The Ellensburg dawn. [volume] (Ellensburg, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1902-12-27

Underground Wealth

of Kattitas Comfy.

Kittitas county contains one OF thu
richest and best coal fields on the Pa
cific coast. known as the Roslyn Goa
Field. 1t lies in the foot hills of the
Cascade mountains, on their eastern
slope, with Roslyn near it's North ant
South center. This field whose bound
aries are fairly we'll determined, ex.
tend about four miles West anG about
ten miles East of Roslyn and contains
about one hundred square miles of coal
bearing formation.
This coal field belongs to the EOcene
epoch, which is a subdivision of the
Tertiary Age, one of the Ages in the
Geological history of the earth, and it
is underlaid by volcanic rock or basalt,
which shows that it was formed after
Mt. Stuart was thrown up, and covered
the country around Roslyn for many
miles, with the volcanic overflow. This
period of overflow was succeeded by a
period of alternate rising and subsid-
ing, during which period the coal pro-
ducing plants tlourished and died and
were covered in turn by sand, which
now forms the sandstone separating the
different veins found in this field. This
alternate rising and subsiding took
place at least seven times, as there are
seven known veins of COAL each of
which is separated from the other, by
sandstones and shales.
1t may be of interest to some of the
old settlers to know, just when and
where the field was discovered.
AS to who it was that discovered the
groupings, it would be hard to say, as
there are several claimants for that
distinction, but it may be said, that
although coal was suspected, a bore
hole put down in May 1886 failed to
find. Exploring and survey parties
went through the field in 1884, but they
failed to report the finding of coal. 1t
was not until July 1886 that the crop
ping was first discovered and the pros
pecting which was done subsequently
gave promise of wonderful field.
Work was Immediately begun towards
establishing permanent camp, and in
September 1886 the first boiler was
hauled into camp. having been brought
all the way from Ellensburg by team
The man and one of the horses that
brought this boiler into camp are still
with the Company.
After the boiler was installed the
camp grew steadily. In 1887 there
were 10000 tons OF coal mined and
hauled to the market.
Eveyth ing went fine until 1891, when
the production rose to 100000. Hard
time and other causes brought down
the output until there was only 100000
tons mined in 1892. After that followed
a series of years of great luctuation OF
output; for instance in 1894 it was down
to 10000 tons, and in 1895 it reached
100000 tons. The year 1896 marked
the turning point and from chen up to
the present time the output rose ire
mendous strides. The output of 1898
being almost double that Of 1897. In
1899 there was an increase Of 100, 900
tons; in 1900 an increafe of 10000 tons.
1901 an increase OF 100000 tons and in
1902 an increase of 100000 tons.
This tremendous output naturally
brings up the question that is often
asked. How long can this output be
kept up? How long will the coal last?
Is Roslyn, the leading mine OF kittitas,
permanent city, or only a mining
camp, that may be abandoned at any
time? In order to answer these ques-
tions, we will have to estimate the to-
tai available coal contained in this field.
The only teins that are considered
valuable, at present, are the Roslyn
vein, which is about five feet thick and