Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-10-14
After Nortl, Dakota Coal.

After North Dakota Coal.
South Dakotans are much interested
in the scheme of mining coal along the
river, and conveying it to river stations
III barges. From the first, South Da-
Nkota papers have watched the progress
Of the plan carefully, and now, since the
enterprise is an assured one, and affairs
are nearly in shape to begin, they are
jubilant. The Pierre Free Press COM
ments at some length upon the proposed
plan, and then, preceding a reprint of
the TRIBuNE's article on the question
OF q week or so age, says:
In view Of the fact that the Reading
combine has put the price Of coal up, and
W Is still engaged in the job. the people out
" this way should turn, something for re-
lief. In this emergency Pierre should
make some effort to have several barges
of coal from the mines up the river above
Bismarck sent down here before the river
freezes up, as this would be a material as
sistance in combating the rigors of win
ter without bankruptcy staring one in the
face. The coal must be all right, as is evil
denced from the following taken from the
TRIBUNE's article.
South Dakota editors have written Mr..
Plenty, personally, manifesting a deep
interest and asking whether of no the
coal was of a gosa quality, and whether
the traffic would begin this fall. The
question is an important one to them, as
it means the procuring of Il good fuel at
a moderate cost.
In answer to these questions, Mr..
Plenty has procured the following testi-
monials. The first is from Frank Titus,
the engineer of the Josephine, and is as
follows:
\ 4 DEAR SIR: Having been a licensed en-
gineer in North Dakota for the time that
licenses have been issued by the state and
having used Ignite coal as a steam fuel in
the public buildings and the roller flour
mill in the city OF Bismarck, and being
Josephine, employed on the Missouri river,
take pleasure in certifying to the superior
quality Of the Ignite obtained from your
mine in Mercer county, as a steam pro-
ducing fuel, and especially for river steam
boats. We have tested your coal on this
steamboat carefully and thoroughly, and
are more than satisfied with the results OBJ
tanned. We have no trouble i'll making
quickly and keeping up plenty OF steam
with your coal, whether up or down the
NlcoOu11 IlfcIs dllu LLu IIdO Clo COdl uuluS
freely and steadily, producing a 6 reat.deal
OF heat and leaving q clean white ash, free
from clinkers. We have tried the Ignite
coal from the mines at Sims and Dickin-
son, and find that it had not in either case
as good qualities as your coal for steam
producing fuel in North Dakota, and the
practical tests of its qualities and the re-
suits attained have been very satisfactory.
Following this is the statement of
Thomas Gotham, who says: II cheer
fully and fully oncur in and indorse the
above testimonial"
Captain Gould also comes forward
with his opinion. The captain is IN old
time and experienced river man, and his
testimony should have some weight. He
says:
II take pleasure IN certifying to the
very satisfactory results obtained from
the use as a steam-producing fuel of the
Ignite coal obtained from your mine in
Mercer county. North Dakota. After
careful experiments made on this steam
boat with various Ignite Goals as fuel,
I confirm throughout the testimonial of
the steamers engineer, Mr.. Titus"
Copies of these letters have been sent
to parties at Huron, Pierre, Redfeld and
other South Dakota towns. It is ex-
ceedingly gratifying to Mr.. Plenty thus
to see that his coal bids fair to become
recognized as one of the best kinds of
fuel for steamboats,. In the language of
Mr.. Rapelje, Mr.. Plentys agent: ave
are glad to see that the enterprise as
sumes a successful outlook. Of course,
when it was first preached there we're
many pretended wlseacres who shook
their heads and said that Ignite coal
could never be used on steamboats,, but
I think we have successfully disproved
that assertion"
Even the engineers of the little steamer
Imelda have tried the coal, and they say
that they, in; towing, found that the coal
made plenty of steam for an up stream
run. .".