Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1899-12-01
NEW KIND OF FUEL
Important Discovery Involving Prep
aration of a New Fuel From
Ignite Coal.
German Capitalists Have Discovered
a Process that Gives Success
full Tests.
Proposed to Establish Large Convert
ing Plants in the Ignite
Region Soon.
NEW FUEL FROM Ignite.

The vast veins of Ignite coal UNDER
lying North Dakota and which up to
the present time have been put to little
use except to supply u local demand
for fuel, promise, under a discovery
that has been made by some German
capitalists, to prove a source Of wealth
to the state and to furnish Il supply OF
superior fuel that will ere long be in
use on all western railroads and in all
factories. The gentlemen who have
discovered Il process for converting
the Ignite coal into a grade of fuel that
ut Il recent test gave better results
than the best eastern bituminous coal
are j. M0ersch, Herman Wolff and
Alex Menke and they are in the west
ern part of this state looking up coal
lands and an opportunity to purchase
coal veins. They are at Bismarck
from this city will go to Dickinson.
Ignite. They are also considering
locations for the establishment Of their
converting plants, three of which will
be put in operation in the Ignite re-
giOn. The establishment of these
pants will require $4,000 for each
one, and the output of product will be
correspondingly large. The matter is
one that is of vital interest to the state
and indeed to the whole northwest.
for if the process proves as successful
in creating Il superior fuel in prac-
tical use as it has in the tests that
have been made, the base of supply for
fuel for the entire west will be trans
ferred from the coal fields OF the east
to those of North Dakota.
The gentlemen who are interested
in the conversion of Ignite have been
at work for some time upon their eX-
perimentS. which were tested at an
experiment made in st. Paul not long
ago, in the presence of officials of the
Northern Pacific road. which is par
ticularly interested in the process. The
results obtained were highly satisfac->
tory. The prepared fuel from the lig-
mite gave better results than the best
coal and it is stated that the discover
ers and owners of the process have 4
contingent contract with the road for
upwards Of 100000 tons Of the fuel, if
it shall prove up to the standard Of that
with which the test was made. The
process is a crushing of the Ignite, re-
moval of the sulphur and other ele-
ments aside from the carbon and the
pressure OF the residue into squares,
OF about the size of the ordinary an
thracite product, or perhaps larger.
The cost of preparing the fuel is so
reasonable that the fuel can be put on
the market at a price far below that
demanded for eastern coal. and insures
a coal supply for the west independent
OIL the probabilities of lake traffic and
of n I0Nvy~p Hssa A1%~~ eos l~ ,~~s1 H..
fuel transported from the far east.
II the plan proves successful, it's
Importance to the state cannot be esti-
conception of the vastness of the lig-
ME fields of the western part Of the
state. Thousands upon thousands Of
acres of land are undertake with lig-
mite in veins from twelve to fifteen
feet thick. The Bad Lands in the
western part of the state are one i'm
mense deposit Of coal. Running the
entire length of the Little Missouri
river in it's course through this region.
there is Il vein Of coal of exceptional
thickness and extending back thou
sands Of feet into the clay hills and
Duties. II this coal could be con
verified into a fuel equal to the ordin-
airy product it would supply. the de-
mands Of the entire west and north
west for years. At present Ignite is
used by only a limited portion of the
state. 1t is soft and the elements of
matter other than carbon are so great
that it's cheapness is it greatest recon-
mendation to consumers. Bue con
verified into the kind of fuel proposed
and which the owner of the process
in question are confident or producing
from it. North Dakota Ignite fields
would prove Inc source of supply for
western fuel.