Wood

products use
by coal mines

Robert N. Stone
Christopher Risbrudt
James Howard

sumption had increased to 53 million cubic feet (Fig. 1).

Abstract
Underground mines (Table 1) accounted for 34 million
This study of wood use in mining includes a survey cubic feet and surface mines 19 million cubic feet (Table
of 220 coal mining firms to estimate quantities used in 2).
1979. Consumption of wood products by coal mines has
The oil crisis of the mid-seventies has changed the
gradually declined since 1923. Recent increases in coal
demand for timber and timber products. Anticipated
production have led to increases in the consumption of
substitution of less energy-intensive wood products for
wood products by the mine. Wood remains the major
plastics, metal, and glass has failed to cause much
support material. Mining consumes less than 1 percent
greater wood products use. However, rapid changes and
of the wood used in the United States. In 1979, mine
large increases have occurred in wood fuel usage both
timber production was 53 million cubic feet. Infor­
for home heating and in the forest industries, and more
mation on the quantities of wood used for railroad ties,
recently, plans for electrical generation. One effect of
props, lagging, and many other purposes in the mine is
necessary for making estimates of future requirements
for wood use in mining. The U.S. Forest Service will use
TABLE 1. – Summary of wood products used in underground
this information in projecting future requirements and coal mines by region for 1979.
removals from U.S. forests, and the Bureau of Mines
Region
will use this information for identifying possible supply
problems and research needs. The kind of timber used Eastern Midcontinent Western Total
Use coal coal coal
differed by region. Hardwood use is about 40 times
greater than softwood use in the eastern region. There, Round props 7,613.7 230.1 564.5 8,408.2
hardwoods are plentiful, relatively cheap, and strong. Sawn props 2,788.6 283.4 – 3,072.0
Split props 781.3 – – 781.3
In the West where softwood forests predominate, soft­ 247.1 – 3.0 250.1
Lagging
woods were 2-1/2 times more common in mine-wood use Crib blocks 3,606.9 86.3 122.3 3,815.5
than hardwoods. Headers 1,434.5 444.0 138.2 2,016.7
Crossbars 12,367.3 1,896.1 85.1 14,438.5
Ties 712.1 136.8 – 848.9
Wedges 3.1 2.5 .7 6.3
Miscellaneous 624.2 26.5 27.2 677.9
Total 30,178.8 3,105.7 941.0 34,225.4

This paper reports on a study to determine the
lumber and mine timbers used in mining of coal. Mine
timbers are produced from low-quality hardwood trees.
The use of timber products in mining has declined in the
United States since 1923 when 174 million cubic feet of
wood materials were consumed by the industry. By 1970
the consumption of mining timbers had declined to 32
million cubic feet, and to 24 million cubic feet by 1976
(Fig. 1). This trend ended, however, and consumption
began to rise because of the rising production of coal as
an alternative fuel to oil. By 1979, mine timber con-
Source: Wood products use in coal mining, Bureau ofMines, U.S. Dept. of the
Interior, April 1982.
The authors are, respectively, Supervisory Research Fore­
ster, USDA Forest Serv., Forest Prod. Lab., P.O. Box 5130,
Madison, WI 53705; Director, Policy Analysis, Programs and
Legislation, USDA Forest Serv., Washington, D.C.; and Econ­
omist, USDA Forest Serv., Forest Prod. Lab., Madison, Wis.
This paper was received for publication in May 1984.
Forest Products Research Society 1985.
Forest Prod. J. 35(6):45-52.

FOREST PRODUCTS JOURNAL Vol. 35, No. 6 45

 Figure 1. – Mine timbers consumed in the United States, selected years, 1906 to 1979.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Agri., Forest Serv. An analysis of the timber situation in the United States, 1952-2030. Forest Resour. Rept.
No. 23. U.S. Dept. of Agri., Forest Serv., Washington, D.C. 1982.

TABLE 2. – Wood use for 1979 in surface mines. timber products to mining firms, and to project future
Companies returning survey wood products use in mining.
Total Wood Wood use Regional Questionnaires totaling 993 were sent to coal
Region NO. production used per ton wood use mining firms requesting information on wood products
(MM tons) (M BF) (BF) (M BF) use during 1979 in and outside of their mines. Response
Eastern coal 80 30.207 1,764.3 0.0584 10,888.5
Midcontinent coal 23 29.921 2,378.8 .0798 7,083.0 to the mail questionnaire was low, the final return rate
Western coal 13 34.650 207.2 .0060 682.3 being 22 percent (220 mines responded). Therefore, a
Western lignite 2 11.832 140.4 .0119 831.5 sample of 220 mines provided data by questionnaire in
Total 118 106.511 4,490.7 .0424 19,485.3
this comprehensive study of the use of wood products in
Source: Wood products use in coal mining, Bureau of Mines, U.S. Dept. of the coal mining. Computer tape listings of 4,529 firms
Interior, April 1982.
classified as coal mines (Standard Industrial Classi­
fication Code 1111-Anthracite Coal, and SIC
1211-Bituminous and Lignite Coal) were obtained
high oil prices has been the expansion of coal production from Dun and Bradstreet. The sample was selected from
(Fig. 2) and the resulting increases in wood products this listing. A number of establishments were rejected
production for mining supports and mining activities because they were identified as headquarters for multi­
(8). Higher production of coal and projections of further location firms. Only single-location firms and branches
increases in coal output have led to questions by the of multilocation firms were directly sampled. Of these
mining industry about the adequacy of supplies of tra­ acceptable firms, 432 were identified as strip (surface)
ditional wood mining timbers such as props, laggings, mines, and 2,988 others were identified only as coal
crib blocks, headers, and other wood products used in mines, neither underground nor strip.
underground mining. Firms were selected using a stratified random sam­
Sampling design pling design. The coal mines were disproportionately
sampled according to mine size, as classed by number of
The coal industry uses many types of wood products
employees. Numbers of mines sampled by employee-
in mining operations, especially in underground east­
size class, in strip and underground mines, are shown in
ern mines. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest
Table 3. All mines in the two largest mine classes were
Service, recently surveyed wood uses by mining firms
sampled, and the percentage declined in the smaller
for the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines (2).
employee-size classes to 10 percent in the 0 to 9 class.
About 89 percent of the sample consisted of under­
ground mines, and the remaining 11 percent consisted Mine timber prices
of surface mines (2). The survey was part of a study to Prices for mine timbers vary with local and re­
determine use of lumber and mine timbers in coal gional demands for common timber commodities. There
mining for 1979, to estimate the availability and use of is no single market or price structure for mine timbers.

46 JUNE 1985
Most mine timbers are cut or sawn from lower quality or
small hardwood trees although some softwoods are
used. To get a handle on mine timber prices we evalu­
ated the prices and price trends for several hardwood
products. An evaluation of prices for commodities such
as hardwood lumber, hardwood pulpwood, pallets, and
crossties can indicate what might be paid for mining
timber. The trend in prices of mine timbers is expected
to be similar to that of the above commodities since most
are hardwood.
Over the last two decades or so there have been
varying trends in the consumption of major hardwood
timber products. For example, the use of hardwood
pulpwood showed a significant increase, and the con­
sumption of fuelwood has increased sharply.
However, it appears that supplies of timber will be
adequate to meet demand for most hardwood products
and keep prices from rising greatly in the mine timber
industry. Another factor in keeping the price for mine
timbers stable is newer mining technology. If new tech­
nology can continue to introduce products such as steel­
fiber-reinforced concrete cribbing, which is of lower cost
than the conventional timber products, mine timber
prices could hold or even decline.
The hardwood timber resource in the East is more
than adequate to assure that hardwood and mine timber
prices in the region will remain stable for the near
future. Except for fuelwood, prices for major hardwood
products have shown little change (Fig. 3). For example,
hardwood stumpage and delivered sawlog prices have
shown very little increase since 1952 when compared to
softwood stumpage and delivered sawlog prices.
Pulpwood stumpage prices have shown declines.
Wisconsin aspen prices for delivered pulpwood declined
between 1960 and 1980, while aspen real stumpage
prices have remained almost constant throughout the
period. The real stumpage prices of four primary pulp­
wood species, namely jack pine, black spruce, aspen, and
balsam fir, showed mixed results after adjusting for
inflation (4). Real delivered price increases for pulp­
wood have shown no percentage change over the period
from 1961 to 1979.

Figure 3. – Trends in price and price indexes for

Figure 2. – Coal production trends in the United States. hardwood products.

TABLE 3. – Size classes of coal mines and sampling scheme.

Strip mines Underground mines All coal mines
Employee No. No. No.
class size Total sampled Percent Total sampled Percent Total sampled Percent
0-9 221 22 10 1,411 141 10 1,632 163 10
10-99 199 80 40 1,248 499 40 1,447 579 40
100-999 9 9 100 225 225 100 234 234 100
1,000 + 0 – – 17 17 100 17 17 100
Total 429 111 26 2,901 882 30 3,330 993 29.8
Note: Ninety mines had no employment figures and were not included.
Source: Wood products use in coal mining, Bureau of Mines, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, April 1982.

FOREST PRODUCTS JOURNAL Vol. 35, No. 6 47

 Real delivered price increase rates (6)
Products 1947-1961 1961-1979
(%) (%)
Pulpwood 0.8 0 for wood cribbing for mine roof supports.
Sawlogs (hardwood) 0 1.5
Veneer logs
(hardwood) 1.9 2.5
Stable hardwood prices, by most measures, indicate
the hardwood resource is large and increasing. Between
1952 and 1977 the inventory of hardwood timber rose 43
percent, increasing from 178 billion cubic feet to 255
billion. During the period from 1952 to 1977 the East
showed some expansion in hardwood sawtimber inven­
tories. As well, most of the hardwood inventories are in
eastern forests, much of it near the major coal mining
areas.
Much of the hardwood sawtimber inventory is con­
centrated in the lower diameter classes; nearly two-
thirds of the total is between 11 and 17 inches in dia­
meter at breast height. This timber is suitable for the
manufacture of pallet lumber and ties. All of the hard­
wood timber is suitable for use as pulpwood, fuelwood,
and mine timber.
Given the adequacy of hardwood in the East, most
regions can expect prices for mining timbers and similar
hardwood commodities to remain stable. The greatest
impact on mine timber prices will result from the im­
pact of technology and the introduction of cost-saving
Figure 4.– Coal mining regions in the United States.
48
products. The most often mentioned is steel-fiber­
reinforced concrete mine support members (SFC). Test
results indicate that it appears technically and eco­
nomically feasible to use SFC cribbing as a substitute
Total wood use
Large quantities of wood products are used in coal
mining operations within mines, primarily in roof sup­
ports. Other uses are for walls, floors, and rail ties.
Outside the mines, lumber and plywood are used for
shacks, and utility poles are used. With coal expected to
play an increasingly important role in the foreseeable
future, wood for mining use will prove to be a valuable
resource. U.S. coal reserves are estimated at 438 billion
short tons (7). Of this reserve, 297 billion tons are
suitable for underground mining methods and capable
of recovery by current technologies. Total 1979 produc­
tion amounted to 781,498 thousand tons, of which ap­
proximately 41 percent was from underground mines.
Wood use per ton of underground coal mined was
found to vary substantially by mining process and re­
gion. Figure 4 shows the three coal mining regions in
the United States. In the eastern coal region, 1.6 board
feet of wood was used per ton of coal, well above the 0.6
board foot usage per ton in the West. Wood use per ton of
coal mined underground is shown in Table 4. The kind of
timber used also varied by region.
Wood products used by mines largely come from
nearby forests and wood processors. Consequently, the
JUNE 1985
 TABLE 4. – Wood use per ton of underground coal mined by process. As the proportion of coal mined by strip methods in
Room-and- Combined a region increases, the wood use per ton declines. In the
Region pillar methodsa Total eastern region, about 56 percent of coal production
comes from underground mines, and the wood use per
Eastern coal 1.486 1.774 1.608 ton is highest of the four regions. In the midcontinent
Midcontinent coal .340 (b) .340
Western coal .387 1.353 .559 and western coal regions, 37 and 16 percent, respec­
a
Longwall and room-and-pillar.

tively, of production comes from underground mines.

b
No respondents.

Note: No underground mining apparently occurs in the Western Lignite

Surface uses
Region.

Source: Wood products use in coal mining, Bureau of Mines, U.S. Dept. of the

In surface mines, wood use per ton is comparatively

Interior, April 1982.
low, since none is necessary for roof support. In all
regions, wood use is less than one-tenth of a board foot
per ton of surface coal production. Typical uses are small
TABLE 5. – Wood use per ton of underground coal mined,
temporary buildings, props and blocking for machinery,
by hardwood and softwood. and miscellaneous applications. Surface coal mines in
Region Hardwood Softwood
the eastern region account for slightly over half of the
wood used nationally in this type of mining. The mid-
Eastern coal 1.567 0.040 continent region accounts for about 36 percent of the
Midcontinent coal .340 (a) total use. Total use in surface coal mines is about 19.5
Western coal .158 .401 million board feet (Table 2).
a
No data.

Note: No underground mining apparently occurs in the Western Lignite

Wood-use categories
Region.

Source: Wood products use in coal mining, Bureau of Mines, U.S. Dept. of the
Round props. – Round props are used to support
Interior, April 1982.
mine roofs. A prop is loaded perpendicularly to the roof
kinds of wood used vary with forest character. For
example, hardwood use is about 40 times greater than
softwood in the eastern region. In the eastern wood­
lands, hardwoods are plentiful, relatively cheap, dense,
and strong. In the West where softwood forests pre­
dominate, 2-1/2 times more softwoods were used than
hardwoods. Hardwood and softwood used in under­
ground mines in each region is reported in Table 5.
In the eastern region, initial installations in mine
entries and faces each use about one-third of the wood
used in the mine. Subsequent rehabilitation in mine
entries is the next most significant use, at 14 percent.
Wood use in other areas of mines, e.g., shafts, slopes,
and other, is minimal for both initial installation and
subsequent rehabilitation.
Initial installation in mine entries is the major use
of wood products in the midcontinent region, requiring
57 percent of the wood employed. The only other sig­
nificant area of wood use is in the initial installation
of faces.
Wood use in the western coal region is very similar
to the eastern region, averaging about one-third each
for initial installation in mine entries and faces. Sub­
sequent rehabilitation is also substantial in mine en­
tries, but not in any other use.
Underground uses
Total wood used nationally for underground mines
is about 34.2 million cubic feet. A summary of wood
products used in underground coal mines is shown in
Table 1. The greatest single wood use, both nationally
and in any region, is crossbars. Crossbars are the most
used product in both the eastern and midcontinent
regions. In the western region, round props are the most
used product. Much of the wood used in underground
coal mining occurs in the eastern region (88%).
and floor for maximum strength. Props are used in
faces, mine entries, and along haulage corridors. They
are required to have a diameter of not less than 1 inch
for every 15 inches of length, but in no case should they
be less than 4 inches in diameter.
Nearly 55 percent (57 mines) of the underground
mines returning questionnaires reported purchasing
round props in 1979. About 91 percent of the props in
underground coal mines in the United States are used in
the East. Nearly 98 percent of eastern props are hard­
wood, with locust, hickory, oak, and elm being used.
Black locust, offering excellent structural properties
and a high decay resistance, is a preferred species.
Locust is also a prized wood for fenceposts, among other
uses. In the midcontinent region, approximately 83
percent of props are hardwood, primarily oak. Softwoods
accounted for nearly 56 percent of prop material in the
West, with lodgepole pine and spruce the preferred
species. Oak is the only hardwood species mentioned as
prop material in the West.
Round props accounted for nearly 25 percent of
total wood volume reported in the survey (Table 1).
Sawn props. – Sawn props serve the same purpose
as round props. They are preferred by some mines for
their ease of handling. Sawn props are often set in
mining corridors which tend to be permanent (3 to 10
yr.). Approximately 8 percent of the underground mines
reported purchasing sawn props in 1979. Of the total
wood volume, 94 percent was treated. The standard
measures for eastern mines are 1.72 cubic feet per piece
with a mean length of 6.5 feet. For midcontinent mines,
sawn props contain 2.09 cubic feet of wood and are 9 feet
long. No sawn props were reported purchased by west­
ern mines. Hardwoods accounted for all of the sawn prop
material with oak, hickory, and black locust the pre­
ferred species. Wood purchased for sawn props accounts
for nearly 9 percent of all wood reported in the survey
(Table 1).

FOREST PRODUCTS JOURNAL Vol. 35, No. 6 49

 Split props. – Split props normally conform to the
same standards as round props. Split props are halved or
quartered depending on the original diameter. As such,
they have the versatility to be used for other purposes
such as wheel chocking or lagging. Nearly 13 percent of
underground mines returning the questionnaire re­
ported purchasing split props in 1979; all were in the
eastern region. Ninety-nine percent of the split props
reported were untreated hardwoods, usually oak, pop­
lar, beech, or locust, totaling 781,300 cubic feet. The
remaining volume was 11,000 cubic feet of untreated
softwood. Split props accounted for slightly more than 2
percent of the total wood volume reported in the survey.
Amounts of wood used as split props per ton of coal
mined decline as the mines become larger.
Lagging. – Lagging received very little use in
mining operations in 1979. Lagging is generally de­
scribed as having planklike dimensions (thick boards to
10 ft. long) used as shoring sides of mine entries, shafts,
and haulage ways. It can be stacked lengthwise and
crosswise on top of crossbars for roof support. Since it is
often utilized as roof beams, some lagging may have
been reported as crossbars. Approximately 7 percent of
the underground mines reporting purchased lagging for
use in 1979, of which 92 percent is hardwood. All wood
purchased for lagging in the western region was soft­
wood. Even so, softwoods accounted for only 8 percent of
lagging wood. Wood purchased for lagging accounted for
less than 1 percent of the total purchased wood in the
survey. Lagging per ton of coal mined also decreased
steadily with larger mine size. The quantity of lagging
used in underground coal mines was 3,012 thousand
board feet in 1979. This total is composed of 2,774.8
thousand board feet of hardwood and 238.1 thousand
board feet of softwood.
Crib blocks. – Crib blocks are used as support pil­
lars behind the working face of a coal seam. Cribbing
material is required, by Mine Safety and Health Admin­
istration (MSHA) Standards (5), to be of wood having
flat, parallel sides, and in no case should the crib be less
than 30 inches square. Hardwoods are preferred as
cribbing material in the eastern and midcontinent coal
mining regions, and account for 95 percent of total crib
use. The majority of crib blocks was used in the eastern
region. Softwoods accounted for 96 percent of total crib
blocks used in the West. Wood purchased for crib block
usage amounted to just over 11 percent of the total wood
purchased in the survey. Use of crib blocks per ton of
coal mined also declines significantly as mine size
increases.
The quantity of crib blocks used in underground
coal mines was 45,964 thousand board feet in 1979. This
total is composed of 43,784 thousand board feet of hard­
wood and 2,180 thousand board feet of softwood.
Headers. – Headers, also referred to as caps, provide
a bearing surface against mine roofs. They are con­
ventionally mounted on top of props to fill gaps and
tighten the wood structure to the mine roof. Headers are
one mine support product where metal has sub­
stantially replaced wood. Metal headers account for
about 30 percent of header use and are preferred for
long-term use (5 to 10 yr.). Forty-eight percent of the
50
underground mines that responded to the survey re­
ported purchasing headers in 1979. Approximately 19
percent of all wood purchased for header use was soft­
wood. Softwoods comprised 13 percent of eastern, 24
percent of midcontinent, and 55 percent of western
header material. Headers accounted for approximately
5.9 percent of all wood purchased in the survey.
Header use rates did not decrease with size of mine.
The greatest use for headers occurred when coal produc­
tion was between 100,000 and 500,000 tons, resulting in
a use factor of 0.1207. The header use per ton declined to
0.0729 when coal production exceeded 500,000 tons.
The quantity of headers used in underground coal
mines was 24,291 thousand board feet in 1979. Of this
total 19,761 thousand board feet was hardwood and
4,530 thousand board feet was softwood.
Crossbars. – Crossbars are typically used in con­
junction with props and headers. They help support the
mine roof by spanning two parallel mining props.
Crossbars are generally 10 to 16 feet long, and as such
are suitable for use as rail ties or sills (footers.) This
high use could explain in part the comparatively large
quantities of wood classified as crossbars. Approxi­
mately 32 percent of the underground mines answering
the survey reported purchasing crossbars in 1979. Soft­
wood crossbars accounted for approximately 77 percent
of crossbar use in the West and about 9 percent of total
crossbar use for all regions. Wood purchased for cross­
bars accounted for about 42 percent of total wood re­
ported purchased in the survey.
The quantity of crossbars used in underground coal
mines was 172,870 thousand board feet in 1979. Of this
total, hardwood was 157,241 thousand board feet, and
softwood was 15,629 thousand board feet. Crossbar use
per ton of coal increased by mine size although, for
mines exceeding 1/2 million tons of production, crossbar
use declined slightly.
Ties. – Ties, apart from their use as railway sup­
ports, are quite frequently rehabilitated for other uses.
They are used to provide a large bearing surface against
a soft or muddy floor, or sawn and stacked like crib
blocks for pillar support. Twenty-three percent of the
coal mines returning the questionnaire reported pur­
chasing ties in 1979. Hardwoods, mostly oaks, were the
strongly preferred tie material, accounting for greater
than 99 percent of all wood used for ties. Wood used for
ties accounted for 2.5 percent of the total purchased
wood in the survey.
The quantity of ties used in underground coal
mines was 849,000 cubic feet in 1979. Of this total
843,000 cubic feet was hardwood and 6,000 cubic feet
was softwood.
Wedges. – Wedges are pie-shaped slabs of wood
typically 7 by 7 by 1 inch and tapered to 0 inch. They are
normally sawn at the mill and ordered in thousand-
piece lots. They are “wedged” on top of headers to
tighten props to the mine roof. Coal mines keep a large
supply of wedges on hand since they can be used for any
purpose requiring tightening or blocking of a support
structure. Twenty-five percent of the mines answering
the survey reported purchasing wedges for use in 1979.
JUNE 1985
The average purchase was 150,000 pieces. Wedges used
in the West are generally larger than those used in
other areas of the United States, with 10 by 10 by 1.5
inches being the standard size. Because of their small
size, no species was preferred, and it is assumed that any
wood, be it hardwood or softwood, suffices as wedging
material. With a mean volume measure of approxi­
mately 0.125 board foot per piece, wedges accounted for
approximately 0.5 percent of total wood reported in the
survey. Although large numbers of wedges were re­
ported used in the survey, the total wood volume is
small because of their generally small size. Further,
wedges are often made at the mines from scrap mate­
rial, e.g. the short pieces remaining after props have
been cut to length.
Miscellaneous uses. – Miscellaneous uses of wood in
coal mines include brattice lumber for ventilation struc­
tures, floor planking, rib boards, and lumber and ply­
wood for general in-the-mine construction. Twenty per­
cent of the mines responding to the survey reported
purchasing wood for miscellaneous purposes in 1979.
Miscellaneous wood products account for 2 percent
(160,103 ft.3) of all wood volume reported in the survey;
of this, 40 percent was softwood.
Wood use outside the mine. – Mines utilize wood
products in temporary shacks, permanent buildings,
utility poles, survey stakes, rail ties, and many other
uses outside of the mine itself. Because of the great
variety of uses, few of which employ wood products in
large quantity, data collection for these proved difficult.
To have calculated specific product use per ton of coal
mined would have resulted in extremely small ratios
since few wood products were used in quantity.
In the eastern region miscellaneous lumber use
averaged about 760 board feet per mine per year. For
the midcontinent and western coal regions, use per
mine averaged 280 and 30 board feet, respectively.
Outlook for the mine-timber market
Future wood requirements of the mining industry
will depend on the demand for coal and the need for
wood in coal mining. The demand for coal is keyed to the
demand of the industrial, export, coking, and electric
utility markets. The need for wood will depend pri­
marily on how effectively wood can compete with other
products (3). Projections of future wood use in coal
mining were made as part of the study based on primary
energy figures obtained from an Energy Information
Administration report on energy forecasts. The fore­
casts reflect three distinct world oil price scenarios–
low, midrange, and high. In the low-range scenario, coal
will not substitute for oil as much as in the high-range
scenario, and hence more coal will be required for the
high oil price-range scenario. Coal will be relatively
much cheaper than oil, and more coal than oil will be
consumed.
To calculate figures for future wood usage in coal
mining, regional wood-use figures for 1979 were linked
to projected underground coal production. Underground
coal production in the East was 55 percent of the re­
gion's total coal production in 1979. This percentage is
projected to rise to 93 percent in 1995 and hold at this
level through 2030. For the western region, under­
ground coal production amounted to 16 percent of west­
ern coal production in 1979. The share of underground
coal production is expected to decline to 11 percent of the
total by 1995. This is due to the expected expansion of
surface production in the region. No changes in wood
products use per ton of coal mined are incorporated in
the projections. Wood-use factors are held constant
throughout the 30-year projection period (3).
Projections for the low, midrange, and high price
range for oil show wood products use in underground
coal mining could increase 3.3 times between 1985 and
2015 (Table 6). In the low range about two-thirds of the
use of wood will remain in the eastern coal region and
about three-tenths in the midcontinent coal region. In
total, wood products use in underground coal mining
under a midrange oil price scenario is expected to in­
crease 3.9 times. By 2030, projected wood use will reach
181 million cubic feet.
In the high oil price scenario, coal consumption is
projected to be higher than the low or midrange sce­
narios because the difference between coal and oil prices
is greatest; of course, wood use is also larger than in the
other scenarios. Nationally, wood use in this scenario

TABLE 6. – Projections of total coal production and wood products consumption in underground coal mines for a low, midrange, and high oil price scenario.a
Scenario
Year Low Midrange High
Wood Wood Wood
Underground products Underground products Underground products
production use production use production use
(MM tons) (M ft.3) (MMtons) (M ft.3) (MMtons) (M ft.3)
1985 508.8 44,988.9 502.3 44,358.9 497.2 44,109.3
1990 751.0 67,148.6 750.8 62,215.4 742.8 66,590.7
1995 928.5 83,893.2 935.8 84,545.9 922.9 83,515.0
2000 1,015.6 89,988.3 1,034.7 91,589.5 1,025.2 90,829.1
2005 1,052.4 92,109.3 1,084.5 94,755.6 1,082.5 94,592.4

2010 1,143.4 99,500.8 1,215.2 105,200.3 1,235.1 106,785.6

2015 1,270.9 110,160.4 1,421.2 122,173.0 1,481.3 127,098.2
2020 1,441.9 125,1317 1,642.8 142,824.5 1,708.8 148,489.7
2025 1,572.7 138,167.1 1,857.0 161,927.9 1,939.5 168,334.6
2030 1,686.3 148,285.1 1,979.1 172,293.0 2,083.2 180,804.0
aCoal production figures adapted from: Wood products use in coal mining, Bureau of Mines, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, April 1982.

FOREST PRODUCTS JOURNAL Vol. 35, No. 6 51

will increase about four times, from 44 million to 181
million cubic feet by 2030. The expected expansion of
surface coal production in the West will make increases
in coal consumption and wood use figures inconsistent
until about 2015. During this time underground mining
will once again be on the rise.
Conclusions
Wood products used in producing coal from under­
ground mines play an important role in the industry.
Coal cannot be mined from underground without sup­
porting the roof and often the sides of the mining shafts.
For this use, wood is a valuable resource. As the Nation
requires more domestic coal, wood products will also be
needed in greater quantities.
On a national scale, however, wood products used
in coal mining are a small portion of total wood con­
sumption; use in underground coal mines amounts to
about 0.24 percent of the national consumption of indus­
trial roundwood of 14.0 billion cubic feet (excluding
fuelwood) in 1979. Even in the future, as wood use in
mining grows as projected, the timber resource is ade­
quate to provide the additional hardwood timber.
In local economies, the amount of wood products
required by coal miners can be important, and can cause
shortages and price changes. Mining props provide a
52
market for low-quality hardwoods found in abundance
throughout the East. Many sawmills are engaged, at
least part time, in supplying the needs of the mining
industry. All the mining operations tend to use the local
species of wood, hardwood or softwood.
Literature cited
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Interior.
2. BUREAU OF MINES, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 1982. Wood
products use in coal mining. April.
3. KNUTSON, R. 1970. A look at the mine-timber market in the
Appalachian Bituminous Coal Region. USDA Forest Sew. Res.
Pap. NE-147. 9 pp.
4. LOTHNER, C.D., E. KALLIO, and T.D. DAVIS. 1950-1980, Minnesota
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Dept. of Agri., Forest Sew., North Central Forest Expt. Sta.,
Duluth, Minn., April 1982.
5. MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION. 1979. Title 30. Feder­
al Code of Regulations. Section 75.200-8 through 75.200-14.
6. SKOG, K., and C. RISBRUDT. 1982. Trends in economic scarcity of
U.S. timber commodities. USDA Forest Sew. Resource Bull. FPL
11. Forest Prod. Lab., Madison, Wis. April.
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JUNE 1985