lows: Production technology, including methods of preventing infiltrating water from entering oil and gas sands through wells, the determination of the ultimate production and hence the value of oil lands, the occurrence and relation of gas, oil, and water in different fields, and the preparation of refinery statistics; engineering technology, including waste of oil in storage and transportation, the prevention of gas and oil well fires; investigations of refinery practice, the recovery of gasoline from natural gas, the production of carbon black from natural gas, and economy and efficiency in the use of oil fuel; chemical technology, including the routine examination of samples of fuel oil and gasoline, the preparation of specifications for petroleum products, the inspection of gasoline for military use overseas, the character of the motor gasolines sold throughout the country, the study of cracking processes for making gasoline; and oil-shale technology, including a review of the oil-shale situation in the United States and the work being done at distillation plants erected by private concerns. In addition members of the petroleum commission served on various war-time boards and commissions, including the Interallied Petroleum Conference.

Government fuel yards.—The sundry civil act approved July 1, 1918 (Public 181), carried among the appropriations for the Bureau of Mines an appropriation of $432,300 for the establishment of fuel yards in the District of Columbia for the use of all branches of the Federal service and the municipal government in the District of Columbia, and also an appropriation of $1,154,088 for the purchase and transportation, storing, and handling of fuel, and the maintenance and operation of the yards and equipment.

During the year a yard with storage capacity of 20,000 tons was equipped and put in operation under the direction of the Bureau of Mines. The equipment comprises hoppers, bins, and belt conveyors. The approximate cost of the yard and its equipment was $260,000. For distributing the coal to the various buildings in the District a fleet of 33 motor trucks was purchased. During the fiscal year 247,540 tons of fuel were purchased, 165,669 tons being handled by the trucks. Bartlesville experiment station.-The Bartlesville station is giving all its time to problems of the petroleum and natural-gas industries. Two brick buildings for the station were completed during the year. The research work done through the station included investigation of the use of the absorption process for recovering the residual gas from compression plants for obtaining gasoline from natural gas; investigations and demonstrations of methods of preventing water from entering gas and oil sands through wells; an investigation of the manufacture of carbon black from natural gas, with regard to the possible development of more efficient methods of production; an

. investigation of the loss of the lighter hydrocarbons from crude oil during storage, one of the great losses in the petroleum industry; and an investigation to ascertain a practicable method of recovering oil from emulsified mixtures of oil and water.

Berkeley experiment station. The work of the year included various war mineral problems; problems relating to the treatment of quicksilver ores; and investigations of the volatility of metallic compounds, with especial reference to the volatilization processes of ore treatment that were being developed at the Salt Lake City station.

Columbus experiment station.—The Columbus station is situated at the Ohio State University. New quarters erected by the university for the station were ready for occupancy in October, 1918. The chief investigations for the year were as follows: Cruciblemaking properties of American graphites and bond clays as compared with foreign materials; physical properties and potterymaking values of American white clays as compared with imported white clays; possible development of a suitable refractory from domestic dolomite as a substitute for imported magnesite; cooperative work with the United States Geological Survey, in the investigation of clays throughout the country; ceramic-equipment design, with a view to improving the efficiency of apparatus and equipment used in ceramic industries; cooperative work with the Ohio geological survey in an investigation of the refractory fire clays of the State; spalling tests of fire brick.

Fairbanks experiment station.—The station at Fairbanks, Alaska, investigated the value of Nenana lignite as boiler fuel, and the possibility of using the lignite as fuel for a central electric-power station with transmission lines to near-by mining districts. The station also made tests of the possible recovery of gold from heavy sands remaining in sluice boxes after a clean-up; the concentration of chromite in beach sands; the flotation of molybdenite from low-grade ores, and the concentration of gold-bearing antimony ore.

Golden experiment station. Most of the work of the Golden station is on rare metals. During the year the investigations of radium included the study of the chemical effects of radium emanation in gas reactions. Work on zirconium resulted in the preparation of samples of the pure metal and the determination of its properties. A cooperative investigation of the recovery of molybdenite from ores by flotation resulted in the development of methods that increased the recovery at the mill of the cooperating company 15 to 20 per cent. Other work on molybdenum included the metallurgy of wulfenite and the separation of wulfenite from baryte. A method was devised for commercially treating cuprodescloizite, a mineral containing lead, vanadium, and copper, and methods for treating vanadinite (lead vanadate) were investigated. Considerable work

was done on phosphorescent zinc sulphide, used with radium luminous paint, to discover the causes of luminosity.

Minneapolis experiment station.-Problems connected with the treatment of manganese ores and the production of managese alloys received chief attention during the year. The investigations conducted were as follows: Examination of the manganiferous iron mines of the Cuyuna Range, Minnesota; ore-dressing tests of mangani ferous ores from various places in the United States; blast-furnace practice for the production of ferromanganese and spiegeleisen; use of manganese alloys in open-hearth steel practice; the Jones process for the direct reduction of manganiferous iron ores and recovery of the manganese; the Bourcoud process for the direct reduction of iron ores; mining methods in the Lake Superior region; analytical work on steels, slags, and alloys; and an investigation of low-grade sulphide gold ores in the Black Hills, S. Dak.

Pittsburgh experiment station.-The work of the Pittsburgh station, the largest of the experiment stations, comprised mining problems, including first-aid and rescue methods, fuel problems, petroleum investigations, and chemical research. The mining investigations included tests of the explosibility of coal dust and of methods of preventing or stopping mine explosions; tests of explosives and of electric equipment to determine their permissibility for use in dusty or gaseous coal mines, tests of geophones, or listening devices for mine rescue and other purposes; explosives research for the War Department; and tests to determine the value of T. N. T. as an explosive for engineering and industrial use. The fuel investigations related chiefly to the cumbustion of fuel in boiler and house-heating furnaces, heat transmission in boilers, boiler and furnace design, the use of coke as a household fuel, and the use of powdered coal. Petroleum investigations included routine analyses of oils and greases, tests of samples of gasoline collected throughout the United States, and the development of apparatus and methods for the analysis of petroleum and its products, and an investigation of the after corrosion of Army rifles. Chemical research work included the devising of methods of analyzing graphite; tests of the fusibility of ash of coal from different fields; routine analyses of coal and coke, mine gases, natural gas and fuel gases; chlorination of natural gas for the production of chloroform and carbon tetrachloride; tests of odors for use as danger signals in the compressed-air lines of metal mines; tests of gas masks and respirators for mining or industrial use; devising of portable indicators for detecting various gases; and the sampling and examination of rock dust in the atmosphere of metal mines.

Salt Lake City experiment station. At this station, under a cooperative agreement with the University of Utah, various improvements were made in facilities and equipment and much new apparatus

was added, especially apparatus for the ore-testing laboratory. The work of the year comprised various war minerals investigations, including concentration tests of chrome, quicksilver, and manganese ore, methods of refining graphite, recovery of potash from alunite; research work on oil shales; precipitation of zinc from hydrometallurgical solutions and recovery of metals from ores by the volatization process.

Seattle experiment station.-During the early part of the year work was mainly on war minerals investigations, chiefly concentration tests of chrome and manganese ores; during the latter part of the year regular investigations were resumed. In cooperation with the University of Washington four groups of investigations are being conducted, as follows: Coal, electrometallurgy, flotation, and ceramics. The coal investigations comprised mining methods in Washington, the causes of "bumps" or air blasts in coal mines, Alaskan coal problems, standardization of float and sink tests in coal washing, and the storage and use of pulverized coal. Electrometallurgical investigations were hampered by nonarrival of equipment for the laboratory. Work was done on the recovery of valuable minerals from ores by flotation, and methods were devised for determining molybdenum in ores and titanium, and chromium in beach sands. In cooperation with the Oregon Bureau of Mines and Geology chrome deposits in Oregon were examined and flotation tests made with a silver-gold ore.

Tucson experiment station.-The offices and laboratories were moved into new buildings of the University of Arizona, and the new metallurgical laboratory was equipped. The principal work of the station dealt with the leaching of mixed sulphide and nonsulphide porphyry copper ores. The war minerals investigations were chiefly the investigating of manganese resources and the concentration and leaching of low-grade siliceous manganese ores.

Urbana experiment station.-Investigations in progress during the year included the study of surface subsidence resulting from coal mining in Illinois, the origin and control of mine fires, the composition of coal-mine atmospheres, the occurrence of sulphur in coal, a general investigation of coal-washery practice in the Middle West with a view to the improvement of existing methods, a general study of water-gas manufacture with especial reference to the use of Illinois coal, and the possibility of making wider use of coal brasses (pyrite) in the manufacture of sulphuric acid.

Ithaca office. The field office at Ithaca, N. Y., worked on two main problems-electric smelting of manganese ores and the preparation of special alloy steels for the Army and Navy.

Moscow office.-In cooperation with University of Idaho the Bureau of Mines maintained a field office at Moscow. The work of

this office included investigations of the treatment of complex leadzinc sulphide and copper-iron sulphide ores with reference to the recovery of the valuable metals by differential flotation, and the treatment of antimony ores by sulphidizing followed by flotation.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE.

The tremendous popularity of our national parks was fully attested by the unprecedentedly large number of visitors during the 1919 season, which closed about the middle of September. Freed from the restrictions against war-time travel, which had been a war necessity, the appeal of the great natural attractions of the parks was irresistible and the response spontaneous. The national parks became the cynosure of the eyes of a war-weary and hard-worked people, bent on taking a holiday where they could derive the greatest benefits. There the refreshing atmosphere of the great Out of Doors, the soothing diversion of the natural scenery, and the specific qualities of the fresh air brought mental and physical relief to hundreds of thousands. When one considers that travel to our national parks and monuments exceeded 810,000 visitors-over 755,000 to the parks and over 55,000 to the monuments-it is evident that the recreative value of the parks is a tremendous factor in the health, wealth, and contentment of the Nation.

The following tables will give an itemized review of the travel: