New-York tribune., 1868-05-04
SCIENCE.

r,r I1eN1TEs OF THE WEsT-F. V. HaydeD.
IT g. Geoost has published by an a5stract from
~ tort6coning report OF the u s. Ge0Oeea survey VI
Nebraska which contains OoseINaiOd 20 INC I,cyte da
anIlne ~ % Colorado and Dakota. The following state,
me ns will be read win se me- r of fnei for the Union
Ie ReiIroad: Mr. Haydens examination of the &C.
S4ogy OF ~ In fiat state his attention directed to
ne eTeat Ignite deposits OF the Laramie Piains lie
vr5 f6e Ignite to be Of excellent quality IN beds from
i fet thick and he estimated the area occupied by
mis- basin at 5000 square miles It's most eastern mlt is
about 10 miles east OF Rock creek, q Draneh OF the
M"dcine Bow River. Outcroppings have been seen al
along Rock Creek Medicine Bow on Rattlesnake HIS,
on the North Platte, Muddy Creek All along ter SreeK'
Hams Fork Echo Canon, and all along Weber River,
nearly TO Great Salt Lake showing that one connected
taken from the beds Rock Creek IS from the outerop
pings, yetit burns with bright Ted llame giving o9t
good degree OF heat, leaving scarcely any ASH, anu Is
quite desirable fuel for domestic purposes as any wood
indeed, it might be called condensed dTy Wood ~ Is
nOnbumnous exhibits Just trace OF snphuret Oh IRON,
which decOmposng gives rusty reddish appearance
Twelve inches in thickness which looks much like
camel COAL and Is thus termed DY 5he miners me ne
tbeSs ,I' great coal fields and as most of the
freight win so westward Tor many years, .,e tne
cars on their return can be loaded with this Ignite thus
to be distributed through Nebraska at cost uch Iess
than that Of wood az the present time There are also
Indications OF an abundance Of iron ore in the vicinity OF
Fhese deposits, and the Union Pacific Railroad Company
contemplate establishing rolling mills In the Laramie
sonth Bonider Creek the Marshall Mines, which
probably the valuable in the West They have been
daily are taken and sold at Denver at prices varying
from tl2 to SO per un. The beds at the foot OF the
mountain dip to such extent as to expose the whole
series number varying from TO l3 feet IN thickness
making from 80 to 90 feet at least OF solid Ignite
cbeyenne Civ on Pole Creek The Ignite here grows
better in quality it is wrought farther into the earth
SaS per tun. The summit of the hills near this
bed Of Ignite is covered with loose oyster shells
and there have been thickness of or more
sn isntca With tbe one found in similar geological
in thp u,
near Fort Clark, and at the mouth or the Juut RIVER,
and doubtless nhabtaRt Of the bracksh waters
which must have existed about the dawn of the tertiary
period in West. These Ignite beds are exposed III
many localities all along the eastern base OF the mountains
According TO the explorations OF DR. L. Le Conte dur
ing the past season. these same Ignite FORMATIONS
far southward into New-MexicO on both sides OF the
Rocky Mountains Ii probable that no true coal VIII
ever be found west Of longitude 9oo, and 1t becomes
Yane Of these vast depotcs OF Ignite for fuel and other
economical purposes. Specimens from the Marshall
Mines were found to contain o
Volatile matter expelled at rcd heat? ?SCO
Fixed carbon Y51o
Ash OF a reddish lor....................--. 2So
Total ............. 10000
Fhe per cenace of fixed carbon shows at glance the
superiority of the western Hgle over lhoSe iou,u , ~
any other part Of the world In some portions Oh te
ignite at these mines there Is aconSdeaDle quahtty Oh
amber. Mr. Hay den spent TWO eEegs i tSSat int II
would prove be better than ordinary western Oitum
poses Being non.btumnOus, it win require strong
draft to burn we'll IL IS as neat as anthTaGile leaving
aud ia thus superior in sanitary point or view, ana
when brought into general use 1t will be great taYOre
for culinary purposes 1t contains no destructive ee-
ments leaves very little ash, no clinkers and produces
no more erOsye effects stoves CRATES or steam boilers
apt TO cruInbe, but if protected it receives no
specia injury. The connection OF the hgnlte deposits
on the UPPER Missouri has been traced urinerruptedly
20 the North Platte about miles above Fort Laramie
The geological Of these western gntes ls undouD
edly Tertiary. Prof LesqucrcuX mas furnished valuable
notes the result Of his preliminary examination OF the
fossil plants i'm the Ignite deposits, which confirm TINS
view Of their age Mr. Hayden says all evidence seems
to Indicate that there valuable beds O Ignite west
Of The Mississippi formations older than the Tertiary
and that all the Ignite tertiary beds OF the West are but
fragments Of great baslD interrupted here and there
oy the uphcave OF mountain chains, concealed by the
deposition of newer formations.