OCR Text |
Show 5AY6 SALT LAKE SMOKE PROBLEM IS LARGELY GEOGRAPHICAL THIS VIEW IS EXPRESSED BT A. G, WHITE, EXPERT ECONOMIST Tif AP OF THE SALT LAKE VALLEY and its relationship to the smoke nuisance in Salt Lake City. Light shading indicates J--4- mountains of 5000 to 7000 feet elevation; medium shading, 7000 to 9000 feet; dark shading, more than 9000 feet elevation, j I i ' II ii.iii, .1, i I, .ii.m... -. nii.i.1 iii.il. ui -i-i'ii .i ip i i III lllll II II .,. .-...u. i" ! 1 salt y i si-1 K I - - . Mr - - YfrsiL Sivit --- r I .;"''".; 'M Ma- f'' J'- $ , i 5 J, - ft " t t ' I .. Ta,4J?AVL M; ' ; J 8 v ( i ' .JX v ' ' A s 'j hi Hi' T MLMft' ' "' 1 y i x i,mi.iiil2xIiiiiiiLtiiv! v M " llfli ' ' V I Is Connected With the University Uni-versity of Utah School of Mines. THE smolce problem of the city is largely geographical. This is the conclusion of A. G. White, expert ex-pert economist with the United States bureau of mines. Mr. White is now a member of the bureau of mines staff operating hero in co-operation with the school of mines of the University of Utah. He has come to Salt Lake City with experience in the economic study of the use of fuels in the anthracite and bituminous coal regions re-gions of Pennsylvania. He is a graduate gradu-ate of the University of Pennsylvania and foTiuerly instructor in economics at that institution. He has boon with the bureau of mines with the title of "mine economist" for three years. The L Diversity of Utah is the only university in the country holding a cooperative co-operative working relationship with the United States bureau of mines. The co-operative arrangement existing exist-ing here is the result of tho efforts of the dean of the school of mines of the university, Dr. Joseph F. Merrill, who proposed the arrangement to the bureau bu-reau of mines. To Study Ore Problem. Tho co-operative arrangement exists primarily for the purpose of the study of the low-grade ore problem of the west. This problem is so important and its proper solution so fraught with possibilities pos-sibilities for tiie increase of the wealth of the ' country that tho ta-, ta-, tion here promises to become one of j the great metallurgical rosear'h stations sta-tions of the country. Already the cooperative co-operative work of the station and of tho university has been carried to an extent ex-tent which makes safe the prediction that millions of dollars of wealth now lying idle in the damp? and stopes of the mines of Utah and other western slates will be turned into the elianneb of industry of the country. Before the work of the low-grade ore problem was under way it wan arp;irent to the .tien of tho bureau of the uui- , versity that the smoke problem of Salt Lake City was more immediate than perhaps the low-grade ore problem it- ! self. Experts of the station were therefore there-fore assigned to the problem. The most recent addition to the staff of the bureau bu-reau is A. G. White, mine economist of the bureau. Mr. White's conclusions with respect to the economic aspects of the problem will appear in a series of brief' statements, of which this is the first. Dr. Lyon in Charge. In charge of the Utah station of the bureau is Er. D. A. Jjyon and associated associ-ated with him aro Oliver Ealston, expert ex-pert metallurgist, and five school of mines men, representing the best training train-ing of American universities. Other experts of the bureau of mines are to be. assigued, it is promised, to the station sta-tion within a short time. Part of Mr. White's work is to make clear to the residents of the city just what tho problem is and just what the first steps toward a solution must be. Mr. White's statement of his conclusions conclu-sions as to tho reason for the smoke problem in Salt Lake Citv follows: Salt Lake City is loc tod in a valley val-ley shut in by mountains, except to the northwest in the direction of the Great Salt lake. The city itself lies immediately nt the foot of the Wasatch Wa-satch rank's In a little pocket formed hy 'the westward eNinston of a spur from the mountains just north of the city. This a region of comparatively weak winds. The a vera pre wind velocity ve-locity fnr Salt fakti City Is only about ffveii mils an hour, us compared com-pared wiih sixtttfii miler? for Chicago. Combine a pocket valley locution with low wind velocity and you have eih a result a condition of pour air drainage, drain-age, which tends to prevent the rapid clc;irinK out of any mist or smoke whirl ma y u con mo la te. While tho number of foj--f,'y days recored is not very sreat In Lhly region of high altitude alti-tude and low moisture,, still practically practi-cally all of tlu; mist which does occur oc-cur conipij in the winter months, when the humidity of the air is great-:-:-:! and when smoke conditions arc at their worst. Result 'of Thin Air. The thtmi'-r uv of a high altltuno makes ihc ra''s of the sun si like direct and vry !m.u in th daytime nnd causr-H cousins fa hie eva pr jra tion when moisture it picenl. This buine , thin a!r permits rapid radiation of the earth's heat at night and results in the quick cooling of the air and the condensation into mist or fog of any excess moisture present. Thus in the winter months weather conditions con-ditions produce more or Ie.sa mist during the night. As the greatest amount of smoke is produced at the time fresh coal is put on the fire, usually in the early evening and the morning, the worst smoke Is made at the time when mist is most likely to he present in the air. Weather experts claim that the presence in the air of smoke or dust particles will Increase the formation of mist by offering many small surfaces sur-faces on which moisture may be condensed. con-densed. Thus we probably have a double action Involved. The presence of smoke tends to produce more mist and then the mist, once produced, serves as a "catcher" to hold the smoke and make it a slow and diffi-cut diffi-cut process for the sun and the wind to clear the air tn the morning. An early rise? who lives on the higher benches can see the comparatively clear air of the very early morning gradually thicken and thicken as the smoke rises from thousands of chim-nevs. chim-nevs. The outline of the Onuirrh mountains to the west grows dimmer and dimmer and finally disappears in tho smokv haze. Often the air will not clear until well on toward noon. Poor Air Drainage. To summarise, the combination of a shut-In valley, weak, winds and a certain amount of winter mist, which the presence of smoke probably prob-ably increases, results in poor air drainage and calm and maltes it almost al-most impossible for nature to assist In getting rid of what smoke may be produced. The smoko in Salt Lake City re-eults re-eults from the fact that the chief available fuel is a soft or bituminous coal contalrdng a high percentage of volatile or gas -producing material. With the rapid growth of the city and the consequent large increase in the amount of coal burned, the smoke has become not local)! y worse in the past few years, Tho smoke condition may have been further affected by the' fact that the source of the city's fuel supply has largely changed in the last, ten years. Formerly most of the co;,l burned in tho city came from Wyoming, whereas now Utah mines furnish the bulk of the supply. The two coals burn under somewhat different dif-ferent conditions and it may be that wii h the rapid change in the character char-acter of 1 1 to fuel used the old furnace fur-nace 'tind stove equipment may not be so well suited for burning the present pres-ent coal and, as a consequence, may .produce an undue amount of smoke on that account. May Grow Worse. With the increased growth of the city the smoke conditions will slowly grow worse until some steps are taken to materially reduce the amount of smoke which is produced, particularly particu-larly In the winter months when the larger per cent of the fuel Is burned. That the physical location of the city is one of the largest factors in creating the smoke problem may seem sufficient reason to those lacking In public spirit to throw up their hands and declare that nothing can be done to improve the situation. But to the citizen who takes pride in keeping his city fair and clean, the fact that nature refuses to get rid of the smoke when once it Is made simplv makes him more earnestly ask, "What can wo do to reduce our smoke?" "Who Makes the Smoke in Salt Lake City?" will appear next week, and is a question for which Mr. White will soon have an answer which promises to be interesting. |