The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1905-11-10

Two Surveys Of These Resources Made This Sum-
mer Show Inexhaustable Supplies.

During the past summer two par
ties have been investigating the Ignite
and clay deposits of North Dakota.
The United States geological survey
party was in charge of the state geolo-
gist, DR.. A. G. Leonard, who, with two
student assistants from the univer-
sity, spent four months in study of
the great North Dakota Montana lig-
mite field. The second party, which
was in the employ of the North Da-
kota geological survey, was in charge
Of Mr.. G. H. Clapp, graduate OF the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He made careful examination of the
extensive and valuable clay deposits
of the western part Of the state, col
lecting many samples for analysis and
testing.
DR.. Leonard's party left Dickinson in
June and went southwest along the
ries as far as Camp Crook, South Da-'
kota here the party turned east and
followed for sixty miles the south fork
of the Grand river, visiting the inter-
esting Slim buttes and Cave hills;
then north across North Dakota by
way of Dickinson and the Killdeer
mountains to Williston and Buford;
from the latter point the Yellowstone
river was followed for It's miles to
Miles City, Mont. From here the
party returned to Dickinson, reaching
there about the middle of October.
The region within which the Ignite
occurs was found to have greater ex-
tent than previously supposed, cover
ing most of the western half Of North
Dakota, extending west into Montana
as far as the Crow Indian reservation
and the mouth of the Milk river, and
south into northwestern Wyoming and
northwestern South Dakota. 1t meas
ures about $50 miles from east to west
and north to south. and comprises an
area of some 100000 square miles.
The coal seams vary in thickness
from few inches to thirty-three feet,
and there are usually several of them
within vertical distance of 200 or
800 feet. At one point on the Little
Missouri fifteen coal seams were
counted in a bluff 400 feet high and at
another locality twelve seams were
found within a vertical range of $50
FEET.
The Investigation showed that the
Ignite beds are not confined to any
particular horizon in the Laramie for
nation, but are distributed through the
clays and sands from top to bottom.
| The thickest seam found during the
summer was one which outcrops thirty
miles south of Medora at the Russell
ranch on Sand creek, tributary of
the Little Missouri. Another thick
seam, also occurring in Billings coun-
ty, lies near the base of Sentinel Butte,
three miles south of the town of the
same name, where twenty-one and a
half feet Of Ignite are exposed. South
ern Billings county contains many
thick seams of coal which appear in
almost every cut bank and bluff along
the Little Missouri and the creeks
flowing into it.
The Ignite undergoes a change in
character as it is followed west into
Montana. In the eastern part of the
field in North Dakota it is brown and
woody, retaining the grain and tough
ness of the original wood from which
it is formed. This is characteristic
of. nearly all the Ignite found in this
state. Farther west in Montana, on
the other hand, the Ignite is black,
lustrous and brittle, having less of the
woody character and resembling btu
minous coal. This does not necessa-
rily mean that the Montana Ignite is
superior to that of North Dakota, since
that is probably not the case. The
analyses and tests of the samples COL
lected during the past summer will
show the relative value Of the two
grades of coal.
The Ignite has been much more ex-
tensively mined in North Dakota than
anywhere else in the entire field; the
mines here are worked on q larger
scale and with better and more elab-
crate equipment. Practically all the
coal in the Montana mines is used To-
cally, very little being shipped any
distance. These mines near Glendive
and Miles City are from three to eight
miles from the railroad and there is no
large shipping mine in the entire lig-
mite area of Montana.
The party was equipped with team
and wagon, complete camping outfit
and a saddle horse. The work was con-
fined chiefly to the vicinity of the
streams along which the coal outcrops
in the bluffs and cut banks. A careful
examination was made of the seams
wherever they were exposed, their
thickness, extent and location deter
mined so far as possible and in many
cases samples were procured for analy-
sis and testing.
Photographs were taken Of a large
number of the coal beds.
The tests made at the government
plant at st. Louis last year showed
that North Dakota Ignite has remark
able and exceptional gas-producing
4 &C.,