, 1886-07-15

rumors this week to the effect that the
coming metropolis is going to be at
some other place. One Of the diversions
of this young community is to start and
| then contradict such rumors. To be al.
| ternately thrown into dependency and
exalted with glowing expectations, is a
delightful variation upon the monotony of
this red hot summer.
The town continues to grow rapidly.
No work is being done upon the branch
road to the Shawnee coal mines, but it is
not true that the mines and the branch
have been abandoned. The fact is, the
company is sinking discovery shafts and
does not propose to build several miles of
railroad until the permanent value OF the
mines is established beyond a doubt. So
far as the gu llity of the coal can be dis
covered by boring, the mines are all that
could be expected. 1t is almost certain
that the shafts will open paying veins and
that the branch will then be built. If the
Shawnee mines are a failure, it is proba'
Bile that the road will at once start a branch
from Douglas to Antelope Springs, where
abundant coal of unquestioned quality
can be had.
This coal question must soon be sifted
down from the sky to a basis of cold facts.
The journalistic gush about there being
coal everywhere in Wyoming of the finest
quality, and in immense quantities, is
simply and fatty false. The exuberant
biologists who started this sort of talk
ought to put brakes on their enthusiastic
mouths. There is a practical difference,
deep as an abyss. between what is geolog'
ically known as coal measures and econ
omic coal. A vast area of country car
belong to the coal forming epoch and yet
contain little or no coal that it will pay tc
mine. If the present view of the coal
land laws is to be maintained, no man can
obtain a title to land IN large sections Of
Wyoming which will be at all secure. The
moment your homestead becomes worth
more th,n $40 an acre for any purpose, 9
fellow can come along with "a boring out
fit, put a hole down, show some black
dirt, and run off to the land office ant
take your land from you. 1t would seen
that the entire community would be inter
ested in preventing such a p~erversion Of
the clear Intent of the coal law.
For instance, the school fund Of Wyo
ming woull be enriched in a few years IN
the extent OF perhaps a hundred thous. nd
dollars by the school section adjoining
Douglas, but it has been gobbled by ale
ged coal claims. No one hut the parties
who bored the holes knows whether any
coal worthy of the name has actually beer
found. | am not prepared to assert thai
the pretense of having found coal Is a
fraud, and am anxious not to do the gen
tlemen engaged in the scheme any injus-
tice, but it is the belief Of nearly every
body here except the interested parties
that no coal which it will pay to work has
been found, and that the only object Wa.
to obtain a title to the land in order to sci
it out for town lots. OF course additional
time NUT be allowed to test the quality
Of the alle-stcoal, but in the meantime
the land has been regularly entered an.
can be at once sold out. No one has. any
direct personal interest in contesting the
entry, but if a coed town springs up her,
spectators stand ready to discover coal
on the land of every settler near by and
take his land from him. No one can have
a patent and be safe for several years, and
yet it is a fact that no one will use such
coal as has been found adjacent to the
town or within hauling dist nee. Wood
is hauled ten miles and bought at an ex-
horbitant price.
The coal land law may be so loosely
drawn that there is no remedy for this
method OF turning it into an instrument
OF injustice and oppression, but the cour
of last resort in land appeals is one o.
equity rather than technical law, and if q
test case is carried up to the secretary Of
the interior he will be very apt to rul,
that the land must be more valuable fol
coal than for other purposes before it can
be entered under the coal land law.
LEET.