The timbering of mines, particularly with steel

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RARY
Carnegie Steel Company
THE TIMBERING OF MINES, PARTICULARLY
W I T H STEEL
•*#*** BY
R. B. WOODWORTH,
Engineer with Carnegie Steel Company
Paper read before the Kentucky Mining Institute, Lexington, Ky.,
December 11th, 1911.
Success in the conduct of mining operations is only attained when
the product of the mines is marketed at such rates over and above the
cost of production as will insure a fair return on the capital invested
therein. Other considerations m a y be in view in periods of exploitation
or at times of depression, but in the regular run of affairs the m e n who
operate mines do so in order to reap the rewards of their labor. To reach
this desired end in the highest measure it is required that the capital
invested be as small as the fundamental principles of true economy will
permit, that the cost of production be as low as intelligent skill can make
it, and that the rates at which the product is sold be as high as the most
efficient sales organization can secure. Under modern conditions of com­petition
this high success in the conduct of mining operations is gained
^ by that careful attention to details which is known as scientific manage­ment.
Time was when many features of mining could be left to unskilled
workmen; but today every problem which has to do with the most econ­omical
expenditure of men and money to insure the largest possible
return on capital investment demands serious consideration and solution
not by rule of thumb methods, but by the application of the rules of
economic science. Such a problem is the timbering of the mines, and it
is to the credit of m a n y mine owners and operators that they have apprec­iated
its importance and applied their intelligence to its solution.