The Helena independent., 1890-11-30
THE FUEL QUESTION.

How the Gait Coal Has Settled it in Mon
From the day of the arrival of the first
settler in whet is now Montana, down to
the present time, one of the leading ques-
tions. if not the leading one, has been that
of fuel for heating, for cooking, and later
for steam producing. In the early days and
before the advent of railroads, there was an
abundance Of timber in the mountains, and
for many years it was found sufficient for
all purposes. But the constant and ever
increasing use of the timber and its de-
struction by forest fires soon brought the
people to realization that some substitute
must be found for wood. When the rail-
roads came into the territory the demand
was partially met by shipments of btu
minous coal from Wyoming and anthracite
from Pennsylvania, but the price was so
high that only the wealthy could afford to
use coal. Later Ignite coal of good
quality was uncovered in various sections
Of Montana, and much of this fuel i: now
in general use throughout the state.
But this year has given the best solution
When the Canadian Pacific railroad was
completed from ocean to ocean it was dis
covered that in addition to throwing open
to settlement hundreds of thousands Of
acres of arabic land, it had been surveyed
through immense coal measures.
The best of these coal lands were located
near what is now Lethbridge, N. w. Il. and
cover $1,000 acres. So good for all purposes
did this Lethbridge coal prove to be, that
the Canadian Pacific Immediately COM
menced to use it for fuel. Some ship
ments we're made to Vancouver where it
has displaced the coal of that region, and
market was also found for il as far east as
Winnipeg.
Sir A. T. Gait, who is interested in these
coal mines, after having demonstrated its
could also be found in Montana. He first
made several visits to this state, to
see if he could compete with the
native product. So we'll satis-
fed was he with the outlook that he deter
mined to build 800 miles of railroad. from
and place the Gait coal within reach of the
Montana public. great many people
Thought it was n foolish thing to
build railroad, with almost the sole OBJ
ject of carrying coal to country where
there was already large quantities; but
Montana mine could yet furnish, SO he
took the chances and built the road. It has
now been completed about a month, and 30
great has the demand become in that time
for the Gait coal that both the railroad and
the mines are kept continuously on the
/
ed for by the fact that the Gait coal is all
that it was claimed to be, and one trial is
sufficient to demonstrate its superiority to
all other coal. save expensive anthracite.
now on the Montana market. It is
a pure bituminous coal, containing Sc per
cent. carbon and only & per cent. ash, leaves
no clinkers. and while it makes a hot fire.
has earthly qualities That it is good steam
coal is proven by its continuous use by the
| Canadian Pacific railroad in preference to
any other fuel, while for heating and cook
ing purposes, the only thing necessary to
prove its superiority is a trial. The Helena
and Great Fails smelters are now using the
Calf coAl exclusively, while the demand
from families in Great Falls, Butte, Helena
and Deer Lodge increases daily. One great
advantage it has over other coal is in the
fact that it gives out no sulphurous fumes
or bad odor of any kind, and another is
that it is clean-very little black comes off
when taken in the hand. The Helena Lum-
Der company handles the ccal in Montana,
and is Prepared to fill all orders for large or
small lots. One trial will convince the most
skeptical that the fuel question is we'll ad :.
vanced to a settlement In Montana with the
introduction10f the Gait coal, especially as
its price places it within the reach Of every
| one.