De Re Metallica is a tough act to follow.

Published in 1556, it remained the definitive book on mining until the mid-18 century.

But after it became outdated, there was nothing to replace it. The need for a comprehensive text became acute after 1867 when Columbia School of Mines, followed by other mining schools established throughout the 19th century, began to turn out graduates.

By the turn of the century, American mining schools had produced more than 1,000 degree-holding mining engineers. These graduates traveled the world applying professional practices learned at American mining schools.

The need for a handbook in the field was apparent, but who would fill it?

Robert Peele was a professor of mining engineering at Columbia School of Mines and he recognized the need for a comprehensive text on all aspects of the profession.

In 1913, he submitted an outline of a proposed book, Mining Engineers' Handbook, to leading professionals and invited them to contribute chapters. World War I intervened, however, and the book wasn't published until 1918 by John Wiley & Sons.

The book quickly became known simply as Peele and would serve generations of mining engineers worldwide.

From the beginning, Peele was recognized as a break-through text that filled in a major gap in the technical literature of mining engineering.

The Mining & Scientific Press began its favorable review: "This is the book that the mining engineers have been awaiting for many years. The civil engineers have their Trautwine, the mechanical engineers their Kent, the electrical engineers their Pender, but the mining engineers have had nothing. The textbooks on mining were elementary compilations mostly of a general nature, and wholly unsuited to the purpose for which this new volume is designed. John Wiley & Sons have placed the mining world under obligations through their initiative in meeting so great a want, and they have been fortunate in securing the services of Mr. Peele as the guiding editorial spirit to translate the conception into achievement."

Peele retailed for $5 and was originally issued as a one volume work. However, it soon became apparent that its 2,375 pages were unwieldy and too thick for the binding, which split and broke apart after only a little use.

Peele was reissued as a two volume set with more than 1,000 pages in each volume. This solved the problem of split binding. First editions of Peele in the one- volume format are rare because so few have survived intact.

At the last library book sale, a copy of the one volume first edition in very poor condition sold at auction for around $100, The second edition, published in 1927, can be found in both the one and two  volume formats, but again, the one volume book is rare.

All editions are bound in maroon colored cloth with gilt stamped lettering on the spine. Peele by itself is gilt stamped on the front cover.

The first two editions are about seven inches tall with gilt edges. At about an inch and a half thick, the two volume editions are about the size of large modern paperback books. The third edition, without gilt edges, is about an inch taller than the previous editions. This book was designed to travel easily.

Mining engineering has been described as the "most polyglot of all the professions." Indeed, an old- school mining engineer was at times a CEO, personnel director, lawyer, geologist, metallurgist,  surveyor, chemist and mechanical, electrical and civil engineer all in one.

The chapters in Peele reflect this eclecticism. No other engineering handbook covers so varied a subject matter, from geology to all aspects of engineering to law to payroll and personnel management.

When looking at the book, one realizes no single author could have written it. The subject matter is too diverse. But using the profession's best and brightest, Peele was able to turn each contribution into a coherent piece that discussed virtually all that was known about mining engineering at the time.

The attention to detail is amazing.

For example, the chapter "Prospecting and Exploration," tells one how much food is needed for each man per month on an expedition: 42 tbs. flour/cornmeal/hardtack, 27 tbs. bacon, 7 tbs. beans split peas, 5 tbs. sugar, 4 tbs. dried fruits, 3 tbs. butter, 2 tbs. canned milk, 2 tbs. cheese, 2 tbs. tea coffee, 3 tbs. salt/pepper/mustard, 3 tbs. baking powder, and one bottle of lime juice.

Even in such a comprehensive work, there had to be limits: recipes were not included.

Under "Special Problems of Mine Labor," advantages and disadvantages of using particular racial and ethnic groups as labor are discussed in stereotypical ways that would be unacceptable today. This section was dropped in 1941.

Peele's Mining Engineers' Handbook traveled the globe with generations of mining engineers. The third and last edition was published in 1941, a year before Peele's death.

The book finally went out of print in the 1950s after many re-prints. It is still a proud part of many professional libraries and is still sought after by students and newly trained mining engineers.

Certain sections describing aspects of mining practice and technique are still valuable.

It is an historic testament to the old- school mining engineer: that jack of all trades who roamed the world running every aspect of a mine operation.


Mines Magazine
Spring 2000
Volume 90, Number 2

Robert Sorgenfrei is librarian/archivist of the Russel L. & Lyn Wood Mining History Archive, Arthur Lakes Library.