Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-02-18

houses, paper mills, sorghum factories, Dat.
ent medicines. and other enterprises too nu.
$4O,OOO.OO0 of manufactured articles each
year.
This, together with the value of field crops
OF more than one hundred millions, and live
stock to the value of forty millions, makes q
good showing for our young commonwealth.
Mr. President, chance does does not govern
the world; there is a cause for all of it
The fertile soil and excellent climate is the
cause OF the phenomenal development of our
agricultural resources, and the real source
and great factor in the wonderful growth Of
our manufactures is our coal.
1t Is important then once more to infiict
upon you some facts and figures as to the
permanency of our supply. At Leaven-
worth We have coal mine with ponderous
engines and In its equipment is unsurpassed
by any IN the country. Here several hum
dred men are constantly employed and from
a depth of more than seven hundred feet the
shining mineral is brought to the surface d
the rate of i've hundred tons per day or one
ton per minute at hosting time.
AT the penitentiary, four miles south and
three miles west of Leavenworth, is another
mine of equal depth and striking the same
vein, from which the output is now about 250
tons per day, and which is being rapidly de-
veloped to much greater capacity.
From these mines coal is shipped to all
parts of the state. The quality is the best
bituminOus, and has contributed largely to
the encouragement Of manufacturing.
In regard to the permanency of the supply,
Judge l.. Hawn, who has given the subject
much study. in report made to the Leayen-
worth board of trade, says:
us this supply of coal permanent? If not,
our prestige as q manufacturing center will
depart A few facts will show. The shaft
of the Leavenworth Coal company is stu
ated on the Fort Leavenworth reservation,
on the northern edge of the city. and ON the
bank of the Missouri river. The peniten-
tiary shaft, some four miles south of the
southern city limits, and about three miles
west of the other shaft, making the distance
and formations C, in sinking these shafts
are the same, and here is no perceptible
difference in the thickness or quality of the
coal either: so that both the shafts are work.
ing in the same coal basin. There being no
diminution in the thickness of this coal bed
i'll the distance of seven miles south and
three miles west, it is safe to say and certain
that our coal basin is at least twelve miles
square, and covers an area of at least LA
square miles"
Now, Mr.. President, let US see what supply
We have in this twelve miles square. Prac-
teal tests in both mines demonstrate that in
this vein of two feet in thickness 10000 BUSH
els are obtained per acre, equal to A.
500, 600 bushels or about ,SOO, 600 tons per
square mile, or for the IA square miles
30 OCO, COO tons.
One thousand good miners will take out
about 10000 bushels or / 500 tons per day.
At this rate it will require the labor of 1000
men for $40 years, or 5000 men lis years to
wash out this area of twelve miles square.
It will be seen, therefore, that the supply
of coal i'll Leavenworth county is practically
even were 100 more shafts to
be sunk.
But the coal deposit of Kansas is not lim-
tied by counties.
The eastern part of the state from Mar
shall, Brown and Doniphan counties on the
Bourbon on the southeast is to great ex-
tent underlaid with coal.
Mining, perhaps, is prosecuted more Wig
)rously in the four last named counties.
There extensive mines have been opened,
from which immense quantities of the best
quality of bituIpinOus coal are shipped
laily.
Now, Mr.. President, while it is generally
Known that We have coal in Kansas, do not
believe that the quantity and value of this
mineral deposit is generally understood and
appreciated by our own people. l confess
Until had made some calculation upon the
subject, l did not fully realize myself the
perpetual source of wealth we have in our
'oal mines. In Cherokee, Crawford, Bour-
ION and Usage counties it is safe to assume
here is a coal belt covering an area of sew
nty by twenty miles, or l 400 square miles.
vein averaging two feet in thickness will
i've US 100000 tons to square mile, equal
o twenty five hundred and twenty millions
# tons. One ton of coal is equal to about
ne cord of wood, so that the coal in this
rea of 400 square miles is equal to five
housand million cords of wood. Kansas
ompriSes about $1,000, 600 of acres. If one
alf of it was covered with forest we might
ny that there was good supply of timber
II sight. Yet if oDe-half of the entire state
gas covered with forrest of two hundred
ords to the acre We would have five thous-
nd millions of cords, sup
y of fuel not exceeding that con-
aimed in the coal beds of four counties; SO
hat farmers or the manufacturers now here,
r those who may come for generations
GREATER, may rest assured that in Kansas
he supply of coal will not fail them.
But it is not in coal alone that the miner
wealth of Kansas consists. Her lead and
inc mines are practically as inexhaustibIe as
er coal, and of richness and quality that
ave already established them in the markets
f the world.
In various parts of the state, salt works
re in operation and large quantities of
alt are procured from wells, the BRINE OF
hitch is of more than ordinary richness.
Chalk and gypsum abound in paying
and the deposits of limestone and
andstone are 80 immense that all the houses
nd fences of Kansas might be built Of
tone without exhausting the supply.
Mr.. President, with such q wealth Of min
raj, and from the geographical position of
ur state, as the center of the Union, ! can
re no reason why, within the next twenty
We years, we shall not be among the chief
states of the nation.
To the press of Kansas more than to any
Their agency, We are indebted for tho
nowledge the world has obtained of our
gricultural resources. We trust now that
nose brainy, enterprising editors will devote
: much energy and ability to set forth the
dvantages that exist here for manufactures.
Let it be known that immense quantities
f farm implements are distributed from
oints on the Missouri river; that more than
yo-thirds of them are used upon farms west
T Missouri, and that we have all the advan-
lges for manufacturing these articles in
ansas. Why then should we continue to
BY tribute to the east!
Let US manufacture these articles ourselves
nd build up within the borders of our own
ate, the Pittsburg of America, and thus will
e bring the consumer close to the door Of
le producer, affording to the Kansas farmer
le option of home in a foreign market for
ie products of his farm.