Oliver⁴⁷⁷ Bowles entry in The Canadian Who’s Who 1948

Bowles, Oliver; mining engineer (retired); b. near Lindsay, Ont., 10 Jan. 1877; son William Henry and Sarah (Glaspell) Bowles; educ. Univ. of Toronto B. A. 1907; M. A. 1908; George Washington Univ. Ph. D. 1922; m. Eva H., daug.  George Workman, 11 Apr. 1908;  children: William, Edgar; served as field geol., Ont. Bureau of Mines, summers of 1908 and 1910; instructor in Petrography, Univ. of Michigan 1908-09; ditto in Geology Univ. of Minn. 1909-14; Minn. State Geol. Survey 1911-14; joined U.S. Bureau of Mines as its 1^st Quarry Technologist 1914; Mineral Technologist ditto, Washington, D.C. 1917-23; supervising engineer Non-metallic Minerals  Experimental Station, Bureau of Mines, New Brunswick, N.J., 1923-28; supervising engineer Building Materials Section, Bureau of Mines, Washington, D.C., 1928-37; asst. chief, Nonmetal Economics Division, ditto, 1937-42; chief ditto 1942-47; retired 31 Jan. 1947; he introduced the wire saw into the American Slate Industry, a device which has proved highly successful in speeding up production, reducing waste and cutting cost;  director American Inst. Of Mining and Metall. Engineers; charter fellow, Mineralogical Society of America; member Society of Economic Geologists; N.Y. Academy of Sciences; hon. member Inst. Of Quarrying of Great Britain; author of “The Stone Industries” , 1^st ed. 1934; 2^nd ed. 1939; has contributed more than 250 publications covering field of non-metallic minerals to various tech. journals, 143 of which were official Bureau publications; Sigma Xi; Republican; Christian Scientist; recreation: floriculture; Club: Cosmos; Address: 5000 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington 16, D.C.

1952-54 edition as above plus added:

Awarded Gold Medal of Dept. of Interior for “distinguished service”, Dec. 19

In 1954 Oliver also co-authored the book "Atlas of the World's Resources" with William van Royen; published by Prentice-Hall for the University of Maryland.

Oliver Bowles Obituary <click here>

The following is from: http://www.batmanagement.com/Projects/Canoe%20Creek%20Map/canoecreek.html 

A letter written on February 4, 1925 by Oliver Bowles, then Superintendent of the Nonmetallic Minerals Station of the U.S. Department of Mines in New Brunswick, New Jersey, gives us a glimpse of the "roaring" 1920's setting:

"Dear Mr. Hartman:

I visited your limestone mine near Hollidaysburg, Pa. on November 8, 1923. At that time three drift faces had been projected, the deepest being about 320 feet from the entry. These drifts were 30 feet high and 33 feet high, and were being arranged in such a way that supporting pillars 30 feet by 30 feet would be left. The roof was very smooth and secure on account of an open roof seam in the rock. With a bed of good stone 30 feet thick, no drainage problem, a safe roof, and easy transportation practically on a level, this deposit is very favorably situated for underground work. I have visited quite a number of limestone mines and none that I have seen have more favorable conditions for mining. In view of the fact that one limestone mine I have visited has been in profitable operation for years hoisting stone through a vertical shaft nearly 400 feet deep, and another with an inclined shaft nearly 400 feet deep, a hillside drift such as you have should be even more profitable. It may interest you to know that I have a record of between 50 and 60 limestone mines now in operation in the United States, one of them having more than 4.5 miles of underground workings. Some of these companies are finding that costs are lower for underground than open pit work. The chief advantages of mining are (1) no stripping cost, (2) no contamination from overburden, (3) greater comfort for workers and no interruption from bad weather. Some disadvantages are: (1) usually a greater proportion of fines, (2) dynamite fumes, (3) about 30% of stone unavailable as pillars. There is so great an increase recently in underground production of limestone that I have secured the services of an engineer experienced in such work to make a complete study of the problem and to prepare a report on underground methods. This work is now about half completed."

The following books are from the "Sources" list

on our Stone Quarries and Beyond web site:

<http://www.cagenweb.com/quarries/>

Bowles Oliver. Granite as Dimension Stone,

Information Circular 7753.  U.S. Bureau of Mines,

1956a. 18 pp.

Bowles, O., and N. C. Jensen.  ìIndustrial Uses

of Limestone and Dolomite.î U. S. Bureau of Mines

Inf. Circular 7402. 1947.

Bowles, O.  The Lime Industry, U. S. Bureau of Mines Inf. Circ. 7651.  1952.

Bowles Oliver.  Limestone and Dolomite,

Information Circular IC 7738.î U.S. Bureau of

Mines, 1956b. 29 pp.

Bowles Oliver.  Marble, Information Circular

7829. U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1958. 31 pp.

Bowles Oliver.  Memorial Stone, Information

Circular 7720. U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1955a. 6 pp.

Bowles, Oliver, and W. M. Myers. Quarry Problems

in the Lime Industry, Bulletin No. 269.  United

States Geological Survey, Washington: Government

Printing Office, 1927.  (From the Introduction:

"The many problems involved in winning this great

quantity of raw material from the natural rock

and preparing it for the kilns have in the past

received little attention from any governmental

agency. Therefore...the Bureau of Mines began a

study of problems in limestone quarrying in an

effort to advance more economical methods of

operation and the utilization of waste material.

Field studies were made at many quarries, and the

information thus compiled.")

Bowles, Oliver.  Quarry Problems in the Lime

Industry, Bulletin 269. Washington, D. C.:

Government Printing Office, 1927, Series: United

States Bureau of Mines, Bulletin 269.

Bowles Oliver.  Sandstone as Dimension Stone,

Information Circular 8182. U.S. Bureau of Mines,

1963. 30 pp.

Bowles, Oliver.  Sandstone Quarrying in the

United States, Bulletin 124. Washington, D. C.:

Government Printing Office, 1917.  143 pp.

Series: United States. Bureau of Mines Bulletin

124.

Bowles, Oliver.  Seventy-five Years of Progress

in the Nonmetallics, in Am. Inst. Mining and

Metall. Engineers, Seventy-five years of progress

in the mineral industry, 1871-1946.  New York,

1947.  pp. 312-314.

Bowles, O.  Seventy-Five Years of Progress in

the Nonmetallics. Seventy-Five Years of Progress

in the Mineral Industry. New York: A.I.M.E.,

1948. 303-357.

Bowles Oliver  Slate, Information Circular

7719, U.S. Bureau of Mines, Washington, D.C.:

United States Department of the Interior, June

1955.  (An updated and condensed version of

Bowles' earlier accounts of slate in The Stone

Industries.)

Bowles, Oliver.  Stone, in Mineral Facts and

Problems, U. S. Bureau of Mines Bulletin 556,

1955. 14 p.

Bowles, Oliver.  Stone Cutting and Polishing,

Bureau of Mines Information Circular 7863, by

Oliver Bowles, United States department of the

Interior, Washington:  United States Government

Printing Office, 1953.  26 pp.

Bowles, Oliver. The Stone Industries. New York:

McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1934.  (2nd ed.,

New York: McGraw-Hill, 1939, 519 pp.)

Bowles, O.  The Stone Industries, 2nd ed., New

York: McGraw-Hill, 1939.  229-289.

Bowles, Oliver.  The Structural and Ornamental

Stones of Minnesota, Bulletin 663. Department of

the Interior, United States Geological Survey,

Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office,

1918.

Bowles, Oliver.  The Technology of Marble

Quarrying, Bulletin 106, publisher: Washington,

D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1916.  Series:

United States Bureau of Mines,  Bulletin 106,

Mineral Technology 13.

Bowles, O.  The Technology of Slate. United

States Bureau of Mines, Bulletin 218, 1922.

Bowles, Oliver, and N. C. Jensen.  Trends in

Consumption and Prices of Building Materials.

U.S. Bureau Mines Inf. Circular IC 7265, 1943.

25 pp.