The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1885-03-25
rs OUR COAL Worthless

Under the above caption the Beze
man Avant Courier of tho 18th inst
says: 49,. Is
ut would, perhaps, be useless at.
tempting to answer the above quee-
ton Mt this late date, tut for the fac,
that certain reports have been clrcu.
lated during toe past few months, I.
the effect that coal from our mines /.
of such an inferior quality as to reu-
der 1t Of but little, IL any, value for
either locomotive or domestic pur-
poses. Then, "a II to make matters
still worse and entirely break down
every hopea and prospect In the future
Of our extensive coal measures, lett err
and kilograms were recently sent by
prominent. citizens Of Butte to men,
bers of the L -gislature and others, to
the effect that BOzeman coal had
been pretty thoroughly tested in the
Anaconda and other works and had
proved utterly worthless.
Now, while but little except surface
mining has been done, 20 far, an0
much of that conducted In . careless.
slOveply manner-nOt \ single mine
having been developed pe'0w water
level-.we are nevertheless able to
demonstrate that tho reports and
statements above referred to are,
upon the whole, mal,ciously false
made for the purpose of belittleing
our resources, building up other local
interests and contributing to the
plans and purposes of gigantic COR
pOrstions In our Territory.
That the quality of our coal, even
from the very surface, Ia at least
reasonably good is apparent from the
fact that 1t has been used for years 10
Bozeman, both for blacksmithing
and domestic purposes, and that not
withdrawing the fact that both wood
and charcoal are, and have been, "a
plentiful and cheap here as anywhere
In M,ntana; that its o0ke,ng quail.
ties have betn thoroughly tested.
with the most satisfactory results,
and there are numerous samples OF
the coke Il W produced in Bozernan
and elsewhere. which in &C appear
ance at least cannot be distinguisned
from that made from the best East.
ern coal; that hundreds of tcns OF
this worthless coal" is icing mined
daily and used by the Northern Pa
Cifio Railroad Company In their loco |
heaters, aud elsewhere. and
that IN face Of the fact that the min
Ing IL 90 carelessly conducted q. to
insure almost - much dirt o. coal AZ
the product Of the. mines. This has
been the condition Of much If the
Bozeman coal which has been thrown |
upon the market outside of Bosemar
and yet 1t, has not prevented it flom
being used to q certain extent"
The artic' e Is followed by q number
certificates from parties in Helena, !
among whom are John 81. Ming. A..
Carter, 6klower'& Lissner, of the
International Hotel. Robert Chew,
the Cosmopolitan, J. L. Smith and
Burns 4 Mahoney. All these gem
ernen certify that they find the coal
God fuel,..wlth excellent i~nfammable
Iuslit'sa and good heating proper
lee. Toe blacksmiths say that It In
ully equal to the celebrated Biosburr
oaI and that those who have used 1t
. Helena will, In the future, use 1t
ntlrely, to the exclusion Of the Bios
urg. It may be found that when
le c,al IL properly mined and freed
ON dirt and slate It can be prof. I
lily used in our mills and smelters. ;
It can be, . road from Butte to 4
oseman wiz solve, forever, the {
Of cheap fuel for this great
sri~~ A.~tAe !