leaner, more and more effort had to be devoted to

subsequent crushing and separating activities at the

surface.

 By 1880 the situation had changed considerably.

 Drilling activities, formerly done by hand, were being

 performed by machine with the aid of compressed air.19

 Electricity was being introduced to the mines for

 lighting and power and the men and mules who formerly

 had labored in moving ores to the surface were replaced

 in that capacity by machines. The introduction of

 machinery brought specialization, specialization brought

 more efficient organization, and the whole realm of

 change tended to increase the amount of ouput that

 could be produced per period of time and per man.

 But mining techniques, except for the application

of power, were essentially the same as they had been at

the beginning of the nineteenth century. Increased

output resulted from changes in each type of activity

but no new kinds of mining activities actually were

introduced until early in the twentieth century.


 19
 1The move from hand power to machine power was
not without its drawbacks as more and more miners fell
prey to lung diseases caused by the large amounts of
dust generated by powered drills.