The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-02-22

~SAN AsA - - -
from the fact that coal covering an area
of one million acres Is known to exist
in eighteen counties. These coal meas
urcs, unlimited In extent, can supply
the Pacific Coast with coal tor cen
turies. ore writer ,ays: Coal IL our
text and we have plcrty to talk aoout
The magnitude Of the coal veins OF
Washington have aiready attracted the
attention os the United States govern
ment and engineers nave been sent to
the state to make u scientific survey of
them.
The immense combination Of coal de-
posits are divided into seven groups
all west of the Cascudcs'. except IUps"
of Roslyn on the eastern slope which
cover an area of iifty-two square miles
and produce the brightest. c!eanest
and most nerfect coal we have ever
seen. as our specimens will show. The
coal measures Cf this locality extend
with "a uniform de?th OF from three 10
eight feet and are of a :'eGi-bituminou5
and bituminous nature. The principal
beds of the state are located in the
Puget Sound basin ana cover an esti-
ated area of 200 coo acres, forming q
chain from the Columbia river in the
south to Bellingham Bay in the th
These fields are mainly within Il radius
of forty miles of tdewater and the cost
of mining and TRANSFORMATION To either
Tacoma or Seattle varies from two TO
two and half dollars per ton. The coal
is mined in large blocks. the veins vary
ing in thickness from three to eighteen
feet tilted NJ on edge. We saw and
have samples of one block seventeen feet
long. fifty-four inches wide. thirty
inches thick and weighing 16,60O pounds
without seam.
The mining and shipping OF coal is
practically in its infancy-only about
twenty-five veins are now being
worked. Just back of the city limits
of Tacoma and Seattle are mines ca
pable of producing million tons year
If demanded. The mines back of Seat
tie send forth ten thousand tons a day.
Much Of it finds its way to san Fran
cisco. The Southern Pacific railway re-
ceiveS its main supply from these mines.
The United States government. desir-
Gus of giving American coal the prefer
ence over that mined, in British Col
umbia. ordered several tests made last
year under Lieutenant Garden, of the
revenue cutter service, and also by the
warship Mohican, to ascertain the quail
ity of Puget Sound coal. hoping to find
the coal of such quality that 1t could
be used by vessels of the navy and rev.
enue cutter service and also the mer-
chant marine of the Pacific Coast. so
that there will be no necessity for look
ing to foreign country for a supply
of fuel. The result was favorable to
Puget Sound coal and means hereafter
the discarding of all foreign Goals.
c. w. IL. WOOdhOusc. an expert min
ing engineer, after making careful
examination and survey of this Puget
Sound district. says: These coal de-
posits had their origin in the enormous
tree and heritage growths of past ages
and their development will add largely
to the wealth of the state
In order to further visit these large
coal producing mines and get "a thor
ough understanding of these immense
coal measures. we returned to Seattle
from our Alaska trip, and through the
courtesy of Prof. Twitmeyer, inter-
viewed Mr.. F.. r. Corey. superintendent
of the Oregon Improvement company,
whose mines are at New Castle and
Franklin. Mr. Corey is acknowledged
to be the best informed man on this
subject and the best coal expert in the
state. and from him we secured memo
randa which the coal experts of Scran-
ton and vicinity and those interested in
this industry will enjoy reading. We
also obtained from Mr. Corey some
valuable specimens of Vancouver Is
lands. Australian, English and Japan
Use COdfS IpI lnt OI our
readers. I'm justice to Mr.. Corey we
print in another column his statement
in full
Scnttlc's Iron Resources.
The iron resources of the state of
washington are very great and said
to be inexhauStible. They will in time
be utilized I'm iron and steel mills. Even
now numerous furnaces are going into
blast in Seattle, to take care Of the iron
output A prominent writer says
washington can supply all the de-
mands for iron of our great nation for
centuries" Here are four distinct
belts. each belt differing from the others
in both the chemical and physical fea-
lures of the ore. In conjunction with
coal. there are found i'm the vicinity OF
Seattle vast deposits of iron ore. said To
cover over 10000 acres; those specially
mentioned We're the Denny iron
mines, ON Iron mountain. nine in num-
Der. located on four separate veins or
lodeS. The veins range i'm thickness
from to $50 feet OF what they call
magnetic iron ore Its richness and al
most freedom from impurities renders
II valuable for the mrnufactura of Bes-
semer steel. The Skagit belt has a
width of several miles and aggregates
five hundred feet in thickness Large
veins exist in several other counties
aialySiS VI IRON ore from UllTtftnt To-
calities show that Washington product
to he freer from sulphur and phos-
phoruS than any other I'm the West The
Kirkland Steel and Iron works on Lake
Washington connect with the Denny"
mines by the Seattle, Lake Shore and
Eastern railway, and when i'm full oper-
alton employ upwards of 1000 men. 1t
is claimed. there is no point i'm the
world where so great n quantity of
good iron ores. good lmsteones, and
good fuel can be massed at so small q.
cost for handling as at and near Seattle
on Puget Sound.
Bv Wav Of Rccn npitualation.
To me. u disinterested stranger. Seat.
tie has peculiar charms: 1t differs great
ly from any of the cities visited on our
four trans continental tours. 1t is
truly a remarkable city when the odds
Il against which it has fought are taken
into consideration. 1t has already
shown the vitality and recuperative
power typical of Chicago. The past
decade its population has increased
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