The Butte daily miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1885-18??, 1886-01-01
THE COAL INTERESTS.
The Coal Deposits Of tho Tsesitery-Th,
Output for the Year.
Interesting Facts Concerning This
Great Industry.
Description-of some Of the Regaons BIZ
sups Ttbbey OF the Parrot.

sups Ttbbey OF the Parrot.
The following information regarding
the coal interests of Montana has been
furnished The MINER by F. F. Chisholm,
agent Of the United States Geological Sur
vey for the Rocky Mountains:
While large portion of the Territory
of Montana is underlaid by seams Of
coal Of workable thickness, yet but very
little Of the coal area has been opened.
The coal field of Eastern Montana is a
part Of the Wyoming and Dakota field.
The coal il generally Ignite of poor
quality, occurring in seams of considera-
Bile thickness. Its quality is very poor,
and after several years experience in
burning it, the Northern Pacific Railway
Company abandoned their mines ON the
Yellowstone. Further west the quality
Of the coal grows better. In the Bull
Mountains there ia an extensive bed Of
fair coal which has only been prospected
by the Northern Pacific Coal Company.
At present it is beyond reach of
transportation. North of the Bull Noun
tains on both sides of the Judith river,
are thick seams of excellent Ignite.
These seams are still untouched. South
of the Bull Mountains, in the Crow res
ervation, is found the best coal in Mon
tana. The field is not very large but the
veins are from six to eight feet in thick
ness. This field is also out of the reach
Of transportion and must remain unde-
veloped until some legal authority is OBJ
tanned for entering the reservation. The
coal here is a bitumious coking coal Of
superior quality, but in it's undeveloped
condition, little is known of its physical
characteristics. The Gardiner field, on
the Upper Yellowstone, is an extension,
probably, of the same coal. The coal
area here issmall and it has been opened
to some extent by Horr brothers, and,
in 1885 by the Northern Pacific. Some
portions Of this coal coke fairly, but the
general run of the coal is unavailable
for this purpose. The National Park
branch of the Northern Pacific run to
the coal banks. Some coal was shipped
during 1885, but the quantity was small.
The width of the vein is about five leet
Northwest of Gardiner is the Boze-
man field, on the divide between the
= Gallatin and Yellowstone rivers. This is
the best opened coal field in the Terri
tory, and the only one regularly worked.
There are four distinct mines-the Tim
berline, owned by the Northern Pacific;
the Maxey, owned by the Union Pacific;
the Bohemian owned by the Union Pa
citic and private parties, and the Trail
Greek mines owned by private parties.
The Timberline mines are worked
steadily and the product ia consumed by
freight locomotives of the Northern Pa
cific. The product of these mines has
been:
1907 e 1ons
looo'"....."......."....... lob -
The Trail Creek mine has produced in
1885, coo tons and were closed for lack Of
cheap transportation. From the Boze-
man mine only 100 tons were taken in
1885, and none from the Maxey.
The coal occurs in vertical seams. from
six to fifteen feet wide, the average Of
clean coal being generally seven feet,