The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1899-12-02
PROMISES BIG THINGS FOR WORTH
DAKOTA.
Capitalists Are Interested In the De-
velopment Of the Ignite Coal
Fields-It Promises to Prove q
Source of Wealth to the State
Gated and Active Operations Be-
~nn-An IlIimitabIe Coal Supply
for the West. Independent of the
Eastern Product.

living North Dakota. ana winch, up to
the present time, has been put to little
use except to supply a 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 a supply Of
superior fuel that willie re long. be in
use on all Western railroads and in all
factories. The gentlemen, who have
discovered a process for converting the
ignite coal into a grade of fuel that, at
a recent test, gave better results than
the best Eastern bituminous coal. are
]. Moersch, Sherman Wolff and Alex
Menke, and they are in the western
part Of this state looking up coal lands.
and an opportunity to purchase coal
veins. They were at Bismarck, looking
over the prospects here, and from Bis
march they went to Dickinson, where
there are immense deposits of Ignite.
They are also considering locations for
the establishment Of their converting
plants, three Of which will be put in
operation in the Ignite region. The es-
adjustment of these plants will require
$4,000 for each one, and the output of
product will be corresponiingiy large.
The matter is one that Is ut vital in
terest to the state, and, indeed, of the
whole Northwest. for, If the process
proves successful in creating a superior
fuel for practical use,t as it has in the
tests that have been made, the base of
supply for fuel for the entire West will
be transferred from the coal fields Of
the East to those of North Dakota.
The gentlemen who are interested in
the conversion of Ignite have been Mt
work for some time upon their expert
ments, which were tested at an expert
ment made at st. Paul recently. in the
presence of officials of the Northern Pa
cifc road, which is particularly inter-
ested in the process. The results OBJ
tanned were highly satisfactory. The
prepared fuel from the Ignite gave bet
ter results than the best Eastern coal,
and it is stated that the discoveries
and owners of the process have a con-
tingent contract with the road for up.
wards of 100000 tons of this 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 anthra-
cite product.
The cost of preparing the fuel is so
reasonable that it can be put upon the
market at a price far below that de-
manded for Eastern coal, and insures
a coal supply for the West independent
of the probabilities of lake traffic, and
at a lower price than must be paid for
fuel transported from the East.
If the plan proves successful. Its III
portance to the state cannot be estl-
mated now. There is no adequate con-
ception of the vastness Of the Ignite
fields of the western part Of the state.
Thousands upon thousands of acres OF
land are underlaid with Ignite in veins
of from twelve to fifteen feet thick.
The Bad Lands, in the western part OF
the state, are one immense deposit OF
coalRunning the entire length Of the
Little Missouri river In Its course
through this region, there is a vein OF
coal of exceptional thickness and ex-
tending back thousands Of feet into the
.lay hills and buttes. If this coal could
be converted into a fuel equal to the
ordinary bituminous product, 1t would
supply the demands of the entire West
and Northwest for years. At present,
flignite is used by only a limited portion
of the state. It is soft, and the ele-
ments Of matter other than carbon are
go great that its cheapness Is Its great
est recommendation to the consumer:
But, converted into the kind OF fuel
proposed, and which the owners OF the
process in question are confident OF
producing from it, North Dakota llg.
mite fields would prove the source OF
supply for Western fuel.