Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-07-24
RIVERSIDE COAL.
Ths Apparent Prejudice of the state
Mining board.

The Apparent Prejudice of the state
Mining Board.
MrW. a. Gilbert, of Riverside, who
has peen staying at the Hollenbeck sew
ersl days, is engaged in an effort to
interest local capitalists in the coal mines
which he believes are located near South
Riverside. He is an experienced coal
man, and holds to the belief that where
there is oil in the lower lands there will
be coal among the hills. AS result of
the investigations and experiments
which he has made in the neighborhood
of Riverside, he is confident that the fuel
question of Southern California will
sooner or later be solved by the finding
there of large lodges of first class coal.
sit is the State Mining Bureau" said
he Yesterday, "thst has all along stood
in the way of experiments which might
otherwise have been made in this line,
by their reiterated statement that If any
coal should ever be found in California
il would be merely in the shape of small
pockets. They maintain that the geologi
cal formation of the strata throughout
the state is such that all minerals will be
found in this arrangement. Generaliza-
hons of that sort are as likely to be
wrong as right This same board once
asserted that it would be impossible ever
to find oil in any quantities in this State.
They secuted the idea of tin mines and
they threw all the cold water they could
on the effort to start pipe and tile manu-
factories, on the ground that the finer
qualities of clay would only be found in
pockets and never in large quantities.
More money has been lost through the
statements of theoretical experts on min
ing matters than through the mistakes
of those completely ignorant.
Goal has been found at Elsinore con-
trary to their predictions in large guam
titles. but it is not good coal. 1t is moth
ing like this" and here Mr.. Gilbert
showed a quantity Of Jumps, large and
small, of a black, glossy, rich looking
coal, free from foreign matter. 1t burned
at gas flame like camel and left fine
white ash.
SIT is semi bituminous coal," said
he, "of an excellent quality. am
convinced from the surface indications
that there is plenty Of it to be had with
o reasonable amount of search. At
South Riverside, near the railroad, there
is a vein cropping out across
the foot of q range for about
three miles. 1t shows various
degrees of thickness at different points,
in some places as high as three feet of
coal in fifteen feet of vein matter, with de-
fined slate roof and fre.clay walls. The
vein is thrown on edge, and when it is
followed down it shows that it has been
much disturbed. Sand has been forced |
into the grain, impairing the quality. Its
general lay shows, however, that further
down it must be fiat and be free from for
eign substances. Five openings have |
been made in the cropping, one of them
tunnel thirty feet long, in which shaft of |
240 feet was sunk. Another tunnel was
run in 125 feet in which two shafts have
been sunk equivalent to 100 feet in depth.
A third, an incline shaft, has been run
200 feet. In each case about the same
indications are shown. At no time has
the vein ever been lost, showing that it
is continuous and not mere pocket. The
best quality of coal has been obtained at
the lowest depths, and although the vein
continues to vary in thickness, its gen.
eral tendency is toward increase.
"While these shafts were being
sunk under my direction, a rep
resentative of the State Mining
Board visited the place. 1 had
Interested several wealthy coal men oil
the East in the undertaking, and they
were prepared to 60 into the work of de.
veloping the mines. The representative
of the State Board looked the ground
over in the most hasty and careless man.
ner, and never went into the shafts at all.
He stated his opinion to the man whom
the capitalists had sent out to look into
the matter, that there was nothing in it,
and it was only waste of money to con-
tinue the investigation, and as result
their support was promptly withdrawn.
# he had given the situation fair con-
sideration, should have merely regarded
it as mistaken judgment on his part,
As it was, it looked very much like
preconcerted opinion, based on theory.
"The fact that the fuel question is one
of paramount importance to the develop
ment of this section, makes it probable
that before very long the investigations
at Riverside will be carried on. Every
experienced, practical coal man who has
looked this ground over, has expressed a
belief that the coal is there in good quail
ity and large quantities"