The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-01-09
CROWS NEST RICH MINES
HIGH GRADE OF BITUMINOUS
COAL FOUND IN LARGE
QUANTITIES
HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY
William Fernie, Once a Common La
bOrer, While Building Pack
Trail Found the Lodges Of4
'EBIack Diamonds"
w. G. Mob, writing in the Montreal

w. G. Mob, writing in the Montreal
Star, says:
In the East Kootenay, just west of
the Groves Nest Pass, lies that stretch
of country which is probably better
known to politicians than to capitalists
but which Is immensely rich in a very
high grade of hituminous coal. All
around the town of Fernie which is the
chief center Of the coal business Of this
region, the country for many miles is
full of coal beds, there being some twenty
seams varying in thickness from mere
sheet to a solid mass of coal thirty feet
high. These seams, if laid one on top
of the other would aggregate thickness
of $50 feet. These great beds extend
over an area of many thousand acres
and the geological survey of Canada es-
Inmates that if so per cent of this be al
lowed as unavoidable, there would still
be an accessible body of coal containing
about 100000 600 tons. We get a faint
idea of the magnitude of these figures
when we consider that, taking 100000, 0O0
tons TO be the amount of coal now con-
sumed in the world each year, there is
enough fuel in the Crows Nest Pass
country to supply the entire world for
over go years, at its present rate of con-
sumption In the mines alone this would
afford employment to every able bodied
man IL Canada from this time until the
year 2OOO to say nothing Of the thou
sands who would find work in its trans
portation and sale.
Almost all of this vast mineral wealth
is in the hands of the Crows Nest Pass
Coal company limited, Toronto This
company has secured control of a tract
of land of about 100000 acres in extent.
and almost all this land contains coal.
AS the coal is easily reached from the
surface, and is present in such album
Dance it can be mined with comparative
~ small expense. The plant now In op-
Grafton is a very convenient one. and Is
so arranged that from the time the coal
is first shoveled into the small cars in
the mines until it is ready to be shipped.
1T has never to be touched with a shovel.
AT the Coal Creek mines, which are stu
ated about five miles from Fernie the
plant is placed in the center of the val
ley, and is SO arranged that the Canadian
Faclf1c railway cars are run up under
II on switches. The loaded boxes Of coal
are run out from the mines on either side
into this plant and dumped into the cars
underneath. Then these cars are shipped
to their destination unless intended for
use in the company's own coke ovens at
Fern1e. If intended for~the latter they
are run down to the town and shunted
off into a switch, which lands them on
top of an immense bin, the bottoms ara
dropped and the coal allowed to fall
down into the bin. A small car runs in
under this bin and is loaded by opening
slide from above. In It's turn it is run
ont unto the coke ovens and it's load
dropped through a hole into the ovens
beneath. By this simple, but ingenious
arrangement, the company have succeed
ed in getting gravity, one of the cheapest
Of Worknen, to Go a large amount Of the
work.
The coal from these mines is of the
very finest quality of the bituminous
variety, and makes one of the best cokes
IN the world. 1t has been tested by the
naval authorities at Esquinait and has
given every satisfaction. The railways
ind it Of very great value as it does not
throw sparks. The coke d 5rived from If
Hills long felt want in British Columbia
smelling works. For certain smelling
processes coal cannot be used, ana coke
IS absolutely essential. With this new
force in the field, Western mining activ-
ity must be greatly augmented.
Inc history of the discovery of these
mines is a rather romantic one, ana
truly western in it's nature. About II
to l5 years ago, William Fernie, at that
time a common laborer depending on
his own eXertions for living was en-
gagged with a party in constructing
pack trail through the mountains While
employed at this solitary job Mr..
Fernie noticed signs of coal, and on in
vestiga ting the matter found several
Lodges of the "black diamonds coming
out to the surface. He at once set to
work with great energy to interest capt.
talists in the ground, ana this proved no
easy task. Situated in the heart of
wilderness of mountains, forest and
rocks, with no means of shipping, the
coal did not prove to be the loadstone
Which under other circumstances it GER
tainly would. But after many dissap-
pointments and bitter failures, Mr.
Fernie secured sufficient influence to
have an engineer sent to the ground to
report on it. Sc favorably was the
latter impressed with the wealth of the
deposits and SO well did he do his work
that soon he was sent back to open up
the mine.
When he arrived at the scene of his
labors and began work on the mines,
which now assume such colossal proper
tons and give such bright promise Of
future wealth, all goods had to be car
ried on pack horses from Fort Steele,
distance of 20 miles. The region
around what is now the mines was
covered with wood and showed not the
slightest sign of civilization. Living in
tents, the men built a few log shacks
and began work. All the timber lad to
be sawn with whip saw, everything
was crude and primitive, and the near
est town was 20 miles away over a wild
mountain trail.
In the face of such difficulties these
men worked on, and in 1898 some coal
was shipped Now the output of the
mines is much in excess of 100000 tons