The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1899-12-30
Land of the Ignite Coal Deposits.


From Special Correspondence of the Minneapolis Journal.
WITHIN sixteen miles from the place these lines are penned
i, a sharp bend in the river Missouri, to the north in which the
waters lave tn. base of rou5 "a an une ven, bu,tes whose side
clt bv encroaching waters show a strata OF Ignite coal that
caught the attention of members Of the Lewis and Clark ex-
pediton n%inety-ive year; ago. Il was within half ota mile OF
this point these intrepid explorers made quarters during the
winter of ISo4-5. Many changes at this point have taken
in the charac er and condition of both the human and animal
tenants Of the land thereabout but the same old SCARED and
scurrid hills turn their barred face to the river reveal the same
dark seam Of Ignite that drew attention from Lewis and Clark
at the beginning of the present century.
On the 9th Of April two days after breaking camp for the
resumption Of their journey of exploration we find the follow
ing entry in their Journal, the points mentioned being between
the present towns Of Manhaven and Coal ~Harbor-,hesc
villages being located on the Missouris banks within three
miles Of each other. though the form is in Mercer and the
latter in Mclean county:
"The bluffs we passed to day" care upward of one hundred
feet high, composed OF a mixture of yellow clay and sand, with
coal, from one to five feet in depth, and scattered through the
the water.
From that period m=ntione in Lewis & CIark's Journal until
the location Of the site for Fore S eJ-n', ), in 'o7 n, attention
was given to the carbonatel dep >,ies, although they were
always the wonder Of steamooatmea navigating the Upper
Missouri in passing that point. Fort Stevenson was located
on the north bank of the river about ten miles above the Lewis
& Clark find and among the frst acts Oft officers, notably
Col. De Trobriand of the 22nd Infantry and Captain VAIN
wright Of the same regiment was to develop one Of these coal
veins and try the use of it, for garrison fuel. The first diff
6cuty in its practical use, was the want Of a stove suitable COR
a test. The test was made with good results, and when Col.
Crofton of the l7th Infantry succeeded in command there in
1871 he developed what was known as the Garrison Greek
mines, some few miles north Of the fort, and from that time
until the abandonment: OF the fort in 1883. the garrison was
supplied with fuel for all practical purposes from these mines,
and although not used since the fort was abandoned the mines
running back to the Douglas river hills, would seem to be
almost inexhaustible, as there are two or theee distnct layers.
one Of them being from twelve to fifteen feet in depth. The
lands in which these mines are situated is We! in government
title as a part of The old Military reservation. not yet open
ed to the public, although the same is surveyed, and it is under:
stood will be sold in tracts of 40 acres each az no distant day.
The next move in The dev elopmen, Of the coal deposits here
was made by the Northern Pacific company in 1872, when an
expert miner named Mccall was employed by that company to
locate some of the mines most accessible to the river. After
%proldtng around on both sides of the Missouri for some
months Mccall finally located two mines: one near the mouth
ofDead Indian couIee, near the present town of Coal Harbor,
and the other on the east bank ct the Missouri opposite 10 the
mouth of Knife River. Mccall pronounced The coal fom these
mines as a superior kind of lignie, the veins averaging from,
IL to IS feet in thickness. He ny. le a tunnel at the mine near
Knife river but finally gave them up Jor the Black Hills where
he served as expert miner on G .n-raI .Cuus ers' expedition Of
1875. The old miner then nearing 70 years. remained i'll the
Hills after the departure OF tn expedition. and was killed there
the spring following by ban of Indians. He being the frs,
victim at th: opening of hosulites.. that year. About 1874 a
small mine was opened near Fort Abraham Lincoln which
supplied the garrison at that point and many of the citizens of
bismarck and vicinity came to know its true value as fuel.
Later a mine was opened at Sweet Brian Greek west of Man
dan ON the N. T. P. R and about 1885. the mines near Dckin-
son were opened which have since been supp ying ignite fuel
oal points in The State near the Northern Pacific Railroad.
About the same time the REVERE Du Lac mines near Minol
were open'ai on the line Of the Great Northern. which uow
supply fuel consumers in that par: of the State. w.
"During the year 1892 a party ofcapitalsts from Pierre
attempted TO open and ship coal from what was known as the
Plenty mine near the mouth of Knife river in n Mercer county.
Barges were built 70 be loaded and hoated to Pierre South
Dakota's capital, while The coal was easily mined and loaded ON
the boats, the navigation on the Missouri was SO difficult, that
after losing three or four loaded Aatboass or barges ON the sand
bars the project was abandoned.
In 1884, a party rf Iowa capitalists organized under the
name of the North Dakota Coal Company, and proceeded to
drill for coal deposits in the region around Coal Harbor. Three
thickness, bat under the bed Of the Missouri they struck a vein
Of coal that after passing through IA feet deep ha.! TO be ahan