The Gateway to Northwestern Ontario History REAL-NWO (Resource and Archival Library for Northwestern Ontario)

Glossary Common words and phrases used in this project Mining Terms             Railway Terms

MINING GLOSSARY

• ADIT: A nearly horizontal passage from the surface by which a mine is entered and dewatered.
• AGGREGATES: a) Pieces of crushed stone, gravel, etc. used in making concrete. b) A mass of minerals formed into solid rock.
• AIR DRILL: a) A small diamond drill driven by either a rotary or a reciprocating- piston air-powered motor; used principally in underground workings. b) As used by miners, a percussive or rotary type rock drill driven by compressed air.
• AMETHYST: A precious stone of a violet or purple variety of quartz. The purple colour of amethyst is due to trace impurities of iron and manganese. Amethyst crystals are used for jewelry , pivot bearings and recording needles.
• ASSAY: The chemical test of rock samples to determine the mineral content.
• BEDROCK: Solid rock forming the earth's crust, frequently covered by overburden or water.
• BULLION: Precious metals cast into bars or other uncoined form.
• CAGE: In a mine shaft, the device similar to an elevator car, that is used for hoisting personnel and materials.
• CHURN DRILL: A mining drill with a heavy casing with a drive shoe at the bottom, a chisel-shaped bit and a vacuum type sand pump for removing sample from the hole. Churn drilling is used in deep or wet ground.
• COMPRESSOR: A machine, steam or electrically driven for compressing air for power purposes.
• CONCENTRATE: Powdery mill product from which waste rock has been removed.
• CONCENTRATOR: a) A plant where ore is separated into values ( concentrates) and rejects (tails). b) An appliance in such a plant, e.g. floatation cell, jig, electromagnet, shaking table.
• CORE SAMPLE: Cylindrical sample of rock taken from the ground by drilling, for research and exploration purposes.
• CRIBBING: A mine structure built of timbers arranged like a log cabin.
• CRUSHER: A machine for crushing rock or other material. Among the various types of crushers are the ball-mill, gyratory- crusher, Hadsel mill, hammer mill , jaw crusher, rod mill, rolls, stamp mill and tube mill.
• DECLINE: A sloping underground opening , for machine access from level to level or from the surface. Also called a ramp.
• DEWATERING: The mechanical separation of solid matter from water in which it is dispersed, by such equipment as thickeners, classifiers, hydrocyclones , filters and centrifuges.
• DIAMOND DRILLING: A rock drilling method using a rotary diamond bit which is attached to long hollow rods. The drill cuts a cylindrical core of solid rock, recovered for geological and metallurgical examination and assay purposes.
• DRUSE; A small cavity in a rock or vein encrusted with aggregates of crystals of the same minerals which commonly constitute the enclosing rock.
• DRUSY: Of or pertaining to rocks containing numerous druses.
• FREE GOLD: Gold uncombined with other substances. Gold not found in chemical combinations with other minerals.
• FRUE VANNER: An ore- beneficiation apparatus consisting essentially of a rubber belt travelling up a slight inclination. The material to be treated is washed by a constant flow of water while the entire belt is shaken from side to side. Invented by William Frue.
• GANGUE: The worthless minerals associated with the valuable minerals in an ore deposit.
• GOLD BRICK: A gold brick generally weighs 35 kilograms ( 77 lb) and contains close of 1,000 troy ounces of gold.
• GREENSTONE: Any dark green igneous rock.
• HEADFRAME: a) The steel or timber frame at the top of a shaft, which carries the sheaves or pulley from the hoisting rope and serves various other purposes. Also called hoist frame. b) The shaft frame, sheaves, hoisting arrangements, dumping gear, and connected works at the top or a shaft or pit. Also called headgear. c) Includes all the raised structures around the shaft that is used for loading and unloading cages.
• HOIST: A power-driven windlass for raising ore, rock or other material from a mine and for lowering or raising people and material. Also called hoister.
• HOPPER: A vessel into which materials are fed, usually constructed in the form of an inverted pyramid or cone terminating in an opening through which the materials are discharged. ( not primarily intended for storage)
• LEVEL: A horizontal mine opening at a given elevation driven from the shaft.
• MALACHITE: A bright green mineral of hydrous copper carbonate.
• MUCK: Ore or rock broken by blasting.
• MUCKER: A piece of mining equipment which consists of an ore car equipped with a pneumatically operated shovel/bucket which pushes forward on rail while scooping up muck and placing it into the ore car.
• OPEN PIT MINING: A form of mining designed to extract minerals that lie near the surface. Waste or overburden, is first removed and the mineral is broken and loaded, as in a stone quarry. Important chiefly in the mining or ores of iron and copper.
• ORE : A mixture of ore minerals and gangue from which at least one of the minerals can be profitably extracted.
• OVERBURDEN: Layers of soil and rock covering a mineral deposit. Overburden is removed prior to surface mining.
• PELLET: A marble-sized ball of iron fused with clay for transportation and use in steel making.
• PELLETIZING: A method in which finely divided material is rolled in a drum or on an inclined disk, so that the particles cling together and roll up into small, spherical pellets. The addition of a binder may be required to produce a pellet of acceptable mechanical strength.
• PORPHYRY: An igneous rock in which relatively large crystals of one mineral, usually feldspar, occur in a fine ground mass of other minerals..
• ROASTER: A furnace used in the industrial roasting or heating of ore to effect some chemical change that will facilitate smelting.
• ROASTING: The treatment of ore by heat and air, or oxygen enriched air, in order to remove sulphur, carbon, antimony and arsenic.
• ROCK DRILL: A machine for boring relatively short holes in rock for blasting purposes. It may be a sinker, jackhammer, drifter or stoper.
• ROSS FEEDER: A mechanism for controlling the rate of feed of coarse ore in the primary and secondary crushing system. Several heavy loops of chain lie above and bear on ore that rests in the delivery chute at just above its natural angle of repose. When the shaft from which the loops are suspended is rotated by its small motor , ore slides, under control.
• SAMPLING: The gathering of specimens of ore or wall rock for appraisal of an orebody. Since the average of many samples may be used, representative sampling is crucial.
• SHAFT HOUSE: A building at the mouth of a shaft, where ore or rock is received from a mine.
• SCOOP TRAM: Similar to a front end loader; a low-profile loader articulating in the centre with a large bucket in front ( usually five tons or more) that transports ore in an underground mine. Usually used for loading ore cars, shuttle cars, or hauling directly to an ore pocket.
• SHEAVE WHEEL: A grooved pulley wheel much used in underground rope haulage.
• SLIMES: Extremely fine sediment produced in the processing of ore or rock. Waste material.
• STAMP MILL: An apparatus, and the building containing it, in which rock is crushed by descending pestles (stamps) operated by water power or steam power. The technique is obsolete.
• STAMP SHOE: The heavy, chilled-iron casting, attached to the lower end of a stamp piston, which does the actual crushing of rock in a stamp mill. It drops on a round steel block called a die.
• STOPE: An excavation in a mine from which ore is being or has been extracted.
• TAILINGS: Materials rejected from a mill after most of the recoverable valuable minerals have been extracted.
• TAILINGS TANK: A tailings settling tank , a vessel to remove solids from the tailings effluent, as in a coal washery. The tank is about 18 metres in diameter and 3 metres deep. The tailings are fed in at the centre with a flocculent. As the suspension travels from the centre to the overflow at the perimeter of the tank, the solids settle out the and clear water overflows, is collected and is returned to the washer for reuse.
• TRAM: A boxlike wagon of steel, running on a tramway or railway in a mine, for conveying coal or ore.
• TRENCHING: Creating a narrow, shallow ditch cut across a mineral deposit to obtain rock or mineral samples, or to observe characteristics.
• VUG: A small cavity in a rock, usually lined with crystals of a different mineral composition than the enclosing rock. Amethyst commonly forms in these cavities.
• VUGGY VEIN: A vein or lode in which vugs or drusy cavities are of frequent occurrence.
• WINZE: A vertical or inclined opening driven downward from a mine level.

Mining Terms             Railway Terms

RAILWAY GLOSSARY

• BAILEY BRIDGE: A temporary bridge of lattice steel designed for rapid assembly from prefabricated standard parts.
• BALLAST: Gravel, slag, or other heavy material used as a road bed to support cross ties and rails, and to allow drainage.
• BALLAST LOCOMOTIVE: A locomotive used to haul ballast to areas on the rail line that needed fill.
• BENT: A crosswise framework or member used to strengthen a bridge of trestle structure.
• BOOMER: A drifter who went from one railway job to another.
• BOXCAR: An enclosed railway freight car, usually having sliding doors on the sides.
• CABOOSE: A car attached to the rear end of a freight train for use by the train crews.
• CNR: Canadian National Railway, formed by the Canadian Federal government in 1918..
• CPR: Canadian Pacific Railway, Canada's first transcontinental railway, completed with the driving of the last spike on November 7th 1885.
• COACH CAR: A rail passenger car.
• COW CATCHER: A triangular metal frame or apron at the front of a locomotive designed to roll to one side any obstruction on the tracks. Also called a pilot.
• CUPOLA: Small cabin atop the caboose.
• CUT: A rock cut; the sheer face along a highway or railroad, the result of blasting through a mountain or hill to create the highway or roadbed .
• DEPOT: A railway station.
• DERAILMENT: A term used when rolling stock leaves the rails.
• DIESEL LOCOMOTIVE: A locomotive powered by a diesel engine. The variations diesel mechanical, diesel hydraulic, and diesel electric refer to the methods used to connect the diesel engine to the wheels.
• DIVISION: An administrative area under the supervision of a division engineer, responsible for the maintenance of an area of track. Originally, each division was the distance a locomotive could travel in one day, or roughly 160 km (100 miles) Divisions were divided into sections, under the charge of a section foreman.
• DOUBLE-TRACK: A railway route in which one track is provided for each direction of travel.
• DUMP: An area where rocks and earth were deposited after being removed by blasting, or by steam shovel.
• EMBANKMENT: A ridge of earth or rock created to raise the natural ground level.
• FILL: Earth or rock used to make a level roadbed across a valley or a depression.
• FIREBOX: The section of a steam locomotive boiler in which fuel is burned.
• FLAGGING: A system of signalling trains manually with flags during the breakdown or suspension of the normal signalling system.
• FLAG STATION: A railway station where trains stop only when a signal is given.
• GANDY DANCER: A railroad track worker who tamped down the ballast between the rails with a long iron tool made by the Gandy Manufacturing Company in the late 1800's.
• GAUGE: The distance between the rails of a railroad, measured from the inside of the rails.
• GRADE: The angled rise or fall of a railroad track so it can follow the rising and falling contour of the land.
• HOPPER CAR: A freight car used to haul bulk materials such as coal, fertilizer, or grain which can be unloaded by opening doors at the bottom of the car. Covered hoppers may have a roof with loading hatches to protect the load . Typical hoppers can carry 100 tons of coal, or 3,500 bushels of corn.
• LOCOMOTIVE: An engine that runs on rails under its own power, used to move railway cars.
• MARSHALLING YARD: A classification yard where trains are disconnected and reassembled based on their destination.
• MILE POST: A post or sign at each mile along the track that shows the distance from a predefined location, such as a major rail terminal.
• NARROW GAUGE: The width of a railway track less than 143.5 cm. apart, narrower than the standard gauge.
• NAVVY: An unskilled labourer employed in the construction of earthworks, such as canals, railways, embankments.
• OPERATOR'S HOOP: also called an order hoop. This was a device consisting of a big hoop with a six foot handle, used for delivering messages to trains on the way through a railway depot. The handwritten message would be attached to the centre of the hoop. The depot agent would stand near the track holding the hoop out as the train passed. The conductor would hook his arm through the loop, retrieve the message, and drop the hoop back outside along the track.
• PAD&W RAILWAY: Port Arthur, Duluth and Western Railway. Also referred to as the "PD", or "Pee Dee" railroad. Construction began in 1889, and the 86 mile railway officially opened on June 1st 1893.
• ROADBED: The finished surface of a roadway upon which railway track and ballast rest.
• PUSHER: A locomotive built to help trains up steep grades by pushing from behind.
• ROUNDHOUSE: A semi-circular building surrounding a turntable where locomotives are stored or serviced. Roundhouses were designed for steam locomotives that could only operate in one direction and needed to be turned around before use.
• SAND DOME: A dome shaped protrusion on a steam locomotive. The sand dome carries sand for traction on wet rails or to assist in climbing a steep grade. The sand is released in front of the drive wheels through pipes from the sand dome.
• SECTION GANG: A work crew of four to six men, assigned to maintain a section of the railway. In the 1850's, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway assigned each section gang about 8 km (5 miles) of track. Over the years, as mechanization made work easier, the areas expanded.
• SECTION HOUSE: A building occupied by people responsible for maintaining a section of the railway.
• SIDING: A short length of railway track connected to an adjacent line for storing and shunting trains and for enabling trains on the same line to pass each other.
• SIGNAL LANTERNS: Lanterns used by trackmen to signal oncoming trains about track conditions. A red lantern meant approaching trains should stop to avoid some obstacle on the track. A green signal meant to proceed but with caution, while a white signal meant all was well, and the the train was safe to go on.
• SPUR LINE: A short stretch of track branching off a railway line, especially one making a connection to another line.
• STEAM DOME: A dome shaped protrusion on top of a steam locomotive boiler, inside of which the steam collection pipe is located.
• STEAM LOCOMOTIVE: A locomotive powered by steam, usually by reciprocating rods connecting steam cyclinders to driving wheels. Water in the locomotive boiler is converted to steam by a fire generated by wood, coal, oil or other source.
• STOKING: The process of adding fuel, whether coal or wood to the fire box of a steam engine.
• STONE BOAT: Stone boats were a low kind of sled or pallet hauled by a team of horses along a rough track consisting of logs laid out on the ground in two parallel lines. The logs were faced roughly flat and sometimes greased to facilitate movement. The pallet was loaded with boulders and rubble created during the blasting out of rock cuts.
• SUB-BALLAST: Any material of superior character which can be spread on the finished sub-grade or the roadbed, to provide better drainage, prevent upheaval by frost, and better distribute the load over the roadbed.
• SUB-GRADE: Gravel, crushed rock or the like, usually inferior to the ballast used on the track, spread on the surface of the cut prior to distributing ties and ballast. That portion of ballast over 18 inches below the bottom of the ties is usually classified as sub-ballast, commonly known as sub-grade material.
• SWITCH: A track structure that diverts trains from one track to another. Also called a turnout.
• TALLOW POT: A pot containing a valve oil, kept on a shelf above the fire box of a steam engine, in order to keep the oil warm and easy to pour. It was the engineman's responsibility to put oil on the small lubricators at regular intervals so that the engines rods and guides along the sides ran smoothly.
• TAMPING: The process by which ballast is packed around the ties of a track .
• TENDER: A railway car drawn behind a steam locomotive to carry the fuel and water.
• TIE: Usually made of wood, ties hold the rails in place and are surrounded by ballast. Spikes or other fasteners hold the rails to the ties.
• TRAVELLING CRANE: A crane mounted on wheels, especially an overhead crane.
• TRESTLE: A bridge structure consisting of beams, girders or truss spans supported upon bents.
• TURNTABLE: A track table operating on a pivot for diverting locomotives or cars in to a specific track. Turntables may be located inside or outside of a roundhouse or other shop facility.
• VELOCIPEDE: A three-wheeled railway handcar, which can be propelled by one person, and has a seating capacity for two. It was used primarily to inspect railway lines for needed repairs.
• VIADUCT: A railway structure which is used to carry railway tracks above the general level of ground and is usually made up of a continuous series of bridges or trestles.
• YARD: A system of tracks within defined area limits for the making up of trains, storing of cars, and for other purposes.

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