LEARNING TO SEE: VISUAL TOOLS IN AMERICAN MINING ENGINEERING, 1860-1920
Embargo until
Date
2008-02-13T21:00:25Z
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University
Abstract
The period between 1860 and 1920 saw the development of mining engineering
as a profession, with journals, societies, and university programs. At the same time,
mining engineers, as a group, gradually assumed more control over mining operations,
both by being employed by more firms and by having greater responsibilities within
mining companies. Mining engineers used visual tools – mine maps, blueprints, photographs,
and models – to help them do their work. The creation and control of
visual tools represents an important piece of the story of the professionalization of
mining engineers that has hitherto gone largely unnoticed. I argue in this dissertation
that if we are to understand the ability of mining engineers to increase efficiency, we
need to understand the tools that they used, including visual tools. Mining engineers
gradually learned how to make and use maps, photographs, blueprints, and models to
help them gain greater control over work, information, the law, and public opinion.
These visual tools were an integral part of the everyday work of mining engineering
by the end of this time period.
I examine each type of visual tool in turn, using specific historical examples.
The Pennsylvania anthracite coal mines of Coxe Brothers & Co. allow me to trace
the evolution of underground mine maps. Two Michigan copper mines, the Quincy
and the Calumet & Hecla, help me explain how the advent of blueprint technology
changed work and organization practices at the mines. My examination of three
dimensional mine models begins with an overview and examples of their primary
forms, then I use a mining law case from Tonopah, Nevada in 1914 to see how models
and maps were used in the courtroom. Next, I focus on the topic of mine safety,
using examples from anthracite and bituminous coal mines, to trace how managers
used safety photographs to direct the work of miners. I then move outside the scope
of individual mining companies and relate the project of the United States National
Museum to explicitly boost the mining industry in the early 20th century by placing
exhibits in the museum that painted the industry in a favorable light.