I shall endeavor at the outset of my paper to bring before your notice the increased growth of the coal mining industries in Southern Alberta during the past four years, the importance of this industry to our Railway Company, the building up of that portion of the country, and the general benefit to the community at large.

Prior to 1903 the only coal mine in Southern Alberta was that of the Alberta Railway and Irrigation Co. at Lethbridge, which is more familiarly known as the Galt Mine. At that time there was no town between Cowley and Blairmore, and none between this latter Point and Michel, now they are intersected by the large and prosperous towns of Frank and Coleman.

The rapid growth of these two towns, each of which is mainly supported by the coal mining industry is phenomenal, and with their already large populations they must necessarily be the source of a considerable revenue to our Company.

It is further encouraging for us to know that these two towns were in the first place indirectly built up by our Company and today we are taking a large percentage of the output of the three mines at Frank and the one at Coleman.

NOTE: This meeting at Field took place in 1906, three years after the Frank Slide when Turtle Mountain collapsed at 04:10 on 29 Apr 1903.

The mine of the Canadian American Coal and Coke Company at Frank, more familiarly known as the Gebo mine, was the pioneer, or the first mine opened out in Southern Alberta.

This was followed by the mine of the West Canadian Colliery Co. at Lille, formerly known as Grassy Mountain, which was supplemented later by the opening out of their Bellevue mine.

The mine of the International Coal and Coke Company Coleman mine was also opened out about the same time as the Bellevue mine.

Previous to the opening out of the Gebo Mine at Frank, our Company had to draw largely on the Gait mine for its supply of coal for the Western territory, but with the rapid growth of population, in what was known as the North West Territory, which largely depended on the Gait mine for domestic supply, the output of the mine was not sufficient to meet the requirements of the railway and the domestic supply.

It was then found necessary by the Railway Company, in order that the public should not suffer any hardships during the winter months for want of fuel, to draw its supply from another mine, and with this object in view, encouragement was given to the opening of the Gebo mine.

An important point to be considered, as all the coal we take from the Frank and Coleman mines is used east of these points, which necessitates the supply of empty cars being sent from the east, was that providing the coals were found satisfactory, to draw on these nearest available points and thus avoid the expense of long haulage of coal required for the use of the Company and the return of empty cars.

The first trial, on engines, of the Frank, then called Blairmore coal, was made under the supervision of Mr. Bury, now General Superintendent of the Central Division, and Mr. Brownlee, now Superintendent of the Fourth District, Central Division.

These gentlemen reported favorably on the merits of the coal for locomotive use, and on their report the Management decided to encourage the opening out of the mine by taking its full output.

Along the main line between Moose Jaw and Medicine Hat, Galt coal had been used on engines for twenty years, enginemen had become accustomed to its use, and while the Frank is undoubtedly a much better engine coal than Galt, and does not clinker, yet as it requires more skillful firing, many of the enginemen were prejudiced against it, and had it not been for the firm persistency of Supt. Brownlee, who was then Road Foreman, in overcoming the prejudices against the coal, it is an open question, in the mind of the writer, if the mine would not have had to close down.

The closing down of the Frank mine would have been disastrous, in a financial sense, for our Company, as it would have stopped the opening out of any more mines, or other industries in Southern Alberta, and while the Galt mine might have partially supplied our wants during the summer months, we would, during the winter months, have had to haul Pittsburgh coal from Fort William to Swift Current, a distance of 936 miles against 341 miles from Frank.

Our Company being deeply interested in the prosperity and building up generally of this Western country, the Second Vice-President decided in the early part of last year, to still further encourage the growth of the Western country and coal mines by using Western coals, in the territory east of Moose Jaw to Portage la Prairie, and when the output of the mines would permit, to bring it as far east as Winnipeg. To this end encouragement has been given to the further development of the mines of the West Canadian Colliery Co. at Frank and the International Coal and Coke Co. at Coleman.

A large smelter for zinc, complete with laboratory, has been built at Frank. The advantages of this town and Coleman are such that other industries will no doubt soon follow.

At the time it was under discussion by the Management, to bring Western coals east of Moose Jaw, the cost of the coal, with freight, haulage, and return empties, was thoroughly gone into by the Superintendent of Transportation, who found that the cost of the coal at the mines, and the cost for extra haulage as far east as Portage la Prairie, would entitle it to competition with Pennsylvania Coal.

As the Pittsburgh is an easy coal to fire, and had been generally used on engines east of Moose Jaw since the building of our road, it was reasonable to expect there would not only be complaints, but a general prejudice against the Western coals.

This, I am pleased to say, has been happily overcome by those in charge of the Operating Department in that territory, only a few complaints have been made against the coal, and there would probably have been the same number of complaints had we been using Pittsburgh coal in the same territory.

There will always be a few complaints on coal with the large bins of the Link Belt, known as the McHenry chutes, each bin holds forty to fifty tons of coal, with the result that the lumps roll down to the mouth of the chute and slack or small stuff clings to the back. The result of this is that some engines get all lumps while others get all slack or fine stuff.

We have tried several schemes to mix the lump and slack without effect, and I would now ask the Asst. Chief Engineer, Mr. Busteed, to make a note of this, and see if some improvements cannot be made with this build of chutes, that will overcome the trouble mentioned.

The calorific or heat giving values of the Frank and Coleman coals are equal to those of the Pittsburgh, they also carry about the same percentages of fixed carbon, but run higher in ash.

The coals are of a friable nature (easily crumbled), and break easily by handling, this latter is also aggravated by the seams lying at a very high pitch and the coal in some case has to be brought from the upper workings to the main entry, where the mine cars are filled, down chutes varying from three to nine hundred feed at an angle of from fifty to eighty degrees.

The mine people exercise all the care they can to keep the chutes always full, so as to avoid breakage of the coal, but it comes down with such a force, that, do the best they can, considerable of the coal gets broken.

I mention this for your information, as I know the coals carry a very heavy, too heavy, percentage of slack. I am repeatedly taking this matter up with the mine owners, they are trying to overcome it by not giving explosives to the miners free of cost, as formerly, but are charging them for what explosives they use.

I hope eventually to get them to abolish entirely the use of explosives in mining the coal and mine entirely with picks.

A test of these coals was made last fall, between Winnipeg and Brandon, under the supervision of the Assistant to the Second Vice-president, and although the fireman had not previously fired Western coals, the result on the consumption per 1,000 ton miles hauled, was fairly equal to the Pittsburgh coal.

While from the character of these coals, the best results will, no doubt, be got out of them on engines with wide fire boxes of the 780 class, or semi-wide fire boxes of the 700 and 1600 classes, the real success will depend on the coals being fired intelligently and to the best advantage.

These coals, similar to the Canmore, are slow to burn, and perfect combustion can only be attained by firing lightly and frequently.

This was fully demonstrated by a letter from the Superintendent of the Second District, Western Division, to his General superintendent, the early part of last month in which he reported a bad run made by extra 538 on Lethbridge section on January 9th.

Mr. Erickson stated he rode on the engine, the fireman threw six or seven shovels of coal on at a time, and so buried the fire that the coal could not get combustion.

He further stated that a fireman, named F. Stauffer, had never as yet failed to keep up steam on any he had fired. I mention this to show how much depends on intelligent firing.

This is defined thus, the intelligent fireman should notice in which portion of the fire box the coal is being consumed the quickest, in order to know where to sprinkle over his next shovel of coal.

The lazy fireman, who throws on a number of shovels of coal at one time, and does not closely watch his fire, really has the hardest work, as the engine draft will not draw sufficient air to get through the big body of coal, and give the required combustion.

This results in his having to frequently poke the fire, the fire box door being open so much, cold air coming in at this point cools the gasses in the fire box and reduces the efficiency of the boiler.

There is also another trouble with the lazy fireman, failing to get the required results through poking his fire he resorts to shaking the grates, and shakes holes in the fire where more perfect combustion has taken place.

These holes allow air to get in the fire box, in a greater volume than is required at that particular point, which also results in cooling the gasses in the fire box and reducing the efficiency of the boiler, and he is in constant trouble because he cannot keep up the uniform pressure of steam.

The experience is that the shaking of grates should be avoided when the engine is running, as fireman cannot control the fire so effectively as when the engine is at rest.

The mine people at Frank and Coleman, recognize that the success of their properties altogether depend on giving us coal of good quality, the best their mines will produce, and that we must have it free from impurities.

The picking table at the Gebo mine at Frank is too narrow to do as good picking as I would like, but they have had an up-to-date table on order for some time, and it will be installed as soon as the work of the new layout of the yard is done.

There is no picking table at the Bellevue mine at Frank. It was the original intention to install one there but owing to their striking rock faults last year, and losing the main large seam, the installation of a picking table was deferred until it is ascertained beyond doubt that the mine is a workable property.

I will not deal with the Canmore mine. The output of this mine at present is limited to 10,000 per month.

The coal from this mine was formerly shipped east to Medicine Hat and west to Rogers Pass and Revelstoke.

From Revelstoke, West, Comox coal is used.

As empty cars have to be send to the Pacific Division, the Second Vice-president instructed that some of these empty cars be taken around by Frank and Coleman and loaded with coal there for Calgary, Bassano, and points on the Edmonton Branch, and when made empty sent on to Canmore to be loaded with coal for the Pacific Division.

Besides the saving on price of coal, there is a considerable saving also effected on haulage, as empty cars have to be sent to Vancouver for bringing the Comox coal east.

During the past year there have been numerous complaints made against the Canmore coal, it being claimed by some of our officials, who are well qualified to speak on the mater, that the coal is not as good as it was some years ago.

This may, or may not, be the case. It must be borne in mind that the passenger and freight train, now being hauled are much heavier than they were some years back, possibly faster time is being made by passenger trains, with the addition of steam heat for coaches, and the coal is generally being put to heavier work than formerly.

By referring to Blue Print form S.O. 50, issued by Mr. Leslie, I find that between Laggan and Field, eastbound, where the heavy work is done, the engines on that section, have made a better showing on the tonnage hauled than the year previous, this was particularly demonstrated last November when the saving was upwards of 20 percent, compared with the same period previous year.

I know that Messrs. McNeil & Co. are thoroughly alive to the importance of giving us the best coal their mine will produce, they recognize that some of the small coal carries sand and have lately at a considerable expense put up a gravity washer at Canmore for washing the sand and impurities out of the small coal.

The washer is capable of handling 400 tons per day, unfortunately they have had some breakdowns on the start, but our Inspector at Canmore wrote me a few days back, that it was then working in good shape, and it was expected that the full output of the small coal would be washed in the course of a couple of weeks.

They have also during the past year set up a picking table at Canmore and with ordinary care, very little rock should get into the railway cars.

Messrs, Jameson, Hall, and myself, were at Canmore in December last, we closely watched the men at the picking table, who were doing good work, our Inspector assured me their work was then no better than usual.

Trainmaster Carey has been associated with the Canmore coal since the mine opened, and as he is daily watching the performance of the coal by actual use, he is more competent than myself to speak as to its quality generally, and if he considers the contention set up, that the quality of the coal has deteriorated, it is correct.

It may not be out of place for me to ask our officials when there are complaints of engines not steaming to occasionally turn up the reports and see how long that particular engine has been in service.

My object in asking this is that while there may be some little changes in the qualities of coal, it is not to be compared with the varying conditions of a locomotive, and complaints may be made against coal, which in some cases, if closely looked into, would be found to be due to the condition of the engine.

With regard to coal from the Bankhead mine, tests and analyses have demonstrated that the salable sizes namely egg, stove, nut, and pea, are practically equal to the Pennsylvania hard coal.

The Bankhead coal is really easier to regulate in stoves and furnaces, than the Pennsylvania, but as it is of a friable nature and slacks somewhat, while in transit, and also by handling, it should be cleanly screened before being put in coach bunkers for Baker Heaters.

As the mines have not many orders during the summer, and are over crowed during winter months, we should help them during their slack period by laying in a sufficient stock of coal for coaches at terminal points to carry us over the winter.

To do this sheds should be built at several terminal points, so as to keep the coal under cover, if exposed to the weather it not only depreciates, but it cannot be cleanly screened.

The Bankhead mines make a large quantity of small coal, what is termed Buckwheat, it would appear the only use that can be made of this small coal is by mixing it with soft coal and using it on engines.

It would be well to have the views of some officer of the Mechanical Department and Road Foremen on the successful burning of this small coal.

I would here call the attention of the officers of the Operating Department to the importance of arranging a more regular supply for the Western Mines.

At the present time we are practically carrying no stocks of coal west of Winnipeg. The output of the mines, with a full supply of cars, will only give us about one thousand tons per week for stocking purposes, or in other words in excess of the current consumption.

The closing down of the mines for one day only is a very serious matter for us, more particularly at the present time, as there is a probability of labour troubles in the U.S. coal fields. I would for our own protection earnestly ask the Officers of the Operating Department to arrange that the mines have a regular daily supply of cars.

If I am correctly informed, the fixed charges of the Gebo, Lille, and Coleman mines amount to $200 per day, and while there may be an impression that this loss does not fall on our Company, the matter is worthy of consideration, that while we do not pay it directly, if we do not pay it indirectly in more ways than one.

Mine operators naturally want to work their mines so as to make them pay at least a fair interest on the invested capital, this can only be effected by tonnage, hence in order to make up some portion of the tonnage for the lost time caused by car shortages, coal is apt to be surged too thick and fast over the picking tables for the picker to do good work.

In conclusion, I invite the fullest criticism on all the coal, my understanding is that we have met here for mutual good of the Company. If there is anything can be pointed out to be done, that is not done, whereby the qualities of the coals can be improved, or to the advantage of our Company, it should and will be my duty to see that such improvements are put into effect as far as practicable.

Mr. J. Brownlee - Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, we must all feel indebted to Mr. Barnwell for the information he has given us, as to the amount of benefit the company and country have derived from the opening up of the Western Coal Industry.

There is no doubt that if the Railway Co. had not assisted in the opening up of the Western Coal Mines, there would still be very little coal mined in the Western Country.

The figures he has given us as to the business created thereby, must be very encouraging to all employees of the railway, and all well-wishers of the West.

I notice, however, that Mr. Barnwell starts his paper with the development of the Frank Mine, and gives this mine the credit of being the first to be on the market with steam coal in the Western Country. I think Mr. Barnwell has overlooked the fact, that the Canmore coal was really the first Western coal that was used on locomotives, and I think I am safe in saying that there was more prejudice against the Canmore coal at the outset than there has been against Frank, or any other coal, that was mined in the Crows Nest district.

There was all kinds of trouble burning the Canmore coal, and had it not been for the persistency of the officers in charge of the Western Lines, at that time, I do not think that the Canmore coal ever could have been made a success. In Mr. Barnwell's paper he gives General Superintendent Bury, and myself a great deal of credit for the successful use of the Western coal, but I think Master Mechanic Cardell, now at Calgary, who devoted hours and hours of his time experimenting on engines then running out of Canmore, deserves as much credit as any one else, in connection with the successful use of Western Coal.

Mr. Barnwell's paper puts the cause of Western coal not being so popular, or as good as Pittsburgh coal to two reasons: First, prejudice of the men against the coal, and secondly, the extra work there is in firing it. I will deal with each point separately. When prejudice exists there must be some reason for it. It is only reasonable to suppose that the men will prefer to burn the coal that is easiest handled, to that which will cause them extra work. In the first place, Pittsburgh coal burns quicker and does not require the same attention or work that the Western coal does, nor do they burn as much of it. We all know, that now-a-days the object and aim of all men is to get along with as little manual labour as possible. Therefore, there is good reason why there should be prejudice. This brings me to the second reason: The extra work involved in burning the coal, as Mr. Barnwell says this coal has got to be fired light, which means that it has got to be put in the fire often, which causes extra work, and in order to get results this is absolutely necessary. Of course the more energetic the fireman is, the better results we get. Mr. Barnwell says there is more ash in it, than in the Pittsburgh coal, but no clinker. I cannot agree with him as far as the clinker is concerned, as I have a sample of clinker taken from the fire box of an engine burning this coal. No doubt if we got the coal pure we would not get the clinker, but we get a great deal of impurities in the coal, which forms clinker, and it is impossible to get rid of it at the mines. This being the case, and the large increase of ashes, which Mr. Barnwell admits.

I would like to know what effort has been made as far as the engine is concerned, to overcome the extra work entailed in the burning of this coal, outside of altering the front ends with a view of increasing the forced draughts. There has, as far as I know, been nothing done, and the men can be excused if they believe that the saving in burning of this coal, is all taken out of them.

I think it can be shown that there have been more troubles and delays near the end of the run, than at the beginning, on account of the fires being dirty and the ash pan full. This is no doubt caused by the men trying to get in without the work of cleaning the fire and ash pan, although by doing so they make extra work for themselves, by the use of the poker and extra coal is used. As I said before the Company had done nothing outside of sharpening up the draught, through reducing the size of the nozzle, or alterations in the draught pipes, in the smoke box.

We still use the old style of grates, which do very well for the Pittsburgh coal, but in my opinion, they are not adapted for the use of Western coal. As I said we have a great deal of impurities in the Western coal, and a piece of slate or shale not bigger than a marble, will stop the grates from closing, and the fireman has then got to open the grates, which will either cause him to dump the whole fire, or tear his fire into holes, and it will take him some time to get the fire in shape again. This frequently causes the tubes to leak, and consequently a failure altogether.

If a grate could be used that would be strong enough, and with sufficiently strong shaking gear, so as to guarantee crushing the small pieces of rock, or shale and clinker, it would not be necessary to open the grates wide, and would overcome a great deal of the difficulty referred to. With the present style of grate shaking attachment, they wear very quickly, and soon get so much lost motion, that it is hard work to get anything shaken through. Mr. Barnwell says that the grates should be shaken lightly, very often, and when the engine is working steam so that the blast on the fire would loosen the fire on the grates and enable some of the ashes to get out of the stack. With the grates such as I have referred to, this could be very easily done.

I understand there has been a different grate used on some parts of the Pacific Division, with the result of fewer tubes leaking and a saving in the consumption of coal, and a much larger nozzle. I understand that a great many roads to the South of us have adopted ash pans that can be opened from the cab, which does away with the necessity of the fireman cleaning the ash pan, which is not a pleasant job at the best of times. I would favour an ash pan that could be opened when the engine was in motion, but would strongly recommend one that could be dumped without the use of the ash hoe, and the extra work of the fireman cleaning it out.

I think I have said enough to show that the company has not done all they can to improve the conditions, as far as the burning of this coal is concerned, and I hope that the Mechanical Department will look into the matter with a view of making the required improvements, and show the men they are not expected to it all.

If this is done the men can very easily be drilled into doing their part as they will get better results, and with less work than they now have to do.

It might appear that I am taking up the defence of the men too much in this, but such is not the case, as I know of no one who has worked harder than I have to show the men how to use this coal, and when necessary have shown them by firing myself, the best way to get results.

Everyone must recognize the fact, that a full head of steam means economy in fuel, and every effort should be made by the company to make it as easy as possible for men to get steam on the engines, and where it would cost considerable to change the grates and ash pans, I am satisfied that the cost would be fully repaid in the way of a saving in fuel, and in the appreciation of the men.

Mr. C. Carey - I have had a great deal of experience with Western coals and in the case of the Canmore had to make many changes on the engines. I finally succeeded in burning it satisfactorily.

Chairman - Gentlemen, we have at this meeting a gentleman who is not an officer of the Company, but who has had a large experience in coal and coal mining, and as the subject is one of great importance to this Company, we cannot get too much information on the coals and their use. I have therefore, pleasure in calling upon Mr. Stockett, of the Bankhead coal mines.

Mr. L. Stockett - I am glad of the opportunity at this meeting to say something upon the subject of Western coals. Having been actively engaged in the mining and marketing of them on this and the other side of the line for the past fifteen years, often under the most discouraging circumstances, success has in every case been the reward of perseverance. The successful burning of these coals will not be accomplished at once, many grievous failures and disappointments will be met with, but by sticking to it, learning a little here and there, and especially by free exchange of experiences at such gatherings as this, will that ultimate success be reached which is the ambition of every man in whatever he undertakes.

All Western coals are good, but some may be better than others. The trouble is not from the coal, but the impurities in it, and Rocky Mountain coals contain a greater proportion of these than Eastern coals. To get rid of these demands thorough preparation, and it is up to the operator to see that this is done, unless he does, he cannot expect to sell his coal, but whenever it has been done the coal has met with success. The coal being prepared, we must make the machines or apparatus to fit the coal, and not try to adapt the coal to the machines, which have been gotten up to burn other coals.

One of the first Western coals with which I was connected was what was known as the Sand Coulee coal, mined from the same fields as these under discussion, and which coal was for a time a byword throughout the whole Western country. The first trials of this coal on the Great Northern Railway were absolute failures, the Claims Department of the road having to pay claims for fence posts and fence rails which were used to get the light engines back to the roundhouses. By staying with it, and by adopting proper appliances to prepare and burn it, results are now obtained nearly as good as from the eastern coals. 42 miles to the ton having been made by engines on passenger trains, and 25 miles on freight trains.

Western coals, being high in ash, and lower volatile matters, combust more slowly, the gases generate slower, and having a slower combustion, require different appliances for burning them than the eastern coals. The requirements to meet these are, shaking grates of the proper pattern to remove the ashes from the fire, with ash pans which will hold a larger amount of ashes, and a large grate area with proper adjustment of the blast. I have seen several of the types of shaking grates used on the C.P.R., but have not seen them all. None of those I have seen were to my fancy of what was required, and upon this grate will depend the success or failure in the burning of these coals. My idea of the proper grate is one with a larger percentage of air spaces to admit sufficient air to the fire, and one in which the fire can be shaken without dumping it, and also so constructed that there is no danger of rock getting in between the sections and hanging up the grates. In case of a rock getting in with the coal, it will simply be jiggled back and forth over the top of the grate until removed at the end of the run or sooner. With a large grate area, which can be most evenly fired by increasing the width of the grate box, a large amount of coal is in combustion at a time, but burning more slowly, the total amount is no greater over a given run. The proper arrangement of the draught is a matter for which there is no fixed rule, this matter must be gotten at by experience, usually two or three trials will determine what is required. When the coal is inclined to clinker, the introduction of steam below the grates will often prevent this. In one case which I have in mind this was done by placing a half-inch pipe underneath the grate and around the outer edges of same. This pipe was perforated with small holes inclined towards the fire, and keeping live steam continually on the fire, it had the effect of softening and preventing the clinker, which had before overrun the grates and often required to be cut out with a cold chisel at the end of the run.

It is a fact not generally known or appreciated that the Rocky Mountain coal field of Canada is not only a large field, but one of the largest in the world, containing all varieties of coal, from lignite to anthracite, and containing domestic, steam, and cooking coals, and in time will not only be the source of supply for Western Canada, but a large portion of the States to the south, giving employment to a large number of men and supporting a population many times greater than the present population of Alberta. As all this directly and indirectly means traffic to the railways, it seems to me that the present policy of the C.P.R. in encouraging the building up of this industry is a wise one, one that will greatly add to their revenue in the near future, and the furtherance of which should command the best efforts of all of us.