[PRCo] Re: West Penn Destination Sign Photo

[robert netzlof]

--- Fred Schneider <fschnei at supernet.com> wrote:

> ...The term must now be
> so obsolete that the only reference in my newer dictionary is to a
> football term.  For those too young to understand, I believe
> red dog was the product of burning coal in very confined
> spaces, such as a mine fire or a mine tailings or
> culm bank fire.

Well now, the term "culm bank" wasn't used much in Western PA. In any
event, it's not so much "...burning coal in very confined spaces..."
as it was "burning coal which had very high ash content", or perhaps
"burning shale which had a high carbon content".

But broadly speaking, you're right. The typical mine dump would catch
fire when spontaneous combustion set it in. When it had burned out,
one could dig down a foot or less and find the rather bright red
stony material. The red was due to thoroughly oxidized iron.

> A lot of roads in Western Pennsylvania were paved with it....
>  It was apparently durable, readily available, and cheap.

But now banned for that use, as rain tends to leach acids out of the
material.

There is a related term, "yellow dog", heard much less often. That
refers to the yellow solids which precipitate out of acid mine waters
as they are oxidized by exposure to the atmosphere. I've seen streams
in which yellow dog had built up to the point that the stream was
diverted out of its channel, but that concentration is rare. I'm not
sure of the chemistry involved.

=====
Bob Netzlof a/k/a Sweet Old Bob



		
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