Fayette County, West Virginia State Department Of Mines & Robert Morrison LAMBIE Bio This biography was submitted by Kerry Armour, E-mail address: This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc. Chicago and New York, Volume II pg.64 & 65 STATE DEPARTMENT OF MINES. The first law governing the mining industry of West Virginia was enacted by the Legislature in 1883, creating the office of state mine inspector, with one inspector for the entire state. At the session of the Legislature in 1887 the act was amended, providing for two inspectors, and in 1893 it was again amended, increasing the number of inspectors to three. At the session of the Legislature of 1897 the original act was further amended by providing for a chief inspector and four district inspectors. This number was again increased by the Legislature of 1901 to five district mine inspectors, and increased again in 1905 to seven district mine inspectors. At the session of the Legislature of 1907 the Department of Mines was created, the head of the department being given the title of chief of department of mines, with twelve district mine inspectors. This act was again amended at the session of the Legislature in 1915 by a provision of three additional district mine inspectors, making fifteen in all. At the session of the Legislature of 1917 the law was further amended by placing all sand mines, sand pits, clay mines, clay pits, quarries and cement works under the jurisdiction of the department and provided for an inspector for same. In the year 1919 the Legislature re-enacted the mining law and provided for four district mine inspectors, making a total of nineteen inspectors. The Legislature of 1919 also provided for the establishment of seven mine rescue stations and for a director of mine rescue, who has headquarters at Charleston, and since the office has been created hundreds of men have been trained in first aid and mine rescue work. The stations are established at Charleston, Mount Hope, Fairmont, Elkins, Wheeling, Logan and Welch. At the session of the Legislature of 1921 the mining law was again amended and three additional district mine inspectors provided for, bringing the total of the department to twenty-two district mine inspectors, one inspector of sand mines, etc., a director of mine rescue and chief of department of mines. In 1920 the first annual first aid meet was held by the Department of Mines at Charleston. The first concerted action of West Virginia in the International First Aid Contest resulted in the Scarbro Team of the New River Company carrying off the championship. The Mine Rescue Team from Scarbro took sixth place in mine rescue work; and at the International First Aid and Mine Rescue Contest at St. Louis, Missouri, on September 1, 2, 3, 1921, the White Oak Team of the New River Company won the international championship for mine rescue work, thus bringing to West Virginia both championships in successive years. Logan County first produced coal in 1904, 52,673 tons being mined that year, and it has had the most rapid growth of any coal field in the world, as they produced 9,824,785 gross tons and employed 1,000 men in and about the mines in 1920. Logan County has seventy-three coal companies operating 146 mines. According to the reports of the United States Geological Survey in 1883, 2,335,833 tons of coal were mined in the State of West Virginia, and this has gradually increased until in 1920 there was mined in this state 89,590,274 tons, and at the present time the potential tonnage of West Virginia is 140,000.000 tons. Total available coal yet remaining in West Virginia is estimated to be 159,814,662,527 short tons. In 1920 there were 882 coal companies operating 1,440 mines and employing in and about the mines 105,000 men. So far there has not been anything discovered that will permanently take the place of coal. It is true we have oil gas, which have been tried out, but no one has been to determine the amount in reserve we have of either, we do know that the amount of coal in West Virginia is almost inexhaustible and that the West Virginia coals the best quality coals known. It is also true that several fields of the United States are rapidly becoming exhausted, therefore it is only natural that West Virginia with great resources will supply the shortage created by these different sections falling off in production. The chief of the Department of Mines is Robert Morrison Lambie, a native of Scotland, and trained in the practical technical business of mining in that country, though nearly all his active career and experience have been in the industry of West Virginia. Mr. Lambie was born at Stirling, Scotland, in 1886, son Robert and Elizabeth (Morrison) Lambie, representing some of the good families of Scotland that have made that country distinguished for its brain and brawn. After Robert M. Lambie came to America his parents followed and they all lived together in West Virginia. Robert Lambie becoming ill, went back to Scotland for his health died while there. In Scotland he acted as agent for a British Explosive Syndicate. The mother is still living and divides her time between Scotland and West Virginia. Robert Morrison Lambie was educated in the schools of Stirling, and spent four years in night school in that city, studying mining practice and mining engineering. In 1903, at the age of seventeen, he came to America and located at Stone Cliff, Fayette County, West Virginia. His first employment there was as a driver in the coal mines, and he has performed practically every duty in connection with coal mining from laborer to managing official. His duty for a number of years involved important responsibilities with leading coal mine corporations. For three years he had charge of the operations of the Havoca Mining Company in McDowell County. For three years he was employed in a managerial capacity by the McKell Coal & Coke Company's three operations in Fayette County. He resigned to become district inspector for the State Department of Mines, an office he held two years. He then became division superintendent of the New River Coal Company on the White Oak Branch, having charge of eight operations of that company in Fayette County. Mr. Lambie and family reside in Fayette County, and he is a member of the Ruffner Memorial Presbyterian Church there. He married Miss Annie Hope Thompson, of that county. Their three children Bessie Morrison, Robert Alexander and Annie Laurie Lambie. In 1919 Governor John J. Cornwell called Mr. Lambie to the office of chief of the Department of Mines, and he is serving by reappointment in 1921 from Governor E. F. Morgan. The outstanding purpose of the Department of Mines is to safeguard the miners in their work and to eliminate as far as possible the hazards and dangers of their mine operations. Experts have declared the Department of Mines of West Virginia possesses the most scientific and efficient safety devices and equipment of any state of the Union. Costly and very technical instruments for detecting gas, devices to be worn as safeguards from gas effects, are part of the department's regular equipment. Another instrument is the Geophone, invented and used in France during the World war by sappers, so highly sensitive that in a mine where a fire or explosion or falling walls have cut off miners their location can be detected through many feet of solid coal. This safety equipment is so located at strategic points through the coal mining district that it can be rushed to the desired points in the quickest possible time. Mr. Lambie having made these subjects his life work is eminently fitted for the responsible office he fills, and is constantly making experiments and investigations to increase the usefulness of the department. He is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner.