The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-05-13
THE FUEL PROBLEM.

That was a most important piece of in
formation published in the CALL of Satur-
day, in reference to the opening of new
coal mines at Corral Hollow, on the east
ern slope of the Coast Range, about ten
miles southeast from Livermore. Accord
ing to the report made to the Manufac-
turers' and Producers Association of Cali
fornia by Louis Blankenhorn of the COM
mittee on fuel, the fuel problem as it
concerns steam making in this part of the
State is practically solved. The coal strata
are traceable over an area six and half
miles long and a mile and quarter wide,
and there are &c, 000, 900 tons in sight. The
Eureka mine, on this ledge, has run 1000
feet of tunnels, drifts, shafts and slopes,
and are prepared to make contract with
the San Joaquin Valley road to furnish all
the coal required for five years at 81 a ton,
and to furnish it in San Francisco for So or
So so ton.
Of course this coal, like all the other So
called Goals of California. is Ignite and
not true coal; that is, it belongs to a geo.
logical age much more recent than the
carboniferous, where the true Goals had
their origin. Ignite, however, contains
the combustible ingredients that make
true coal valuable for fuel. The only
trouble with it is that it generally contains
larger proportion of earthly matter and
water than the true Goals, and this means
that in its transportation the expense of
handling much inert matter has to be
borne. Unless there are peculiarly favor
able conditions for mining and transport
ing Ignite it cannot be brought into COM
petition with true coal.
The report to the Manufacturers and
Producers Association, however, presents
a condition of affairs entirely different from
the ordinary. The association as yet has
not been furnished with an exact analysis
of the Ignite. on which might be based an
accurate estimate of its industrial value
but the assertions that it can be sold in
San Francisco at $3 or So so a ton, that it
burns freely, makes hot fire and leaves
but a small proportion of ash, and that the
Southern Pacific, after testing it on its
Oregon line, declares that 'it is entirely
satisfactory for locomotive use, indicate a
most important bearing of this coal on the
industrial development of the State.
Although we are not so assured, It is a
reasonable inference that the eighteen
miles separating the mine from the tide
water OF the San Joaquin River is steady
down-grade, and hence that the cost OF
transporting the coal by tramway to the
river and thence by barges to San Fran
cisco will be exceedingly small in compari-
son with the necessarily high freight
charges which we have to pay on coal i'm
ported from the British possessions in the
Pacific, to say nothing of the import duty
that foreign Goals must pay. 1t seems,
further, almost providential that this i'm
mense bed of superior Ignite should exist
in so close proximity to the San Joaquin
Valley Railroad. For it is clear that every
dollar saved in the operation of that road
will be clear gain to the producers of the
valley in view of the fact that the develop
ment of the San Joaquin by encouraging
the profits of industry therein is the nam
purpose of the road.
We feel called upon to insist again that
these great deposits of Ignite, taken in
connection with the abundance of bitumi-
nous rock and with innumerable more di-
rect evidences, indicate that underneath
the fertile soil of the State lie vast stores
OF petroleum and natural gas. The Stand
ard Oil Company in the past has inter
fered to prevent the proper development
of the petroleum deposits discovered to
exist, but there ought not to be any power
on earth which Californians should regard
as sufficient to prevent them from using
the vast stores of wealth of many kinds
that at present lie locked up in the secret
places of the earth.