The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-01-01

tralia easterly to some good grade Ignite,
and is now putting it on the market and
meeting with great success, thus demon
strating the value of this better grade of
Ignite for domestic purposes. The vast
extent and poor quality of this class of
coal makes the greater part of it worth
less, but there are many valuable selec-
tons which can be made out of these
lands, which will roll up fortunes.
The CowIitz anthracite coal fields are sit
uated on the headwaters of the Cowlitz
river near the Cowlitz pass through the
Cascade mountains. Here the coal meas
ure again is of the cretaceous period, and
the coal is of hard, lustrous, free burning
anthracite. The anthracite of Pennsylya-
mia differs from the anthracite of the Cow
itz in these respects: That of Pennsylva-
MIA was made from vegetable deposits dur
ing the carboniferous period, when the
vegetation of the earth was of the strong
est growth, and contained little of the ele-
ments which together compose the ash of
coal. 1t was subjected to very long ages
of great heat and pressure. That of the Cow
litz was made from vegetation of the Gre
taceous, q less remote geological period, and
vegetation which contained within itself
more of the elements which together COM
pose the ash of Goals, and was subjected for
less time to heat and pressure. The follow
lowing analysis will explain their differ
ence in character, fixed carbon being the
valuable element:
Fired
Carbon. Gas. Ash
Pennsylvania anthracite..-.... So 81 81
Cowlitz anthracite. ..---..-.-- ST. 1T 95
The anthracite veins are exposed by ma
ture in the bottom of a deep canyon. Lit
tie work has been done on them yet owing
to the remoteness of their situation from
present railways. There are twelve in
number, varying from two to eighteen
feet in width, between sandstone walls.
The rocks all about this region are meta
morphosed by the intense heat of sur
rounding eruptive dykes. The writer has
given general description of nearly all of
the various coal fields of the state, such as
time and space viii permit in an article of
this kind.
WEST OF THE CASCADES.
All the country west of the Cascade
mountains, in the state of Washington, is
a marvel to behold. A general description,
topograph and geology, will be interesting
to the general reader. Many years ago,
long before Moses wrote the first chapter
of Genesis, this was part of vast plane,
extending far north, south and eastward.
During long periods it was an oscillating
alternating ocean bed and primeval forest
wild The waves of q shallow ocean and
great seas swept over it, asserting the
gravel and clay from the disintegrated
rocks, depositing them in layers. The
land would then rise above the water
level, and remain until covered with
heavy growth of vegetation, then settle
again and be swept by the waves of the
sea, covering the vegetation with hundreds
of feet of sand and clay. Thus this
oscillating process continued during
the cretaceous period, which was of
many million years duration, until many
coal beds were deposited, in q measure,
about 1900 feet deep. Then came the
tertiary period of great disturbances,
which elevated the Cascade mountains
from out of the Pacific ocean, when
the shell of our molten sphere was
cracked, folded, contorted and twisted,
fitting the strata mountain-high in places,
and sinking them ocean-deep in others,
exposing the ends TO view in places with
the coal veins sandwiched in between
making the lowest veins available for
working from the surface and sinking the
greater part Of the coal hopelessly beyond
the reach of man. Up through these great
assures came the molten lava, overflow
ing the land in places and piiing mountain
high, cooled and crystallized in the
assures, making numerous basaltic dykes,