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1940-1949 activity, though, for 1940 at least, most of the growth had occurred in smaller strip mines outside the Midwest with producers there increasingly using 2- to 3-cu yd shovels with longer booms and handles. For the March 1943 issue, associate edi- tor Lambur reviewed operations at the Sandown lignite mine in Rockdale, Texas. Owned by the McAlester Fuel Co., only 100,000 tons was being produced at the small mine, one of the few remaining lignite operations left in the state. Although Texas had an estimated 23 billion tons of lignite at the time, the vast amounts of natural gas and crude oil being cheaply produced in the southwest rendered coal uncompetitive throughout much of the region. Underground Production 1940-45 For the January 1940 issue, Coal Age returned to New Orient in West Frankfort, Ill., to review the mine's improved trans- portation system. With a normal daily out- put of 10,000 tons, miners had to deliver an average of 2,300 loaded mine cars to the shaft bottom every seven hours. "Realizing that the haulage system is the life stream of the mine, the property has been developed so that a minimum of main-line entry will have to be maintained during the life of the operation." To handle the large number of loaded and empty trips (almost 14,000 per day), both loaded and empty haulageways in separate entries were employed. But with all of that rail, New Orient started to weld rail joints—making ribbon rail—in early 1936, decades before modern railroads began doing the same on today's mainlines. Though rail dominated the industry, in the February issue the editors reported on the growing increase in rubber-tired haulage units behind loading machines. "From three such units 3½ years ago, the total in the hands of operators had grown to 99 at the end of 1939." Rubber-tired haulage was originated by James H. Fletcher, a Chicago consulting engineer, and first installed in 1936. Fletcher equip- ment was followed by the Joy shuttle car, first installed by the Hanna Coal Co. of Ohio in 1938. Rubber-tired haulage would grow throughout the decade. Mechanization was also allowing older mines to be rehabilitated and operated more efficiently. In the April 1940 issue, Given reported on the reopening of the Jefferson No. 20 mine of the Consolidated Coal Co. in Nason, Ill. Opened in 1921, it became a casu- alty of the Depression and had not worked in six years when Consol purchased it in April 1938. Reconditioning began later that year and by 1940, producing from a 740-ft shaft—the deepest in Illinois—Consol had another modern plant in operation. Also in that issue, assistant editor Charles H. Lambur Jr reported on a series of tests of new du Pont hydraulic breaking units. At the Consol New Monarch mine in Herrin, Ill., one hydraulic unit was in operation break- ing down coal for two loading machines, each averaging 300-320 tons per shift, neces- sitating the breaking down of around 10 faces in a 7-hour shift. The process, "in a semi-commercial stage of development, employs tubes expanded by oil pressure." Mechanization increased throughout 1940. Almost 2,000 mobile loaders were in service nationwide. More than 1,500 con- veyors were introduced that year alone, along with at least 155 more rubber-tired haulage units. This would increase further throughout the war years. 1942 saw the introduction and use of locomotive "radios" for communicating from the cab of the locomotive with the dis- patcher, as established at the Frances mine of the Frances Fuel Co. near Monongah, W.Va. Increased signaling and bigger haulage cares were also being deployed. "Just now the coal industry is passing through the same revolution as did the rail- roads a generation ago and is recognizing that heavier tracks, better ballast and stronger equipment will make greater speeds and longer trips possible, yet with fewer accidents." During the height of the war years, some information became restricted and techni- cal information, for a brief time, was some- what restricted. However, with work stoppages, mine seizures, a manpower shortage and a war to be won, Coal Age focused, briefly, in other directions. But with victory on the horizon, editorial content opened up again. In the September 1945 issue, associate editor R.R. Richart, and R.C. Oliver, presi- dent of the Oliver Coal Co., Somerset, Colo., jointly penned a piece treating mechaniza- tion at the new Oliver operation. "Loaders and shuttle cars are setting a fast pace in the development of the new mine, not yet a year old, located near Somerset, Gunnison County in western Colorado. One operating unit, comprising a loader and two shuttle cars manned by a 10-man crew, averages approximately 375 tons per shift...Like other properties, the Oliver mine has experienced a shortage of manpower. It too has learned that it pays to man one territory fully at the expense of another. As a result a 10-man crew in one territory, where two Type 42 D-7 Joy shuttle cares serve a 7 BU Joy loader, consistently produces almost 400 tons per shift. About 14 cuts are loaded out per shift." With the World War over, the coal indus- try continued to grow and Coal Agewas once again freely able to share this good news with its readers. Shuttle car getting a load of more than 6 tons of coal. *Coal Age, February 1941 86 www.coalage.com 100th Anniversary Special Issue Hot War to Cold War, 1946-49 Compared to the war years that preceded it, 1946 was a down year for coal. Marred again by strikes, slowdowns and less demand, pro- duction fell to 594 million tons. But the fol- lowing year, miners rebounded to wartime levels. "The bituminous industry, hoisting itself by its own bootstraps over some tough obstacles, broke all peacetime production records with an estimated 619 million tons in 1947, up 16% above the prior year's ton- nage and enough to meet surging industrial and domestic needs," wrote Given in the February 1948 review issue. Incredibly, total August 2012