The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1885-05-08
native RESOURCES.
Some Of Dakota's Natural Pro-
ducts. More Particularly Of
Psmbina County.
Including Coal and Other v.lu-
able Minerals, Timber, Fishes,
Birds, Fruits, Flow
ers, &C., 10.
4 Series OF Articles Prepared Mostly By
Home Specialists For this
2ditton.
Fuel.

LdSteru people are apt 10 CNlnk Gn6C
because this is prairie country there
must of necessity lie scarcity of fuel.
While it would he useless to deny that
the supply of wood is limited, the fact
remains that it con he obtained ut much
lower prices than in many of the for
merly wooded districts of the Eastern
States. Good sound oak, cordwood
length, is delivered in winter in the
different towns of this county al prices
ranging from $3.50 to $500 Der cord,
while elm and other sofS woods ore sold
at rates proportionately lower. The
Red, Park, Tongue and Pembina
rivers are oil skirted with belts of TIM
Der averaging about one half mile in
width, while fine groves abound OH the
slopes of the Pembina Mountains in the
western part of the county. Then there
is no doubt that as the country becomes
older considerable attention will be
given to the cultivation and growth Of
timber with view to its value as fuel.
The success which has attended tree
planting in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska,
and Kansas, affords ample proof that
our prairies may soon be dotted with
thriving groves.
But it is to the inexhaustible supplies
of coal contained within her borders
that Dakota looks for her main
source of fuel. These only await
the further development of her
railroads in order to bring the best
fuel in the world within the reach of
every one. At the present time hard
scoal from the east is sold at the railway
stations for $1,000 per ton, and soft coal
for $500. When the products of our
own coal fields are available, our farm
ers can be supplied at little more than
half these rates.
The Missouri River Coal is already
well known. Large quantities are now
being taken from the Heart River 30
miles vest Of Bismarck. Over 5000
tons of this coal has been sold in Bis
marck alone since the new field was
opened in November last. Prices now
range from $3.50 to 5000 per ton &c
cording to the station whsre it is de-
Evered.
Good coal in apparently inexbaustible
quantities has recently been discovered,
in the Turtle Mountains which are 10
miles west of Red River, aud are divid-
ed into nearly equal parts by the In
tel.national Boundary. This is probably
the nearest source of supply for Penn
blna County, and we will look with IN
terest Tor the extension of the st. P. n.
g. M. line In that direction, which is ex-
pected to take place this summer. We
subjoin an extract from the Fargo Ar
gus as TO the quality of this coal:
The Turtle Mountain Coal and Mih;Gs com
pany u year or 10 ago commenced work III the
billy section of Dakota near the boundary line
of Manitoba and every once in while runlors
haze foated donl to Fargo that the coal which
they had discovered vas far superior to the
and eastern Montana. It - nss declared to be,
by government analysis, one Of the sestt specl-
mems of tertiary coal found on this c6ntiEcnt.
f. W Clark, the ehisf chemist in the Smthsonian
institute. reports that 4 contains 40 81 per cont
OF volatile carbon, 1850 psf cent of combined
carbon, 1898 per cent Of mois.rre, s.30 per
cent Of asL. TLe specimen anat, I'd was
taken only twenty fsst down in the shaft sud
it is said that the fuel Log beng mined is far
superior 10 the specimen sest to Washington
lat August aud which was the 1ha which pro-
luc.,d the result shove named
The Bismarck Journal says of the fuel &c
that section: Ignite coal is now delivered to
consun,ers at Bismarck Vi tour dollars per
ton. The coal is universally used this winter
and is found to be more econoMiel than
either wood or anthracite coal. 1t will interest
strangers to know that the country is full Of
and in unllmited quantities. The coal beds
extend from Nenone.a east Of Bismarck to the
Rocky Mountains, and will furnish fuel for
cIx If voars