The mining departments of Harvard, Yale, Columbia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will give a joint summer session for the study of practical mining during the summer of 1904. For this purpose a mine will be leased, probably in Colorado, for about six weeks beginning June 25, where the men will be given practical experience in mining engineering.

In order to make the work as successful as possible a small force of skilled miners will be employed as instructors to assist the students in the actual operations. The school will be called the "George Crocker School of Practical Mining," as Mr. George Crocker of New York has given $12,000 to cover the expenses of the camp for the first year. The success of the camp this summer will determine whether it will be continued in ensuing years.

For several years summer courses of this character in the different universities have formed an important part of the regular work of students taking mining engineering; but as each institution has had its own mining camp it was found that the expenses for each student was large. It is hoped that this plan will materially decrease the individual expense as there will be from 80 to 125 students enrolled in the course. In order to assist needy students who wish to take the course, Mr. John H. Hammond, of Yale, has given a fund of $1,000.

During the session it is proposed to make excursions to neighboring mines, mills and smelters in order to study additional methods of conducting these operations. Besides the regular course there will be a series of lectures by prominent mining engineers.

This course is open to Harvard men who are enrolled in the department of Mining and Metallurgy and for whom Mining 12 is prescribed.

The control of the camp is to be in the hands of an executive committee consisting of John H. Hammond, of Yale, Professor Robert H. Richards, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Professor Henry L. Smythe, of Harvard, and Professor Henry S. Munroe, of Columbia. Professor Munroe has been appointed director of the school for this year.