[PRCo] Re: Spur

[Edward H. Lybarger]

The other word that is loosely used in Western PA is "slate."  It represents
the thrown-away immediate under-or overburden adjacent to the coal seam.
Some of us tossed this around at the museum yesterday afternoon, and we
think this was the most likely product being delivered to PRCo for ballast
purposes.  We think there was a conveyor across the highway, with a
substantial gradient to the west-southwest.

"Slate" is hard enough to be used as ballast dressing, and has the added
advantage of being acidic, thereby killing most weeds before the start.

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of Bob
Rathke
Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2008 8:36 PM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Spur

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_photo
s_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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>
>