The average daily operating expenses of a steam shovel of medium capacity are about as follows:
One engineman $4.00 One cranesman 3.50 One fireman 2.00 Four pitmen at $1.50 6.00 ------- Wages of crew $15.50 ------ $15.50
One ton coal $3.00 Oil and waste .75 Water .50 ----- Fuel and supplies $4.25 ------ $19.75
Interest on capital, $6,000, at 6% $1.00 Depreciation at 10% 2.00 Repairs 1.00 ------ $4.00 ------ Total daily expense with regular crew $23.75
This will suffice for loading loose gravel; in the harder materials ordinarily occurring on construction work the following daily expenses must be met:
Expenses of regular crew $23.75 Foreman $5.00 Two pole (or bank) men at $1.50 3.00 Two extra men at $1.50 3.00 One night watchman 1.50 Powder and dynamite 1.00 ------ $13.50 ------
Daily expenses on average construction work $37.25
To the above must be added the expense of transporting the machine to the work, and returning.
The cost of hauling is also a variable item; it depends mostly upon the length of the haul, and on railways very largely upon the delays met with in going to and from the dumping place. On construction work it is seldom less than 3 cts. per cu. yd., and sometimes reaches 10 cts. On railways it is not often below 4 cts. for hauls up to 10 miles in length, and may reach 50 cts. or more for hauls of 75 miles or farther.
Dumping is a very small item where small dump cars are used on construction work, and does not exceed 1/2 ct. per cu. yd. When wagons are used it will average about 1-1/2 cts. On railways the cost of unloading with the plow varies somewhat, depending upon the kind of material; it averages about 1/2 ct. per cu. yd. Unloading by hand averages 6 cts.
On railway work, where the spreader is used, the average cost of leveling the material for widening embankments is only 0.1 ct. per cu. yd.; spreading it by hand will range from 5 to 20 cts. per cu. yd. for widths of 5 to 15 ft. from the unloading track.
The total cost per cu. yd. of excavating and loading, hauling and dumping different kinds of materials with the most usual length of haul averages about as follows:
Loading. Hauling. Dumping. Total. Cents. Cents. Cent. Cents. Sand and loose gravel 3 4 to 10 1/2 7-1/2 to 13-1/2 Loam 3-1/2 " " 8 to 14 Dry clay 4 " " 8-1/2 to 14-1/2 Damp clay 6 " " 10-1/2 to 16-1/2 Stiff blue clay 8 " " 12-1/2 to 18-1/2 Cemented gravel, hardpan, etc., materials loosened by explosives 10 to 16 " " 14-1/2 to 26-1/2