Jamestown alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1878-1882, 1878-12-12
EDWARD u. FOSTER, EDITOR.
Coal.

Coal. .'f
We promised to communicate to the
readers of THE ALERT whatever intorma-
ton we might be- able to obtain on the
question of coal'in our vicinity, and here
ie the story as we now understand It.
For years past the residents Of James,
town have believed that cnal existed in
this vicinity. and have pros ected in
several places about here. beng rewarded
for their search by finding considerable
quantities Of "flat" Ignite or brown c'al.
One Of these places was at Beaver Treck,
l8 miles down the James River; another
near the line of ,hc railroad mile east "f
here ard in sight ~ cur office At the
latter place a shaft was sunk 50 tect and
followed BY auger, hy Mr.. Meade, formerly
General Manager 'nt the N. p. r. r., in
company with other gentlemen t" the
depth IF 95 feet, when they struck quick
s,nd ~ cessitatiny the use Of tubing for
the amger, when the enterprise was
abandoned. ;>rrm time to time several
persons, among. them "arself, have taken
pieces Of Ignite coal from an apparent
vein two miles north of here; and orr
readers will remember our notice of the
presence OF large quantities Of carbonic
acid gas in certain wells in this vicinity.
In one Of them deposit, or loose vein.
1S inches thick of pieces Of a very good
Ignite was found at the depth Of 30 feet.
Below this was found Is feet Of loose
sand. A. the bottom of this sand was
found to be solid deposit, which was
proved to be coal which breaks with a
crystalline fracture, and we should judge
to be q fair article of bituminous coal
The specimen before US was given with
the above information by the gentleman
owning the land, and who We believe t"
be man Of veracity. He is deferred
from further examining the deposit until he
can curb out the falling sand, and make
some arrangement to remove the poison
GUS gas, as no man will at present 60
down the we'll and risk being buried
alive.
The reports that spread among our
citizns Of the finding of coal in this
we'll, stimulated others, among them
Messrs. Harris and Mckenzie to prospect
in what thev considered = favorable place.
And the gentlemen named put man at
work driving DRIFT into an exposure OF
shale, three miles from here. "... ...
The miner after couple of weeks work
brought in thin but beautiful piece Of
what was undisputably bituminous coal,
and in few days larger piece OF like
quality. We, in company with Mr.. H.,
concluded to 20 out this last Wednesday,
and examine for ourselves, out on Tues
day night the chap, "Slothful Joe," re-
ported his finding two foot vein; this
set our place wild, and . party Of five OF
us accompanied said "Slothfal" to the
alledged bonanza, to find that although
Messrs. Harris and Mckenzie had selected
favorable place to prospect, and one in
which the prospect is yet fair for dis.
eovery of coal. yet none of US could after
very d,ligent search, find the least trace Of
any such coal, and came to the conclusion
that ''Slothful Joe" was fraud of the
first water; and we're he to try such
game in Montana or the western country
would have met worse fate than to meet
the contempt of his fellow men.
Messrs. H. and Nick, although not
successful go speedily and to Is great .
degree as they expected, will go on and
sink shaft at their present location, and
wo have fair hopes for their eventual
success.
That there il ccal here, either Of the
very best Ignite or fair bituminous
quality, we still believe; and We further