to practically all working facoa in many mines and by
Increasing the flew of air to working-placea to remove dust aa it Is
formed. Butte mining companies are In the front rank of those metal
mining companies of the Unlteq State« that are trying to reduce the
duet hasard. They believe that In case their ore bodies reach t* a
depth of 6,000 feet or over they wilt be able to obtain for such Ccop
workings an atmosphere which will allow of safe, comfortable and
efficient work."
T
"wet atoper." The only exception la
In the case of (hose drille which are
operating on soft, damp or clayey
ground where the character of the
earth eliminates the necessity for
water. And there are only 24 of these.
The company has I« operation at the
present time 50 miles of water lines
Id the underground workings which are
exclusfvely used for wet sloping and
for sprinkling.
Yet the element of human "contra
riety" cpn no more be banished here
than In other lines of Industry. Cases
are frequently encountered where
miners refuse to turn on the w-ater In
their drills, apparently preferring to
breathe rock dust than to Incur the
discomfort of an occassional spatter
of mud. But so far as the company la
concerned, the fact that It has spent
several hundred thousand dollars In
providing wet stopers and other duat
Inytng devices, nnd the fact that men
found operating wet stopers without
water are discharged. Is sufficient
evidence that it maintains a 100 per
cent Interest In, (he comfort and
Jo some part of the workings of the
Butte hill, ©very day In the year, alf
these testa are going on. Every mine
«haft on the blU 1# equipped with
blower fans, which are constantly
pouting a stream of air down the
abaft Whenever {required on the tow
health of the underground worker.
The metal mine ventilation engi
neer niust Blsd keep down fhe heöf.
But the ventilation engineer of the
Anaconda company can proudly point
to the fact, so well are air currents and
tetnpemtures controlled, that icicle*
are froaen on »Im* drift timbers In
places a« far down, as the 1.700-foot
level and at a distance of 1,000 feet
from the shaft. - '
Constant vigilance and an Intimate
knowledge of air currents and air ac
tion are required to Insure pure nlr
and proper temperature« for the Butte
miner Where the temperature r«n
not always he lowered, agitation of
the air is resorted to because It ha*
been found that a higher temperature
In moving sir is more endurable than
u lowpe temperature In still air
There 1« an Instrument known as
the VHahleu gauge, for measuring air
IpreMttftt.C
Then* is a little device not unlike a
watchman's clock which Is used to
measure-the speed of the air. an su
«mometer It is called There Is * sling
pgycbnnneter and a kata-thermometer,
all designed to assist tint work of ven
pme.
• There la also a compifcuted Instru
ment which determines the purity of
the air hy Indicating the presence sod
amount of any and alt kinds of gase«.
Air Tested Every Day
àéè
er levels, there are "booster" fans to
draw the air from the shaft and drive
It Into drifts and slopes, Scattered
throughout the mines are large can
vas air pipes discharging air from
some 200 blowers Into dead ends. The
life of this canvas ventilating tubing
Is about six months, which means that
the company has to install about 20
miles of new tubing every 12 months.
Every fun on the Butte hill today Is
reversible, which means that, by re
versing the fans, the shaft can be con
verted Into an uptake Inattud of a
down take and the smoke and fumes
of a possible shaft fire can be driven
out of the mine Instead of being driven
downward.
A surprising thing about air is the
large increase of power required to
Increase the air volume. To double
the quantity of air forced down the
shaft means Increasing the power
eight times. But the air flow has
been marvelously Increased by n
method of concrete slab installation
on which A. S. Richardson of Butte
holds a patent. The Increase was
effected by provid
cornered hoX that
wonW ftt Into the corner of the shaft
was devised and the air volume was in
creased 100 per cent or doubled.
An Interesting Incidental In the
control of nlr movement Is the use of
some hundreds of doors and air
stoppings, especially con strut-led and
operated for this purpose.
Taking Out tha Water
So much for the air problems of
the Butte mines. Control of the water
flow also called for a high degree ot
technical skill. Every large mine of
the Anaconda company I« connected on
the 2,800-foot level. There are also
other connections, particularly on the
2.400 and the 1,200. but the 2,800 Is the
general connecting level. As a result
the waters of the main group of mlnee
are h and l ed f r o m - Just two mumping'
stations, one at the High Ore and
one at the Leonard. The Leonard
handles 1,800 gallons a minute. The
High Ore handles 1,800 a minute.
Either station could handle a large«
flow If necessary.
The water handled comes from a
territory coveting about 2,000 scree.
Immens« underground tanks have
been constructed so that, should the
power O per a t ing the pomps be sudden
ly cut off, these tanka great horse
shoe-shaped lakes, located near the«
shaft», end bolding more than 500,000
gallon*, could alone take care of the
water for «(..least a few hours, accord
ing to F. C. Jaccard, assistant chief
mechanical engineer of the \. C. M.
company.
Taking oat the water, laying the_
dost and putting in the air is a big
task, efficiently handled, on the Butte
blU. *
Ing a smooth pas
sage for the air
This smooth pas
sage was achieved
by placing concrete
slabs between the
wall plates of the
shafts, holding them
In position with
pegs and cement
ing the cracks. This
furnished a free un
broken air duct, ex
cept for the water
course. The watei
box blocked the
free passage of air
Again Buttes In
ventlve genius came
Into play and a
concrete three
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