The Saint Paul globe., 1900-12-26
MN NAY 70 TREAT GOAL
NORTH DAKOTA LIGNITE TO RE
COMFR ESSED INTO CEN
DENSED FUEL
NR. wAsHBURN's PROJECT
Northern Pacific Railroad Uses "Bri-
GUettes'' and Calls Them Il Sue
eess-EIay Help Gut the
Euel Problem.

BISMARCK. N. d, Dec. 25-Lignite
coal, chemically treated and compressed
into condensed fuel, promises to be one
OF the substantial products Of North
Dakota, and at least locally may revolu-
tioniZe the fuel problem.
'BrIquettes@ manufactured from coal
at Wilton have been tested by the North
ern Pacific railway, and the product has
been shipped to many Eastern manufac-
turing centers to be tested. Former
Senator W. D. Waslburn, Of Minnesota,
is at the head. of the enterprise and the
company mines are running at full ca
pacity. with all the modern mining ma
chinery and appliances.
Mr. Washburn began little over a
year ago TO lay out a railroad from Bis
marCk to Great Falls, passing along the
Missouri river and through the great
Judith basin in Montana. TIE project
was largely a matter of pride with Wash
burn, as lying forty miles north of Bis
marc1 is a little town, the county seat
OF Mclean county, named WaShburn
after the Minnesota statesman. Years
ago the town was laid out and named
by John SatterIund, receiver of the
United States land office at Bismarck.
and Gen WaShburn promised him that
at some time he would build a railroad
thereto. The town lies in the center of
a fertile farming cOIntrY, OF millions OF
broad .acEes, undulating gently for hun
dredS OF miles from the center and fur
nishing wheat for many mills and cattle
for many Slaughter pens The possibili-
ties Of Development of this region arous-
ed the CID railroad building spirit in
Washburn and he bought 115,000 acres Of
the land, the mcst fertile in the great val
ley, from the Northern Pacific Railroad
company, Of whose land grant 1t was a
IT. ,,ffi i,,+ +rsla r.,
and a value per acre set on each tract
A right of way was secured and the
building of the road begun.
For thirty miles the road was built
and Gen WaShburn built q town as a
terminal At Wilton, the present termi-
nal of the reads Washburn bought two
sections Of land at a small value per acre.
Land in the vicinity was in many cases
hardly deemed worth paying taxes on
Thousands upon thousands of acres Of
land were TO be had for 81 an acre and
slightly higher. Hardly had the town
established BY Washburn begun to grow
. when q discovery was made that reVo-
isItiOnized the railroad building enter
prise, and, instead of a hopeless and
dreary business prospect, it became
fiattering one. This discovery was lig-
mite coal Underlying the land were mil
lions of tons of the best Ignite coal IN
the West. 1t approached bituminuous In
hardness and percentage of carbon and
Gen. Washburn set about inammediately
toward the development of this important
discovery.
Eastern capitalists and coal experts
were interested. R. w Hazleton, who
had for many years been coal expert
in Ohio. came out and fooked over the
mine. He pronounced. the coal good and
the discovery promising. The mines
were opened with a shaft and electrical
machinery ordered Orders began to
pour in for thousands Of tons of the
fuel for local. consumption before it was
possible to supply a fraction of the de-
mand. The capacity of the machinery
was increased until an output Of several
hundred tons a day was possible, and
profitable freight traffic was created for
the new road. With the interest OF East
ern capitalists game another interesting
discovety.a This was that a process was
possible whereby the -lignite coal could
be treated with heat the water and
gases, driven off and the remainder
treated with a chemical compound OF
which. sorghum was an element and
bound into briGuettes, Of about the size
of arthracite Goals, being composed OF
nearly pure carbon, and burning with
. fierce heat The cost of the process
was Slight and the results, when tested
satisfactory. Up to the present time no
less than half dozen distinct processes
have been devised and all of them are
under cOusidera ton.
Tie Northern Pacific Railway company
some time ago made some tests Of the
new briduettes as. steam producing fuel
The tests were pronounced successful
and it was stated that if the owners Of
the process would deliver the product
they had devised in quantity the ROAD
would contract for 100000 tons, for use
an the locomotives. The Northern Pacific
Is one of the. heaviest railroad consumers
of coal in the country.
Anotfe. test that is being made OF
The coal from Gen. Washburns mines
IS of its colxing possibilities. /. z. Letter.
Of Chicago, is interested in this, and
tests are being made for him there. Re
uorts are. received from time to time by
the Washburh interests heIe, and they
are satisfactory. The coal is said to
coke fairly we'll and with further eXper-
imentS another valuable quality OF the
Ignite may be developed.
The western part of the state of North
Dakota is under,ain by vein of Ignite,
varying from six to fifteen feet in width.
Tt CROPS eut IN thousands Of places
through the oil A'o7g the NJ ssoue liver
there are hundreds OF outcroppings
through the day banks. Locally, it is the
I4se of the states fuel supply. It is also
used by some manufacturing institutions
in the state. and steps have been taken
TO introduce it in other states. South
Dakota has long cried out for North
Dakota ignite but the difficulties of
TRANSFORMATION were too great to be over
come till the building OF Washburn's road
into the coal fields. Now as soon as
5oint traffic agreements with other roads
can be perfected, the coal viii be shipped
into South Dakota. and possibly into Ne
braslla. Iowa and Minnesota. Carloads
lave been sent as far east as Chicago
Tor testing purposes. and to Grand Rap
lis. Mich, by capitalists from there WHO
believe it can be adapted to manufacture
Ing st the present time Washburn s
1nines are working to their full capacity
and cannot supply al the demand. New
ard better machinery is being installed
ia the mines, where the coal is taken
out by the improved processes. The
mines are lighted with e'ectric ty
throughout, and all Of the machinery is
electric. The amount of coal on the
Washburn land at Wilton is estimated at
3.C00 COCO tons, and there are countless
other coal fields in the same locality.
ILLINOIS CENTRAL CHANGES.