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THE FOUNDING OF CHICAGO SECTION OF THE SOCIETY FOR MINING, METALLLURGY, AND EXPLORATION

-- Contributed by Doug Hambley

The umbrella organization of SME, the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) has had a presence in the Chicago area likely since the founding of that body (as the American Institute of Mining Engineers) in 1871.  However, by the early 1980s, the local mining engineers were represented by a joint section under the sponsorship of the Iron and Steel Society.  The meetings of this group were held in the South Suburbs, where the steel mills are located, and interest by local mining engineers was small.  For a couple of years around 1982-84, separate meetings of the mining section were held in the Loop at the Tower Club.  However, the ISS was not keen on the separate meetings and logistics for funding separate meetings was a problem.  Consequently, no mining meetings were held in 1984-85 even though there were three SME members on the local section executive.  

In 1985, the constituent societies of AIME became separately incorporated instead of being subgroups within AIME and the constituent societies became each responsible for their own sections.  For this reason, and to try to resurrect the mining group, a Committee was set up within the local section in 1985 to decide what to do with the mining engineers group in Chicago.  This Committee was comprised of Andrew Nevin, Doug Hambley and Mike Dunn.  Andrew Nevin moved from Chicago soon afterward, so the Committee then became Doug Hambley, Mike Dunn, and Jerry Siekierski of the Paul Weir Co.  The Committee felt that there should be a separate Chicago Section for SME, but given the two-year hiatus in meetings was uncertain whether there was sufficient interest in attending meetings to warrant the effort.  Consequently, an informal poll was taken by telephone by Messrs. Hambley, Dunn, and Siekierski in the late summer of 1986 and a trial meeting was held at the Tower Club in the Fall of 1986.  The speaker was Pieter Braam and his subject was the TARP Tunnel System.  The enthusiastic turnout was sufficient to convince the Committee to proceed with plans to charter a Chicago Section.  Soon after this meeting, Mr. Siekierski had also moved out of the area.  

To confirm the interest of the local membership, Doug Hambley developed a detailed questionnaire and sent it to all 250 SME members of record resident within a 100-mile radius of Chicago.  Over eighty responses were received, over 90% of which were in favor of forming a Chicago Section.  Using the eighty responses, Doug Hambley developed a Strategic Plan for the first two to five years of operation of the Section. This Strategic Plan identified the most popular times and locations to hold meetings as well as which topics would draw well and which would not. 

The next step was to prepare a set of Section By-Laws, convene an Executive Committee, select prospective Section Officers, and organize an inaugural meeting at which to approve the proposed Section Officers and By-Laws by a vote of members of SME resident in the area.  Once the By-Laws were passed and sufficient signatures had been obtained on the Petition to Charter, the Charter and By-Laws would be submitted to SME headquarters.  The inaugural meeting was held at Andy’s Steak House in Oakbrook Terrace in the Spring of 1987.  (This restaurant has since been demolished.)  The speakers were Chief Geologist Dave Grom and the McCook Mine Superintendent from Vulcan Materials Company, who talked about Vulcan’s quarrying operations in Northeastern Illinois.  The founding Executive Committee consisted of:

At that first meeting, the By-Laws and Officers were approved and more than the minimum twenty-two signatures were obtained, so the petition to charter was submitted to headquarters and approved at the next meeting of the SME Executive Committee.  It should be mentioned that Carlos Tiernon was a member of the SME Executive Board, and his involvement in the Section gave the section a direct link to society management.  (The same had been true of Dr. Andrew Nevin in 1984-85.) However, thanks are due to everyone on the above list who all gave generously of their time to get the Section rolling.  John Head joined the Executive Committee in the Fall of 1987, and Frank Kendorski and Ken Bengtson (of Payhauler) came on board in early 1988.  Also note that the two original Executive Committee members still active in the Section (Doug and Mike) have changed employers since 1987!!  The others have since left the area, retired, or died.

The observant reader will notice that the executive included quarry and mining company personnel, equipment manufacturers, and consultants.  This was deliberate in order to obtain a balance that represented as many as possible of the various interests in the section.  Similarly, the speaker topics in the first couple of years were operations-oriented, in order to appeal to as many potential members as possible.  It was also the intention of the section to serve the interests of the local explosives community and in the early years of the section this aim was achieved to some extent.  However, the subsequent chartering of a local chapter of the International Society of Explosives Engineers put an end to that initiative.   

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