Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1898-11-24
ABOUT KANSAS COAL.
Over sixteen Billion Dollars of Buried
Wealth Revealed by Pick and Drill-Flg-
urea from the nenIoRIOnI Survey

Wealth Revealed by Pick and Drill-Flg-
ureS from the Geological survey
Tho state university geological SUR
vey of Kansas has now been in exist
ence about three years and in that
time the officers OF this survey have
published four volumes which are
standard works of reference on Kan
sas mineral resources. One OF these
which has just been issued treats of
the most valuable product In the state,
the coal. IL is a volume which will
aid the state very much in advertising
our coal territory and will show the
people Of other states that Kansas is a
mining as well as an agricultural dis
trict From an examination of this Inn
portant memoir we find the following:
The thickness OF the coal measure series OF
rocks In Kansas is q, 90 feet and the area COW
cred is 20, 00l square miles. OF which $1,000 are
productive OF coal. Twenty-nine counties In
eastern and southeastern Kansas and six coun-
ties In the west central portion OF the state are
coal producing Two-thrds OF the total coal
output comes from mn area OF $40 square miles
In the southeastern corner OF the state, in
Cherokee, Crawford and Labette counties.
Here is found the heaviest coal seam In the
state, the Weir-Pittsburg coal which is 40
inches in thickness This seam is found over
an elliptical area ten miles In width.
In the same area are found other valuable
seams OF coal mined at Columbus, Fort Scott
and other places. As far north as Lalvenworth,
NJ depth Of 40 feet coal seams are found
with an aggregate thickness OF over seven feet
II the same amount Of coal should be found ut
all points equi- distant from the Pittsburg coal
area, with Leavenworth, there would be an
area Of over l2,0)0 square miles with seven feet
OF coal The records Of the deep wells indicate
this area is underlald with ut least one per
cent OF this amount stratum of coal ~
feet thick will produce per square mile 1920 QUO
tons, This would give for this area with the
allowance for one per cent, o. 10000 tons
Coal mining first commenced In the Chero-
kee county region in the sos, and the first rail-
road mines were opened in 1870 In 1871 the
Keith g. Rawlings company began operations
and greatly aided the development OF this rich
area In 1888 the Santa Fe Coal company was
! organized, which Is now changed to the Mt.
Carmel Coal Mining company, which is
one OF the largest coal companies In the
west to-day During the year 1897 Chero'
Ree and Crawford counties produced 2,653-
020 tons Of coal. employing nearly 5000
| men. This output Is 92S2 per cent OF that OF
the entire state. In 1859 Maj Hawn organized
the Leavenworth Coal Mining company and n
shaft 7l3 feet deep was completed In 1870 In
| 1879 the legislature authorized the officers OF
| the state penitentlary to sink q shaft at Lam
sing and coal was reached at 7l3 feet in 1881.
Besides the state mine there are now two COM
panies mining coal in the Leavenworth area
| the Leavenworth company and the Home
i - L..
being 1857 al tons, employing 1908 men, The
state mine at Lansing produced 1900 tons Of
this output
The Usage coal was discovered In ls69la Car
bon Hill, near Carbondale, by q Mr. Dodds in
digging q we'll In 1881 the Santa Fe company
| entered the field and leased about O,00J acres
| This area is now controlled by the Mount Car
| mel Coal company, which controlled about 45I
per cent Of the output Of Usage coal in 1897.
The whole distance along the Santa Fe rail-
| road from Carbondale to Usage City Is now one
continuous mining area and the amount OF
coal still remaining is many times as great as
that which has been removed. II is stated that
this one area could supply the whole state for
| centuries to come.
The long wall system Of mining is employed
in the coal fields OF Leav3nworth and Usage
counties The method is so named because II
the process OF mining and is OF especial advan-
tage in the ease with which the waste material
is disposed OF and used to help sustain the roof
Modern machinery 10 facilitate the mining
and handling OF coal Is used In the Kansas
mines and is carefully and completely described
| In this report Also complete chemical analy-
ses and physical tests are given for the various
| Goals Of the state. ThesB show that the lower
Goals are the best, as they give the most heat
and are more solid; but the upper or Usage Goa
| is an excellent fuel coal Kansas Goals rank
very favorably with eastern GOALS and the
| Plttsburg coal has the greatest heat CO.
pacity of any Of the soft bituminous Goals Of the
| United States according to government tests
Only small portion Of the entire available
| coal area is now opened, and THIS mines are 10.
| Gated where the seams are of the greatest
thickness and where the depth Is not too grea
to increase the expense OF mining, II the price
of coal should advance even few cents pei
| bushel, large number Of new mines would bC
| opened in areas where the cost Of mining now
| binders their development There are now II
prominent coal companies working In the Kan
sas coal fields besides considerable number
of small mines run very irregulary by private
| parties
With all allowances, there would be In Kan.
sas 900 square miles Of coal producing terri.
| tory with an average OF "a feet OF coal ThC
output for 1897, 8, 800 900 tons, would represen
an area of two square miles At this rate 4
would take 1000 years to exhaust the coal de-
| posits OF the Kansas coal measures
The highest and lowest prices paid for Kan
sas coal since 1889 are ~ 10 and 90 cents so thu
value OF an acre Of coal 2h feet thick would bt
between $50 and 1910 The value OF coal Il
the square mile would be between ia, l85, 60I
and a, 1852, 400 The value then for the 400
square miles would be between tl5,749 4OO, wv
and W, 44J 6OO.OO) An examination of thest
figures will give our people new idea OF thu
mineral resources Of our state. especially wheI
it is remembered this is only one Of our min
erals.
The principal consumers of Kansas Goals ii
order of Importance are, the railways, manu-
featuring plants, packing-houses, gas works
and cokiDg establishments. The coal produc
ton of the state has steadily increased sine,
1880 and was greatest in 1897, with exception
of this year 1891
| nTDuTuEDTA EDInEMYC