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Show I Mines Have Changed ! -J- .j Duty of Miner becomes skilled trade instead of pick and shovel work. I Mines have changed. Just as times have chanbed, mines have changed. There was a time when work in the underground under-ground was regarded as drudgery and the ranks consisted of men with strong backs who could best wield a pick and shovel. Today, machines bite their way through the underground formations forma-tions and the men who man them are men of skill and achievement. Work of the miner has become more specialized, more intrsting and educational. The uncanny mucking machine, which does about everything except ex-cept talk, now does tiring shovel work of several men. The operator oper-ator is a man who has either learned his trade in the in the mines or been schooled in the operation oper-ation of the machine before entering en-tering mining work. The mechanical mech-anical mucker is powered by compressed com-pressed air and at the touch of a certain lever or valve literally reaches down and scoopes up the ore or waste and through it over its "shoulder" into the waiting mine car. ' Then there is the man who operates the underground tram or railroad. This is usually a battery bat-tery locomotive that pulls a long string of cars to the shaft or out the tunnel, which ever the case may be. At the top of the shaft is a huge drum hoist that is operated oper-ated by a miner skill in the function func-tion of this machine which lifts and lowers the mine cages. Another skilled job is that of operating the powerful automatic machines that drill the holes preparatory pre-paratory to blasting out another round. . Not only does this man know the operation of a machine, but he becomes acquainted with the underground formations and he is always anxious to know what is just beyond the drill. Last but not least are the men who prepare the charge of dynamite dyna-mite that blocks out another round in the drift or the shaft, or greaks down another day's supply of ore to be shipped to the smelter. These men become expert in formations and th handling of dynamit. They learn how many sticks of powder to use in moving a certain amount of rock and they must know all of the safety precautions. The mechanization of mining has left only a small amount of hand work. It is the trimming around a blast after the mucking machine has done most of the work and the timbering which requires much of the knowledge of the carpenter. |