New-York tribune., 1900-12-02
WHEN ALASKA VAS A HOTBED.

The recently reported discovery of Ignite and
bituminous coal in Alaska, while showing that
the mineral resources of that Territory are more
varied than is commonly supposed. ought to
cause no surprise Similar deposits occur in
much higher latitudes. and also along the Pa
cific Coast from Southern California to British
Columbia. These latter have been utilized to
only limited extent thus far partly because
the coal is in some instances of inferior quail
ity partly because facilities for reaching a mar
ket are inadequate. and partly, no doubt, be-
cause the requisite capital was not forthcoming.
For these reasons. some of which are Of tenn
porary nature. the output in California, Oregon
and Washington has never been equal to the
demand. san Francisco. indeed. has relied al
most entirely upon Japan, Australia and Eng
land. This state of things. of course. is exceed
ingly unfortunate. The rapidly growing steam
commerce of the Pacific together with the re-
quirements of the railways, manufactures and
households in that part of the country, creates
II growing need for a domestic supply of good
fuel. Hence any announcement like that of
last week possesses a high degree of interest for
the region beyond the Rockies.
The OutcrOp AT Chignik Bay has been traced
for seventeen miles. and the veins range in
thickness from four and half to nine feet
To how great a depth they extend has not vet
been ascertained. The natural outlet of the
district is on the south side of the Alaska
Peninsula. 1t Is said that well sheltered
harbOr may be found within five miles of the
deposits. And inasmuch as Chgnik Bay is in
a comparatively low latitude the climate should
favor a continuance of mining and shipping
operations through a considerable part of the
year. if once undertaken. The locality is fully
eight hundred miles further south than Disco.
Greenland. where coal has long been known To
exist. and fifteen hundred miles further south
than the coal recently found in Spitzbergen.
Here is a happy combination of circumstances.
And if investigation next spring shall demon
strate that the quality and extent of the CHG
nix coal justify mining II on a large scale the
event will prove one Of great industrial impOr-
raucc
Not the least interesting feature of the dis
Covery is the fresh testimony which ii affords
regarding the temperatures which were once
common near and within the Arctic Circle
The luXuriant vegetation which gave rise TO
the great coal measures is believed to have
been dependent upon a tropical or more than
tropical warmth as we'll the presence of
an enormous amount of carbonic acid in the
atmosphere There are Indications that the
magnolia and vine fourished in the vicinity of
Disco cotemporaneously with the formation of
ccal there. These are no more remarkable per-
haps than the fact that elephants We're album
dant in Siberia or that water lilies thrived
within eight degrees of the Pole. They all bear
witness. as does this news from the Alaska
Peninsula. TO the EdPnlike climate which both
animal and vegetable life once enjoyed in ex-
tremely high attitudes, and which probably en-
dured long enough 10 facilitate the migration
of primitive man from continent to continent
The particular geological strata with which
the Chignik coal is associated are not specified
in the press dispatches. The basis for calculat-
ing the antiquity of the deposits is lacking
therefore Still, the majority of such forma-
tlons in other parts of the world clearly belongs
10 the carboniferous era. which dates back
some five ten million years. This is true. for
instance. of the great Appalachian coal fields
In exceptional eases coal is found in triassIc
cretaceOus and even tertiary rocks which are
more recent. But even if one should halve or
quarter the chronological estimate just given. ne
would still he confronted with a result which IT
taxes the Imagination To grasp