FT. INS.
Fire-clay 0 6
Coal 1 4
Clay 0 1
Coal 0 4
Clay 0 0-1/2
Coal 1 1
Bone 0 1
Coal 1 9
----------
Total 4 ft. 8-1/2 ins.
The lower bench would probably be neglected for the present, but the
upper bench is worthy of immediate development. The coal is of good
quality. Perhaps on analysis it would be classed with bituminous coals,
although the woody structure is discernible in places. It burns freely.
The outcrop of this bed is visible lower down the creek in a crushed
condition.
[Sidenote: Large body of valuable coal.]
My visit was rather premature for a proper study of the group; but there
can be no doubt that there is here a large body of valuable coal. The
quantity is estimated by the mining engineer, Mr. Whitworth, at
10,500,000 tons. I saw no other coal beds in the territory so favorably
situated for mining and loading. Of course, coal standing at an angle of
forty degrees cannot be mined so cheaply as if it were horizontal; but
all the mines in Washington Territory must contend with this
disadvantage, and in all cases coming under my observation, except this
one, the mining had to be done on the down grade, which involved much
hoisting, pumping, bad air, etc., which can be avoided at the Gilman
Mines.
An incidental advantage, also, is that the Squak Valley furnishes any
amount of timber for building, propping, railroad ties, etc., and when
more generally cultivated, a superabundance of agricultural products.
The experience of Newcastle, and the rapid growth of the market,
indicate that these mines may be enlarged in their operations, almost
without limit.
[Sidenote: Washington Mines.]
Washington Mines, on one of the upper branches of Squak Creek, show the
outcroppings of three seams of lignite coal, dipping S. of W. I did not
visit this place, but was informed that a company, known as the
Washington Coal Company, was engaged in cutting these seams; but I am
not informed as to what are their prospects.
[Sidenote: Raging River coals.]
The Raging River Coals. Six miles east of Gilman Mines, where the
railroad enters the Raging River Valley, is found another group of coal
seams, older than the Squak coals, and perhaps corresponding in age with
the Franklin and Black Diamond coals, though apparently more bituminous
than they. Raging River is about twelve miles long, and the railroad
first approaches it about midway its length. There are indications of
local metamorphism, if not intrusion, visible in the rocks between Squak
Creek and Raging River, and this is further indicated by an outcrop of
anthracite at the north end of the coal seams, within a mile of the
road. Mr. Whitworth represents this anthracite seam as five feet thick,
but crushed and fragile. Its structure is laminated, and it breaks into
small cubes. He spoke, also, of another seam of anthracite high up on
Raging River, three feet thick, with three inches slate six inches from
the top. He mined in on this for thirty feet without observing any
change. The outcrop of this group of coal seams extends from near the
line of the railroad, up the west side of the valley, parallel with the
river, and about a mile from it, and lying in high hills. This coal
property is also owned by the Seattle Coal and Iron Company. The
principal mining camp is near the head of the valley, ten miles above
Falls City, six miles above the line of railway. Here I saw the coal
seams, which had been uncovered without having been cut into
sufficiently to determine fully their character. One seam is open in a
ravine, half way up the mountain, but most of them near the top, at an
elevation of about 800 feet above the river. There are at least six
seams, and if the one on the mountain side be a different seam, there
are seven. The coal generally is of good quality: bituminous, with
cubical fracture; but its value is greatly diminished by numerous slate
partings, and some of the seams are too thin for profitable mining. The
dip is to the southwest at high angles: about eighty degrees on the
mountain side--less in the top seams.
[Sidenote: Details.]
The seam on the mountain side showed a total thickness of seven feet
with sandstone over and under; but of this there was only about 2 feet 8
inches of good coal in a body, and the rest coal and slate interleaved.
Near the top of the mountain there are six seams open near a rivulet,
and quite near together. Reaching the top of the mountain, I found the
upper opening (geologically the under opening), No. 1, to contain about
two feet of good black coal, with one slate parting of an inch thick.
No. 2. This seam shows a total thickness of eight feet, but it contains
so many slate partings that I could not estimate the bed highly.
No. 3. Here I saw fifteen inches of coal, with slate partings.
No. 4. An irregular bed, four to seven feet in thickness, crushed, and
probably dislocated, and so slaty as to be of doubtful value.
No. 5. Another crushed and irregular exposure, four to six feet thick.
The coal looks better, and promises to be a good seam when found in its
natural state.
No. 6. A two-foot seam resembling No. 1.
Mr. Whitworth furnished me the following details of an opening near the
camp on Raging River, which was not in a condition to be seen during my
visit, but which has since been gone in upon for about fifteen feet.
From bed-rock, ascending:
FT. INS.
Clay 0 2
Coal, crushed 0 5
Black bone 0 1
Coal, crushed 0 11
Black bone 0 1
Coal, hard 0 6
Sand rock 0 3
Coal, good 0 10
Bone 0 2
Coal, good 0 6
Bone 0 1-1/2
Coal, good 0 6
Bone 0 1
Coal, crushed 0 36
Clay and rock (diminishing) 4 6
Coal, crushed 3 0
Strike, north, 76-1/2° east.
Dip 22° to south.
Mr. Whitworth says that the coal improved as he went in, and he is quite
hopeful about this seam. But his record reads to me like the description
of a slide; still it may not be so.
The show upon the whole, as seen by me, was not satisfactory--and yet
the beds might possibly improve inward; and if the coal should coke
well, it might pay to wash it; as could easily be done at Raging River.
[Sidenote: Snoqualmie Mountain Coal Group.]
The Snoqualmie Coal Group outcrops some hundreds of feet up the west
side of Snoqualmie Mountain, and about three miles southwest of Hop
Ranch. The outcrop has been traced perhaps one mile. There are five
seams here running north and south with the strike of the mountain
rocks. The seams dip west at an angle of 45°, _i.e._, away from the axis
of the mountain.
[Sidenote: Details.]
[Sidenote: Good coking coal.]
Seam No. 3 is the third seam from the bottom. A side entry had been
driven in on the coal for 60 feet, but water now barred the entrance and
prevented a thorough scrutiny of the seam. Its thickness was about 3
feet 6 inches, of which there was a band of lignitic coal of
three-quarters of an inch near the top, and five inches of the same near
the bottom. The weathered outcrop of this, as of the coal-beds of
Washington Territory generally, had a brownish hue, but the fresh
surfaces showed a good black bituminous coal. It lies firm and regular
in its bed. When dug and handled, it goes to small pieces, and may
generally be crushed to powder in the hand; which, of itself, is no bad
sign of a good coking coal.
Seam No. 4, the second seam from the bottom, descending:
FT. INS.
Roof, Slate 2 0
Bone 2 0
Coal 0 6
Fine-grained Sandstone, average 2 2
Natural Coke 0 6
Bituminous Shale 0 6
Coal 4 2
Bottom, Sandstone.
The coal of this seam is soft, black and lustrous. An entry was driven
in 50 feet, which required much propping, the roof being bad. At the end
of this distance we came squarely against a wall of sandstone, showing a
fault. At this point six inches of the top coal is thrown up vertically,
which showed that the seam thus far had dropped, and that the
continuation was to be looked for at a higher level. Mining upward
through the soft material, the coal had been again struck at an
elevation of 16 feet, but not the full thickness of the seam, and not in
its true position; but after following it upward 4 feet more the seam
was found in its natural state.
There seems to be no slate in this seam, but occasionally there is found
in it a ball of "nigger-head," or hard sulphurous matter, from the size
of a man's head down.
[Sidenote: Also good coking coal.]
An experiment of coking this coal in a small pit at the mouth of this
bank was made by Mr. Kirke and his coal-bank manager, with as
satisfactory results as could be expected from so imperfect a trial. I
found pieces of the coke lying near, and saw better samples which have
been brought from here. While, of course, the coke thus made is not the
best quality, it certainly promises well.
[Sidenote: Large and valuable bed.]
Seam No. 2, descending:
Roof, fine-grained Sandstone, under
which is seven inches Black Slate. FT. INS.
Coal 0 6
Slate 2 0
Coal 0 7
Slate 0 4
Coal 0 5
Slate 0 5
Argillaceous and Ferruginous Rock 1 7
Coal 0 1-1/2
Bone 0 5
Coal (main bench) of good quality 7 0
Nigger-head 0 2
Coal 1 0
Slate 0 1-1/2
Coal, good 0 6
Slate and Clay 0 7
Lignite (brown coal) 2 1
Bituminous Slate 1 8
Coal 0 1/2
Nigger-head 0 4-1/2
Clay and Bony Slate 0 7
Coal 0 1
Nigger-head 0 1-1/2
Coal 0 1/16
Bituminous Slate 1 2
Coal 0 1
Slate 0 7
Coal 0 7
Slate and Sandstone bottom. ---------------
Total 23 ft. 1-9/16 in.
[Sidenote: Another good bed.]
Seam No. 1 is only partially exposed, the workings having caved in; but
enough of the seam was visible to show that it was a bright, soft,
friable, bituminous coal, of good quality, containing some slate and
nigger-head. Its fracture would be called _dicey_ by some geologists,
because it breaks readily into small cubes, even smaller than dice. The
seam is probably about five feet in thickness.
[Sidenote: Geological relations.]
This group probably corresponds geologically with the Kirke Mines, on
Green River; but, judging by the eye, it is a more bituminous coal and
better suited to coking. The large bed here may correspond with one of
the large beds at the Kirke Mines.
I fear that faults are numerous in the coal rocks of this group, which,
of course, would add to the expense of mining. But if, as expected, it
furnishes a good smelting coke, the field will be extremely valuable
from its contiguity to the magnetic ores of the Cascade Mountains and
the scarcity of coking coals.
This property was for sale when I visited it, and would have been sold
but for a claim of ownership set up by the Northern Pacific Railroad,
which, however, in the opinion of good lawyers, had no foundation.
[Sidenote: This the bottom group.]
This is the bottom group of the Washington Territory coal field. It will
be seen that, taking the Gilman group, the Raging River group, and the
Snoqualmie group on one line, and the Cedar River, Carbon River, and
Green River group on another line, it may be fairly claimed that there
are at least fifteen working seams of three feet and upward in the
Washington Territory coal field.
_e. The Yakima and Wenatchie Group._ This field lies on the east flank
of the Cascade Mountains, on the waters of the Yakima and its
tributaries, Cle-ellum and Teanaway. It is believed to extend also into
the Wenatchie Valley, although the area here is probably disconnected
from the Yakima area. I purposely refrained from visiting this region,
and for my statements I am indebted chiefly to Bailey Willis, F. H.
Whitworth, Charles Burch, and Mr. Jamieson of the Kirke Mines.
[Sidenote: Yakima or Roslyn coal field.]
The Yakima area lies north of the Yakima River, near to the Northern
Pacific Railroad, and to the projected line of the Seattle, Lake Shore
and Eastern Railway, and extends about sixty miles east and west, and
six miles north and south. Its dip is gentle, say twelve to twenty
degrees. It holds three coal seams of 2 feet 6 inches, and 5 feet and 5
feet respectively. There is not much evidence of fracture in any part of
the field. The total thickness of the coal-bearing rocks is estimated by
Bailey Willis to be 1,000 feet. This is evidently the lower part of the
coal series, the upper part having been carried away. The best seam is
mined at Roslyn, four miles north of the Northern Pacific Railroad, in
the interest of that railroad.
The seam here furnishes upward of four feet of good coal. The coal is
bituminous, dull black, firm, and free burning. Mr. Jamieson thinks it
will not make good coke. Others, however, think that it will, and these
are supported partially by the laboratory test in Washington City, D. C.
(See Table of Coal Analyses, page 107.) It is called in the table Roslyn
coal.
This coal is used chiefly in the locomotives; but the popular demand for
it is very great in the plateau country of East Washington.
[Sidenote: Coal on the Wenatchie.]
I have no knowledge of the coal on Wenatchie River except what I
obtained from Mr. Burch, who says that there are two seams of coal
exposed in that valley, one of eight feet and one of three feet. The
coal-bearing rocks extend for thirty-five miles up the river, and have a
width of ten miles.
[Sidenote: Coal under the Great Bend country.]
The coal is reported by Mr. Burch to appear east of the Columbia River,
opposite to the fields just described, and to disappear under the
basalt. If so, here is a resource for the future. Concerning the
importance of this coal field to the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern
Railway, I will speak in another connection.
[Sidenote: The first mining on Bellingham Bay.]
_f. Bellingham Bay, Skagit River, and other Coal Fields._ The first
shipping of coal from Washington Territory was done from the Seahome
Mines, on Bellingham Bay, Puget Sound, about twenty-five miles south of
the Canada line. The mines were very badly managed; they took fire on
several occasions. The coal was of the lignitic grade, but not of the
best quality, and when other mines of better coal were opened the
Bellingham Bay mines were closed. It is reported that coking coal has
been found some distance back from the bay.
[Sidenote: Coal on Skagit River.]
Coal has also been found on Skagit River, which, I suspect, from a
sample which I saw and from what I heard (some of it), is good, and
possibly might coke well. One of the coal properties is held by A. Ford
and others. The following description is furnished by Mr. Norman B.
Kelly.
It is found about three miles north of the Skagit River, and about five
miles from Sedro. The country is hilly. There are at least six or eight
coal seams, perhaps more. Those examined run from eighteen inches to
thirty inches, and are thought to be clean coal. The seams lie between
sandrocks. The outcrops begin near the level of the valley, and continue
in a series to an altitude of 550 feet above the valley. The highest
outcrops are those of the lowest seams geologically. The strike is north
sixty degrees west. At the foot of the hill, the seams dip forty-five
degrees to the southwest, but the angle becomes steeper on the mountain
side, until finally they are vertical. All the outcrops are within 1,500
feet horizontal distance. Blacksmiths use the coal and pronounce it
equal to Cumberland. It cokes readily in the open fire; burns with a
bright, hot, but small flame, and seems to leave but little ash.
Of course, the thinness of these seams is an objection. There is coal,
also, upon the south side of the river; but there has been but little
development in this field. An analysis of this coal is given in the
table preceding, but I cannot say from what seam the sample was derived.
The following analysis of coal of the Crystal Mine, near Sterling, is
said to have been made by Mr. Wm. G. Tenne, assayer, of Portland,
Oregon:
Coke 71.31
Combustible gases 23.17
Ash 5.31
Moisture .21
A very fine showing.
[Sidenote: Coal south of Puget Sound.]
It has long been known that there are considerable areas of coal south
and southwest of Puget Sound. But they have not been very highly
esteemed, the coals being lignite of not the best quality. There are at
least two seams of seven to twelve feet thickness, and they lie at an
angle of five degrees, with good roof and floor. Some effort is now
making on Skookumchuck and Chehalis rivers to develop these seams.
[Sidenote: Total shipments of coal from Washington Territory.]
Governor Semple, in his report for 1887, gives as the total shipment for
the year ending June 30, 1887, the amount 525,705 tons. And he gives as
the total output of coal from all the Washington Territory mines from
the beginning of shipments to June 30, 1887:
MINES. TONS.
Newcastle 1,308,178
Franklin 46,272
Black Diamond 148,418
Renton 35,015
Talbot 10,000
Cedar River 64,816
Carbonado 402,207
South Prairie 139,792
Wilkeson 10,372
Bucoda 4,550
Roslyn 40,987
Bellingham Bay (estimated) 250,000
Clallam Bay 500
----------
Total 2,461,108
I have now given a sketch of all the coal mines and coal areas of
Washington Territory, and will conclude with a few words on the coal of
Vancouver's Island.
[Sidenote: Coal on Vancouver's Island.]
_g._ _Coal Seams in British Columbia._ The productive coal field is on
Vancouver's Island, on the east side of the Gulf of Georgia. There are
three mines in operation as given below: