[PRCo] Re: Spur

[Bob Rathke]

I always used the term "slag" in reference to steel making.  As in the, 
"West Mifflin Slag Dump" - now the site of the Century III Mall - unless the 
name of that shopping complex has changed.

Bob 3/22/08

-----------------------------
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Edward Skuchas" <eskuchas at comcast.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2008 12:13 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Spur


> Here is the terminology used in the industry:
>
> Slag-steel making waste
> Culm-anthracite mining waste
> Gob-bituminous mining waste
>
> Ed
> On Mar 22, 2008, at 9:35 AM, robert netzlof wrote:
>
>> --- "Dennis F.  Cramer" <dfc1 at windstream.net> wrote:
>>
>>> To me, slag has always been a term of waste coming from a steel
>>> mill.
>>
>> To me also. I said I found its use regarding mine waste jarring.
>>
>>> Typically the waste from a small mine would have been the boney
>>> pile.
>>
>> Usage may depend on locale. I think I was 30 years old before I heard
>> the term "boney pile". It had always been "mine dump" when I was
>> growing up.
>>
>> Nonetheless, I have seen/heard refernces to mine waste as "slag".
>> That may not be too outre, as the dictionary says "slag" comes to us
>> from the low German "slacke". I've heard many people refer to poor
>> quality coal as "slack" or "slack coal". So, one man's slack may be
>> another man's slag.
>>
>>> Miners have always
>>> been very efficient at getting the pay dirt and there was usually
>>> little waste.
>>
>> I beg to differ. I suppose it depends on the locale, but where I grew
>> up in Westmoreland county, mine dumps were a prominent feature of the
>> landscape. Indeed, in the aerial photo of the spur, look to the
>> northeast of the tipple to see a part of a large dump. Go to:
>>
>> http://www.pennpilot.psu.edu/photos1940s/allegheny_1938/allegheny_1938_photos_jpg_400/allegheny_051739_aps7266.jpg
>>
>> to see the full extent of the dump associated with this mine.
>>
>> In the 1950s and '60s, many mine dumps were consumed as sources of
>> "cinders" for anti-skid material on roads. Later, the EPA got upset
>> over the potential for acid to leach out of the dumps and into
>> streams, so megabucks were spent to bury them. As a result, mine
>> dumps have disappeared from western PA, creating the impression that
>> they never existed.
>>
>>
>> Bob Netzlof a/k/a Sweet Old Bob
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>