Total gas holdups alpha(G) in a cylindrical slurry bubble column were measured at various values of the superficial gas velocity J(G), the mean particle volumetric concentration C-S and the initial slurry height H-0 to investigate their effects on alpha(G). The column diameter D-H and height were 200 mm and 2000 mm, respectively. The gas, liquid and solid phases were air, water and hydrophilic silica particles of 100 mu m in mean diameter, respectively. Experimental conditions were 0.025 <= J(G) <= 0.40 m/s, 0 <= C-S <= 0.50 and 1.5 <= H-0* <= 5.0, where H-0* = H-0/D-H. The conclusions obtained are as follows: (1) alpha(G) decreases with increasing H0 and becomes independent of H-0 for H-0* > 4 at low J(G), whereas it depends on H-0 at higher J(G) even for H-0* > 4, (2) the increase in C-S decreases alpha(G) up to C-S similar to 0.40, whereas alpha(G) becomes independent of C-S at larger C-S, and (3) alpha(G) in the slurry bubble column at various C-S, H-0 and J(G) are well correlated in terms of the Froude number Fr-H using H-0 as a characteristic length.