DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIKECTOB

BULLETIN 424

THE

VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS

THE VALUE OF COAL LAND

BY

GEORGE H. ASHLEY

DEPTH AND MINIMUM THICKNESS OF BEDS AS 

LIMITING FACTORS IN VALUATION

BY

CASSIUS A. FISHER

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

1910

CONTENTS.

Page.

THE VALUE OP COAL LAND, by G. H. Aghley............................... 5

Introduction.......................................................... 5

Laws relating to the sale of coal lands ................................ 5

Areas of coal lands classified ........................................ 6

Object of present paper..........................................:. 7

The royalty value of coal land......................................... 8

Source of value of coal land......................................... 8

Prices of coal...................................................... 8

Royalties now paid................................................. 9

Royalties and land prices........................................... 12

Fairness of government prices....................................... 14

Factors affecting the sale price of coal land.............................. 15

General nature of the factors..... v ................................. 15

Quality or character of coal........................ '. ............... 16

Quantity of coal. ................................................... 18

Competition...................................................... 21

Knowledge of coal content.........:................................ 23

Accessibility....................................................... 27

Cost of mining and marketing...................................... 29

Demand.. ..................... .^.................................. 30

Artificial and legal restrictions....................................... 31

Market value of coal lands............................................... 32

Bonding valuation of coal land...................................... 32

Assessment valuation of coal land .................................. 32

Sale prices of coal lands............................................. ' 34

Basis of the government valuation of public coal lands....... v ........... 37

Whatiscoalland?.................................................. 37

Values graded according to quality and use.......................... 38

Reduction for number of beds and thickness........................ 40

Reduction for distance from railroad, depth, etc...................... 41

Comparison of government prices with commercial prices............ 43

Leasing of public coal lands............................................. 45

DEPTH AND MINIMUM THICKNESS OP COAL BEDS AS LIMITING PACTORS IN THE

VALUATION OP COAL LANDS, by C. A. Fisher ...........\.................. 48

Introduction.......................................................... 48

Maximum depth of coal mining........................................ 49

Foreign countries..........."........................................ 49

. General conditions............................................ 49

Belgium...................................................... 49

England and Wales.......................................... 1. 50

'' Scotland.-...........................'.......................... 50

France....................................................... 50

Germany...................................................... 50

Australia..................................................... 51

Experience gained by deep mining abroad......................... ^ 51
4 CONTENTS.

DEPTH AND MINIMUM THICKNESS OF COAL BEDS AS LIMITING FACTORS IN THE 

VALUATION OF COAL LANDS, by C. A. Fisher Continued.

Maximum depth of coal mining Continued. Page.

United States...................................................... 52

General conditions............................................ 52

Eastern province.............................................. 53

Interior province............................................... 53

Northern Great Plains province................................ 54

Rocky Mountain province..................................... 54

Pacific Coast province......................................... 55

Conclusion. . ...................................................... 55

Working of thin coal beds............................................... 56

Foreign countries................................................... 56

General statements............................................. 56

England and Wales............................................ 56

Belgium........ s ............................................. 57

Scotland.............................. -. ....................... 57

Other foreign countries........................................ 57

United States........................................................ 57

General conditions............................................ 57

Eastern province.............................................. 57

Gulf province.. ...................... ..^....................^... 58

Interior province............................................... 58

Northern Great Plains province................................ 60

Rocky Mountain province..................................... 60

Factors affecting the mining of thin coal beds....................... 61

Standards adopted for coal lands of the public domain................... 63

Statistics............................................................. 64
THE VALDE OF COAL LAND.

By GEORGE H. ASHLEY.

INTRODUCTION.

LAWS RELATING TO THE SALE OF COAL LANDS.

The laws of the United States relating to the sale of coal lands, as 

contained in the Revised Statutes, read as follows:

SEC. 2347. Every person above the age of twenty-one years, who is a citizen of the 

United States, or who has declared his intention to become such, or any association 

of persons severally qualified as above, shall, upon application to the register of the 

proper land office, have the right to enter, by legal subdivisions, any quantity of vacant 

coal lands of the United States not otherwise appropriated or reserved by competent 

authority not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to such individual person, or 

three hundred and twenty acres to such association, upon payment to the receiver of 

not less than ten dollars per acre for such lands where the same shall be situated more 

than fifteen miles from any completed railroad, and not less than twenty dollars per 

acre for such lands as shall be within fifteen miles of such road.

SEC. 2348.' Any person or association of persons severally qualified, as above provided, who have opened and improved, or shall hereafter open and improve, any 

coal mine or mines upon the public lands, and shall be in actual possession of the same,' 

shall be entitled to a preference right of entry, under the preceding section, of the 

mines so opened and improved: Provided, That when any association of not less than 

four persons, severally qualified as above provided, shall have expended not less than 

five thousand dollars in working and improving any such mine or mines, such association may enter not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, including such mining 

improvements.

SEC. 2349. All claims under the preceding section must be presented to the register of the proper land district within sixty days after the date of actual possession and 

the commencement of improvements on the land, by the filing of a declaratory statement therefor; but when the township plat is not on file at the date of such improvement, filing must be made within sixty, days from the receipt of such plat at the district office; and where the improvements shall have been made prior to the expiration of three months from the third day of March, eighteen hundred and seventythree, sixty days from the expiration of such three months shall be allowed for the 

filing of a declaratory statement, and no sale under the provisions of this section shall 

be allowed until the expiration of six months from the third day of March, eighteen 

hundred and seventy-three.

SEC. 2350. The three preceding sections shall be held to authorize only one entry 

by the same person or association of persons; and no association of persons any member 

of which shall have taken the benefit of such sections, either as an individual or as a 

member of any other association, shall enter or hold any other lands under the provisions thereof; and no member of any association which shall have taken the benefit

5
6 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

of such sections shall enter or hold any other lands under their provisions; and all 

persons claiming under section twenty-three hundred and forty-eight shall be required 

to prove their respective rights and pay for the lands filed upon within one year from 

the time prescribed for filing their respective claims; and upon failure to file the 

proper notice, or pay for the land within the required period, the same shall be subject 

to entry by any other qualified applicant.

SEC. 2351. In case of conflicting claims upon coal lands where the improvements 

shall be commenced, after the third day of March, eighteen hundred and seventythree, priority of possession and improvement, followed by proper filing and continued good faith, shall determine the preference right to purchase. And also where 

improvements have already been made prior to the third day of March, eighteen 

hundred and seventy-three, division of the land claimed may be made by legal 

subdivisions, to include, as near as may be, the valuable improvements of the respective parties. The Commissioner of the General Land Office is authorized to issue all 

needful rules and regulations for carrying into effect the provisions of this and the 

four preceding sections.

SEC. 2352. Nothing in the five preceding sections shall be construed to destroy or 

impair any rights which may have attached prior to the third day of March, eighteen 

hundred and seventy-three, or to authorize the sale of lands valuable for mines of 

gold, silver, or copper.

AREAS OF COAL LANDS CLASSIFIED.

Prior to July, 1906, it was the practice to dispose of coal lands at 

the minimum prices fixed by the law, viz, $20 per acre for lands 

within 15 miles of a completed railroad and $10 per acre for 

lands beyond the 15-mile limit. Since that date lands which have 

been classified and valued have been disposed of at fixed prices based 

upon the value of the coal contained in the land. July .26, 1906, 

large areas known or supposed to contain coal were withdrawn from 

entry and this withdrawal was followed by others. At the same 

time the Geological Survey began an appraisement of these withdrawn 

lands, which were returned to entry as rapidly as they were classified 

and appraised. The following table shows approximately the areas

withdrawn for classification and those classified and restored on 

November 1, 1909.

Areas withdrawn for classification and classified and restored, in acres.

State.

Utah ...........................................................

Colorado .......................................................

Total ....................................................

Withdrawn 

from coal 

entry pending examination and 

classification.

5,475,990

2,291,320

4,638,080

386,561

.9,295,360

3,283,420

5,856,320

645, 120

31,872,171

Withdrawn 

from all 

entry pending classification field 

work completed.

6,056,656

207,360

1,082,880

864,000

3,651,680

11,862,576

Classified and restored November 1, 

1909.

in 9n=; SM

612,440

1,728,000

885, 120

8,075,300

 5,122,560

4, 755, 120

2, 169, 917

2,360,995

35,915,255
INTEODIJCTION. 7

At the time this policy was established the Geological Survey had 

examined only a very small part of the coal fields in the public-land 

States. From that time, however, the examination of coal lands was 

rapidly extended and the work of classification and valuation was 

increased until it became necessary, in order to unify and correlate 

the work, to create a board of three members, who should prepare or 

revise all of the classifications made.

One of the first acts of this board was to collect additional data on 

the value and workability of coals and to review carefully the former 

basis of classification. As a result of this review, recommendations 

for a new and somewhat more definite basis of classification and 

valuation were presented to the Secretary of the Interior and resulted 

in the " Regulations on the classification and valuation of coal lands," 

approved by the Secretary of the Interior April 10, 1909. Under 

these new regulations classifications have been made as follows, from 

April 10 to October 31:

Acres.

Classified as coal land............................................... 2,533,562

Classified as noncoal land........................:................... 10,291,822

Restored without classification....................................... 493,003

Total acted on:.............................................. 13, 318,387

Sale price of coal land as fixed...................................... $141, 890,576

Sale price of same coal land at minimum would be..................... 47,080,040

Gain in seven months (Apr. 10 to Oct. 1)............................-.. 94,810,536

OBJECT OF PRESENT PAPER.

The object of this paper is to present briefly some of the facts on 

which the Department's regulations for classifying and valuing coal 

lands are based. The information already at hand in the Survey 

has been supplemented by data obtained in the fall of 1909 by the 

writer in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, concerning the values of 

coal lands in those States.0 In dealing with the financial side of the 

question it has "been necessary or desirable to group some of the data 

and to omit names of authorities. It is not pretended that-the 

' discussion is exhaustive or complete, but it is believed that the facts 

selected are representative and that the conclusions based upon 

them would be confirmed rather than upset by the presentation of 

additional information.

The data are not evenly distributed or of equal value, being meager 

as to some districts and very full as to others.

a The writer, who is a member of the Survey's land-classification board, has for many years given 

special attention to the economics'Of coal. One of his earliest reports on this subject, bearing the title 

" The finances of coal," was published in 1899 (Twenty-third Ann. Kept. Indiana Dept. Geology and 

Natural Resources, pp. 1490-1517).
8 VALUATION 0°F FUBLIC COAL LANDS.

ROYALTY VALUE OF COAL LAND.

SOURCE OF VALUE OF COAL LAND.

Coal land derives its value from the coal that underlies it, and the 

value of coal, like that of every other commodity, is in a broad way 

determined by the supply and demand, which fix the sale price of 

coal in open market. On the one hand is the seller, demanding a 

price that will pay him for the expense of mining, preparing, and 

transporting the coal, and leave him a satisfactory profit; on the 

other hand is the buyer, seeking the cheapest market and willing to 

pay only such price as will yield him a satisfactory return either in 

comfort or in financial benefit for service rendered or manufactured 

goods prepared.

Coal is a commodity for which the supply and demand are both 

large and widespread, and active competition among both sellers 

and buyers tends to produce a more or less stable balance, the selling 

price differing from place to place chiefly because of difference in the. 

cost of transportation. As transportation facilities improve and 

multiply, this stable balance comes into more nearly perfect equilibrium from point to point, except as it may be temporarily affected 

by widespread strikes, car shortage, or general changes in economic 

conditions.

PRICES OF COAL.

The selling price of coal may be taken at the mine, as it is with 

large contracts, or it may be determined by subtracting transportation and storage charges and losses and middlemen's profits from 

the sale price at the point of consumption, the result being the sale 

price at the mine. For the sake of uniformity the sale price may be 

assumed to be always f. o. b. at the mine.

In a purely theoretical study it might be possible to' estimate the

value of the coal in the ground by computing its heat-giving value, 

either actual or potential, as applied to serve human need and demand, 

and the total available supply. As this paper is, however, a study of 

actual conditions and of the value of coal under those conditions, the 

study must start from the sale price at the mine.

The sale price of coal at the mine may be divided roughly into three 

elements:

1. Cost of coal in ground.

2. Cost of removing from ground and preparing for market.

3. Profit.

The cost of the coal in the ground appears in one of two ways, 

either in the purchase of all of the beds or of a single bed of coal 

below a given number of acres of the surface, with or without the 

surface itself, or by purchase of the coal ton by ton as it is mined, 

under a leasehold contract' with the owner.
ROYALTY VALUE OF COAL LAND. 9

. The cost of removing the coal from the ground and preparing 

it includes all the costs of equipment, labor, materials, interest, marketing, amortization (or the laying aside of a fund for the replacement of the plant when worn out), and a fund to meet accidents and 

contingencies. These costs make up a more or less nearly definite 

figure or "fixed charge" for any locality, which is subject to change 

with change of conditions, but in general forms an item of expense 

that must be met if operations are to continue.

The profit, if any, is the difference between the costs stated above 

and the price the seller may be able to obtain for his coal.

The purchase of the coal in the ground for mining at some future 

time usually involves the cost of carrying the coal in interest and 

taxes to the time of mining, allowances for uncertainties as to the 

amount and quality of coal underlying the acreage purchased, and 

many other unknown factors. On the other hand, payment for the 

coal ton by ton as it is brought out of the ground eliminates these 

elements of uncertainty. It has therefore been uniformly recognized 

that the royalty rate at which coal is paid for per ton at any chosen 

place is the .truest measure of what it is there worth commercially in 

the ground.

Here, again, supply and demand, in a broad way, determine the 

royalty rate. Where, as in the Illinois coal field, a score of million 

acres of coal land are awaiting development and the present demand 

is exhausting only a few thousand acres a year, the owner of the coal 

may be willing to part with it for almost nothing rather than to see it 

lie and yield him nothing at all. Under these conditions he may lease 

the coal for a price as low as 2 cents a ton. On the other hand, where 

the supply is small and the demand great as in the Connellsville 

coking field of Pennsylvania, the anthracite field of Pennsylvania, 

or in some fields in the West the royalty may be from 40 cents to 

$1 a ton. The price last mentioned is local. In a general way, in the 

bituminous coal fields outside of the Connellsville coking field royalties 

on large contracts range from 5 cents to 15 cents, the average being 

not far from 10 cents a ton.

ROYALTIES NOW PAID.

The following table shows the royalties now paid in many eastern 

and western coal fields. The tabie gives the royalty in cenis;^the 

minimum yearly royalty, where that is at hand;'and the bonus-"oh' 

the lease, where such bonus is paid. Although the figures may be 

lacking for some districts, a minimum royalty is practically everywhere exacted. A bonus is, however, paid less frequently. A minimum royalty is fixed to encourage production up to at least a certain 

amount, with the penalty of having to pay for that amount whether 

it is produced or not; and as the courts have declared that such a mini-
10 OF PUBLIC COAL

mum royalty is payable each year, it serves to encourage continuous 

operation. The bonus is a cash payment, and as a rule is exacted 

only where conditions are especially favorable. Under a lease on 

developed property the bonus may cover the cost of improvement; 

otherwise the bonus must be considered as so much addition to the 

royalty. Under some leases the bonus is rated at so many cents a 

ton; it is then simply an addition to the royalty. Under other 

leases it is a cash payment, demanded when the lease is made, and 

becomes a diminishing charge per ton against the coal as the output

increases.

Royalties paid in some coal districts of the United States.

Locality.

Pennsylvania:

Connellsville district 

Ohio:

West Virginia:

Pocahontas district 

Kentucky:

Tennessee:

Alabama:

Indiana:

Illinois:

Colorado:

Wyoming:

Utah:

Montana:

Royalty, in cents.

Up to 50 5-15

16-20

24-30

10-15

alO-15

8

6

10-15

15-24

5J-10

10

8-12

10-11

3

10

7-10

7-124

3

o4-10

O 01

a 10-25

2

3

8

10

8-27J

8-12*

8-10

3-6

10

" Up to 100 8-10

Up to 75

15

15

Minimum yearly 

royalty.

$1,000 per 100 acres. . . .

$600 to $300,000........

$12.50 an acre to §45,000

$10 an acre to 320,000. .

$300toS500...........

taxes on land. 

$100...................

$100 to $200...........

8100 to $500 (?)........

Up to 820,000.........

. '

Bonus on lease.

$200,000.

Do.

Royalty computed on screened coal; in other districts royalty is computed on run-of-mine coal.
BOYALTY VALUE OF COAL LAND. 11

The foregoing table has been compiled partly by correspondence 

with officers of some of the largest coal companies in the districts 

named, partly by personal inquiry, and partly from published 

reports on new leases at the time they were made.

The data are not complete, even for the districts cited. Some of 

the figures are based on general statements of representative operators as "to the conditions in the field; others are based on royalties 

paid by one or more mining companies. Each royalty is computed 

on mine-run coal, except those marked a, whose basis is screened 

coal.

In fixing the rate no account is generally taken of differences in 

the thickness and quality of the coal. Thus, in Colorado the royalties charged in the Trinidad field for high-grade coking coal are not 

observably different from those paid in the Boulder field for relatively 

low-grade subbituminous coal, or "black lignite." The Boulder 

County field, however, by its proximity to Denver, has an advantage 

that offsets the lower grade of the coal. Nevertheless, it remains 

true that, except perhaps in the Connellsville coking coal and Pocahontas coal fields, little or no correspondence can be found between 

the royalty rates and the quality of the coal. In eastern Kentucky, 

it is said, the rate is affected by the thickness of the bed. Thus, 

beds running from 3 to 4 feet pay 8 cents; from 4 to 5 feet, 10 cents; 

from 5 to 6 feet, 12 cents. In Wyoming the rate.charged for coal 

mined on State lands depends on the amount of coal mined yearly, 

being 6 cents a ton for all coal mined and sold up to 25,000 tons, 5 

cents a ton between 25,000 and 50,000 tons, 4 cents a tori between 

50,000 and 100,000 tons, and 3 cents a ton on over 100,000 tons. In 

Colorado the state lands containing coal are leased on a straight 

10-cent royalty.

As will be seen from the table, royalties in the eastern interior coal 

fields of Illinois, Indiana, and western Kentucky are extremely low. 

The coal beds are regular and abundant and so widespread that 

nearly every farm in an area of 40,000 to 50,000 square miles is 

underlain by workable coal. Under these conditions, with a network 

of railroads running everywhere, the prospective operator has an 

almost unlimited field from which to choose and may practically 

dictate his own terms. On the other hand, in local areas in parts 

of the West competition is lacking or restricted, so that the operator 

has practically a free hand as to the price he may ask for his coal 

in the market; he can pay whatever royalty is demanded by the 

owner of the coal and still get a good profit, even though, as sometimes happens under these conditions, he pay a royalty of from 25 

cents to $1 a ton. As a rule mines in such areas are not commercial 

mines in the usual sense, although some of them that are near 

towns may yield, a considerable output. Under special conditions
12 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

a few large commercial mines have paid a royalty as high as 27^ 

cents a ton.

The Appalachian coal field is favorably situated as to markets, 

much of the coal is of high grade, and the coal land has been in large 

measure absorbed by mining companies, but because of the rugged 

topography of the country, railroad construction has been slow, and a 

relatively small part of the area is accessible for immediate mining. 

Furthermore, the coal in different parts of the field differs greatly in 

quality, particularly when considered with reference to its adaptability to special uses, such as coking. Accordingly, there is in this 

field a better balance between the buyer and the seller of coal lands, 

and. much higher royalties are paid here than farther west in the 

Mississippi Valley.

Royalties paid in the East show a decided tendency to advance. 

Thus, in the Pocahontas district of West Virginia the royalty has long 

been 10 cents a ton for coal and 15 cents a ton for coke. Recent 

leases, however, call for a royalty of at least 15 cents a ton on coal and 

24 cents a ton on coke, with a large cash bonus and a high minimum 

royalty. In Alabama ten years or more ago royalties were 5 cents a 

ton; to-day they range from 7 to 12£ cents, with a strong tendency 

toward the higher figure. The advance is seen also in the widespread 

change in the mode of measurement from lump coal to mine run 

without change or corresponding decrease in the royalty. Formerly 

nearly all of the royalties paid in Colorado were computed on screened 

coal; to-day royalties, with few exceptions, are computed on minerun coal. In general it will be found that where the figures given in 

the table show a range in royalty the contracts recently made give the 

higher rate. This tendency of the royalty to rise is seen in still another way in the frequent requirement of a bonus, which may be

only the entering wedge for an increase in the royalty. As conditions 

change so as to favor the lessor he is in a position to demand better 

terms for a lease. Where the royalty rate has been long established 

it may be difficult to raise it, so that an easier method of getting 

higher prices is to ask a bonus. This bonus may be increased until 

the lessee finds it to his advantage to ask for a higher royalty without 

the bonus. If this device is kept in view the fact will be recognized 

that where a bonus is asked, as shown in the table on page 10, the 

royalty should be assumed to be a little higher than that given under 

the heading '' Royalty."

ROYALTIES AND LAND PRICES.

What will an acre of coal land yield on a royalty? A bed of bituminous coal 1 acre in extent and 1 foot thick contains approximately 

1,750 tons of coal. Under the best conditions of mining it should 

yield over 1,500 net tons. As a rule mining will not recover over
ROYALTY VALUE OF COAL LAND. 13

1,300 tons, and under some conditions mining does not actually net 

over 1,000 tons per acre-foot. Under the best conditions an acre of 

coal 1 foot thick will yield, at a royalty rate of 10 cents a ton, $150 

gross; under the worst conditions it will yield $100.' If the last 

figure be taken, an acre of bituminous coal 5 feet thick should yield 

1500 gross income; an acre containing a 10-foot bed or two 5-foot 

beds should yield $1,000. At 20 cents a ton the gross income from 

royalty would be twice those figures.

Royalties in the Connellsville coking district are quoted at from 16 

to 20 cents. The Pittsburg bed there averages about 7 feet thick, 

and at 20 cents a ton the land in this district should yield in gross 

royalties from $1,400 to $2,100 an acre. It is of interest to note in 

this connection that $1,700 to $2,000 an acre has recently been paid 

in this field for coal lands. Some of these lands will not be mined out 

for twenty years to come, and the average duration of many contracts is ten years or more. The compound interest on $1,700 at 

5 per cent for ten years, with taxes at $1.50 per $100, would bring the 

cost of the land at the time it is worked out to-more than $3,000 an 

acre, or about double the gross income from royalties at the rate 

quoted. It must be at once evident that no leases are being made 

to-day at these rates the rates quoted are for old contracts or for 

existing contracts made years ago. They are of interest, however, as 

illustrating the possibility that the actual sale price of coal land may 

be more than the gross royalty value under existing contracts.

Selling prices of coal land that are equivalent to the royalty value 

are rare, though under exceptional conditions they are sometimes 

found. For example, a coal company in Colorado had mined up 

to a certain 40 acres, and the coal in the area mined out had run 

very regularly 5 feet thick. Computed on a net recovery of 1,000 

tons per acre at 10 cents a ton this 40 acres had a royalty value 

of $100 per acre-foot, or $500 per acre, and it is reported that the land 

was purchased at that price. It was evident that the time for 

mining out the coal purchased would be small, so that interest 

charges would amount to but little.

In general, however, the sale price of coal land must necessarily 

be less than the gross royalty income that the same land- would 

bring at the prevailing royalties. In the first place, the net royalty 

income derived by the lessor may be quite different from the gross 

income. There is the cost of collection, and possibly of inspection, 

which may amount to 5 to 10 per cent or more of the gross income. 

In the second place, the operator who buys his coal land rather than 

leases it must pay interest and taxes on it from the time of the 

purchase until the coal has been mined out. These should be computed on the average length of time each acre is carried. If mining 

is started immediately after purchase and is continued regularly
14 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

for twenty years, the average time of carrying the coal will be ten 

years. The first cost of the land may be increased one-half to three 

times or more, the increase depending on the rate of interest, so that 

a tract of lan'd bought for $100 an acre may have actually cost $15.0 to 

$300 or more an acre by the time the coal is mined. In other words, an 

acre of land that, when mined ten years hence, would yield $500 

in royalties would be worth to-day, if interest is 5 per cent and taxes 

are left out of account, $314; with interest at 7 per cent it would be 

worth today $253; at 10 per cent only $108. Taxes would still 

further decrease these amounts. If twenty years be taken as the 

life of the average active mine, the first acre of coal will be mined 

out the first year, the last acre the twentieth year, and the average 

acre in ten years. On a tract of land, therefore, that, it is confidently estimated, will be mined out within twenty years the purchase value can hardly be more than one-half the estimated royalty 

value. If that value be again cut in half on the possibility that the 

estimated tonnage may be too large, the buyer is made doubly 

secure; and a still further reduction from one-fourth to one-fifth 

the estimated royalty value, such as is made on the highest government valuations, is just that much more in favor of the buyer.

It may therefore be confidently said that where the conditions are 

favorable to the almost immediate development of a piece of coal 

land, its purchase value may be estimated at from one-fifth to onehalf its estimated royalty value. The estimated royalty value may 

differ from the actual royalty value by as much as the estimated 

amount of coal in the land differs from the actual amount. Exceptionally the estimate may be larger than the actual value, but as a 

rule, since the estimate must be made on only a part of the facts, it 

will fall below the real value.

FAIRNESS OF GOVERNMENT PRICES.

The prices now being placed on the government coal lands, as explained on pages 37-45, represent one-fifth of the computed royalty 

value, an ultra-conservative estimate which in turn is based on a 

conservative estimate that only 1,000 tons per acre-foot of the coal 

computed to be in the ground can be recovered. This estimate applies 

only to lands containing but a single workable coal bed. For lands 

containing more than one coal bed a reduction in price is made on 

the additional beds. Thus, the price of the second bed may be only 

one-eighth of its estimated royalty value; that of the third bed only 

one twelfth; and the prices of all other beds may be estimated at 

only one-sixteenth of the royalty value, to allow for the delay that 

must usually ensue before the second, third, and other less valuable 

beds are worked. In general the government price for lands containing several beds will average not far from one-tenth of the estimated 

royalty value,
FACTORS AFFECTING THE SALE PRICE OF COAL LAND. 15

Moreover, this relation of the government prices to the estimated 

royalty value is maintained only as to the high-grade, noncoking 

bituminous coals; for coals of lower grade the minimum price is only 

one-fortieth of the royalty value, as determined by the royalties now 

charged for low-grade coals in the same general region. Royalties 

in the West tend to remain uniform, regardless of the variety of the 

coal Anthracites possibly excepted), but the government prices are 

scaled down rapidly as the grade of the coal becomes lower, partly to 

encourage the mining of the lower-grade coals, partly because of their 

lower calorific value and their greater tendency to break down on 

weathering.

The private owner of coal lands must consider his ownership as an 

investment, and the interest on that investment must be charged 

against the value of the land. It is therefore an even thing to him

Whether he sell the land at its present value as determined by the 

royalty or hold it and realize on the royalties when the coal is mined. 

The rate of interest to be paid for carrying the land is assumed to be the 

same whether the interest is paid by the purchaser or the lessor. In 

the government prices the rate of interest computed has been liberal, 

averaging as high as 7 per cent, with an average time of recovery of 

the coal of ten years, equal to a total length of life of the mine of 

twenty years. As the Government is paying only 3 per cent for 

money, it is giving the purchaser the benefit of the difference. Still 

more important, as the estimated royalty value is always based on 

partial information, the purchaser always getting the benefit of the 

doubt, the government price, plus interest at 3 per cent, may be only 

a small fraction of the actual royalty value, the difference, less the cost 

of collection and inspection, being the Government's loss. The government estimates for the coal in some districts may be too high 

even so high as to overbalance the difference between the selling price 

and the royalty value. An intimate knowledge of government valuations placed on coal lands, however, convinces the writer that overvaluations will be few. Their possible existence is only another 

argument for the fairness of the lease system as contrasted with the 

practice of selling the coal land.

FACTORS AFFECTING THE SALE PRICE OF COAL LAND.

GENERAL NATURE OF THE FACTORS.

* .Among the factors affecting the price of coal land are the character 

and amount of the coal, competition, knowledge of coal content, 

accessibility, cost of mining and marketing, demand, and artificial 

and legal restrictions. Each of these factors in turn is composed of 

many elements. Their effect on the price of coal lands varies greatly 

with time, place, and circumstance, as may be seen by examining the 

selling prices of coal lands at various times and places as recorded, for
16 ' VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

example, in the mining journals. Thus the same company operating 

over a wide territory may on the same day buy land equally rich in 

coal for 50 cen fs an acre in one place and for $500 an acre in another. 

Lands containing coals of the highest grade may have little or no 

present market value if they are entirely inaccessible or if some 

element of cost prohibits mining such as the increase of cost due to 

the absence of water. At some time in the future the lands may be 

made accessible by the building of a railroad, or the element prohibiting profitable mining may be overcome, when the lands at once 

acquire full normal value as determined by the other factors. It may 

be that the overcoming of the nullifying factors places no burden on 

the land, as is the case when a railroad is built by disinterested parties. 

It may be well to illustrate briefly the effect of some of these factors 

on the present market price of coal.

QUALITY OB CHARACTER OF COAL.

Other things being equal, the sale price of coal should be directly 

proportional to its quality and character. But in the first place, 

quality and character differ along several lines and have different 

values as the coal is applied to different uses, so that it is1, not possible 

to arrange all coals in a column in the order of their quality and character. And m the second place, the cost of different coals is so nearly 

equal that either a high-grade coal must sell at a large profit in order 

that a low-grade coal may bring any profit, or, as is generally the case, 

the high-grade coal must sell at only a reasonable dr a small profit 

and the low-grade coal must remain in the ground because it can not 

be profitably sold.

Until recently it has been the general rule that all of the coals 

entering a single market were treated as of one grade, or, for larger 

markets, as of four or five grades. Thus, all southern Illinois coals 

in the Chicago market would be regarded as a single class and sold 

at the same rate. But with the increasing use of the B. t. u. method 

of selling coal that is, the sale of coal at prices determined by the 

number of British thermal units of heat it will yield it has become 

necessary to discriminate between coals procured from different mines 

of the same company and between coal from different parts of the 

same mine, and slight differences of quality may make differences in 

demand and price. This mode of rating the value of coal naturally 

affects the price of coal lands. Areas which produce coal that is up 

to required standards are enhanced in value, and neighboring areas 

which formerly competed with them on even terms, but whose coal 

falls a little below that standard, are depressed in value. The increasing discrimination of coal buyers will tend to increase the difference 

in price that is due to slight difference of quality. This discrimination -will work to the advantage of the higher-grade coals and to the 

disadvantage of the lower-grade coals, cutting down the sales and
FACTOES AFFECTING THE SALE PRICE OF COAL LAND. 17

-,j". -

profits on the latter and making it necessary for operators on coals 

of low grade to seek new markets or new uses, or to be satisfied with 

smaller profits, or to stop mining.

When, in place of the slight differences between coals from neighboring mines, the buyer considers the greater differences between 

coals from different parts of the same field, or from different fields, or 

. the difference in value between coals of entirely distinct classes, the 

effect on prices will be still more marked if the competing coals have 

to pay equal transportation charges. Fortunately, however, for the 

lower-grade coals, they can frequently find a local market where the 

advantage in the freight rates over the higher-grade coals allows 

them to compete with profit. In this case the price of the land is not 

affected by a difference in the quality of the coal, for .the difference 

is balanced by an opposite difference in transportation charges. 

The differences in coal include not only differences in calorific value,

as measured in British thermal units, but differences in the amount of 

impurities, in hardness, in liability to weathering, and in other 

features. Every factor that affects the coal's transportability or that 

requires the use and handling of a larger .amount of fuel, such as the 

handling of waste, affects its price in the market and, unless offset by 

some advantages, tends to lower the value of the land from which the 

coal came.

The variations in the price of coal lands produced by slight differences in the character of the coal they contain are well illustrated 

in the Pittsburg field of southwestern Pennsylvania. In a small 

part of that field the coal from the Pittsburg bed will produce a 

high-grade coke that is of great value in the metallurgy of iron. 

Adjoining parts of the same bed, by reason of the presence in the 

coal of 1 or 2 per cent more of sulphur or for other causes, will not 

produce coke of so high grade. The land containing the coal that 

will produce the high-grade coke may sell for $1,500 to $2,000 per 

acre. Adjacent lands that contain coal which will not produce such 

coke, though the coal is equally thick, may sell for only $50 to $150 

per acre. A comparison of the selling prices of anthracite and 

bituminous coal lands may show still greater differences.

Now, suppose that a cheap process be discovered for satisfactorily 

removing the sulphur of the sulphurous Pittsburg coal or of otherwise rendering it capable of producing a high-grade coke; instantly the 

value of the land containing such coal will increase, though not perhaps to the former value of the land containing the regular coking 

coal, for the increase in the supply would probably produce a slump 

in the price of that coal.

In a district that is fully supplied with a high-grade coal a coal of 

slightly lower grade may not find a market or may not be mined at a 

profit, for the lower-grade coal will sell only at a lower rate, and if, 

21698 Bull. 424 10 2
18 t VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

as is often the case, it costs as much to mine the low-grade coal as the 

other, the margin of profit may be too small to allow any cutting in 

price. In such a district the lands containing coal of lower grade 

have little or no market value.

The partial exhaustion of the higher-grade coal in the district, 

however, or the increased cost of mining that coal, due to mining at a 

greater depth or to other causes, may advance the selling price of the. 

high-grade coal in the market to a point at which it becomes possible 

to mine the low-grade coal (which has remained untouched) with as 

much profit as that obtained on the high-grade coal. Then land 

containing this easily available low-grade coal becomes worth as 

'much as land containing the less accessible higher-grade coals.

QUANTITY OF COAL.

The quantity of coal underlying a tract of land may not affect the 

selling price of the land so strikingly as the quality or character of the 

coal. If, of two areas tested, one contains a coal bed averaging 4 feet 

thick, and. the other a bed of similar coal 6 feet thick, in general the 

latter land will not sell for one-half more than the former. This 

discrimination is in part due to the fact that the thickness of any 

coal bed is more or less variable from place to place, and experience 

has shown that the average thickness found in mining is likely to 

differ somewhat from the average determined by the most thorough 

prospecting. Again, as much coal may be taken out of a 3-foot bed 

by long-wall mining as may be taken from a 4-foot or 5-foot bed by 

other methods of mining.

For mining a thin coal bed (a bed less than 3 feet thick, say) miners 

usually demand a higher rate of pay, the rate increasing as the 

thickness of the coal decreases, and they refuse to mine at all any

bed below a certain thickness. On a thin bed, therefore, the 

increased cost of mining may destroy all profit, so that coal below a 

certain thickness can not be profitably mined, and if the whole bed 

is of that thickness or less it is classed as not workable and the land 

is considered valueless as coal land so far as that bed is concerned.

The term "nonworkable on account of thinness" is, however, a 

relative term, for a bed that is too thin to work to-day may with 

changed conditions be worked at a profit ten years or fifty years 

hence. Two concrete examples will illustrate this point:

1. The reputation of Clearfield coal was established on coal obtained from the Moshannon bed, in Clearfield County, Pa. The coal 

in the mines in the sixties and seventies averaged over 5 feet thick. 

The coal was so abundant that parts of the bed that were less than 5 

feet thick or that contained coal a little below the standard grade 

were passed by as unminable. To-day a host of small mines are 

recovering those passed-by pieces, and much of the new mining is 

done in a split of the Moshannon bed that is only 2£ feet thick.
FACTOKS AFFECTING THE SALE PKICE OF COAL LAND. 19

2. In 1897 the writer mapped large areas south of Brazil, Ind., 

which were dotted over with the dump heaps of old mines that had 

worked out the Upper Block coal. The Lower Block coal in the same 

areas had proved unworkable. In 1908 the same areas were dotted 

with new slack piles, telling of the complete mining out of the Lower 

Block coal. The changed conditions in eleven years had made it 

possible to mine out the Lower Block with profit.

The same story can be repeated from a large number of the older 

coal fields, and it is therefore evident that, within certain limits, coal 

beds so thin that they can not be profitably mined to-day have a 

prospective value, which may be roughly estimated at their value 

when mined, less the cost of carrying to that time.

In the pioneer stages of buying coal lands, when the price is but a 

few dollars an acre, little or no account may be taken of the quantity

of coal underlying a tract of land that is, land containing two or 

three workable beds will 'sell for the same price as land containing 

only one bed. As a rule it is conjectural how much coal there may 

be under these lands. As prospecting and development reveal more 

and more the actual or probable quantity of coal under a tract of 

land, and as prices approach more nearly actual market values, the 

true volume of coal is more and more taken into account in determining the value of the land. But in fields where mining has long 

shown a general regularity in the thickness of a bed such as the 

Pittsburg bed or certain beds in the Illinois-Indiana field or in the 

Canon City field of Colorado the price of the land may vary from 

place to place with variations in the thickness of the bed, the price 

being estimated by the acre-foot of coal, or at so much per acre for 

each foot of coal, by estimated thickness.

Where there are several beds on the same land it is the .general 

practice to work only one bed at a time, if one or more of the beds 

are better'or thicker than the others. The unworked beds must then 

be carried while better beds are being worked. If all of the beds are 

paid for at the same price, the carrying of these unworked beds imposes a burden on the bed that is worked. In order to avoid this 

burden it is usual to put a low value on all but the best bed, the 

deduction being greatest for the beds likely to be worked last.

Where the beds are of nearly equal workability it is not uncommon to work two or three beds on the same tract at the same time, 

as in the Appalachian coal field, where the beds outcrop at different 

levels on hill slopes. A concrete example of this is seen in the 

mines on Bennetts Fork, in the Middlesboro district of Kentucky, 

where the beds worked are several hundred feet apart and separate 

inclines are used for each level.a In Indiana at many places shaft

a Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 49,1906, PI. I, etc.
20 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

mining is done on two or three beds on the same land at the same 

time. Most of these beds are less than 100 feet apart (two of them 

are only 30 feet apart), and separate shafts, or. "twin shafts," are 

used to raise the coal from the different levels, or a shaft or slope is 

driven to the lower bed and the coal of the upper bed is let down by 

means of a drop shaft or an interbed slope. Two beds that dip may 

be mined from a single opening by a rock crosscut driven from one 

bed to the other, as in the Big Four mine, Huerfano County, Colo., 

where two beds, 4 and 7 feet thick and 60 feet apart, are thus worked.

If two or more beds fairly close together are worked at the same 

time, peculiar devices must be employed, such as that of leaving a 

heavy block of coal in the lower bed under the entries in the upper 

bed, so that the plan of giving a reduced value to the second, third, 

and other beds, in order of workability, may well apply whether 

the beds be worked successively or at the same time.

Where there is more than one bed, another factor must be considered the effect of mining the thick lower bed on the mining 

of overlying thinner beds later. If the beds are mined successively, 

from the top downward, little difficulty is encountered, except from 

the accumulation of water in the old workings of. the mine above; 

but where the first bed to be worked is not the uppermost bed, the 

settling of the roof may disturb the lay of the beds above and possibly render some of them unworkable. It is obvious that the 

effect on the overlying coal will vary with the thickness of the 

underlying bed, the distance between the beds, the character of the 

intermediate rocks, and the method of mining.

In the Clearfield district of Pennsylvania the Moshannon bed, a 

5-foot bed, is overlain at about 35 feet by the "Cap" bed, 3 to 4 feet 

thick. The intervening rocks are mainly shales and sandstones in

varying proportion. Mr. Cameron, superintendent of the BerwinWhite mines in that district, reports that recent attempts to mine 

the "Cap" bed in the area where the Moshannon bed had been mined 

had found the upper bed but little disturbed, or not at all, certainly 

not enough to interfere seriously with its mining. On the other 

hand, Mr. Davis, of the Evanston land office, states that, to his personal knowledge, the mining out of a 12-foot bed disturbed the rocks 

to a point 250 feet above the bed, solid "rock being found only at that 

height. A similar disturbance of the roof, produced by the destruction of underlying coal beds, is seen in the areas of burned-out coal 

that are so abundant throughout the West. In general, it would seem 

safe to assume that the working out of a lower bed will not seriously 

disturb a bed that lies at a distance above it equal to more than twenty 

times its thickness. In many places coal beds one-half that distance 

above a mined bed will not be seriously broken up.
FACTORS AFFECTING THE SALE PRICE OF COAL LAND. 21

The value of the thick beds of the West, ranging from 50 to 80 

feet, is still problematic. Beds up to 15 feet thick are successfully 

worked. Robert Forrester states that it should be possible to get 

80 to 90 per cent of the coal from a 14-foot bed. From beds above 

that thickness the percentage of recovery with present mining practice 

is likely to fall rapidly witji increase in the thickness of the beds until, 

with beds from 30 to 80 feet thick, the recovery may drop down to 

25 per cent,, or the bed prove to be unworkable by present methods. 

Numerous attempts to work beds over 30 feet thick have had to be 

abandoned. In some of the western mines on thick coal as in the 

Colorado Fuel and Iron Company's mine.at Newcastle it has been 

impossible to keep out fire. On the other hand, in the anthracite 

region of Pennsylvania and in European countries thick coals are 

successfully mined, the method being to mine out a part of the coal, 

fill in the area excavated so as to support the roof, then mine out the 

rest of the coal. In its details the method varies greatly, but the 

general principle involved is the same. Where the strata are more or 

less inclined, dirt or slack may be flushed in as in the anthracite field. 

It has been suggested a that in some places the workings could be 

properly planned and the flushing done through unlined bore holes, 

such as are used for oil wells.

In a mine in Scotland, where the conditions are peculiar, a 30-foot 

bed can be completely mined out. b The coal is underlain by a very 

soft clay, and as fast as the bottom 5 feet of the bed are mined the 

clay rises and fills the space vacated, making a new floor on which 

another 5 feet can be taken, and so on until the whole bed has been 

recovered.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that while there can be no doubt 

as to the workability of the beds of the Western States, with a high 

percentage of recovery from most of them, they can not be so worked 

to-day with financial success in competition with other coals. Where 

it is necessary to fix the price on a thick bed for immediate sale and 

mining, the writer would suggest that it be considered as a multiple 

bed; that is, that the first 15 feet of it be considered as a first bed, 

carrying full value; that the next 15 feet be Considered a second bed 

and valued accordingly; that the third 15 feet be considered a third 

bed, etc.

COMPETITION.

That competition affects the value of coal land is obvious. The 

term "competition" as here used means not only competition 

between mines, but competition between transportation companies 

and buying and selling agencies. Without competition the coal 

may be worth as high as $1 a ton in the ground, and royalties as high

a Parker, E. W. (oral communication). & Forrester, Robe.-t (oral communication.)
22 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

as $1 a ton are being paid in the West under those conditions. Without competition the difference between the selling price at the mine 

and the cost of production in some places in the West is over $1. 

Obviously were such conditions to continue in any large area until 

the beds had been completely worked out the land would have a 

value of over $1,000 per acre foot, less the cost of carrying it. In 

one area in Utah the difference between the cost of mining and the 

selling price was $1.15. In another it was estimated ^o be $1.25. 

Suppose the future profit of mining at the first place be reduced to 

$1 a ton. The coal being mined is 22 feet thick, of which 14 feet 

are obtained, a recovery equal, at the conservative estimate of 1,000 

tons per acre-foot, to an output of 14,000 tons per acre, selling for 

$14,000 more than the cost of mining. The land was originally 

purchased from the Government at $20 an acre. It has therefore 

yielded an income (aside from the interest on $20) of $13,980. Suppose that an acre of such land were purchased January 1, 1910, and 

mined out within a year. It is evident that $13,000 an acre might 

be paid for it and yet the investment might yield 15 per cent. Of 

course such conditions are rare and uncertain of continuance. The 

example given, however, shows that where competition is lacking or 

is controlled an acre of land just ahead of an active mine will yield 

a good return on a seemingly abnormally high purchase price. It 

is usually impossible to purchase a tract so small that it will not take 

several years to mine it out, and the interest and taxes on the land 

for the average number of years the coal is carried, together with the 

uncertainty that present conditions will continue, tend to reduce an 

apparently safe purchase price 50 to 75 per cent or more.

The preceding example may be looked at in another way. The 

lessor is actually receiving a royalty of 75 cents a ton, the other 40 

cents being the profit of the operator. If such a tract of land, 

under lease at such a royalty, be mined out in twenty years and 

yield 14,000 tons per acre, what would it be worth to the owner at 

the beginning of .the twenty years at a price that will yield 10 per 

cent interest on the investment, compounded annually, with taxes 

at 1 per cent of the purchase value ? If X equals the purchase price, 

then 

^ 14,000 X $0.75 _ . fi A ~ 1 (1.1010 + 20 X 0.01) ~ *d 'b84'

Interest is computed for the average time the^coal is carried, or ten 

years. This gives $3,684 as the purchase price that the lessor might 

pay and get 10 per cent on his investment, if only the items of interest and taxes be considered.

Were the royalty only 10 cents a ton, as doubtless it would be if 

competition were open, the same land, in the same time, would 

yield the lessor 10 per cent on an investment or purchase price of
FACTORS AFFECTING THE SALE PRICE OF COAL LAND. 23

$491 per acre, if the purchase covered only this one bed. Actually 

there are three beds under the land. These ,two prices, however, 

show clearly the possible difference in value in the West between 

land in one place where there is competition and in another where 

there is none. This land was purchased from the Government for 

$20 an acre.

In the Middle West or Mississippi Valley fields, where the great 

development of coal-carrying railroads and the policy of making low 

ton-mile rates for long hauls has resulted in excessive competition, 

royalties have been forced still lower (from 2 cents to 5 cents a ton), 

and correspondingly lower prices have been paid for the coal land. 

George S. Rice ff cites lands in Illinois containing two workable beds, 6 

feet and 8 feet thick, which sold for $10 an acre. If only 50 per cent 

of the coal can be mined these beds should yield 13,000 tons, or, at $10

an acre, one-thirteenth of a cent a ton. The coal is practically given 

away. This condition is exceptional even in Illinois, and applies only 

to lands not now accessible to railroads. Mr. Rice says that lands in 

the Wilmington long-wall district sell for $50 an acre on an average, for 

a bed a little under 3 feet thick, or about 1 cent a ton; in other places 

in Illinois the land sells for as much as $100 an acre.

As a result of the keen competition in the East, Mr. Parker 6 reports 

that "there were few districts in which the margin between the cost 

of putting the coal onto the railroad cars and the price at which it 

was sold was as much as 10 cents a ton. In many States it is considerably less than 10 cents a ton. * * *"

"Competition" is often a relative term. A town may be near a 

small local coal field and a long distance from the nearest large competing field. Thus it' may happen that although the town has good 

railroad connections with the distant coal fields and receives from 

them an abundance of coals, yet the freight rates may be so high 

that mines in the neighborhood may be able to pay seemingly exorbitant royalty as well as high rates for hauling, etc., and still be able to 

compete. Under such conditions, even though there is competition, 

it may not seriously affect mines that have the advantage of nearness, 

and the near-lying coal lands become valuable. For example, the 

value of coal lands near Colorado Springs, according to the countyassessments, is more than three times the value that would be fixed 

by the Geological Survey under the regulations.

KNOWLEDGE OF COAL CONTENT.

A knowledge of the coal content of any land is obviously a large 

factor in determining the value of that land if the quantity and quality 

of the coal count at all. Land on which no coal is known to outcrop

a Bimonthly Bull. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., November. 1908, p. 1128. 

6 Idem, November, 1909, p. 1015.
24 VALUATION OP PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

or which is not even certainly known to be in a coal field will have a 

minimum value as coal land. The coal rights of certain large tracts 

have been purchased for 50 t cents an acre on the possibility that they 

might contain coal, as, for example, in the Elkhorn field of Kentucky, 

now one of the most valuable fields in the United States. Some such 

purchases are in the nature of a speculation "a gamble" neither 

party to the transaction knowing whether there is coal under the land 

or not. In other purchases the buyer, from his knowledge of geology 

or by casually tracing exposed strata from some neighboring region 

where coal can be seen or is being worked, is able to assume with some 

confidence that coal is present in the land. In the heart of the 

Appalachian coal field there are thousands of acres that show hardly 

an outcrop of coal on account of the heavy growth of timber and vegetation. Mr. E. V. D'lnvilliers describes* an area of'nearly 200,000 

acres in West Virginia as " a coal field without outcrop " prior to development. Some of the first purchases of this field were made for $5 

an acre. Later purchases were for $12, and as prospecting developed 

the presence of rich beds of coal prices rose accordingly.

In another tract of 78,000 acres in the same State only one opening had been made on the coal. In the Block coal field of Indiana 

the important coal beds occur in small basins, separated by large 

areas bearing only thin coal beds. The coals are near the surface, 

but outcrop at few places because they are hidden by a mantle of 

glacial drift. This drift has also filled up and obscured the old preglacial valleys that may have cut out the coal. Here, evidently, no 

land is purchased as coal land before every 10 acres of it has been 

drilled, unless it be purchased as a pure speculation and at a price 

that will involve little loss if the land proves to be barren of coal.

On the other hand, many areas in the "bituminous" field of 

Indiana have been drilled so thoroughly and deeply and the coals 

run so regularly that it is possible to estimate the future recoverable 

tonnage within a few per cent. Such land should have a value 

equal to the royalty value less the cost of carrying the land to the 

time of mining and a slight margin for accidents and other contingencies. In Pennsylvania and other States, both East and West, 

many areas have been prospected so thoroughly that their coal content can be computed within 5 or 10 per cent. The value of such 

land may be estimated as closely as the price of a town lot. Evidently the owner of such a tract will not sell it for less than he thinks 

it worth, unless he is compelled to sell by financial or other stress.

It is under conditions of very thorough knowledge that the Pittsburg coal bed sells for $70 to $400 (as reported) per acre-foot, the 

price varying according to the accessibility of the coal to lines of 

transportation, etc. Mr. W. Weston, superintendent of the land and

a West Virginia Geol. Survey, vol. 2, p. 631.
FACTORS AFFECTING THE SALE PBICE OF COAL LAND. . 25

industrial department of the Moffat road in Colorado, when asked 

what coal lands along his road were worth, replied that they were 

worth what they would bring in royalties.

Between the two extremes one in which practically nothing is 

known, of the coal content of the land and the other in which the coal 

content is known with great accuracy lie the great bulk of the coal 

lands of the United States, though the areas about which nothing or 

little is known are now becoming very limited, for every year large 

districts are transferred from the unknown to the known side of the 

ledger. But considerable areas of partially known coal fields still 

remain fields that have not been studied by a geologist, or that 

have been studied only in a reconnaissance way. In nearly all of 

these fields the area underlain by at least one workable bed is accurately known, but in some fields the work done has not yet given 

complete knowledge of all of the beds, and in these the price of land

is much lower than it will be when the full coal content has been 

determined. In all of these fields, other things being equal and the 

buyer and seller having equal knowledge of the coal, the land will 

sell not for the value of the coal it does contain, but for the value of 

the coal it is known to contain. If it contains three beds and only 

one of them has been discovered, obviously the other two will not be 

included in computations of the value of the land. So, too, if there 

are only a few openings on the coal and, even though some of these 

show the coal to be of workable thickness, if it is not known whether 

they are on the same bed or whether the coal between the openings is 

likely to be workable, the buyer, in determining the maximum price 

he can pay, will figure on the smallest possible amount of coal the 

land may contain, as indicated by the facts known. In valuing lands 

whose coal content is only partly known, it is difficult to weigh justly 

the evidence available and to draw therefrom general conclusions that 

will be of undoubted value. If dependence be placed entirely upon 

available facts of local application only the most conservative estimate will be safe. Where, however, a broad knowledge of the same 

beds or of the same group of beds in other or adjacent areas is at 

hand, or where there is wide knowledge of the results of development 

under somewhat similar conditions elsewhere, it may be possible to 

draw general conclusions that warrant the assumption that the land 

contains much more coal tha'n it would otherwise appear to contain. 

Thus, on an undeveloped tract of land there may be only two 

openings on the coal, several miles apart, each showing workable coal. 

If this be the extent of the available knowledge, it may be thought 

safe to assume that only a few acres of workable coal exists around 

each of the two prospect openings. If, however, it may be inferred 

from the stratigraphy that the two openings are on the same bed, 

and if, by means of openings a few miles farther north, the coal can
26 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

be traced with great regularity for 50 miles northward, and the 

same way in other directions, the geologist may-be justified in assuming that the bed maintains a workable thickness under the whole 

tract, and the land may be valued accordingly, some allowance being 

made for uncertainty. Again, if it is known that the bed just considered is usually underlain or overlain by other regular workable 

beds, even if these other beds have not yet been discovered on the 

land in question, such knowledge would justify the conclusion that 

these other beds are probably present, a conclusion that would increase the estimated value of the land, though with a great allowance 

for uncertainty. .

If any or all of the beds are inclined to be pockety Or irregular, 

the allowance for uncertainty must be correspondingly large. Where 

they are so irregular or pockety that a large percentage or most of 

the land in developed areas is barren, the unprospected areas must 

be rated as noncoal land until the presence and the thickness of the 

coal has been actually demonstrated.

Another condition that renders difficult the valuing of coal land is 

common in the West, where knowledge of the coal beds is derived 

entirely from exposures along an outcrop that extends in a more or 

less nearly straight line. How should the lands back from the outcrop be valued? In the East and parts of the West the mountains 

are thoroughly dissected and the crop line of a coal bed is of zigzag 

form that is, it follows in and out of one ravine or valley after 

another, zigzagging back and forth in every direction. In such a 

region it is usually possible to get sections in different directions at 

right angles to each other and to observe any tendency toward thinning in any direction. But in parts of the West where the topography

is young and simple and the country is little dissected it happens in

many places that the outcrop extends, say, north and south, and 

there is little or nothing to show whether the coal holds its thickness 

back from the line of outcrop in an east or west direction. Under 

these circumstances experience has seemed to justify the assumption 

that the coal will run as far back from the crop at any one point as 

from that point to the nearest place along the crop where the coal 

becomes unworkable. Thus if a given coal has a continuously workable section for 10 miles along the face of an escarpment it is assumed 

that at the middle of such an outcrop the coal may extend back from 

the crop for 5 miles and for correspondingly less distances as the two 

ends of the workable outcrop are approached, so that the area 

assumed to be workable is roughly a semicircle with a radius of 5 

miles. Keduction for uncertainty should increase in going back 

from the crop.

In general it may be stated that the valuing of coal lands ahead of 

actual mining must always be based on partial knowledge, but that
FACTORS AFFECTING THE SALE PBICE OF COAL LA&D. £7

partial knowledge must be expanded or projected to cover the whole 

area to be valued. It is in this expansion that the personal judgment and experience of the valuer enters. First, the partial knowledge on hand must be so arranged as to show, if possible, how many 

beds of coal, or at least how. many groups of coals there are, how regular each bed is, and how many beds underlie each acre, and at what 

depth. The number of beds is determined by comparing sections 

across all of the beds, taken at different places, and, wherever possible, 

tying individual beds together by actually tracing them or their 

horizon from point to point. Often these sections must be correlated 

by tracing from point to point some rock other than coal. In the 

West many coal horizons can be traced by a line or band of red clinker 

and reddened shale, caused by burning on the outcrop. The regularity of the individual beds is determined by comparing the sections

on each bed over the whole field, also by comparing lines of sections in 

selected directions, in the hope that it may be possible to determine 

apparent thickening or thinning in some direction. By platting, both 

horizontally and vertically, all the dips noted in the field the structure of the field may be determined very accurately and the depth of 

each coal bed may be computed.

In areas where data are abundant and show that the coal beds are 

fairly regular it may be possible to assume the thickness, quality, 

and depth of coal with a large degree of probability, and 'to fix values 

accordingly. Where data are meager or where the coals appear to 

be thin and irregular the element of uncertainty becomes correspondingly large, and the appraised value of the land will be rapidly 

decreased away from the points of known workable coal unless additional data on the same coal-bearing rocks in other districts show 

that the few facts known in the district or tract under consideration 

fit in with the broad knowledge possessed. In a small detached field 

little or no. coal may be exposed, but from knowledge gained in neighboring fields where the same rocks are known to carry several workable coals, it must be assumed that the same coals occur in the small 

field, unless direct evidence to the contrary exists, though, because 

of lack of direct confirmatory evidence the price of the land in the 

small field must be reduced for uncertainty.

ACCESSIBILITY.

Accessibility is a most important controlling factor in the value of 

coal land. One of the largest single items in the cost of coal to the 

consumer is the expense of transportation from the mine to the point 

of consumption. This is seldom less than 50 cents a ton, and may 

be $6 or $8 or more a ton, as in many places in the West. Indeed, 

there are to-day large areas of coal, in both the East and the West, from 

which the present cost of transportation to the nearest commercial
28 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

market would be more than $8 a ton. Unless such a field can find 

or develop a local market it has only a prospective value until transportation facilities can be provided.

For a body of coal land that lies off the line of a railroad the pros-- 

pective operator usually builds the necessary spur from the railroad 

to his own property. Ultimately the cost of building this spur does 

not impose a burden on the coal, as it is borne by the. railroad company and paid from freight charges, but it may form an additional 

initial expense that may entirely prohibit mining unless the operator 

controls an extensive tract and has large capital to start with. For 

some such spurs the railroad companies supply the rails and the 

operators furnish the grade and ties.

Leaving out of account for the moment other elements that render 

coal inaccessible, the qaestion arises the cost of railroad spurs 

(except interest thereon) not ultimately standing against the coal 

Should distance from the railroad lower the value of coal land?

In ordinary commercial practice every increase in the distance of 

coal land from a railroad or other line of transportation serves to 

decrease the value of the land, mainly because of interest charges to 

be carried through the uncertain time until the coal can be developed. Other things being equal, lands close to a railroad will be 

developed first, those farther back later how much later is uncertain those still farther back still later. Lands on a railroad may be 

opened up within ten years; lands farther from the road may have to 

wait another ten years, and so on. As a sum at 7 per cent interest, 

compounded annually, will double itself in ten years, every ten 

years that the land is likely to remain undeveloped cuts its value 

in two. Strictly speaking, lands back from a railroad are not "on 

the market" for development, although they may be the object of 

speculation.

As heretofore indicated, the law fixes the minimum selling price 

of coal lands which lie within 15 miles of a railroad at twice as 

much as lands lying beyond the 15-mile limit. Under the terms of 

the law the minimum price of lands that formerly lay more than 

15 miles from a railroad is automatically doubled by the construction of a railroad that brings them within the 15-mile limit. If it 

be assumed that 15 miles is the limit to which a private operator 

can afford to build a switch, or over which he can afford to haul 

his coal by wagon for loading on a train, it is evident that, commercially considered, coal lands beyond the 15-mile limit are inaccessible and have no real present value as such, though they may 

have a prospective value.

Other factors also may render the coal more or less inaccessible, 

such as depth, high position in a hill, and intervening obstacles 

rivers or mountains, say between the land and the railroad. Where
FACTOBS AFFECTING THE SALE PRICE OF COAL LAND. 29

an obstacle exists, it is practically necessary to consider the distance 

to the railroad as equivalent to the distance around the obstacle 

rather than over or through it in a straight line.

Depth is an element of inaccessibility that obviously works to the 

disadvantage of the coal, increasing the cost of mining, and, if beyond 

a certain level, decreasing the possible net recovery, and on both 

accounts decreasing the value of the land.

The limit of depth below which coal can not be mined is uncertain. 

Shafts practically 4,000 feet deep are operated in Belgium, and coal 

at about the same depth in England has been considered workable. 

This subject is more fully discussed by Mr. Fisher in his paper in this 

bulletin. Differences in the roofs and floors of coal beds and in the 

quality of the coal they contain make differences in the depth to which 

a bed can be profitably mined. In valuing the public coal lands 

the United States Geological Survey has conservatively taken 3,000 

feet as the limit of workability. Further, the Geological Survey has 

taken the ground that if coal just beyond 3,000 feet in depth is nonworkable, and therefore of no value, coal just within the 3,000-foot 

depth will be mined at the maximum expense and with the minimum 

recovery, and should therefore be priced at the minimum value, and 

that the value should increase from that minimum at 3,000 feet 

depth to a maximum at the outcrop.

In computing the depth of coal it has been the practice of the coalland board to determine its depth below the level of a drainage way 

for all land within 2 miles of that drainage way, neglecting otherwise 

the intermediate topography. In broad plateaus underlain by coal 

at greater depths than 3,000 feet the coal has been considered workable for only a distance of 2 miles from its crop, it being considered 

accessible from the crop horizontally, though inaccessible vertically.

COST OF MINING AND MARKETING.

The cost of mining and marketing coal is determined by the sum 

of many expenses initial expenses, or operating expenses, or both. 

Under ideal conditions the initial expense of opening and equipping 

the mine is the minimum, the thickness and quality of the coal 

allow the most favorable mining rate, the bed is without partings or 

other impurities requiring washing or hand picking, the roof is 

ideally strong or breaks down as desired for long-wall mining, the 

floor does not heave, water is at hand for the boilers outside but not 

in the mine, there is timber for the timbering, a town for the housing 

of the miners, the coal lies so as to facilitate hauling and draining, 

there is no gas at the face, and there is a steady market for mine-run 

coal on yearly contracts, with plenty of cars for its shipment.

These ideal conditions are not the normal conditions and seldom, 

if ever, exist together at one point. Competing fields may fall equally
30 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

below the ideal, so that only where some particular cost of mining 

becomes excessive does it enter into the value of the land. One mine 

may be favored in certain particulars, another in others, but in a 

large measure these advantages balance one another, especially 

among mines in any single district or field. The factor most easily 

allowed for is depth. The construction of a deep shaft not only costs 

money, the interest on which is a permanent charge against the coal, 

but increases the expense of mining by the cost of the power and of 

the care required for hoisting, and even more by the time required 

for hoisting; and the cost of operating such a shaft may ultimately 

increase the expense of the plant beyond the point of profit.

In the arid parts of the West lack of timber or of water may greatly 

increase the cost of mining. Partings or other forms of impurity 

may necessitate washing or hand picking. In mining thin beds it 

may be necessary to handle much roof or floor material. Even more 

serious may be the increased rate for mining thin beds demanded by 

the miners, and the rate increases rapidly with decrease in the thickness of abed. For example, in the Indiana Block coal field the price 

for pick mining advances from $1 a ton for coal 3 feet 1 inch thick or 

more to $1.05 for coal between 3 feet 1 inch and 2 feet 10 inches, and 

to $1.10 for coal less than 2 feet 10 inches thick. Where coal is purchased in the ground at 1 cent to 2 cents a ton it is impossible to 

compensate the purchaser for the added cost of mining thin coal by 

reducing the purchase price; indeed, it may be that he would not be 

compensated even though no price were charged for such coal.

DEMAND.

Everything that increases the demand for coal at a given place 

enhances the value of the coal land from which that place is supplied. 

For example, the exhaustion of the natural gas in the Indiana gas 

field largely increased the demand for Indiana coal and to a perceptible degree affected the value of lands in those parts of the field that 

supplied the market relinquished by the natural gas. So, also, the 

opening of irrigation projects in the West, by enlarging the possible 

market, adds to the value of the adjacent coal fields.

On the other hand, by slightly manipulating freight rates or by 

building a new line of railroad, it is not infrequently possible to displace the coal from one field by the coal from some other field. This 

practice has virtually "killed" a formerly thriving field, and the 

price of coal lands there has dropped, just as the price of land in a 

small town drops when the principal manufactory moves to another 

town.

Again, a steady demand coupled with a limited supply forms the 

main cause of the higher prices of anthracite coal lands, of lands 

underlain by the Connellsville (Pittsburg) coking coal, and of cannelcoal lands. The supply of all of these coals is very moderate, and
FACTORS AFFECTING THE SALE PRICE OF COAL LAND. 31

the demand, except possibly that for the cannel coal, gives promise 

of holding good as long as the coal lasts, with no other coal 

in sight that supplies certain needs quite so well. As such coals 

become scarcer arid scarcer the difference between their selling price 

and that of other coals becomes very great. Large steel companies 

have felt warranted in paying as high as $100 or more an acre-fo'ot 

for coal of the Pittsburg bed to hold for future use.

ARTIFICIAL AND LEGAL RESTRICTIONS.

Artificial and legal restrictions seem destined to play a larger part 

in the value of coal lands in the future than in the past. It has 

already been noted that favorable or unfavorable freight rates can 

make or unmake a coal field. The passage and enforcement of a 

smoke law in a large city may seriously affect the coal field now supplying that city with smoky coal. In the same way the passage of 

mining laws for the protection of miners may increase the cost of 

mining the coal in some State and to that extent put the coal fields 

in that State 'at a disadvantage with other competing States and, 

by reducing the profits per ton, reduce the earning power of the coal 

and to that extent reduce the value of the coal in the ground. Uniform mining laws for all competing States would obviate the unfavorable effect of such laws on the value of the coal land.

On the other hand, trade agreements may act beneficially on the 

value of coal lands. It is generally true that good times and hard 

times balance each other. The mining companies may coin money 

during good years and carry on mining at a loss during hard times. 

If a company be well financed, it may for months actually sell coal at 

less than it cost to mine it, in pursuance of a policy adopted as 

cheaper in the long run than shutting the mine down. During hard 

times it has seemed wise to restrict production and maintain the price 

of the coal. A company that is not well financed may find it financially necessary to keep up its production by cutting the price, and 

as the lowest price will generally control the market the price drops 

all around, to the demoralization of the whole business. Prices once 

down are slow to recover. The result of a lowering of prices is clearly 

seen in the conditions existing in the coal trade in the East to-day, 

following the hard times in 1907. A corollary of these conditions is 

seen in the cheapening of the value of coal lands, and in the cheapening of methods of mining, with consequent smaller net recovery 

per acre, to say nothing of other undesirable results. The condition 

can be met in one of two ways, either by the absorption of the weaker 

companies by the stronger, with all of the attendant possibilities of 

monopolistic control, or, as suggested by Mr. Parker, a by govermental 

supervision and regulation, possibly by a system of licensing.

o Bimonthly Bull. Am.. Inst. Min. Eng., November, 1909, p. 1016.
32 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

MARKET VALUE OF COAL LANDS.

BONDING VALUATION OF COAL LAND.

As has been stated, the market value of coal lands may be determined in three ways by what coal companies estimate them to be 

worth when they wish to bond them, which may be taken as a liberal 

estimate; by the tax assessor's valuation, which may usually be considered a conservative estimate; and by the prices at which sales 

are actually made, which will usually lie between the liberal and 

conservative estimates.

The study of a single area of bonded coal land in one of the publicland States, the bonds for which are handled and guaranteed by one 

of the largest and most conservative brokerage houses after an examination and estimate by a widely and well known mining engineer 

and coal-mine manager, may serve to show the coal company's view 

of the matter when selling.

This land contains five beds of high-grade bituminous coal, ranging 

in thickness from 7 to 25 feet and having an aggregate average thickness of 60 feet. Each acre is computed to contain, "at the most conservative estimates," 100,000 tons of coal. This, it will be noted, 

is the gross, not the net tonnage, and on this gross tonnage the 

value is estimated on the "strictly conservative basis of 1 cent 

per ton of coal," the estimate giving as the value of each acre 

.$1,000. For comparison it may be noted that the government 

price on some similar coal lands in Wyoming, where the land is estimated, on abundant data, to contain 75 feet of workable coal, ranges 

from $465 down, averaging probably less than $300. The basis of 

valuation here was 2 cents a ton for a net recovery of 1,000 tons per 

acre-foot, with a percentage reduction for all but the best bed, and 

with allowance for crop coal, depth, and uncertainty.

ASSESSMENT VALUATION OF COAL LANDS.

In comparison with such valuations as those just given it is of 

interest to note the valuations being placed on coal lands by county 

assessors. Figures have been obtained from several of the eastern 

coal fields, and also from Colorado, as typical of the West. The 

figures from Colorado were taken from the state auditor's report 

and supplemented by data supplied by the several county assessors. 

In Wyoming the coal in the ground is not taxed, but instead the 

coal is taxed on its cash value as mined, at the same rate as other 

property in that locality. In Colorado and in most other States 

developed coal lands are assessed at a much higher value than undeveloped coal lands. In the Pittsburg coal district of Pennsylvania, 

where the values are fixed entirely by that remarkably regular coal 

and where it is possible to assume knowledge of the coal content of 

any acre of land whether developed or not, the assessment is just 

the same for undeveloped as for developed lands. Undeveloped.
MARKET VALUE OF COAL LANDS. 33

lands elsewhere would be assessed the same as developed lands if 

we had the same knowledge of their coal content. In some places, 

as in part of Indiana, the coal is separated from the surface and is 

taxed at a uniform rate, the surface being taxed at rates depending 

on location or other features, in accordance with the general principles of land taxation.

County assessors commonly assess as coal lands only those being 

developed and treat undeveloped coal lands as grazing land or farm 

land, taxing them accordingly, as if they contained no coal. Developed coal lands are still more commonly assessed entirely on the 

value of the coals being worked, without regard to other coals that 

may underlie the land. In places the assessment varies with the 

average thickness of the coal. In other places, where the coal property is partly barren or worked out, the land is not assessed at two 

rates but an average assessment is computed, based on the amount 

of the coal that is being worked remaining in the ground.

In places where the coal land is most valuable the method of 

assessment has usually been worked out with much care and often 

with considerable geologic knowledge of actual conditions.

The following table gives data from selected points, including the 

range of assessment of coal in developed properties (exclusive of 

improvements) down to assessments on undeveloped lands off railroads and of small or unknown value, the ratio between the assessed 

and the assumed real value, and the assumed real value as estimated 

from the assessments.

Assessment value of coal lands per acre. 

EASTERN COAL FIELDS.

Location.

Pennsylvania:

Clearfielcl County. .............................

Ohio:

West Virginia:

Kentucky:

Tennessee:

Alabama:

Indiana:

Illinois:

Average 

assessments.

Range of 

assessments.

38,000

2-50

10-50

400-600

430-680

6-30

20-100

200

250

10-12

25-40

1-6

«15

a 15-35

14-37

16

25-50

15-35

Ratio assessed to 

assumed 

value.

1

J

i

4

Assumed 

value.

810,000

8-200

30-150

60-300

65-100

20-110

40-110

25-50

21698 Bull. 424 10 3

a- For coal only,
34 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

Assessment value of coal lands per acre Continued.

WESTERN COAL FIELDS.

Location.

Colorado:

Weld County. .................................

Utah:

Average 

assessments.

$68. 00

20.00

' 51.60

29.46

37.40

33.00

28.00

13. 50

. 20. 00

16.34

25.97

Range of 

assessments.

S20-50

10-50

15-80 2-70

5-75

A &ft_Qfl

10

Ratio assessed to 

assumed 

value.

J

i

$

i

J

i

?

?

.

Assumed 

value.

S204

60-150

155

ofl-1 9ft

30-150

45-210

6-210

10-150

60

17 VUQft

25

SALE PRICES OF COAL LANDS.

D

The market value of coal lands, as shown by actual sales, varies 

as it may be affected by the various factors previously described, 

ranging from almost nothing to the full royalty value, or even, as 

in lands carrying the Connellsville coking coal, to more than its apparent royalty value. Where, as they generally do, the lower 

prices represent not so much low value as incomplete knowledge or 

preseat inaccessibility, they do- not show what the land would bring 

if its coal content were known or if it were accessible. The effect 

of lack of knowledge on the part of the sellers may be seen in the 

purchase by one of the large coal companies in the West of its present 

coal holdings at prices ranging from $80 down to $3 an acre, the 

price depending hardly, if at all, on the quantity and quality of 

the coal, but on the seller's knowledge not .only of the amount of 

coal but of its value. The highest prices were paid for lands containing coal of which the seller had some knowledge. Many of the 

lower prices were the result of mere dickering. "They could get 

plenty of neighboring coal for so much, and if the seller did not 

accept their terms they would pass him by/' an argument that usually got the land at the buyer's price, especially if the seller had 

little or no knowledge of the actual coal content of the land and its 

value.

Again, a large share of the sales recorded are on undeveloped 

property, much of it at some distance from railways, for in the reports 

of sales of developed property it is not usually stated how much of 

the price is paid for improvements and how much for the coal and 

coal land. Some of the data given in the following table were 

obtained by correspondence with the officers of large operating companies in the districts mentioned, some by personal interviews, and 

some from records of coal-land sales reported in the mining journals, 

from advertisements of coal lands for sale, or from other like sources.
MAEKET VALUE OF COAL LANDS. 

Sale prices of coal land in the bituminous fields of the United States.

35

Locality.

Pennsylvania:

Cambria district... ................................... . . .........

West Virginia:

Virginia:

Kentucky:

Tennessee:

Alabama:

Indiana: ;

Greene County district. .................................... .

Kansas:

Colorado:

Routt County district 

Wyoming:

Utah:

Price per acre.

$800-$!, 200

1 9OCV 9 flOft

100 250

30- 150

35- 500

40- 300

50- 350

50- 60

10- 50

200

10- 40

12.50- 125

05- 100

20- 150

o50

100- 200

10- 150

40- 110

50- 75

10

. 25- 50

15- 35

50- 75

100- 150

50-187. 30

20- 25

100-187.30- 500

30

i35

7. 50- 25

50- 100

150- 250

«20- 60- 300?

100-187.30- 500?

30-100. 50

30- 160

10- 50

Price per 

. acre-foot.

S110-S170

170 300

0- 60

6 60

10- 40

10

14- 40

13

50

22- 100

15

23- 60

a Mineral rights only.

Some additional facts may be given in extension and explanation 

of the table. The advance in the price of coal lands is well illustrated 

by examples from southwestern Pennsylvania. Many examples of 

this rise are cited in a book recently published, entitled "Coal fields 

of southwestern Pennsylvania." 0 To quote from that work (p. 49):

In 1885 large areas of Connellsville district coal lands were available for purchase at 

prices running up from $50 to $100 per acre. In 1890 to 1895 prices mounted up to 

$600 and $700 per acre. A belief was current that these prices were too high and 

would be lowered, but these coal lands at present command $2,000 to $2,500 per acre 

and will continue to advance beyond these figures, enormous though they appear.

In 1897 the average price of coal lands in southern Washington and eastern Greene 

counties, Pa., was less than $30 per acre coal along the Monongahela River $100.

In the Fairmont, W. Va., mining district Pittsburg seam coal during the same 

period of time' has advanced from $50 and $75 to $300 and $400 per acre.

aBoileau, John W., Coal fields of southwestern Pennsylvania, Pittsburg, 1907.
36 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

Hon. E. H. Gary, in an interview, stated:

Already \ve have 60,000 acres of coking-coal land in Pennsylvania, and are paying 

$2,000 an acre for all that is offered us.

In 1899 Mr. J. V. Thompson sold John W. Gates for his steel and wire interests 

5,000 acres at $170 per acre. In 1907 Mr. Thompson paid $1,700 per acre for adjoining 

coal.

The Ellsworth Company purchased 7,000 acres of their coal for $37.50 per acre in 

1899, and the Lackawanna steel interests paid at least $600 per acre for their proposition (adjoining) in 1907.

In 1898 the Illinois Steel Company * * * secured about 7,000 acres along the 

eastern outcrop of the new field (Klondike field). Some of the options were taken as 

low as $35 per acre the latest purchases have been near $2,000.

In the Pleasant Unity district that is, from Mount Pleasant to Latrobe the coal 

was not considered good in early days. Near Hunkers Mr. Thaw purchased some at 

$180 per acre. To-day the price would not be under $3,000.

It is- doubtless true that there have been special reasons for the 

very remarkable advances just described, yet advances appear to be 

taking place in nearly every coal field. Here and there are districts 

that, from, lack of competition, have long enjoyed a prosperous trade, 

until the opening of a new railroad has brought new or cheaper coals 

into their market and has destroyed their trade. In such districts 

the price of coal lands has declined.

In Indiana excessive competition has forced prices down. In the 

early days of the Block coal field royalties of 20 to 25 cents a ton 

were often paid, and in Greene and Sullivan counties the royalties 

used to be about half that amount.

The action of other factors in depressing the prices of coal land is 

seen in the Trinidad field of Colorado, where the coal is mostly sold 

on large yearly contracts, at a relatively small margin, so that the 

profits on the coal obtained under any given acre are not so large as 

they would be in some other field, as in the Walsenburg and Canon 

City fields, which supply mostly the household trade at a greater 

profit per ton. A corollary of this small net profit per acre is seen 

in the lower prices per acre the land commands in that field, as compared with other fields of no more intrinsic value. In the Rocky 

Mountain fields, especially, dependence has been placed mainly on 

records of actual sales, which in some places are abundant, though in 

others only one or two have been obtained, and it is not known 

whether the figures cited are near the top or the bottom of the actual 

range. In general, the lower prices are for coals off the railroad.. 

In some places the price is scaled down regularly as distance from the 

railroad increases.
VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS. 37

BASIS OF THE GOVEKNMENT VALUATION OF COAL

LANDS.

WHAT IS COAL LAND?

The first step in any scheme of classification and valuation is to 

determine what is coal land. Any land underlain by coal that is of 

workable quality and quantity and exists under workable conditions 

is classed as coal land. In general, little or no question can arise. If 

the area is within the coal field as defined by the outcropping of workable beds, it may be presumed to be coal land, unless drilling or other 

exploration has demonstrated that there is no coal under it. There 

are large areas, however, where the presence of coal has been demonstrated, but the question arises, Is it workable? To some it may 

appear too poor, too thin, or too deep. How poor, how thin, and how

deep coal can be successfully worked?

In general, it may be stated that anything that will pass as '' coal" 

is workable so far as quality is concerned.

Successful attempts are now being made to utilize peat as fuel, and 

the Rhode Island "anthracite/' which is almost graphite in character and is shot full of quartz stringers and veins, is being exploited 

with some hope of success. It remains to be seen what percentage of 

ash or other impurities a coal can contain and yet be successfully 

marketed. Coals containing 25 to 30 per cent of ash are marketed 

to-day under exceptionally favorable conditions, and in the laboratory, by the use of the producer-gas generator, coals with as much as 

40 per cent of ash have satisfactorily yielded power. At the present 

time 30 per cent of ash appears to be a practical limit under the most 

favorable conditions, though in most markets 15 per cent is prohibitive. It may some day be possible to utilize bony coals containing 

as much as 50 per cent'of ash.

The minimum thickness and the maximum depth of coal beds that 

can 'be profitably mined are discussed by Mr. Fisher in his paper in, 

this bulletin. A somewhat careful study has been made of the conditions under which thin coals and deep coals are being mined in this 

country and in Europe. As a result of this study, all lands containing 

"coal" are classed as coal lands, except as defined in the "Regulations' 

regarding the classification and valuation of coal lands" under the 

heading "Classification of coal lands," approved by the Secretary of 

the Interior April 10, 1909. The "Classification of coal lands," sections 1 to 5, inclusive, of the Regulations, is as follows:

(].) For the purposes of classification and valuation, coal deposits shall be divided 

into four classes:

(A) Anthracite, semianthracite, coking, and blacksmithing coals.

(B) High-grade bituminous noncoking coals having a fuel value of not less than 

12,000 B. t. u. on an unweathered, air-dried sample.
38 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

(C) Bituminous coals having a fuel value of less than 12,000 B. t. u. on an unweathered, air-dried sample, and high-grade subbituminous coals having a fuel value of 

more than 9,500 B. t. u. on an unweathered, air-dried sample.

(D) Low-grade subbituminous coals having a fuel value below 9,500 B. t. u. on an 

unweathered, air-dried sample, and all lignite coals.

(2) Lands underlain by coal beds, none of which contain 14 inches or over of coal, 

exclusive of partings, of class A, B, or C, or over 36 inches of class D, shall be classified as noncoal land.

(3) Lands containing coals of classes A and B of any thickness at depths greater 

than 3,000 feet shall be classified as noncoal lands, except where the rocks are practically horizontal and the coal lies within 2 miles of the outcrop or point at which 

it can be reached by a 3,000-foot shaft.

(4) Lands containing coals of class C of any thickness at a depth greater than 2,000 

feet shall be classed as noncoal land, except where the rocks are practically horizontal and the coal lies within 2 miles of the outcrop or point at which it can be 

reached by a 2,000-foot shaft.

(5) Lands containing coals of class D of any thickness at a depth greater than 

500 feet shall be classed as noncoal, except where the rocks are practically horizontal and the coal lies within 1 mile of the outcrop or point at which it can be 

reached by a 500-foot shaft.

VALUES GEADED ACCORDING TO QUALITY AND USE.

Other things being equal, high-grade coals or coals that are 

especially suited to a particular use will command a higher price 

than coals of lower grade. In the public-land States of the West the 

abundance of coal increases as its grade decreases. Anthracite is 

limited to a few localities of a few square miles each; high-grade 

bituminous coals are much more extensive, but as compared with the 

lower-grade coals are confined to relatively small areas; low-grade 

bituminous and subbituminous coals cover or underlie thousands 

of square miles in the West; and lignites are found in even larger 

areas.

The higher-grade coals are therefore separated from those of 

lower grade by greater demand and smaller supply and, other things 

being equal, lands containing coal of the higher grade will command 

higher prices. The Government has therefore' divided the coals 

found in the. West into four classes, for the purpose of valuation, as 

expressed in the first section of the '' Regulations regarding the classification and valuation of coal lands," given above.

Although the coals have been divided into four classes, these classes 

grade into one another; they are not separated by sharp lines; correspondingly the values placed on the coal of the different classes are 

graded from one class to another, and within each class values are 

graded by one-tenth of a cent a ton.

In determining the values to be given to each class of coal certain 

facts and factors were considered.

(1) It has been deemed necessary to place such a price on coal 

land as to make it unprofitable for private citizens to take up govern-
BASIS OP THE GOVERNMENT VALUATION OF COAL LANDS. 39

inent coal land simply to hold it for future mining, but at the same time 

the price should be so low for the man prepared to undertake immediate mining that it should not exceed the estimated royalty value of 

the coal, account being taken of the cost of carrying the investment 

at compound interest, with payment of taxes, etc.

(2) A royalty value of 10 cents a ton was taken as a fair average 

of the commercial royalties paid in the public-land States to-day for 

high-grade, noncoking bituminous coals at the time of mining.

(3) As under the present laws the maximum units of entry are 

160, 320, and 640 acres, it was assumed that twenty years would be 

ample time to mine out all of one bed under that area if mining were 

undertaken within a short time after purchasing and continued with 

reasonable diligence. This gives ten years as the average time that 

each acre of land will be held from the time of the purchase to the 

time when the purchaser realizes on his investment.

(4) By taking 7 per cent compounded annually as a liberal interest 

charge,' the purchase price should not be more than such sum as, 

when put at compound interest at 7 per cent for ten years, with ample 

allowance for taxes, would approximate the royalty price at the time 

of mining.

(5) To make ample allowance for all the contingencies of mining 

the purchase price should again be cut in half.

On this basis a purchase price of one-fifth the royalty value was 

fixed, the royalty value being assumed to be made up as follows: .

Purchase price............................................... $1. 00

Interest on $1 at 7 per cent, for ten years, compounded annually. . 97

Allowance for taxes and contingencies......................... .53

Cost at average time of mining........................... 2. 50

Allowance for contingencies of mining......................... 2. 50

Estimated royalty value....................................... 5. 00

On the high-grade bituminous coals, therefore, a value of 2 cents a 

ton was placed, equal to one-fifth of a 10-cent royalty. This value 

became a base figure on which the other classes above and below highgrade bituminous were valued. Anthracite, semianthracite, and 

coking bituminous coals are by common consent placed above the 

high-grade noncoking bituminous coals. They sell for more on the 

market, and, as shown by conditions in the East, lands containing 

such coals sell well above other coal lands. Therefore lands containing such coals were valued at 2 to 3 cents a ton of their estimated coal 

content.

After a careful study of hundreds of analyses of well-known coals 

the line between high-grade and low-grade bituminous, noncoking 

coals was drawn at 12,000 British thermal units. Coals above that 

calorific value in an unweathered, air-dried sample are classed as
40 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

high-grade bituminous coal and valued at 1 cent to 2 cents a ton; 

those below that calorific value are classed as low-grade coal and 

valued at less than 1 cent and down to one-half cent a ton. Between 

one-half cent and 3 cents a ton, the minimum and maximum values, 

the valuations grade by one-tenth cent rises. A value of 1 cent given 

to a certain coal may indicate that it is considered either at the top 

of the low-class division (class C) or at the bottom of the high-class 

division (class B). Another coal of just a little poorer grade may be 

valued at nine-tenths of a cent a ton, and so on. Although the heatgiving value of a coal as expressed by British thermal units is taken 

as the most important factor in deciding on the value to be assigned 

to any coal, the physical properties and condition also receive due 

weight and consideration. All such factors as the shipping quality 

of the coal, its action on exposure to the atmosphere, the presence 

of partings or of sulphur or other impurities, the existence of any 

known conditions that will render mining easy or difficult or that will 

tend to add to or detract from its value on the market or to make its 

preparation for the market difficult are carefully considered.

With the low-grade bituminous coals are also placed the highgrade subbituminous coals or "black lignites" that show more 

than 9,500 British thermal units on an unweathered, air-dried 

sample. All coals whose heat value is below that limit, including 

also brown lignites, are grouped as class D, and are valued only at 

the legal minimum valuation, whatever their quality or thickness.

The grading of the value with the grade of the coal is theoretically 

in accord with modern practice, though actually and usually accessibility, nearness to market, and other local factors may so much 

outweigh differences in quality as to make it seem that quality 

has not been considered. Thus in Colorado the prices of land in the 

Boulder field, where the coal is subbituminous or "black lignite," 

appear to run as high as those for land in Routt County containing 

high-grade coals. If comparison is made between two fields equally 

accessible and equally near the same market and otherwise closely 

comparable, however, the difference is at once apparent. This may 

be seen by comparing the value of coal lands south of Pittsburg, 

where the Pittsburg coal is a low-sulphur coking coal, with the value 

of lands containing the same bed west of Pittsburg, where it is high 

in sulphur and a noncoking coal.

REDUCTION FOR NUMBER OF BEDS AND THICKNESS.

The value of 2 cents a ton for the highest grade of noncoking 

bituminous coal, it .will be remembered, was based on the assumption 

that the coal purchased on the 40, 80, 160, 320, or 640 acres will all 

be mined out within twenty years. This makes no heavy burden on 

the purchaser if the land contains only 5 to 10 feet of coal. But
BASIS OF THE GOVERNMENT VALUATION OF COAL LANDS. 41

where purchasers take 320 or 640 acres of land that contains from 20 

to 30 feet or more of coal, to mine out 1,000 tons per acre-foot within 

twenty years requires an average yearly output that rapidly becomes 

a great burden, or else the time of the recovery of the coal will be 

prolonged and the interest charges will make the last of the coal cost 

more than the royalty charge from which the price was computed. 

These great thicknesses may result where there are a number of 

beds or where there is but a single bed, many of the beds in the West 

running from 30 feet up to 80 feet. Where there is more than one 

coal bed the regulations, therefore, provide that the normal value shall 

be fixed only for the bed most likely to be worked first, and that for 

a second bed only 60 per cent of the normal value is to be taken, for 

the third best bed only 40 per cent of the normal value, and for the 

rest of the beds 30 per cent of the normal value. Where the excessive 

thickness is found in a single bed, allowance is made for the longer

time required for working it by treating it.as a multiple bed that is, 

as if it consisted of several beds that have locally come together. 

This is done only where the bed is over 15 feet thick. Where a bed 

is more than 15 feet thick the normal value is put only on 15 feet of it; 

the next 15 feet, or any part thereof, is valued at 60 per cent of the 

normal, the next 15 feet or part thereof at 40 per cent of the normal, 

and the rest of the bed, if it be so thick, at 30 per cent of the normal.

REDUCTION FOR DISTANCE FROM RAILROAD, DEPTH, ETC.

The value per ton above quoted is the normal or maximum value 

for any kind of coal. By the regulations the total price on any 

acre of land can not exceed $300, "except in districts which contain 

large coal mines where the character and extent of the coal are well 

known to the purchaser." Deduction is made from this normal 

-for excessive distance from railroads and some other factors.

Prior to 1906, as before stated, it was the practice to charge the 

minimum prices of $20 and $10 for coal lands, according to their 

distance from a railroad. If a railroad was built within 15 

miles of any of the lower-priced lands their minimum price was, 

by the law, automatically raised to the higher value. The same 

rule is applicable to the present system of valuation of coal lands 

according to their tonnage content, and lands more than 15 miles 

from a railroad are valued at one-half of the amount which would 

be fixed if they were within ; 15 miles of a completed railroad, the 

valuation price being automatically doubled when the lands are 

brought within the 15-mile limit.

In like manner, no allowance is made for existing or possible 

competition, distance from markets, or other factors that do not 

directly concern the coal itself. Those factors are variable and 

extraneous. The finding of a mineral lode may open up a new and
42 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

unforeseen market, and the exhaustion of the lode, possibly years 

afterward, may destroy that market. Or the carrying out of an 

irrigation project may give a neighboring coal field a small but 

permanent market. Competition, in like manner, is largely a matter 

of trade and commerce, subject to all the fluctuations of business 

and affected by factors with which the coal in the ground has nothing 

whatever to do. The price fixed is based on an average royalty 

under average conditions as they exist to-day, not on the 25-cent to 

75-cent royalties paid at mines exceptionally well located near 

towns or near large markets nor yet on the exceptionally low 

royalties of 2 to 5 cents a ton paid under excessive competition, as 

in Indiana and Illinois.

Were the Government to vary the price of its coal lands with every 

variation in external conditions, as prices of town lots are raised or 

lowered, an excessive burden would be added to the cost of carrying 

the coal and endless dissatisfaction with the prices fixed would be 

created by the difficulty of giving proper weight and value to all the 

external factors.

On the other hand, it is possible to make allowance for factors that 

directly affect the coal bed and the ground under which it lies, such 

as depth, partings in the coal, poor roof, soft floor, topographic inaccessibility, burned outcrop, irregularity of bed, uncertainty of extent 

of bed,, faulting, presence of eruptives, dikes, and sills in short, any 

and all the factors that may affect the " fixed charge" representing 

the cost of mining and preparing the coal.

Thus allowance is made for depth, where the depth is more than a 

few hundred feet, grading down to a minimum price just within the 

limit of depth. In faulting, allowance is made not ,only for the zone 

of faulting, but for the fact that for practical purposes the throw may 

be so much that the coal on one side of the fault must be considered 

and treated as a second bed. In general, it has been the policy of the 

department to be conservative and to give the purchaser the benefit 

of the doubt, though, as previously observed, this statement must not 

be interpreted to mean that local lack of knowledge should outweigh 

good general knowledge.

The regulations for valuing public coal lands are as follows: 0

(6) The price of coal lands of classes A, B, and C shall be determined on the basis 

of estimated tonnage at the rate of one-half to 1 cent per estimated ton for class C, 

1 to 2 cents per estimated ton for class B, and 2 to 3 cents per estimated ton for class 

A, when the lands- are within 15 miles of a completed railroad, and half that much 

when at a greater distance; but the price shall in no case exceed $300 per acre, 

except in districts which contain large coal mines where the character and extent of 

the coal are well known to the purchaser. When, however, topographic conditions 

affect the accessibility of the coal the land within the 15-mile limit may be given a 

lower valuation, but in no case shall it be placed at less than the minimum, and a 

graded allowance may be made for increasing depth, \vith the same restriction.

a See also sections 1 to 5 of these regulations, given on pages 37-38 of this bulletin.
BASIS OF THE GOVERNMENT VALUATION OF COAL LANDS. 43

(7) The rates per ton in the preceding paragraph are based on the assumption that 

only one bed of coal is present. If more than one bed occurs in any tract of land in 

such relationship that the mining of one will not necessarily disturb the other, then 

for the second bed there shall be added to the price of the first bed 60 per cent of the 

value of the second bed according to the schedule, 40 pe'r cent of the value of the 

third, and 30 per cent of the value of each additional bed; but the estimated price for 

coal shall in no case exceed $300 per acre, except in districts which contain large coal 

mines where the character and extent of the coal deposits are well known to the purchaser. Where a bed is over 15 feet thick, the normal value shall be placed only on 15 

feet; the next 15 feet or part thereof shal I be valued at 60 per cent of the normal; the 

next 15 feet or part thereof at 40 per cent of the normal; and the rest of the bed at 

30 per cent of the normal.

(8) The tonnage shall be estimated. for the purpose of valuation on the basis of 

1,000 tons recovery per acre-foot.

(9) The coal price of lands of class D shall be the minimum provided by law, $20 

per acre when within 15 miles of a railroad and $10 per acre when at a greater distance.

(10) In all valuations of coal lands any special conditions enhancing the value of

the land for coal-mining purposes shall be taken into consideration.

(11) When only a part of a smallest legal subdivision is underlain by coal the price 

per acre shall be fixed by dividing the total estimated coal values by the number of 

acres in the subdivision, but in no case shall this be less than the minimum provided 

by law. .

(12) When lands which were at time of classification more than 15 miles from a 

railroad are brought within the 15-mile limit by the beginning of operation of a new 

road, all values given in the original classification shall be doubled by the register 

and receiver.

(13) Except in case of entries now pending or entries made prior to classification, 

review of classification or valuation may be had only upon application therefor 

to the Secretary, accompanied by a showing clearly and specifically setting forth 

conditions not existing or known at time of examination.

COMPARISON OF GOVERNMENT PRICES WITH COMMERCIAL PRICES.

The Geological Survey, working under the Secretary's rulings 

approved April 10, 1909, has not yet covered so large a territory as 

to afford numerous examples of valuations of coal for comparison. 

A large share of the sale values of which records were obtained in the 

public-land States ate in areas mainly under private ownership, to 

which the Geological Survey has not yet given its attention. However, before the present regulations were approved large areas of 

coal land had already been valued by the Government's geologists, 

and while these values will generally be somewhat lower than the 

prices now being placed on corresponding coal land under the new 

regulations, comparisons may be instructive, especially comparisons 

with the minimum prices at which all government coal lands were 

sold a few years ago. Such a comparison is made in the following 

table, the valuations of coal land as made by the county assessors 

having been added, only values for developed property being given, 

according to the plan adopted in Pennsylvania, by which undeveloped 

lands are considered to be as valuable as developed lands if they are 

known to contain as much coal.
44 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

Comparison of sale prices of some coal lands and the prices, of the same lands as fixed by

the Government.

General location.

Do...............................................................

Do...............................................................

Do...............................................................

Do...............................................................

Do...............................................................

Do ...............................................................

Do..... ..........................................................

Do...............................................................

Do...............................................................

Do...............................................................

Utah .................................................................

Do...............................................................

Do............................................... .............

Sale price 

per acre.

' a $105. 50

a 35. 00

o29.50

a50.00

a30.00

a 62. 50

"187.30

1500.00

a 187. 30

o 187. 30

a 100. 00

dCO.OO

d 50. 00

d e25.00

125.00

d 156. 00

d 150. 00

d 160. 00

Government price 

per acre.

b 840. 00

6 30. 00

6 40. 00

b 30. 00

c 170. 00

c 176. 00

100. 00

c 103. 00

c 135. 00

c 165. 00

cSO.OO

c 100. 00

c 150. 00

c 120. 00

b 50. 00

b 50. 00

b 75. 00

Assessor's 

appraisal.

120. 00

200 00

200. 00

200. 00

150. 00

150. 00

150. 00

150. 00

n Undeveloped property, usually back from railroad.

b Classified before April 10, 1909.

c Classification based on regulations approved April 10,1909.

d Developed property.

e Coal rights only.

It will be noted that nearly all the sale prices quoted are those of 

undeveloped lands, most of which are not on a railroad. As before 

stated, the sale price of nearly all dev.sloped lands includes the cost 

of improvements, of which the value is not known to the writer, 

leaving an uncertainty as to the price of the land per acre, so that 

many data of that kind could not be used in this and in other tables.

The data at hand are too meager to serve as a source of general 

conclusions. On the whole, the government prices do not appear 

to run uniformly either above or below the purchase prices at which 

coal lands have changed hands between private parties.

The list does not include any of the higher-priced government land, 

but it may be of interest to note that the higher prices placed on 

government lands do not seem to have decreased their sale, but rather 

the contrary. Thus, to take as a concrete illustration the land office 

in Salt Lake City, it is stated that when the new government prices 

were first announced there was a general expression of doubt as to 

the sale of the lands, and the prediction was freely made that the 

new prices would absolutely tie up their sale. It was not long, however, before coal lands began to sell at the new prices, and the actual 

acreage sold in a short time far exceeded previous sales within a 

similar period. The sales have increased rather than decreased. 

The writer visited the office in Salt Lake City October 1, 1909, and 

found that in the preceding month, September, 27 sales had been 

made, ranging from 40 to 160 acres, at an average price of over $48 

an acre, bringing into the office during the month a total of over 

$200,000, that 50 coal declaratory statements had been made, and 5 

cash entries. A study of the sale of the highest-priced lands reveals
LEASING OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS. 45

somewhat similar conditions. Thus in Wyoming coal declaratory 

statements have been made on four quarter sections in each of two 

townships, in one of which the prices range from $370 to $410 and in the 

other from $225 to $430 per acre. These facts in themselves would 

seem to be among the best arguments that the new valuations are 

not excessive or prohibitory. In fact, the statement was frequently 

heard in the field that in view of the way in which these values were 

determined persons contemplating buying placed a certain amount 

of reliance on them, regarding them as an index of the value and 

amount of coal the land contains.

LEASING OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

In his annual report for the year ended June 30, 1909, Mr. Ballinger, 

Secretary of the Interior, has recommended as follows:

As regards new legislation, the present coal-land laws respecting the States and 

Territories, as well as Alaska, should be supplanted by an act fully meeting existing 

as well as future conditions. The inducements for much of the crime and fraud, both 

constructive and actual, committed under the present system can be prevented by 

separating the right to mine from the title to the soil. The surface would thereby be 

open to entry under other laws according to its character and subject to the right to 

extract the coal. The object to be attained in any such legislation is to conserve the 

coal deposits as a public utility and to prevent monopoly or extortion in their disposition. This may be accomplished either through a leasing system, by which the 

title would remain in the Government, under proper regulation and supervision by 

the Secretary of the Interior, or through the sale of the deposits, and in either case 

with restrictions on their mining and use which would control the minimum output 

and conserve the deposits as a public utility. I believe the most advantageous 

method will be found in a measure authorizing the lease or sale of the coal deposits in 

the lands, subject to forfeiture for failure to exercise the rights granted, under such 

reasonable regulations as may be imposed. An exploration period of at least oneyear upon a permit basis, at a nominal charge, would insure to the applicant the necessary preliminary knowledge upon which to make the lease or purchase of the coal 

deposits and venture the necessary investment for operation. The maximum unit 

authorized for this use could safely be made from three to five sections, provided no 

greater surface rights be granted than will give proper facilities to reach and extract 

the coal deposits.

In case of the failure of the lessees or grantees to open and operate the coal deposits 

under reasonable limitations and to maintain an output reasonably suited to the 

deposits, and in case of combinations as to price and limitations of output, title should 

be forfeited by proceedings in court for that purpose. Government mine supervision 

would doubtless be necessary to enforce the conditions and limitations under the 

grant.

As two of the public-land States have now in operation a leasing 

system for the coal under their own public lands, it may be of value 

and interest to examine the system in use in those States. Wyoming 

has had a leasing law since 1907, and Colorado for a much longer 

period.

In Colorado, 011 November 30,1908, there were 18,275 acres under 

lease, and these leaseholds yielded $104,456.42 in the biennial term
46 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

ending November 30, 1908. In the three biennial periods from 1902 

to 1908 the income from royalties nearly doubled in each successive 

period, being $27,012.83 for 1902-1904, $49,077.05 for 1904-1906, 

and $104,456.42 for 1906-1908.

Some of the conditions of a lease in Colorado are as follows:

The lessee must begin to prospect within sixty days and to mine 

within six months if workable coal is found. He must open the coal 

and continuously and with reasonable energy develop it in a good 

and workmanlike manner, and after the first year he must pay a 

royalty on not less than a specified number of tons annually.

The lease gives him the right only to the coal and so much of the 

surface as is needed for the purpose of mining.

The lessee shall use good mining methods, timbering well, keeping 

the mine free from water and waste, protecting it against fire and 

flood, creeps and squeezes, and checking them if they occur, and shall 

extract the greatest amount of coal possible.

He is to allow the agents of the state board of land commissioners 

at any time to inspect any part of the mine or the mine's books.

The coal shall be weighed run-of-mine as it comes out of the mine 

and a record of it, as well as of all coal shipped by railroad or otherwise, shall be kept and preserved.

A report of the weight of all coal mined and shipped must be made 

on or before the 15th of each month.

On this basis payment must be made before the 15th of each month 

for all of the coal mined during the preceding month, at the rate of 

10 cents a short ton, less one-twelfth of the minimum annual royalty, 

which shall have already been paid at the beginning of the year, 

whether any coal has been mined or not. This minimum royalty is a 

fixed yearly charge payable at the beginning of the year, but if the 

total royalty for the year shall exceed the amount of the minimum 

royalty tfce minimum royalty becomes a credit on the total royalty 

due.

All mining, timbering, and work done on the mine shall be subject 

to the supervision, approval, and order of the superintendent of the 

mineral department of the state board of land commissioners.

Failure on the part of the lessee to keep the terms of the lease will 

act to terminate the lease, and at the termination of the lease, either 

by forfeiture or expiration, the lessee shall return the property in 

good mining condition and without indemnification for improvements.

The lease may not be assigned or sublet without the consent and 

approval of the state board; it will not be construed as granting any 

other use than that of mining coal, nor for the mining, handling, or 

transportation of coal other than that mined on the land under the 

control of the state land board.
LEASING OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS. 47

After testing several methods of measuring the coal for the purpose 

of computing the royalty, the state commission has adopted a method' 

that is reported to be satisfactory both to the lessees and to the 

State. By this system the computation is made on the basis of the

 weight of the miners' cars. The monthly statements cover the gross 

weight mined by each miner, his check number, and the numbers of 

the entry and the room in which he mines. These statements are 

checked by the weights of lump and screenings and by railroad shipments. This makes an easy record to keep and to check. In case 

of dispute the coal in the mine is measured and the amount removed 

is computed. The cost of collection and inspection is stated to be 

about 5 per cent of the gross royalty income..

In Wyoming the lease grants the privilege of mining the coal for 

five years on the condition that the lessee shall pay to the State a

 fixed sum each year as " advance royalty/' to apply on a royalty of

6 cents a ton on all coal mined and sold up to 25,000 tons, 5 cents if 

between 25,000 and 50,000 tons are mined and sold, 4 cents if between 

50,000 and 100,000 tons, and 3 cents if more than 100,000 tons are 

mined each year; and that the lessee shall expend each year not less 

than $200 in development work.

If the lessee shall open and equip a working mine on the lease he 

shall have a preferred right to renew the lease for further periods of 

five years each on terms which may differ from those first agreed on, 

but in which the advance royalty shall not exceed $500 a year, to 

apply as before.

If coal is shipped from the leasehold by rail, a monthly statement 

and remittance must be made. For small mines a statement once a 

year only is required. No assignment of the lease shall be made 

without the consent of the State, and on the expiration or cancellation of the lease the property must be delivered in good condition.

The lease is subject to rights of way.

The lease may be canceled for failure to make payments or otherwise to keep its terms. A bond is required for the faithful performance of the terms of the lease.
DEPTH AND MINIMUM THICKNESS OF COAL BEDS AS 

LIMITING FACTORS IN VALUATION OF COAL LANDS.

By C. A. FISHER.

INTRODUCTION.

The subjects of maximum depth and minimum thickness of coal 

beds which can be worked at a profit have thus far received very little 

attention in this country, owing largely to the fact that only within 

the last few years has serious thought been given or organized effort 

made toward economy in the utilization of the country's coal resources. With the growth and development of the conservation 

policy two questions which are fundamental in an attempt to arrive 

at a reliable estimate of the coal supply naturally arise. (1) How 

far below the surface can coal be mined at a profit by the present 

methods or by the improved methods which may reasonably be 

expected in the future ? (2) What is the minimum thickness at which 

a coal bed may be profitably worked, either as mined to-day or with 

the aid of mining machines especially devised to work in thin beds? 

The answers to these questions are quite as important as a knowledge 

of the areal extent of the coal fields in considering the total coal supply. The area of coal land is a fixed quantity which at present is 

fairly well known, but the maximum depth and minimum thickness 

of workable coal beds will be determined by the measure of success 

attained in overcoming the difficulties involved in mining deep beds 

and thin beds at a profit.

The mining of coal in this country, as elsewhere, has progressed 

along lines of least resistance. The thicker, more easily accessible, 

and more valuable beds have been worked first and the thinner, 

less easily accessible, and less valuable beds have been left. Unfortunately in some places this practice has rendered the thinner and 

less desirable beds worthless. Already in many places throughout 

the older mining districts of the Appalachian region, also in the 

Eastern region of the Interior province, the thicker and more valuable beds are being mined to their full extent, and attention is 

being turned toward the development of thinner and less valuable 

beds. In the Western region of the Interior province, where coal 

is generally less abundant, the mining of thin beds has been carried 

48
MAXIMUM DEPTH OF COAL MINING. 49

on rather extensively for some time and apparently at a profit. 

In the Rocky Mountain province, where coal mining is a comparatively 

new industry, a number of thin coals have been worked independently for one reason or another in the presence of thicker beds, and 

here and there mining has been extended to considerable depth.

It is proposed to discuss in this paper some special features of the 

coal-mining industry in this country and elsewhere. Coal mining 

in the United States has not reached so advanced a stage as it has 

in Europe and especially in England, and a comparison of methods 

will, it is believed, be instructive and helpful in the endeavor to make 

a wise disposition of the coal resources of this country.

MAXIMUM DEPTH OF COAL MINING.

FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

General conditions. Coal mining at considerable depths has been 

carried on successfully abroad, especially on the European Continent, throughout the British Isles, and in Australia. Such mining 

is probably due to a number of conditions which vary with the 

locality where the deep workings occur; the most common, however, 

is the exhaustion of coals nearer the surface by long-continued 

working. In some places deep mining is done because the operators 

are more willing to lift coal from a deep shaft at the place where it 

is to be used, or from which it can be most economically shipped, 

than to bring coal mined at less depths elsewhere to this point by 

surface haulage. Still another cause may be the presence of steep 

dips in the rocks around the rim of a deep structural coal basin, so 

that a relatively small proportion of the coal of the basin lies near 

the surface and exploitation, even though followed but a short time, 

has reached considerable depth. Other factors, such as high surface 

relief in a coal field, may necessitate mining under great cover, which 

is generally the equivalent of great depth.

Belgium. The deepest coal mining of which the writer has been 

able to obtain any record is in Belgium, where moderately thin coal 

beds are being successfully worked at a maximum depth of 3,937 

feet. Several coal shafts in Belgium exceed 2,400 feet in depth, and 

mining levels ranging from 2,700 + to 3,000 + feet are not uncommon. 

The Produits collieries, in the vicinity of Mons, have reached the 

greatest depth given above, with results that are satisfactory so far 

as difficulties arising from excessive temperature, squeeze, and 

crushing strain due to the pressure of superincumbent strata are 

concerned. Under the commercial conditions.existing in that country 

the cost of such mining is apparently not prohibitive. Definite 

figures are not at hand for comparison, but in general the cost of 

labor is less and the selling price of coal higher in Belgium than in this 

21698 Bull.
50 VALUATION OP PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

country. Some facts concerning a number of the deepest workings 

in Belgium are given in the table on page 65.

England and Wales. In England and Wales, where coal mining 

has probably been carried on longer than in any other part of the 

world, the deepest coal workings about which it has been possible 

to obtain information are those of the Rams mine of the Pendleton 

coUiery at Manchester, which attain a depth of 3,483 feet. The 

thickness of the coal bed varies from 2 to 6 feet. At the Ashton 

Moss and the New Moss collieries, both located in this district, 

workings have been carried to depths of 3,360 and 3,300 feet, respectively, and at other places in Lancashire, also in Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Somerset, and Glamorgan counties, coals are .being mined at 

depths ranging from 2,130 to 3,150 feet. In these deep workings no 

insuperable engineering difficulties have been encountered; nor has 

the cost of mining at these great depths proved prohibitive. It is 

the consensus of opinion among men of wide experience in deep coal 

mining throughout the United Kingdom that nothing less than 

4,000 feet should be regarded as the limit of practical coal mining.0

Scotland. The greatest depth of coal mining reported in Scotland 

is 2,700 feet, in a mine at the Niddrie. collieries, Portobello, near 

Edinburgh. The coals there are in a structural basin, the lowest 

point of which, under the town of Musselburgh, lies at a depth of 

more than 4,000 feet.

France. In France deep coal mining is not uncommon. E. Loze, 

in correspondence concerning the depth of collieries in France, 

makes the statement that coal-mine shafts extending to a depth of 

1,200 to 1,500 feet were formerly considered deep, but that at present 

several exceed that depth and some reach 3,000 feet.

Germany. According to information obtained by correspondence 

with the late Dr. H. Weddirig, coal mining in Germany reaches a depth 

of 3,117 feet near Chemnitz. In the Rhenish-Westphalian mining 

board district of Dortmund coal beds are being exploited at a maximum depth of 2,625 feet. The depths in this district range from 

about 1,000 to 2,600 feet, the average being 1,700 feet. It is predicted 

by Schultz-Briesen,6 one of the foremost German authorities on 

the subject, that the average depth of coal mining in this particular 

field will exceed 2,000 feet in the next decade. In the northern 

part of the district along Lippe River the coal measures have been 

reached by drilling and found to contain good beds at depths ranging from 2,300 to 3,281 feet. It is believed by Schultz-Briesen that 

these coals will be exploited within the next few years. In regard 

to deep coal mining in Westphalia, the same author makes the 

following statement in a communication to the Royal Commission 

on Coal Supplies:

a Final Rept. Royal Comm. on Coal Supplies, pt. 1, p. 4.

6 First Rept. Royal Comm. on Coal Supplies, 1903, App. II, p. 335.
MAXIMUM DEPTH OF COAL MINING. 51

The technical progress made in the last twenty-five years in the machinery applied, and the improvement? in the underground system of mining operations, go 

to prove that we have not by any means arrived at a fixed standpoint with regard 

to such progress, and thus the German miner has no doubt that not only is there a 

possibility but the greatest likelihood of pushing down to a depth of 1,500 meters 

(4,921 feet) or more, and of mining coal there at a commercially profitable cost.

It is noteworthy that this opinion is shared by Stassert and other 

coal experts on the Continent.

Australia. A shaft known as the Birthday has been sunk to a 

depth approximating 3,000 feet by the Sydney Harbor colliery in 

New South Wales for the purpose of reaching a coal bed not exceeding 3 feet thick. This coal bed outcrops 75 miles away, at Newcastle, 

also on the coast, where shipping facilities are equally good. It 

is significant that another shaft was sunk to the same bed after the 

Birthday shaft had proved the thickness of the coal.

Experience gained ly deep mining abroad. Deep coal mining lias 

advanced to such an extent in Belgium, England, France, and 

Germany that many of the obstacles which arise in working coal 

at depths of 2,000 to 4,000 feet have been actually experienced and 

therefore have ceased to be matters of conjecture. Frpm the knowledge gained by these deep workings there appear to be no engineering 

or mechanical difficulties which can not be successfully overcome 

within the limit of 4,000 feet. Certain advantages accompany the 

disadvantages in deep coal mining. The increase of pressure due 

to depth has been found in some mines to assist in working the coal. 

The greater the depth the less is the danger of disturbing valuable 

buildings, railroads, and canals on the surface as a direct result of 

taking out the coal. This item is an important one in a thickly 

populated reigon. The almost total absence of water at the lower 

levels often eliminates the item of drainage.

Some of the disadvantages in deep coal working are the difficulty of 

maintaining roadways and timbering and the increased percentage 

of small coal obtained. The.chief difficulties which practical experience has brought out, however, are high temperature and cost. 

The former can be overcome to a certain degree by mechanical 

means, but such means involve an additional cost which in continuing deeper eventually reaches a figure that exceeds the selling 

price of the coal. Experience in these regions of deep mining 

has shown that the rate of increase of temperature with depth is by 

no means uniform but varies in different localities and under different 

geologic and structural conditions, so that it is impossible to predict 

what temperature may be encountered .at any given depth. The 

reduction of temperature by strong currents of dry air has proved in 

a measure successful, but the amount of such reduction is not ^reat. 

It has been found that the maximum temperature consistent with 

human labor is greater than 93° F., provided the air is dry.
52 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

The amount of lump coal which can be taken from a coal bed at 

great depths depends not only on the character of the coal but also 

on the nature of the bed. If partings of dirt which take up the crush 

occur in the bed, the coal can often be taken out in moderate-sized 

blocks. The character of the strata inclosing the coal is also an extremely important factor in determining the effect of crushing stress 

at great depth. Of course, a poor roof or floor causes trouble in mining coal at any depth, but with increased depth the difficulty is greatly 

augmented. In fact, this point is emphasized by one English authority of wide experience in deep coal working, who states that the ability 

to reach great depths in mining depends very largely on the natural 

hardness and strength of the strata. Room-and-pillar methods of 

mining are universally abandoned in deep mining, and long-wall working or some modification of that system is employed. Mining machines are also strongly recommended for great depths.

UNITED STATES.

General conditions. For the sake of convenience the coal fields of 

the United States have been classified by M. R. Campbell into six 

provinces the Eastern, Interior, Gulf, Northern Great Plains, Rocky 

Mountain, and Pacific Coast provinces. These in turn have been 

subdivided into regions, fields, and districts. The Eastern province 

includes the Appalachian Mountain region, the Anthracite region of 

eastern Pennsylvania, and the Atlantic Coast region, comprising a 

number of small scattered fields in Virginia and North Carolina. 

The Gulf province comprises the coal and lignite bearing rocks of 

the Gulf States. It is subdivided into the Mississippi and Texas 

regions. The Interior province comprises the large coal areas of 

the Mississippi drainage basin. Its subdivisions are the Northern 

region, including the coal field of Michigan; the Eastern region, including the Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky fields; the Western 

region, including the Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma fields; 

and the Southwestern, or central Texas coal field. The Northern 

Great Plains province includes the lignite and subbituminous coal 

fields of North and South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana, and is 

subdivided into the Fort Union, Black Hills, Judith Basin, and 

Assinniboine regions. The Rocky Mountain province includes the 

coal regions of the Rocky Mountains, nine in all, besides a number 

of scattered areas. The Pacific Coast province consists of a number 

of small isolated coal fields lying along the coast..

In the United States coal is now mined at relatively shallow 

depths; the deepest mining, which occurs in the Anthracite region, 

reaches about 2,200 feet. The absence of deep mining in this 

country is due to the fact that in the Appalachian region, where coal 

mining began and the greatest development has taken place, the
MAXIMUM DEPTH OF COAL MINING. 58

coal beds with few exceptions are near the surface, and the structure 

of the rocks is such that the coal beds do not extend to great depth. 

Likewise in the Northern and Eastern regions of the Interior province, where mining has gone on for a long time, the structural basins 

are relatively shallow and the coal beds are near the surface. In 

the Rocky Mountain province, where the coal generally lies in deep 

structural basins, mining is not far advanced and for the most part 

is confined to the margins of the basins.

Eastern province. The deepest coal mining in trie Eastern province also the'deepest in the United States, so far as the writer has 

been able to learn is in the Anthracite region, where, as previously 

stated, a maximum depth of about 2,200 feet has been reached. The 

coal beds of this region probably extend to greater depths, and as they 

furnish the best fuel in this country they will doubtless be worked at 

greater depths in the future. The deepest workings in the bituminous

fields of western Pennsylvania probably do not exceed 1,000 feet; 

in Ohio and in West Virginia, which includes the New River and Pocahontas fields, the present depth or cover of coal mining is still less. 

The same maximum is found in eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, and 

Alabama, except possibly at a few places. In fact, throughout the 

Appalachian region, with the exception of the south end, or that part 

in northeastern Alabama, where there are some deep basins, the 

maximum cover of the unworked. coal beds probably does not 

exceed 2,000 feet. It is worthy of note that in the Appalachian 

region, where the physical conditions, such as hardness of rock and 

ability to withstand crushing, are favorable for deep mining, the coal 

beds do not occur at great depths.

Interior province. Throughout the Interior province the workable 

coals, with the exception of the beds in the southern part of the 

Western region, do not extend to great depth but generally lie in 

shallow basins:

In the Michigan coal field the beds are nearly flat and the cover 

does not exceed 200 feet in thickness. The coal beds of the Eastern 

region occur in a wide, shallow basin covering the greater part of Illinois and small portions of Indiana and Kentucky. The greatest 

depth of coal mining reported in this basin is 1,003 feet, near Assumption, 111. Throughout Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas moderately shallow coal mining prevails, the range being from beds that outcrop to 

those about 300 feet deep; but farther west and south in this region*, 

in eastern Kansas, Oklahoma, and western Arkansas, greater depths 

have been attained, the maximum reported being about 800 feet in 

the McAlester district of Oklahoma. It should be mentioned in. this 

connection that a 1,170-foot shaft was sunk in the vicinity of Atchison, 

Kans., but no extensive operations were ever carried on from this level. 

The deepest coal-mining shaft reported in Arkansas is one of 480 feet.
54 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

Very little information has been obtained concerning mining conditions in the Southwestern region of Texas, but such as is at hand indicates that the workings are not deep.

Northern Great Plains province. The deepest coal mining in the 

Northern Great Plains province is in the Great Falls field of the Judith 

Basin region, where a shaft has been sunk to a depth of 480 feet for 

coal in the lower part of the Kootenai formation. In the Fort Union 

region, which is J^y far the largest subdivision of this province, the 

deepest mines, located near Sheridan, do not exceed 300 to 400 feet in 

depth, and in the lignite areas to the northeast the average depth is 

considerably less. In the Black Hills region, where mining has been 

going on for many years, the maximum depth is about 350 to 400 feet. 

The Assinniboine region of northern Montana has very shallow mining, the greatest depth reported being 250 feet.

Rocky Mountain province. In. the Rocky Mountain'province the 

deepest mine about which information has been procured is mine 

No. 1 of the Union Pacific Coal Company, at Rock Springs, Wyo., 

where a depth of 2,000 feet has been reached. At Cumberland, in 

the southwestern part of the State of Wyoming, in the Hams Fork 

region, a depth of 1,600 feet was reported about two years ago. 

This depth is probably exceeded at present. The next mine in point 

of depth is the Spring Gulch mine, near Carbondale, Colo., in the 

southeastern part of the Uinta region, where coals lying under the 

Grand Hogback and having a covering of approximately 1,500 feet 

are worked. At Cokedale, Mont., a bed of coal was formerly worked 

to a depth of 1,300 feet. The coal was a coking variety and was badly 

crushed.

In the Raton Mountain region of southern Colorado and northern 

New Mexico the Starkville mine, in the vicinity of Fishers Peak, is at 

present working under about 1,100 feet of cover, and this, depth will 

rapidly increase as the 'coal directly under the summit of the peak is 

approached. A depth of about 1,000 feet has been attained in the 

South Canyon mine, south of Glenwood Springs, Colo., and in the 

Central mine at Canon City, Colo. The depth of coal mining in other 

parts of the Rocky Mountain province, except possibly at a few places, 

ranges from 50 to 600 feet.

Of the eight regions included within the Rocky Mountain province 

five are large structural basins in which the coal beds outcrop more 

t>r less persistently around the margins, and if these beds are continuous underground they must reach great depths in the centers of the 

basins. The coals are late Cretaceous to Tertiary in age, and are 

contained for the most part in rocks which are prevailingly soft, consisting of slightly consolidated sandstone and sandy shale. It is generally recognized that soft rocks are more susceptible to crushing and 

squeezing, due to the pressure of superincumbent strata, than hard
MAXIMUM DEPTH OF COAL MINING. 55

metamorphosed sediments, and that, other things being equal, in 

mining under deep cover more difficulty will be encountered in maintaining roadways, etc., in soft rocks than in harder rocks, providing 

the latter are not faulted or too much jointed. It is obvious that as 

mining is extended to greater depths in the soft coal-bearing rocks 

of the West more or less difficulty may be expected from the abovementioned sources. The long-wall method of mining, which is better 

suited to great depth than the room-and-pillar method, will probably 

have to be employed at depths of 2,000 feet and possibly less in some 

localities. When the room-and-pillar method is used in deep workings, in addition to the general difficulties resulting from crushing and 

squeezing, there sometimes occurs an explosion or blowing to pieces of 

the pillars over a considerable area in the mine. This phenomenon, 

known to the English miners as "outburst," is believed by some of 

them to be due to the presence in the coal of gas, which, being under 

great pressure in the pillar, explodes. Some observers believe that 

these outbursts are most prevalent in coals subject to spontaneous 

combustion, and that usually they may not be expected at depths 

less than 1,500 feet. Boring holes in the coal, also in the roof and 

floor, for the purpose of allowing the gas to escape, has been suggested 

as one remedy, and changing from the room-and-pillar method of mining to the long-wall method as another. Outbursts of this nature 

have been reported from mines in Utah; also from mines in Canada, 

where they are locally known as "bumps."

As previously stated, the long-wall method or some modification 

of it is recommended by English miners for deep coal workings, 

and this method will doubtless be adopted in recovering the coals 

of the deep basins of the West. With the advantages gained by 

the experience in deep coal mining abroad there should be no insuperable difficulties, either physical or commercial, in mining the 

coal from the bottoms of these basins'to a depth of at least 4,000 feet.

Pacific Coast province. The greatest depths reported to which 

coal workings have been carried on the Pacific coast are found in 

Washington, where, at the Roslyn mine, a depth of 700 feet has been 

reached. In the Coos Bay field of Oregon and in central California 

the maximum cover of coal workings is about 500 and 300 feet, 

respectively.

CONCLUSION.

In the United States to-day coal lying more than 3,000 feet 

below the surface is being disregarded in connection with the disposition of coal lands on the public domain, whereas coals below 

3,000 feet are being successfully and profitably mined in Belgium, 

England, Wales, France, and Australia, a group of countries which 

supply about half of the world's production. Furthermore, all coal
56 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

beds down to a depth of 4,000 feet were included by the Royal 

Commission on Coal Supplies of England in their estimate of the 

total coal resources of that country as early as 1871, nearly forty 

years ago. This position is significant as representing the best 

thought of a country in which coal mining originated and which 

at the present time ranks second only to the United States in the 

production of coal.

Of course it should be recognized that as coal mining in different 

parts of the United States is extended to great depths there may be 

localities in which the difficulties arising from deep mining may 

combine in such a way as to make further operation impracticable; 

it is believed, however, that such localities will be highly exceptional 

and that in general the obstacles encountered in this country will 

be no greater than those which have been successfully overcome in 

other countries.

WORKING OF THIN COAL BEDS.

FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

General statements. The mining of thin coal beds, either in conjunction with other beds or independently, has for a long time been 

carried on with profit abroad, especially in England and Belgium. 

Special methods have been devised for recovering these thin deposits, 

and men have been trained from boyhood to work beds of ordinary 

bituminous coal 12 inches thick, either independently or in conjunction with thicker and more valuable beds. Cannel coal has 

been mined in beds as thin as 8 inches. It has also been found 

profitable to work these thin beds not only in conjunction with 

thicker beds but in groups of eight or ten beds.

The conditions which make it possible to mine coals in thin beds 

profitably are (1) exceptionally good quality, (2) exhaustion of

more valuable beds, (3) intimate association with thicker and more 

valuable beds of coal, fire clay, etc., (4) low labor cost and high selling 

price of coal, (5) geographic isolation of thin coals, which prevents 

them from coming into competition with more valuable beds, (6.) 

especially favorable conditions of accessibility, such as will permit 

mining by stripping the surface, etc. One or more of these conditions has probably been the controlling factor in each locality in 

bringing about the mining of thin beds abroad.

England and Wales. The thinnest bed of coal concerning which 

record has been obtained that is mined in England at the present 

time has a thickness of 8 inches. It is cannel coal and is mined in 

conjunction with other beds. At three different localities in East 

Lancashire beds of coal 10 inches thick are worked independently, and 

at several places in this county, as well as in Yorkshire, Shropshire, 

Gloucester, Somerset, and Monmouthshire, beds 12, 16, and 18 inches
WORKING OF THIN COAL BEDS. 57

thick have been and are being mined at a profit, either independently 

or with thicker beds. The Lower Foot bed, which has a thickness of 

11 inches, is worked in conjunction with thicker beds. At the Braysdown colliery at Bath, in Somerset, a bed 12 inches thick is being 

mined in connection with six other beds having an average thickness 

of 17£ inches, and at Dowlais, in the South Wales coal field, 27 men 

employed on a 21-dnch bed produce 12,690 tons annually, or 470 

tons to the man.

Belgium. In Belgium the Little French, Deux Haies, and Harlem 

beds, each of which has a.thickness of less than 12 inches, are mined. 

The Grand Gaillet and Grand Corriaillette beds, which are each 

less than 14 inches thick, are worked on account of their excellent 

quality as gas coal; also the St. Amand bed, which yields a domestic 

and coking coal and has a thickness of only 13 inches. In view of 

the fact that all the coal beds in Belgium lie at considerable depths

below the surface, the mining of these thin beds at a profit is even 

more remarkable.

 Scotland. The mining of thin coal beds in Scotland is also more 

or less common. In Lanark and Sterling counties beds ranging 

from 12 to 15 inches are worked to some extent. In East Scotland, 

however, at the Westrigg, Avonhead, and Brownyside collieries, 

beds 15, 13, and 14 inches thick, respectively, are mined, and many 

beds less than 2 feet thick are worked on a comparatively extensive 

scale. The thin beds thus worked rarely exceed 600 feet in depth 

and are not highly inclined..

Other foreign countries. Thin coal beds are mined also to a greater 

or less extent in Germany, France, and other foreign countries.

UNITED STATES.

General conditions. The mining of thin coal beds in the United 

States is not so generally practiced as in foreign countries, nor is 

the mimimum thickness worked as small as that abroad, yet many 

thin coals are worked in this country. In general, the factors 

' that bring about the mining of thin coal abroad apply also to this 

country, but here not all of these factors dominate, owing to the 

fact that the mining of our coals .has not reached so mature a 

stage. Here the exhaustion of the thicker and more valuable beds 

has only recently begun to be felt, even in the oldest mining district. 

Specialization in utilizing the coals of this country has not been 

sufficiently developed to afford in many localities such a market for 

particular coals that they can be mined at a profit no matter how 

thin.

Eastern province. In the Eastern province perhaps the thinnest 

beds worked are to be found in the area of most valuable coal, 

the Anthracite region. Here, according to information obtained
58 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

orally, coals as thin as 18 inches are mined in conjunction with 

other beds. In the bituminous region of western Pennsylvania 

the thinnest beds worked are in the western part of the Clearfield 

district, where the Gassam mine works a bed ranging from 48 down 

to 17 inches. In West Virginia the thinnest coal bed worked commercially is the Sewell. At Sewell the Longdale Coal and Iron 

Company formerly worked this bed down to a thickness ranging from 

20 to 24 inches. It is not uncommon in the New River field, where 

the Sewell coal has been extensively mined, to find the bed worked 

with a thickness varying from 24 to 30 inches. The coal is of high 

grade, clean, usually without parting, and generally inclosed by an 

excellent roof and floor. In the Georges Creek, field of Maryland, 

with the approaching exhaustion of the "big vein," development 

work has begun on the Lower Kittanning coal, which in places is 

about 2 feet thick. Throughout eastern Kentucky and Tennessee 

the Blue Gem bed is the thinnest worked, varying from 22 to 24 

inches. This bed furnishes a domestic coal of exceptional qualityIt has been reported from a reliable source that a large area which 

prospect holes have shown to be underlain by the Blue Gem bed with 

a thickness of only 22 inches has recently been leased. In other 

parts of the Eastern province, so far as the writer has been able to 

ascertain, there is nothing exceptional about the thickness of the 

coal beds mined, but personal observation in all the larger northern 

Appalachian fields indicates that there is a marked tendency toward 

the mining of thinner beds along with the thicker as the latter become 

more and more nearly worked out.

Gulf province. The coals of the Gulf province are mainly lignite, 

and their development up to the present time has not been extensive 

except in the Southwestern or Texas region. The thinnest bituminous coal reported as worked in this region is 19 inches thick.

Interior province. In the Interior province, especially throughout 

the Northern and Eastern regions, only moderately thin coal beds 

are mined, but in the Western region some of the thinnest coal beds 

mined in the United States are to be found. The minimum thickness of coal mined in Michigan, or the Northern region of this province, 

is 24 to 26 inches, which can not be regarded in any way exceptional. 

Throughout the Eastern region, in Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky, 

2 feet is about the minimum worked. In both of these regions this 

large minimum is probably due to the prevailing presence of thick 

coal beds which up to the present time have not been regarded as 

even approaching exhaustion. As previously mentioned, a very 

different condition prevails in the Western region, which includes 

Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. In all these 

States except the last two coal is not abundant nor does it occur 

in especially thick beds. The thin beds are as a rule easily accessible,
WORKING OF THIN COAL BEDS. 59

occurring at moderate depths, and are located at some distance 

from thicker and better beds.

According to the Iowa state mine inspector's report for 1908, 

there were 20 mines in Taylor, Page, and Adams counties, in the 

southwestern part of the State, located on a coal bed 14 to 18 inches 

thick, with an average of about 16 inches.0 Of these 3 were shipping 

and 17 local mines. Their combined annual output amounted to 

45,666 tons. Of course, the mines described above are not large 

and many might properly be regarded merely as country banks. 

Nevertheless, they are supplying at present at least a portion of the 

coal consumed in that part of the State and competing successfully 

with larger mines on thicker and better beds. These coals do not 

have the advantage of being high grade; they are, in fact, low-grade 

bituminous coals.

According to the Missouri state mine inspector's report for 1902

and the nineteenth and twenty-first annual reports of the Missouri 

bureau of mines for 1905 and 1907, respectively, 32 mines were operated on coal beds having a thickness ranging from 12 to 20 inches. 

Among these the largest output was from the Diamond Coal Company's mines in Lafayette County, which in 1907 yielded 49,786 tons. 

Records of three other mines are given in the annual report of the 

bureau of mines for 1907 one in Clay County, where the Missouri 

City Coal Company works a 20-inch bed, with an annual production 

of 40,590 tons; another in Lafayette County, where the Farmers 

Coal Company works a 19-inch bed, with an annual production of 

37,600 tons; and another in Lafayette County, where theLaningHarris Coal and Gas Company works an 18-inch bed, with an annual 

production of 27,534 tons. According to the nineteenth annual report 

of the bureau of mines, for 1905, page 249, a mine on an 80-acre 

lease, with $2,500 invested in equipment, was operated by Joe Bradley 

on a 12-inch bed. In Grundy County in 1907 the Trenton Mining 

Company worked a 19-inch bed by a shaft 240 feet deep and produced 

11,040 tons. According to R. S. Thomas, inspector of mines, a 

16-inch bed in the same county was worked by a shaft 225 feet deep. 

The production of the mine is not given. In 1907 the Kiers-tead 

Coal Company of Lafayette County mined an 18-inch bed by a shaft 

90 feet deep, the production being 18,176 tons. In addition to the 

mines mentioned above, there are a number of small mines or country 

banks working beds 12 to 18 inches thick, that range in annual 

output from 100 to 1,000 tons. Though none of the mines described 

above can be regarded as large, the Diamond Coal Company's mine, 

with an annual production of nearly 50,000 tons, can not be considered a country bank.

a The most recent publication on the coals of Iowa (Hinds, Henry, Coal deposits of Iowa: Ann. Kept. 

Iowa Geol. Survey, 1908, pp. 381, 385) gives the average thickness of the Nodaway bed in these counties 

as varying from 16 to 20 inches, with an average of about 17 inches.
60 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

In the Osage City region of Kansas coal beds as thin as 15 to 18 

inches are worked by small mines. In the Weir-Pittsburg region, 

the largest coal-mining field in the State, the .minimum thickness 

of coal worked ranges from 18 to 24 inches. At Arcadia coal 20 

inches thick is mined by stripping, also by drifts and shafts; this coal, 

owing to its excellent quality, competes successfully with the- WeirPittsburg coal.

In Oklahoma the mining of relatively thin coal beds in a small way 

for local use is reported from a number of localities. In the northeastern part of the State (the Muskogee region) the McAlester coal, 

which in its northern extension from the McAlester district becomes 

thinner, is mined by stripping. Here the bed has an average thickness of only 22 inches.

The Coalridge bed at Auburn, Ark., has been worked in local mines 

where its thickness is 18 inches and by stripping where it is as thin 

as 14 inches. So far as known, the minimum thickness worked 

commercially is 26 inches, at mines of the Enterprise Mining Company and Paris Coal Company at Paris, and the Ouita Coal Company 

at Mill Creek.

In the Southwestern region of Texas, which comprises a part of the 

Interior province, thin coal beds of Carboniferous age are mined. 

The thinnest of which any record has been obtained is 18| inches 

thick and is worked from a shaft 112 feet deep. At other places in 

Wise and Parker counties coal 19 and 20 inches thick is reported to 

be worked. In a report of the .Geological Survey of Texas the following statement is made concerning the production from thin coal 

beds: "The production of coal in the Carboniferous area of Texas 

exceeds that of any other field of the State, and this, too, notwithstanding the very thin character of the coal seams."

Northern Great Plains province. In the Northern Great Plains 

province thin beds are not mined to any considerable extent, probably 

for two reasons the province is one in which thick deposits of lowgrade coal predominate, and coal mining has been carried on for only 

a few years, except in the Great Falls field, where the industry is older 

and the coal is in some respects of better grade. In Yellowstone. 

Valley, near Miles City, a low-grade subbituminous coal 3 feet 6 inches 

thick is worked an exceptionally small thickness for a coal of this 

class.

Rocky Mountain province. In the Rocky Mountain province coal 

mining can not be regarded as in an advanced stage of development 

and the mining of thin beds is not to be expected. However, at 

a number of scattered localities remarkably thin coal beds are mined. 

Of course, there is some exceptional condition which accounts for the 

mining of every thin coal worked throughout the West; but the 

experience of old and highly developed mining regions indicates that
WORKING OF THIN COAL BEDS. 61

such conditions will increase both in number and variety as time 

goes on.

In Montana the thinnest bed mined in a commercial way is probably the Eagle coal, 30 inches thick, at Bridger and Joliet, in the 

southern part of the State. The mine at Bridger, which is relatively 

large, was opened where the coal was thicker, and at a few places in 

the present workings the bed exceeds 30 inches in thickness. The 

coal obtained at Joliet, where the workings are on a smaller scale, is 

hauled 2£ miles in wagons. These two mines are located within 30 

miles of the Keel Lodge-Bear Creek coal field, the largest producing 

locality in Montana.

In Wyoming the mining of thin coals is rather exceptional, but 

a few cases may be noted. Near Saratoga, Carbon County, in the 

Larson mine, a bed of coal 16 inches thick is worked, and the product

is hauled 12 miles in wagons to the town of Saratoga. This coal is 

mined in a region where thicker coals are near by. In the northern 

part of the Bighorn Basin coal 21 inches thick is mined locally for 

domestic use.

Near Newcastle, Garfield County, Colo., the Keystone mine operates 

in a commercial way under lease a bed of coal 20 to 24 inches thick. 

It is a high-grade bituminous coal and the mine is located near the 

railroad. Thicker coal beds are found near by. In Gunnison County 

the Floresta mine works a bed of anthracite coal which has a minimum thickness of 18 inches, though in places it reaches a thickness of 42 inches. The Enterprise mine, in El Paso County, Colo., 

in a region of much thicker coals, works a bed of subbituminous coal 

ranging in thickness from 30 to 42 inches. The output of this mine 

in 1906 was 5,798 tons. At the Starkville mine, in the Trinidad coal 

field, a bed of coal having a minimum thickness of 18 inches is worked; 

the average thickness of this bed, however, is considerably greater.

Very little mining of thin beds is carried on in New Mexico, but one 

case may be mentioned to illustrate how local conditions may influence 

the mining of thin beds. At the Cowles Coal Company's mine, 

Cowles, a bed of coal from 7 to 15 inches thick is worked to supply 

fuel for the Pecos Copper Company's mine located near by. This 

is the only coal anywhere near the copper mine, and for that reason 

it is probably a cheaper fuel than that shipped from a distance.

FACTORS AFFECTING THE MINING OF THIN COAL BEDS.

In any consideration of the subject of mining thin coal beds in the 

United States, a number of questions arise which should be taken into 

account even in so brief a treatment as that of the present paper. 

These are (1) the geologic or stratigraphic association of thin coal 

beds with thicker beds or those of approximately the same thickness: 

(2) the general quality of the coal found in the thin bed and the habit
62 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

0

of the bed itself, such as contained partings and soft material, either 

above or below the coal, which aids in mining; and (3) the effect of 

greater utilization of "the heat value of the coal by the consumer.

In the first place, thin coal beds in this country, as elsewhere, are, 

as a rule, more or less intimately associated with thicker beds or 

occur in groups of beds of small dimension. It is rather exceptional 

to find an isolated thin coal bed at a great distance from other beds, 

and therefore the thin coal can generally be mined in conjunction 

with the thicker bed or with a group of beds of smaller thickness, 

as it is mined abroad. In quality the thinner coals are not necessarily inferior to the thicker ones, for a thin bed may represent 

simply a shorter period of coal deposition and not less favorable 

conditions. In fact, the Sewell and Blue Gem coal beds of West 

Virginia and Kentucky are the thinnest beds worked and at the same 

time among the best coals produced in those regions. The mining 

of a thin bed is thus mainly a matter of cost and is dependent on 

the price that can be got for the coal. One of the most important 

factors in bringing about the mining of thin coal beds and also of 

deep ones and at the same time preventing waste is the extraction 

of greater heat values from the coal used. A higher heat efficiency 

would permit consumers to pay an additional price for coal without 

increasing their fuel cost per unit of output. This in turn would 

make it possible for the producer to mine coals not only in thin beds 

but also at great depths. The additional cost would be met by the 

increased selling price. The practice of buying coal on a heatproducing basis, which is becoming more and more general, will 

indirectly stimulate the movement for obtaining greater heat value 

from coal in burning. If stronger emphasis is placed by the purchaser on the total heat contained in the fuel he uses, the producer 

can meet this demand only by grading his product or by interesting 

himself in bringing about the general use of improved appliances 

which will extract a greater efficiency from his coal, thereby creating 

a market for it. The selling of coal on a heat-producing basis 

will also lead to greater specialization in the use of fuel. One prominent English authority on this subject makes the following statement: "As time goes on much more of the inherent value of the coal 

will be taken from it and the method of the preparation of coal may 

have to be changed and improved to suit the different conditions 

under which coal may be used in the future." This is as true in the 

United States as in England.
VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS. 63

STANDARDS ADOPTED FOR COAL LANDS OF THE 

PUBLIC DOMAIN.

In the classification of the coal lands remaining on the public 

domain the Director of the United States Geological Survey, with the 

approval of the Secretary of the Interior, has fixed 3,000 feet as the 

limit of depth of practical coal mining and 14 inches as the minimum 

thickness of a bed of coal which may be regarded as of workable 

dimension. The limit of depth chosen exceeds by only 800 feet the 

deepest coal beds which are actually being worked in this country 

and falls about 900 feet short of the depth at which coals are being 

successfully exploited in Belgium. It was clearly recognized in 

fixing this depth limit that. 4,000 feet should be the limit consistent with present practice and experience in coal mining abroad. 

As the coals of the public lands, however, are in general of a medium 

grade and are located in the West, where their exploitation has only 

well begun, the time when coals on these lands lying between 3,000 

and 4,000 feet below the surface would be worked is still remote. 

It was recognized that, under the present law, which does not permit 

the separation of surface and underground rights, the reservation of 

lands underlain by coals at these depths for mineral use only would 

prohibit the development of the surface features of such lands, which 

are of greater immediate value. The question became simply, For 

what use is the land most valuable ? There was no doubt in the minds 

of those who fixed the depth limit of practical coal mining on the 

public domain at 3,000 feet that if the problem were considered in its 

broader aspect that is, with a view to the future, in an endeavor 

to make the wisest disposition of the country's coal the depth limit 

might properly be placed even at 4,000 feet.

In attempting to establish the minimum workable thickness of a 

coal bed it was hardly necessary, although very instructive, to look 

abroad for examples of thin-bed mining, for in parts of the Interior 

coal province of this country very thin coals are now worked. A 

minimum thickness of 14 inches does not seem extreme in any sense, 

as coal beds of this thickness are actually being worked by small 

mines in more than one locality in the Interior province and beds 2 

to 4 inches thicker are being worked in several places by shipping 

mines of moderate size. This position is strengthened by the facts 

that in England and on the Continent coals considerably less than 14 

inches thick are now being worked independently, and that for the last 

forty years, or since 1871, when the report of the first royal commission on coal supplies was made, 12 inches has been regarded in England as the minimum thickness of a workable coal bed.

The United States probably has greater coal resources than any 

other country and, as compared with England, has consumed a relatively small proportion of those resources; but these facts do not
64 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

justify the practice of disregarding coals as of no value which, by 

reason of their great depth or their occurrence in thin beds, are difficult to mine. Surely in the United States, which ranks first in the 

world's production, it would be possible to win coal under as great 

difficulties as in any other country.

Of course it is to be expected that the question of mining coals at 

great depth and in thin beds in a commercial way will be regarded 

by the practical coal-mining man of to-day as more or less speculative. This criticism may be justifiable in a measure if the subject 

is viewed only in the light afforded by present commercial practices; 

but if it is considered with the broader view which notes the marked 

changes in conditions that are already manifesting themselves such 

as the progress in obtaining gr.eater heat values from coals, the 

greater specialization of their uses, and the certain exhaustion of 

thicker, shallower, and more valuable beds it is certainly reasonable 

to expect' that deep and thin coals will some day be mined in this 

country in a commercial way, as they are at the present time in 

other countries, where the main difference in conditions is that coal 

exploitation has reached a more mature stage.

STATISTICS.

The following tables present in summarized form statistics on the 

maximum depth of coal mining and the minimum thickness of coal 

beds worked in the United States and in several foreign countries.

Statistics on depth of coal mining.

Locality.

England and Wales.

Manchester:

Ashton Moss col- liery 

Shaft...........

Deepest workings. 

New M!oss colliery

shaft.

Bradford colliery. . . 

Yorkshire:

given).

given). 

Staffordshire:

given). 

Florence colliery . . . 

Lancashire: Agecroft 

colliery, Trencherbone mine.

Depth.

Feet. 

3,483

2,790

3,360 

2,820

3,300

2,550 

9 4fin

2,130

2,400-2,550

2,400-2,700 

2, 940

Quality of coal.

}...............

Reference.

Dig. Evi. Roy. Com. 

Coal Supplies, 1901- 

\ 1905, p. 74.

Correspondence with 

A. S. E. Ackerman.

(Trans. Inst. Min. Eng., \ vol. 21, 1900-1901, p.

I 67.

Coal Supplies, 1901- 

1905, p. 74.

Idem, p. 73 ........... 

.....do................

.....do................

Idem, p. 75 ........... 

Idem, p. 74 ...........

Remarks.

shaft in the Kingdom."
DEEP MINES. 

Statistics on depth of coal mining Continued.

65

Locality.

England, and WalesContinued.

Wigan: 

Alexandra pitShaft. ..........

ings.

Dunkinfleld: 

' Astley pitShaft...........

ings.

colliery.

Glamorgan, South 

Wales: 

Dowlais, Cardiff colliery.

Scotland.

lieries. 

Australia.

New South Wales: 

Sydney Harbor colliery, Birthday shaft.

Belgium. 

Mons: 

Produits colliery. . .

Sainte Henriette 

shaft. 

Borinage:

Mine No. 10 of 

Agrappe at Paturages 

Charleroi:

Mine No. 11 of Marcinelle collieries 

Montsur Marchienne of Marcinelle collieries 

St. Andre shaft,

Poirier colliery.

liery. 

Anderlues: Viernoy

shaft. 

Gilly: AH viers shaft. . ..

Average throughout 

Belgium.

Depth.

Feet.

\ 2, 325

| 2, 700 

2,445

2,700

3,150

2,460

2,220

2,700

2,700

2,937 

3,937

3,773

2,789

3,281

3,330

3,445

2,641-3,461

3,218

3,503

3,471

3,734

3, 150

3,117

3,300

3,750

1,444

Quality of coal.

\

'

Bitum i n o u s 

coal.

Gas coal to anthracite. 

Reference.

[Dig. Evi. Roy. Com.

\ Coal Supplies, 1901-

l 1905, p. 75. 

Trans.Inst.Min.Eng.,

vol. 21, 1900-1901, p. 

67.

.....do................

.....do................

Dig. Evi. Roy. Com.

Coal Supplies, 1901- 

1905, p. 75.

Idem, p. 76............

.....do................

.....do.................

Ann. Rept. Dept. 

Mines, New South 

Wales, 1902, p. 105. 

Idem, 1905, p. Ill; 

1906, p. 122.

Trans.Inst.Min.Eng.,

vol. 21, 1900-1901, p.

67.

E. Loze", Pas-de-Calais, France.

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

vol. 21, 1900-1901, p. 

07. 

.....do................

.....do................

Correspondence with 

E. Loz6, Pas-de-Calais, France.

Remarks.

Brick - lined shaft. The 

coal for which the Birthday shaft was sunk outcrops 75 miles away, at 

Newcastle, also on the 

coast and with equally 

good shipping facilities.

21698 Bull. 424 1(
66 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS. 

Statistics on depth of coal mining Continued.

Locality.

France.

Anzin Co. 

Haute Saone:

mine of Ronchamps Association. 

Eboulet mine ......

Gard: Salles - de - Gagnieres. 

Germany.

R h e n ish-Westphalia:

Dortmund. 

United States.

Pennsylvania: 

Nanticoke, Anchiclass colliery.

Ohio: 

Athens, Canaanr 

ville colliery.

West Virginia: 

. Near Thurmond,

Stewart Colliery 

Co. 

Kentucky: 

Jellico district. .....

Tennessee. .............

Alabama. ..............

Indiana: 

Oswald, Princeton

Coal Mining Co. 

Illinois:

sumption Coal 

Co.

Iowa:

Coal Co. No. 3. 

Missouri:

Home Riverside 

Coal Co. 

Arkansas: 

Russellville, Southern Anthracite 

Coal Co.

Depth.

2,660

3,314

3,281

. 2,887-

2,723

2,952-3,117

2,625

2,200

439 

«630

1 000

800

600

OCAOftn

450

1,003

720

480

Quality of coal.

Anthracite....

Bituminous... 

.....do.........

.....do.........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do.........

.....do.........

.....do.........

.....do........

.....do........

Semi anthracite.

Reference.

E. Loz<§, Pas-deCalais, France.

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

Dr. Hermann Wedding, Berlin, Germany. 

Dig. Evi. Roy. Com.

Coal Supplies, 1901- 

1905, pp. 76-77.

Correspondence with 

coal experts.

33d Ann. Rept. Insp. 

 Mines, 1907, pp. 257- 

258.

state geologist.

sons familiar with 

the local conditions.

1906, p. 676; in 21st 

Ann. Rept. Dept. 

Geol. and Nat. Res.

1907, p. 140.

state geologist.

Mines and Mine 

Insp., 1907, p. 258.

Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 326, p. 105.

Remarks.

ters (2,625 feet) here included. Article gives 

depths as low as 500 

meters (1,640 feet).

The greatest depth of bituminous coal mining in 

western Pennsylvania 

probably does not exceed 1,000 feet.

The usual depth of coal 

mining in Ohio ranges 

from 40 to 250 feet.

Gem seam, a high-grade 

bituminous coal.

ed as the maximum for 

this State.

mining in Alabama. 

Coal beds reach great 

depth in this State.

State is at shallow depth.

ranges, in depth from 

about 50 to 300 feet.

1907 was 83,959 tons. Coal 

mining in the State is 

generally shallow, ranging from a few feet to 300 

feet.

ing in Iowa ranges from 

100 to 250 feet.

usually shallow, ranging 

from 50 to 150 feet.

Average depth for State 

about 200 feet.
DEEP MINES. . 

Statistics on depth of coal mining Continued.

67

Locality.

United States Con. 

Kansas:

Oklahoma: 

Lehigh 

and Mining 

Go. .mine No. 

8.

sas and Texas 

Ey., coal department, 

mine No. 12. 

Montana: 

Cokedale. ..........

Wyoming: 

Cumberland....

Rock Springs, 

Union Pacific 

Coal Co., mine 

No. 1. 

Colorado: 

Starkville. .........

Carbondale, Spring

Gulch mine.

South Canyon 

mine. 

Canyon City, Central mine. 

Washington:

Oregon:

ver Hill mine. . California:

Depth.

684

805

1,300

1,600

2,000 

1,100

1,500

1,050

1,087 

700

500

300

Quality of coal.

.....do.........

.....do.........

coking.

bituminous.

.....do........

Bituminous... 

.....do........

nous. 

.....do........

Reference.

state gologist.

Mine Insp., 1907, p. 

12.

Kept. State-Mine Insp.

Remarks.

in State ranges from 40 

to 125 feet. ^

lahoma occurs in the 

McAlester and Coalgate 

regions, 600 to 900 feet.

doned. Coal mining in 

the Red Lodge and 

Great Falls fields, two of

the largest in the State, 

does not exceed 500 to 

600 feet in depth.

a Shaft.

Land on the United States public domain which was underlain by 

.coal at depths of 2,800, 4,100, 5,000, and 5,900 feet has been acquired 

from the Government by western coal companies because of its coal 

value, at a cost of $20 an acre.

A summary of opinions of several foreign authorities as to the 

maximum depth of practicable coal mining is given in the following 

table:
68 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

Opinions of foreign authorities on the possibilities of deep coal mining.

Country.

England and Wales. . . .

Do.................

European Continent....

Depth, 

in feet.

4,000 

8,000

3.608

4,921

4,900

Reference.

Dig. Evi. Roy. Com. Coal Supplies, 1901-1905, p. 32.

21, 1900-1901, p. 67.

plies, 1901-1905, pp. 76-77. 

Idem, p. 107 ..................

Correspondence with A. S. E. 

Ackerman, London.

Remarks.

Adopted as "the limit of practical depth 

in working" by the Royal Commission of 1871; again by the commission 

of 1901 and 1905.

feet will be attained." 

"The shafts which to-day are being

worked at a depth of 700 to 800 meters 

[2,300 to 2,625 feet] will, at that 

period [twenty -five years], have 

reached the depth of 1,100 meters 

[3,608 feet]."

not only is there a possibility, but 

the greatest likelihood, of pushing 

down to a depth of 1,500 meters [4,921 

feet] or more, and of winning coal 

there at a comparatively profitable cost." 

"Experts on the Continent consider 

4,900 feet about the limit of working."

Statistics on the mining of thin coal beds.

Locality.

England and Wales.

Do. .....................

Do. ...... ...............

Do......................

Do. .....................

Do......................

Do......................

Do......................

Do......................

Do......................

Do......................

Do......................

Do......................

Lancashire, Lower Foot bed.

Do......................

Northeast Lancashire, Lower 

Mountain Mine bed.

bed.

Somerset, Bath, Braysdown 

colliery.

Gloucester, Forest of Dean... 

South Wales coal field:

seam.

Thickness in 

inches.

10

10

10

11

12

12

16

16

17

18

18

18

18

11

8

20-22

14

' 12-18 

14

12 

22-26

16 

16

Depth in 

feet.

300

900

1,821

300

o 

1,200

2.400

1,000

Quality of coal.

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

coking. 

Bituminous...

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

gas.

Reference.

Coal S u pplies. vol. 1, 

p. 25. 

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

Idem, p. 27....

Idem, p. 25....

.....do........

.....do........

Idem, p. 9.....

.....do........

Idem, p. 13....

Idem, p. 32....

Idem, p. 37....

Remarks.

These beds are

> ently and not in

c o n n e c tion with

thicker beds.

hauled 1,200 feet 

underground.

Bed worked near a

larger mine of 

thicker coal.

Attempt made to 

mine this seam 

commercially, but 

expense prohibited. 

Men must be trained

from boyhood to 

work in these thin 

beds. 

This seam worked in 

connection withsix 

other beds averaging 17$inches thick.

This bed, in connection with four others, is being worked 

extensively.

day. Bed worked 

separately, but in 

connection with a
THIN BEDS WORKED.

Statistics on the mining of thin coal beds Continued.

69

Locality.

England and Wales Con. 

South Wales coal field Con.

Scotland.

Do. .....................

Do......................

Do......................

East Scotland district: 

Coxrod coal, Westrigg 

colliery.

colliery.

Brownyside colliery. 

Lanarkshire and Stirlingshire, in Airdrie and Slamannon districts.

Belgium.

Hainan t coal basin: 

Flenu, colliery of Procluits, Little French 

seam. 

Quaregnon, colliery of 

llieu du Cceur et de la 

Boule 

Herlem bed.........

Wasmes, colliery 

d'Hornu & Wasmes 

Grand Gaillet bed...

bed. 

Georges bed .........

Dour, Grande Machine &

Feu de Dour, Deux 

Haies bed.

liery of Bois du Luc, 

St. Amand bed.

United States. 

Pennsylvania: 

Fourth bituminous dis- trict 

Shawmut mine No.

5, Lower Kittanning bed. 

Shawmut mine No.

C, Lower Kittanning bed. 

Northwestern Mining and Exchange 

Co., Dagus No. 1, 

Lower Kittanning 

bed. 

Western Clearficld district, Gassam mine.

Thickness in 

inches.

21

24-30

15-20

15

12

15 

13

14

14-30

11

11

12.6

13.4

13

12.5

15.7

13

a 26-34

a26-34

a 20-34

17-48

Depth in 

feet.

400

120-1,200

120-1,200

120-1,200

120-300

Quality of coal.

.....do........

coking.

.....do........

.....do........

.....do...!....

Keference.

Coal Supplies, vol. 1, 

p. 39.

.....do........

.....do........

Idem, p. 26.... 

.....do........

.....do........

Idem, p. 29....

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

Mm. Insp., 

1907, p. 150. 

.....do........

.....do........

ence with 

acting state 

geologist.

Remarks.

employed produced 12,690 tons a 

year, or 470 tons 

per man.

rock strata this is a 

highly remunerative bed.

worked by hand, 

but not aggressively.

ed as of problematic workability.

thicker beds this 

might possibly be 

worked commercially.

thick and carries 11 

inches of coal.

| ccllent quality.

76, 765 tons.

41,084 tons.

31,639 tons.

a These thicknesses are only for mines using mining machines.
70 VALUATION OP PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

Statistics on the mining of thin coal beds Continued.

Locality.

United States Continued.

West Virginia: 

Fayette County, Sewell, 

LongdaleCoal and Iron 

Co., Sewell bed.

ena Coal Co. , Pocahontas thin bed.

Coal Co., Kittanning 

bed. 

Maryland:

Coal Mining Co.

Ohio: 

Jackson County 

Jackson, Superior 

Coal Co., Superior 

No. 12 bed. 

Price Switch 

See Kay Coal Co., 

See Kay mine. 

TibbalsCoalCo.,

Tibbal's mine 

No. 2.

Co., Price mine.

Brown Coal Co., 

Buckeye mine No. 

2. 

Jacksonmine.

Henry Holberg 

mine No. 4. 

Oak Hill, Oak Hill 

Fire Brick Co., 

Oak Hill F. B. 

Mine. 

Crescent Coal Co.,

Crescent mine. 

Coal ton, Henry 

Pritchard mine. 

W. J.' Rowe & Son, 

Rowe mine. 

Sun Coal Co., Sun 

mine. 

Vinton County, Inghams, 

Valley Coal Co., Inghams mine.

McDonald Brothers, 

Five Point mine, 3-A 

seam. 

Kentucky: 

Jellico field 

Mine

Thickness in 

inches.

20-24 

24-36

24-36

30

28

30 

20

9fi

28

26

26 

26

28

28 

28 

28- 

28

28

24

22

a Shaft.

"Depth in 

feet.

oSOO-600

a 150

« 

(")

( 6)

(")

(*)

(»)

(6)

( 6 )

CO

w 

(") 

(*)

Quality of coah

High-grade bituminous.

nous. 

Bituminous. . .

.....do........ 

.....do........

....'.do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........ 

.....do........

.....do......:.

.....do........ 

.....do........ 

.....do........ 

.....do........

.....do........

tuminous. 

.....do........

Reference.

C o r r espondence with 

state geologist. 

22dAnn.Rept.

State Min. 

Insp. Coal 

Mines, 1904. 

p. 269.

State Geol.

Kept., vol. 

5, p. 343.

33d Ann. Kept. 

Insp. Mines. 

1907, p. 215.

Idem, p. 217. .. 

Idem, p. 219...

Idem, p. 221...

Idem, p. 220. . .

33d Ann. Kept.

Insp. Mines, 

1907, p. 221. 

Idem, p. 228...

Idem, p. 222... 

Idem, p. 223...

.....do........ 

Idem, p. 224... 

Idem, p. 227... 

Idem, p. 228...

Kept. State

Min. Insp., 

1901-2, p. 292.

b Drift.

Remarks.

Not worked at present.

ly been abandoned.

Mine now abandoned.

Mine in poor condition.

It has been reported

from a reliable 

source that 10,000 

acres which was 

known from prospect holes to be 

underlain by this 

bed with an average thickness of 22 

inches was leased 

for coal-mining 

purposes. Coal in 

demand for domestic use. Blue Gem 

seam, 20 inches 

thick, has been 

mined with profit.
THIN BEDS WORKED.

Statistics on the mining of thin coal beds Continued.

71

Locality.

United States Continued. 

Tennessee:

comb, Big Italian mine.

Indiana: 

Clay County 

Crawford No. 8 

mine.

BrazilCoal Co., Lower 

Vein No. 1 

mine. 

Vandalia Coal

Co., Vandalia 

No. 50 mine. 

Alabama: 

Dekalb County, Lahusage, Lookout Fuel Co.

Illinois: 

Knox County 

Abingdon 

James Tell mine.

William Carson

mine. 

James Cross mine

Sam Nelson mine

Pointer & Cross

mine. 

William Courson

mine. 

Warren County 

Monmouth 

Thos. A. Welch

mine. 

George Menifield

mine. 

Ro Seville, J. B.

Russell mine. 

Prairie City, O. W.

Franklin mine. 

Youngstown,

Thomas Lee mine. 

Avon, William Ruhl

mine. 

Shelby County 

S h e 1 b y v i 1 1 e,

John Anglin mine. 

Shelbyville..........

Michigan:

naw mine. 

Do..................

Thickness in 

inches.

22

36

36

36

22-24

22 

22

22 

24

24

24

24

24

22

22

22

20

26

17

26

24

Depth in 

feet.

50

58

105

(a) 

(«)

(°) 

(»)

00

(a )

(a)

c40

c32

(°)

(")

W

cf>4

/ r\

Quality of coal.

tuminous.

.....do........

.....do........

Bituminous... 

.....do.........

.....do......... 

.....do.........

.....do.........

.....do..........

.....do....".....

.....do.........

.....do.........

.....do.........

.....do.........

.....do.........

.....do.........

.....do.........

.....do........

.....do.........

Reference.

Min. Dept., 

1907, p. 39.

. Min. Insp., 

1906, p. 674, 

in 21st Ann. 

Rept. Dept. 

Geology and 

Nat. Res., 

1906.

.....do. .......

.....do........

Rept. Insp.

Alabama 

Coal Mines, 

1908, p. 14.

Coal Rept. of 

Illinois, 

1905, p. 158. 

.....do.........

.....do.........

145. 

.....do.......:.

.....do.........

Idem, 1905, p.

175. 

Idem, 1907, p.

ICO. 

Idem, 1905, p.

175. 

.....do.........

.....do.........

.....do.........

Idem, 1907, p.

156. 

.....do........

ence with 

Co nsolidated Coal 

Co. 

.....do........

Remarks.

thickness of the 

coal actually being 

mined. The lower 

"block" averages 

a little under 3 feet 

and the upper 

"block" a little 

over. Wage scale 

for this field is 

based on thickness 

of bed. Cost becomes proliibitive

at about 28 inches.

78 men employed.

Annual output 240 

tons.

Annual output 200

tons. 

Annual output SO 

tons.

tons. 

Annual output 1,000

tons.

tons. 

Annual output 1,200

tons. 

Annual output 2,400

tons. 

Annual output 720

tons. 

Annual output 266

tons. 

Annual output 200

tons.

tons. 

Annual output 2;000

tons.

This is the minimum

thickness of coal 

mined in a commercial way in 

Michigan.

« Drift. & Slope. -Shaft.
7.2 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

Statistics on the mining of thin coal beds Continued.

Locality.

United States Continued.

Missouri: 

Jackson County, Brush 

Creek Coal Co. mine.

Barton CountyJoseph Bradley mine

W. M. Peck mine. . .

Peck &Brunnett 

mine.

Carroll County, Howard 

Kingslow mine.

Davis mine.

City Coal Co. mine.

Grundy CountyTrenton Mining Co. 

mine.

Jackson mine. 

Lafayette CountyDiamond Coal Co. 

mine.

mine.

mine.

G. Co. mine.

305, mine.

Fred Walters mine . . 

L. M. Manning mine.

mine. 

J. A. Williamson 

mine. 

N. F. Wilson mine... 

Livingston County, Geo. 

 T. Walters mine.

Nodaway County 

Claypool & England 

mine. 

AVilliam Bird mine..

Fred Pierson mine. . .

Thickness in 

inches.

18 

12 

12

12

18 

17

20

19 

18

18 

19

18

18

18

16

1C 

14

14

10

14 

15

15 

12

16

12

14

Depth in 

feet.

»320 

(») 

(»)

(*)

oSO 

(»)

dice

o240 

(")

o5G 

»55

o90

(»)

o93

( 6 )

a 24

( 6)

(6)

(")

( c)

(") 

o51

o58 

a 28

a22

Quality of coal.

Bituminous . . 

.....do........ 

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........ 

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........ 

.....do........

.....do........ 

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........ 

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........ 

.....do........

.....do........ 

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

Reference.

Kept. State 

Min. Insp., 

1902, p. 125.

19th Ann. 

Kept. Bur. 

Mines, 1905, 

p. 249. 

.....do. .......

21st Ann. 

Kept. Bur. 

Mines, 1907, 

p. 132. 

Idem, p. 164 . .

..'...do........

.....do........

Idem, p. 184. .. 

.....do........

Idem, p. 214... 

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

......do........

19th Ann. 

Kept. Bur. 

Mines, 1905, 

p. 257.

Idem, p. 258...

.....do........ 

21st Ann. 

Rept. Bur. 

Mines, 1907, 

p. 240.

Idem, p. 258...

19th Ann. 

Rept. Bur. 

Mines, 1905, 

p. 260.

.....do........

.....do........

Remarks.

This mine employs 

60 men.

80 acres leased. Capital invested in 

equipment, $2,500.

Annual output, 104 

tons. Local.

tons.

590 tons. Capitalization of mine, 

$10,000.

Annual output, 11,- 

040 tons. Capitalization of mine, 

$30,000. 

Annual output 522

tons.

Annual output 49,786 

tons. Capitalization of mine$10,000. 

Annual output 37,600

tons. Capitalizationofmine, 

§150,000. 

Annual output 18,176

tons. Capitalization of mine, 

$50,000.

tons. Capitalization of mine, 

$127,600. 

Annual output 11.649

tons. Capitalization of mine,

$10,000.

tons. 

Annual output, 485

tons. 

Annual output, 900 

tons. 

Small mine.

Capital i 2 a t i o n of 

mine, $2,100.

Annual output, 260 

tons.

Annual output, 120 

tons.

a Shaft. & Drift. Slope.
THIN BEDS WOBKED.

Statistics on the mining of thin coal beds Continued.

73

Locality.

United States Continued

Missouri Continued. 

Nodaway County Con. 

Al Russell mine.....

Ray County 

.mine.

man mine.

Kansas:

Leavemvorth district. . . .

Kansas. 

Osage City region. .......

Do..................

Oklahoma: 

Mclvin

Arkansas: 

Ouachita County 

Camden 

T.10N.,R.29W.).

Sebastian CountyAuburn 

(sec. 20, T. 7 

N.,R. 29 W.).

27, T. 7 N., R. 

29 W.). 

Franklin Countyton bed (sec. 16, T. 

7 N., R. 28 W.)-

(sec. 20, T. 10 N., 

R. 25 W.). 

Logan CountyParis 

ing Co. mine 

(sec. 1.T.7N., 

R. 26 W.).

mine (sec. 10, 

T. 7 1ST., R. 26 

W.).

Thickness in 

inches.

12 

16

16

16

18-24

24 

20

15-18

L\J £t£t

22

36

36

12

18

14

18

22

26

26

Depth in 

feet.

a 35 

(»)

o30

(»)

I a720

| 030

(')

(")

o40

Quality of coal.

Bituminous .. 

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

nous.

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

nous. 

.....do........

Reference.

19th Ann. 

Rept. Bur. 

Mines, 1905, 

p. 2CO.

21st Ann.

Rept. Bur. 

Mines, 1907, 

p. 282. 

.....do........

Idem, p. 283...

Univ. Geol. 

Survey Kan155. 

Idem, p. 178...

Idem, p. 191...

Geol. Atlas U.

S., folio 132, 

1906, p. 6.

21st Ann.

Rept. U. S. 

Geol. Survey, pt. 2, 

1900, p. 323. 

Idem, p. 324...

Bull. U. S.

Geol. Survey No. 326, 

1907, p. 129.

.....do........

Idem, p. 131...

.....do........

.....do........

Remarks.

Annual output, 1C8

tons. 

Annual output, 176

tons. Capitalization, $400. 

Annual output. 205

tons. 

This is the minimum

thickness reported 

by some of the 

mines in the WeirPittsburg region, 

which is the largest 

coal-mining field in 

Kansas. 

This coal is mined by 

stripping and by 

drifts and shafts, 

and is of sufficiently high grade to 

compete successfully with the WeirPittsburg coal. 

These are small 

 mines, or country

banks.

only.

stripping the surface. Abandoned 

at present.

Coal removed by

stripping the surface.

but now abandoned.

Do.

a Shaft. 6 Drift. c Stripping. d Slope.
74 VALUATION OF PUBLIC COAL LANDS.

Statistics on the mining of thin coal beds Continued.

Locality.

United Stages Continued. 

Arkansas Continued.

Ouita Coal Co. mine 

(sec. 20, T. 8 N., R. 20 

W.). 

Texas:

Thomas mine. 

Wise County 

Wise County Coal Co.

BridgeportCo, mine No. 1.

Co. mine No. 2.

Creek, Texas Coal and 

Fuel Co. mine No. 1. 

Iowa: 

Taylor CountyUnion Coal Co., Nodaway bed.

Nodaway bed.

Co., Nodaway bed.

No. 2, Nodaway 

bed.

Nodaway bed.

Nodaway bed. 

Page County 

away bed.

Nodaway bed.

away bed. 

' Coin Coal Co., Nodaway bed. 

Adams CountyRuth, Nodaway bed.

Wild, Nodaway bed.

away bed. 

Smith & Tindall,

Nodaway bed.

Nodaway bed.

away bed.

Nodaway bed.

Montana: 

Carbon County 

ers, Bergin mine.

Coal Improvement 

Co., Bridger mine.

Thickness in 

inches.

26

30

20 

19

10?

21

14-18 

14-18

14-18

14-18

14-18

14-18

14-18

14-18

14-18

14-18

14-18

14-18

14-18

14-18

14-18

14-18

14-18

14-18

14-18

30

30-68

Depth in 

feet.

o55

a 56

a 112

a!50

a 70-187 

a 70-187

a 70-187

a 70-187

a 70-187

a 70-187

a 70-230

a 70-230

a 70-230

a 70-230

a 70-230

a 70-230

a 70-230

a 70-230

a 70-230

a 70-230

a 70-230

a 70-230

a 70-230

a 70-230

Quality of coal.

cite.

nous. 

Bituminous. . .

Subbit u m i -

nous. 

.....do........

.....do........

Low- grade 

bituminous.

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

......do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do...'.....

.....do.........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

nous. 

.....do........

Reference.

Bull. U. S.

Geol. Survey 

No. 326, 1907, 

p. 148.

Texas, p. 189.

Tex. Univ. 

Min. Survey, Bull. 3, 

p. 34.

.....do........

.....do........

Rept. State 

Min. Insp., 

1908, pp. 10, 

42. 

.....do........

..,.. do.. ......

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

44. 

.....do........

46. 

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

.....do........

Bull. U. S.

Geol. Survey 

No. 341, 1909, 

p. 193.

Remarks.

Shipping mine. '

shipping mines

Combined output

Local mines. Combined output 14,045

Local mines. Corntons.

ons about 2J miles.

ed on thicker coals, 

and in certain parts 

of the present 

workings the thickness exceeds 30 

inches. Commercial mine.

a Shaft.
THIN BEDS WOEKED.

Statistics on the mining of thin coal beds Continued.

75

Locality.

United States Continued. 

Mon liana Continued.

City, Brown's mine.

Wyoming: 

' Carbon County, Saratoga, Larson mine.

mine.

Colorado: 

Garfield County, Newcastle, Dalrymple & 

Meese, Keystone mine 

(worked under lease). '

El Paso County, Enterprise mine. 

Montezuma County,

mine.

Qunnison County, Floresta mine. 

Las Auimas County, 

Starkville mine.

rango,Todd & Bolster, 

Todd mine.

New Mexico: 

San Miguel County,

Cowles, Cowles Coal 

Co., mine.

Thickness in 

inches.

42

10 

21

20-24 

30-42

30

18-42 

18-84 

28-30

7-15

Depth in 

feet.

o500 

(&)

(<=)

(<=) 

( c)

Quality of coal.

subbituminous.

Bituminous...

nous.

High -grade 

bituminous.

Lignite........

.....do........

Anthracite.... 

Bituminous...

nous. 

.....do........

Reference.

Bull. U. S.

Geol. Survey No. 341, 

1909, p. 50. 

Bull. U. S. 

Geol. Survey No. 310, 

1907, p. 247.

Bull. U. S.

Geol. Survey No. 341, 

1909, p. 180.

Bull. U. S. 

Geol. Survey No. 31C,

1907, p. 290. 

Eept. Coal

Min. Insp., 

1905-6, p. 17.

Idem, 1907, p.

60.

Idem, 1905-6, 

p. 22. 

Idem, p. 28...

Bull. U. S.

Geol. Survey No. 316, 

1907, p. 389.

Remarks.

This coal is hauled by 

wagon 12 miles to 

the town of Saratoga. Thicker 

coals near by.

mestic use.

Commercial mine. 

Worked because 

coal is located on

the railroad and is 

of a superior quality. Production in 

1908 was 6,348 tons. 

Thicker coals located near by. 

This coal is located

near beds ranging 

from 5 to 17 feet in 

thickness. Production in 1900 was 

5,798 tons. 

Production in 1907,

1.50 tons; in 1908, 

441 tons.

Production, 315,906 

tons.

the thinnest coal 

bed mined in the 

San Juan coal basin.

supply fuel to the 

Pecos Copper Co.'s 

mine, which is located near by. 

There are no 

thicker beds of 

coal near this mine.

1 o Slope. 6 Shaft.

o

c Drift,