Not content with covering half the surface of the state with forests
for fuel, the Creator hid away under the forests an additional
supply of heat and power sufficient to last its future citizens an
indefinite period. The white man was not slow to find and locate
the coal measures in many counties, notably in Kittitas, King,
Pierce, Lewis, Whatcom and Thurston, and to put it to the task of
driving his machinery. The coal measures of these counties are of
vast extent, and, although little developed yet, there are 3,000,000
tons of coal mined annually in Washington. Other counties are known
to have coal measures beneath their forests, but as yet they have
not been opened up for commerce.
The coal already mined includes both lignite and bituminous varieties
and furnishes fuel for the railroads, steamboats and power plants,
giving very satisfactory results. Much of the bituminous coal makes
an excellent article of coke and provides this concentrated carbon
for the various plants about the state engaged in smelting iron
and other metals.
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The fixed carbon of the coal ranges from 48 to 65 per cent. and
the total values in carbon from 64 to 80 per cent. and the ash
from 3 to 17 per cent. The coal measures underlie probably the
great bulk of the foothills on both sides of the Cascades and some
of the Olympics, the Blue mountains of the southeast and some of
the low mountains in the northeastern part of the state.
Besides these coals already mentioned, it is known that veins of
anthracite coal exist in the western part of Lewis county, the
extent and value of which have not been fully determined, and, owing
to the absence of transportation, are not on the market.