sea, Wales, in November; cost of shipment will not exceed $70 per ton. This company also own the Dwight, which is developed similarly to the above, and contains about the same grade of ores. Ten tons from this will be shipped, making 40 tons in all. The Fairview, owned by Myers & Plummer, has been traced several hundred feet. The depth is 10 feet, which shows two veins, one of galena 2 feet wide, and the other of honeycomb quartz 18 inches wide. The latter prospects well in gold. The Tar Heels, owned by Burroughs & Co., though only sunk 6 feet, assays $800 per ton. The Park Pool Association owns numerous veins on both mountains, all of which contain good ore. This association was organized by Judge Stevens. Messrs. Safford, Sykes & Co. own four on Mount Lincoln; one of them, the Muskox, contains ore equal to any yet found; two assays recently made by Professor Schirmer are reported as yielding $473.80 and $1,326.50. A. M. Janes owns seven veins on Mount Lincoln, two on Mount Bross, and three near the head of Blackskin Gulch, which assays up to $700 per ton. The discoveries have been pre-empted as "lodes," "ten-acre lots," "one hundred and sixty acres," and "fifteen hundred feet square," thus showing that nobody is certain in which form the mineral bodies occur. Mr. Stevens, I am informed, started the "acre" method, and called it "placer-ground." The advantages of the district are an abundance of wood, coal, water, hay, and hardy grains and vegetables. Hay is delivered near the mines at from $20 to $25 per ton, and could be contracted for $15, less than half the Central price. The South Park is an extensive and natural hay country. Vegetables are cheap, brought in from the lower part of the Park. The coal mines on George Licner's ranch, ten miles easterly from Fairplay, are spoken of as excellent in quality and especially valuable to coke. Quartzville, one mile southwest from Montgomery, at the base of the range, is to be the supply-point to the mines, from which a wagonroad will extend to the workings. The place selected for the reductionworks is at the junction of the Quartz Gulch and the Platte River, where another town is probable. In November there were not more than 6 inches of snow, while there was a foot or more at Montgomery, and 18 inches at Breckinridge; but this is undoubtedly exceptional. Usually towns in that section, close up under the range, are accessible at all seasons of the year. The Moose Company intend to prosecute their work through the winter. They have commenced to tunnel the mountain about 800 feet below the lode, and anticipate no inconvenience from wintry weather, and, indeed, the difficulties of mining in the high altitudes are not as great as popularly supposed, providing the mines are inclosed. It is a common remark among miners that they prefer the cooler and more even temperature of the high mountains to the sometimes hot and sometimes cold climate of the valleys. There will probably be a great rush to the new mines early in the spring, and no doubt much litigation will result from the mixed methods of location. CHAPTER IX. WYOMING. In my last report I mentioned the extensive coal field of Wyoming, without giving any detailed description of the mines. Since then the business of coal-mining along the Union Pacific Railroad has assumed such large proportions, and the lately-developed base-metal mines of Utah render the existence of mineral coal in that region so important for the extraction of the metals from the ores, that I have considered it my duty to examine this subject closely. My deputy, Mr. A. Eilers, who was charged to make the field-examinations, was freely assisted in his endeavors by the superintendents of the two principal coal-mining companies, Mr. Thomas Wardell, of Rock Springs, and Mr. Charles T. Deuel, of Evanston. Coal has been discovered in many localities, from a point 100 miles west of Cheyenne, to Echo Cañon in Utah. Three coal-beds have been principally worked, at Carbon, at Rock Springs, and at Evanston. The geological horizon of these beds in relation to each other has not been definitely determined, but from the general westerly dip of the strata, it is inferred that the Carbon coal is the lowest of the three, and the Evanston bed the highest. A still lower one has lately been opened, immediately at the western slope of the Black Hills. When the local · disturbances, which are of frequent occurrence, shall have been better studied than is at present the case, this order of superposition may possibly be found different. The Wyoming Coal and Mining Company, which has the contract to supply the Union Pacific Railroad, works mines at all three of the above-named points, and the Rocky Mountain Coal and Iron Company, which supplies the Central Pacific road, works the same bed in three different places at Evanston. The Carbon seam, one hundred and forty miles west of Cheyenne, is opened immediately by the side of the railroad-track by a shaft 70 feet deep. Like all the Wyoming coals, this coal is a lignite, but very compact, and full of resinous matter, which, being finely distributed throughout the bed, is also often found in translucent patches very similar in appearance to amber. Before November of last year this coal was extensively mined, but the unfortunate fire which broke out in the bed at that time has closed the mine. Spontaneous combustion is reported to have been the cause of the conflagration, and it was found impossible to stop it speedily. It was finally extinguished, after the pillars had been burned out, by the caving of the overlying strata. The coal is 8 to 10 feet thick, and the mine was being re-opened in the summer, and has, no doubt, resumed active operations by this time. The coal is found to be the best for gas purposes west of the Missouri. The following analy sis of the coal is furnished by Mr. Wardell: water, 6.80; ash, 8.00; volatile, 35.48; fixed carbon, 49.72. Rock Springs lies in the midst of the Bitter Creek desert. The coal mines are about a mile east of the station, and close to the track. A little village has sprung up here, most of the houses being owned by the company, and inhabited by the miners. There is no sweet water in the vicinity, and for domestic purposes it is therefore brought by rail from Green River, fourteen miles farther west. There is, however, a sulphur-spring about a mile from the mines. The valley of Bitter Creek, a dry stream in the summer, is here entirely underlaid by a seam of coal 10 to 12 feet thick, and a smaller one of about 1 foot above it. Toward the east the same seams appear in a small hill of 8 or 10 acres, some 150 feet above the valley. All around this hill the coal is exposed to view, except in a narrow strip of about 200 feet in width, where the bed connects with the portion running under the valley. The strike of the rocks is here nearly north and south, the dip 50 to 80 slightly south of west. At present coal is only extracted from the hill by pillar-work, but an incline has been sunk on the same bed, close to and under the railroad-track, about a half mile west of the hill. The mouth of this incline is intended to be the point to which the coal from under the val ley, and that from under the slope of the hill, is to be brought, the work being done by the same engine. The Rock Springs coal is very firm, and full of resinous matter. It leaves very little ash, and does not fall so easily to pieces, on exposure to the air, as other Wyoming coals. It is a good gas-coal, and well fitted for steam purposes, and for use in reverberatory furnaces. For the blast-furnace it is not applicable, as it does not coke, and splits up into small angular fragments on exposure to the heat. The daily supply from the mines is about fifteen car-loads, or 150 tons; but in winter this production is increased to 200 tons a day. The floor of this bed is a coarse white sandstone, on which lie 8 to 9 feet of very clean coal. Next comes a seam of slate, from 1 to 3 inches thick, and above this are from 3 to 3 feet of coal, overlaid by an arenaceous shale. The coal is only removed up to the band of slate, which, together with the coal above it, furnishes a very good roof. An analysis of this coal gives: water, 7.00; ash, 1.73; volatile, 36.81; fixed carbon, 54.40. At Evanston the coal-bed now worked measures at least 22 feet in thickness, and in the middle mine of the Rocky Mountain Coal Company the thickness of the vein is even 26 feet. The mines are three miles northwest of Evanston, in Bear River Valley. The bed shows, in the different inclines sunk upon it, a dip of from 20° to 26° northeast. Commencing from below, the strata exposed in the Wyoming Coal Company's mine show the following order and thickness: Soft shale.... Indurated calcareous clay Calcareous and argillaceous spherosiderite.. Indurated calcareous clay. Slate, with thin seams of coal Feet. Inches. Coal...... 0 4 Argillaceous limestone. Coal, with 9 inches slate in the middle of the bed.. Dark bituminous fire-clay. Slate, with coal-seams and impressions of leaves Hard coal ... Coal.... Slate Coal.. Slate Coal. Slate Coal. 0 0 0 The incline in this mine is 850 feet long. Galleries are driven both ways, at 150 feet below the surface, and again 192 feet below this point. The upper one was, in the summer, driven in on a level 600 feet to the northwest, and 450 feet to the southeast. From the galleries, oblique ascending gangways are driven on the upper side every 50 feet, and from these the chambers start right and left, the breasts being 20 feet, and the pillars 18 feet wide. Ventilation is as yet satisfactorily maintained by a small furnace in the mine. The pump is in the bottom of the mine, and the steam is conducted to it from above. The Rocky Mountain Company has opened the bed on the same hill by three inclines, from the middle one of which all the coal was raised in the summer, the others being not yet quite prepared for work. It was expected that by January 1, 1872, the machinery on all three inclines would be in running order. Their combined capacity will be 1,000 tons per day. On the middle mine the company have erected an excellent 60 horse-power hoisting-engine, built by Booth & Co., of San Francisco, with which they hoist ten cars at a time. The incline is straight to a depth of 270 feet, where a fault in the vein was encountered, letting down the coal abruptly 8 feet. A slight curve in the incline was here necessary, from which it is sunk again in a straight line to a total depth from the surface of 486 feet. With the exception of a slight variation in the size of the working chambers and pillars, this mine is worked on the same plan as that of the Wyoming Coal Company. The lower seam, which is alone taken out at present, as in the Wyoming Company's mine, is here 9 feet thick instead of 8 feet, as above given in the enumeration of the strata. The coal and slate above make a firm roof, if the chambers are not over 18 feet wide. It is intended to mine in the future workings the upper 8-foot bed. For this purpose one sidegallery has been run obliquely across the coal-bed on the lower side of a main gangway until it struck the roof of the upper seam. The sandstone roof seems to be sufficiently strong. This mine delivered 150 tons per day. The northern incline was in 120 feet, and two gangways were started from it 85 feet from the surface. The coal-bed is here also 26 feet thick. Machinery for this mine was on the ground, and soon to be erected. The incline on the southern mine, nearest to that of the Wyoming Coal Company, was down 386 feet, and two sets of levels were driven in right and left for some distance. The mine was, however, not worked yet, the engine not being in position. The work in all these mines has been done very neatly and accurately. On January 1, 1872, the depth of the three inclines on the Rocky Mountain Company's property was reported to me by the superintendent, Mr. Deuel, as follows: No. 1, 386 feet; No. 2, 512 feet; No. 3, 290 feet. The Rocky Mountain Company employs mostly Chinese, a sufficient number of English and American miners being only retained to train the former. The Wyoming Company employs English, Scotch, and American miners at Evanston, and Scandinavians at Rock Springs. Wages vary from $1.50 to $2.50, with board. The Evanston coal is clean, and exhibits almost no stratification, while cross-seams are extremely numerous, so that undercutting is carried on at a disadvantage, and the production of a vast amount of slack is the consequence, which H. Ex. 211-24 is filled in on the lower side of the main gangways so as to level them. The coal, and especially the slates, containing much iron pyrites, and the layers of slack often being from 4 to 5 feet thick, there is great danger of spontaneous combustion; and the Wyoming Company intends, therefore, to hoist in future the greater part of the small coal and burn it on the surface. The Evanston coal analyzes, according to Mr. Thomas Wardell, as follows: water, 8.58; ash, 6.30; volatile matter, 35.22; carbon, 49.90. The following are tabular statements of the coal mined and shipped by the Wyoming Coal and Mining Company, and by the Rocky Mountain Coal and Iron Company, since the mines were started: Coal mined and shipped by Wyoming Coal and Mining Company, from August 1, 1868, to December 31, 1871, in tons. |