Definition
A mining operations term referring to the process of removing coal pillars or stumps — the columns of coal left standing during initial extraction to support the roof of a mine — after the surrounding coal in a given section has been fully mined out. When a division or section of a mine is exhausted, workers are withdrawn and the remaining support pillars are systematically extracted. Because removing these pillars eliminates the structural support they provided, timber props are installed to brace the roof during and after the operation. The practice captures the final stage of working a coal section, recovering coal that was intentionally left behind during primary extraction.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): No established entry. "Stumps" in common usage refers to the remnant base of a felled tree, or in cricket, the vertical posts of the wicket. "Drawing" in common usage means pulling toward oneself or sketching an image.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "Stump" — the part of a tree remaining in the earth after the trunk is cut; a stub. "Drawing" — the act of pulling, hauling, or causing to move toward the agent.
The legal-technical meaning here is entirely detached from both senses. In mining usage, "stumps" are load-bearing coal columns, not plant remnants, and "drawing" refers to deliberate extraction for profit, not mere removal of debris. A researcher encountering this phrase outside a mining law context will not find the meaning self-evident from ordinary English.
Why It Matters in Research
This term is narrow, industry-specific, and historically bounded to coal mining operations — primarily relevant to late nineteenth and early twentieth century mining law, property disputes over mineral leases, and mining accident litigation. Researchers working in those areas should be alert to several points.
First, the practice has direct legal significance in lease and royalty disputes. Whether a lessee had the right — or the obligation — to draw stumps affected how royalties were calculated and whether a lessee had fully worked a seam before abandoning it. Leases sometimes expressly addressed pillar extraction rights, and the failure to draw stumps could either constitute waste or, conversely, be prohibited without the lessor's consent depending on how the instrument was drafted.
Second, drawing stumps was one of the most dangerous phases of underground coal mining, making it a recurring subject in early workers' compensation cases, employer liability suits, and mine safety regulation. The roof collapse risk was acute once pillars were removed. Researchers tracing the development of occupational safety law in coal states will find this term in case law predating modern statutory frameworks.
Third, because the term is operational rather than strictly doctrinal, it appears more often in fact sections of opinions than in holdings, and may be indexed inconsistently across historical case reporters. The citation in Bouvier's (79 S.W. 292) points to Southwestern Reporter, suggesting primary use in coal-producing jurisdictions of the American South and border states.
The Encyclopedia cross-reference to construction loan draw schedules is noted here for completeness only. The structural analogy — staged extraction triggering payment or rights — is superficial, and researchers should not expect that entry to illuminate mining law doctrine.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's is the sole historical dictionary source for this entry, and its treatment is brief but precise. The definition is operational rather than legal in character: Bouvier's explains what the practice is physically, cites a reporter reference for context, and leaves the legal implications to be inferred. This is consistent with Bouvier's approach to mining and trade terms generally — the dictionary functions here as a glossary of industry vocabulary rather than a source of doctrinal analysis.
What Bouvier's does not address: the contractual dimensions of who may draw stumps and under what conditions, the safety law context, or the question of whether drawing stumps could constitute actionable damage to adjacent workings or surface support. Researchers should not treat the Bouvier's entry as an exhaustive statement of the law; it is a starting point for understanding the physical referent of the term.
No other major historical legal dictionaries in the Law Mind corpus — including Black's — appear to carry a dedicated entry for this term, which reflects its specialized and regionally concentrated use.
Jurisdictional Note
The term is most likely to appear in case law from coal-producing states, including Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, and parts of the Southwest. Mining law doctrine, including the treatment of pillar extraction rights and surface subsidence liability, varied meaningfully across these jurisdictions. Researchers should not assume uniform treatment.