The Washington times., 1902-03-17

Icka district. extending thirty wileS south
from Carlin on the Central Pacific in EIko
County. The single bed is occasionally Of
workable thickness: bat the coal is lig-
ni,Ic and impure; and there are no mines
il operation.
No coal is mined in Idaho en- a large
scale. The Boise district. in frCnt Of the
Boise Mountains. and between the Boise
and Paye;te Rivers. extending north thig-
ty miles from a point six miles north of
Boise. includes the Horseshoe Bend dis
trict. with enc three-foot, high grade liG-
nitic bed. and the Jerusalem district with
four beds, from three to eight feet thick,
OF Ignite. No mines are in operation.
A Continuous Belt.
The coal fields of L0ntana form n near
ly continuous belt extending in north
west-southeast direction. entirely across
the State; but NEST OF the fields have not
been investigated in detail As in Wyom-
ing. the plains region cast of the Rocky
Mountains. extending into the Dakotas is
underlain by beds of lignitic coal of vary
ing quality. The Bull Mountain district Of
fifty-fire square miles lies in Yellowstone
County about forty-fiye miles northeast
of Billings. on the Northern Pacific Road.
The bed Is from ten to sixteen feet of
lignitic ooal But little coal is now mined
there.
The Clarks Fork district crosses the
Yellowstone twenty-five miles west of
Billings, and extends north TO the Mussel
She'll River. though without known valua-
bic beds Southwark the beds are work
able in the Big Horn Basin district Of
Wyoming. The bed worked is from three
TO five feet thick. and produces n good
lignitic coal, chiefly marketed over the
Northern Pacific at Butte City
The Rocky Fork district, three miles
west of Clarks Fork district has fvu
workable beds Of coal between Ignite
ard bitumincus excellent for domestic
and steam fuel. The only mine operated
is at Red Lodge, owned by the Northern
Pacific, which gets for il much of its loco
motive fuel. The Yellowstone district can
be followed for $50 miles from the eastern
! end on Boulder River in Gailatin County,
through the Boulder. Livingston Boze-
man, and Sixteen-m mile and Shields River
Basins, thence circling around the north
ern and eastern ends cf the Crazy Noun
tains. and connecting with the western
end of the plains field The product is
good steam and coking coal. The small
Trail Creek basin is nine miles south of
the Northern Pacific at Mountain Side,
and cnly half a mile from the Yellow
stone district, from whose ccal its prod
uct differs entirely, being semi -bituminous
and yielding large proportion of lump
coal
Around Yellowstone Park.
The Cinnabar district extends en- both
sides of the Yellowstone River northward
from the Yellowstone National Park
There are four workable <oal beds. which
produce good coking coal and also semi
anthracite. Only one mine is operated
The West Gallatin district. along the
{ h. 4
about seventv-fve miles south of the
Northern Pacific at Bozeman is little
known; it Will probably produce a good
coking coal. The Ruby Valley district
thirty miles west of the Gallatin district
three miles south Of Toston. and crossed
by the main line of the Northern Pacific
could probably be operated profitably on
small scale. as the coal is coking.
The Belt district, extending westward
l25 miles from the Judith River, in Mea-
CHER County, lies along the northern base
OF the Little Belt Mountains. and their
westward extension on the west side of
the Missouri River. The thickest point
of the workable bed is near Sandcoulee
in Choteau County, and yields both steam
and coking coal. The Sweet Grass Hills
district. Choteau County. has three work
able beds of fair semi-bituminous steam
coal. but there are no producing mines.
Along the summit of the Rocky Mountain
range and westward are numerous areas
of Neocene Lake beds, which contain some
lignitic coal.
In 1880 the Rocky Mountain coal fields
produced about 1.000. coo short tons of
coal: in 1890 they produced about $780,
000 tons: in 1900. almost Is. 500, goo tons.
and their estimated capacity was over
21,oG0000 tons. In 1900 277 commercial
mines in lfty-eight counties OF North
Dakota, Montana. Idaho, Wyoming. Utah
Colorado and New Mexico produced 49,
4S5.555 short tons, worth a little over
81. 400, 0o0. OF this total coal product 35
per cent was used fer railroad fuel, IS
per cent for manufacturing fuel, 27 per
cent for domestic fuel, and per cent was
made into coke.