The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-09-10

mony IN the strata In the opposite cliffs,
and are met with in the upper. but have
not as vet been found in the lower
workings OF the mine.
On reaching the coal a slope was made
on the rise 700 feet and descending on
the dip about 300 feet. From this Incline
on either side, entries and rooms have
been run off diagonally. or catacornering
the dip of Is degrees, so as 10 lessen It's
steepness The rooms are made Is feet
Wide with 3O-foot pillars between. The
seeming disparity between the size or
the rooms and the pillars Is due TO the
desirabllity of getting the coal out In
large Jumps with as little breakage as
possible, this being more easily accom-
nIlshed by robblng the pillars than by
excavating wide rooms. Blasting is done
with black powder, except where cross
cuts are made in barren country rock,
when dynamite Is used. The coal is brok-
en- down in benches, No gas has so far
been met with in the mine. and there Is
no danger of a coal-dust explosion as
the mine Is generally more or less wet.
Only one fatal accident has occurred
during the several years OF work, and
that was caused by a slip OF coal In
robbIng a pillar. Minor accidents have
occurred from falling of fragments OF
roof Timber is only used here and
there In single props to protect some
local spot by weakness in the roof. When
used, timbers are about IL feet long, but
usually OF small diameter, costing but 90
cents apiece
Much Water Met With.
In the main slopes to feet OF coal
is left on the bottom 10 protect the soft
floor of shale, but In the rooms the coal
Is stripped from floor to roof. More or
less water is encountered In all the mines
of this region, due to the natural arteslan
flows Issuing from the sand-rock roof at
all seasons, but In the early spring being
augmented by melting snow and other
sources on the surface. AS hitherto, In
the Grass Creek mine, development has
been along the raise, water has been
easily controlled by a small pump. Fu-
ture workings, however, will be largely
below the drainage level Of the area and
underneath the mountain on the opposite
side. Horses are used to haul the coal
from the mine rooms and side entries
to the main slopes, where steam hoist
raises it up the incline to the surface.
Good ventilation is secured by means OF
a force fan, assisted by air shafts, at
various points Work hitherto has been
by contract, the miner making from S3
to SO. 80 per day. Most OF the miners are
married and have their homes and ram
lilies In the village adjacent. In the Win
ter season, when coal is In much demand.
The markets for the coal are Park City,
Salt Lake, Ogden and local villages.
The coal Is an excellent domestic fuel,
but somewhat light for locomotive pur-
poses 1t Is we'll adapted for use under
stationary engines, however, and for
manufacturing establishments where ex-
traordinary heat Is not required, Like
all lignltlc Goals 1t slacks freely on ex
posure and Is not so good as some hard
| er Goals for stocking purposes. The coal
| is screened three szes-pea. nut and
| lump-screenings and pea coal being
! sometimes screened together. The out
| put hitherto has not exceeded 200 tons
| per day, but Is capable of being greatly
| Increased II demanded. In the neighbor-
| ing region two other small coal mines
| were visited, which were interesting only
| as a curiosity, from the fact of their
| being located In the Weber grit series
| of the middle Carboniferous. like those
| of Pennsylvania. rather than In the Gre
! taceous, the previously mentioned coal
| bearing period OF the West. The coal
occurs beneath brown sandstone and
| shales, and rests upon very coarse
| conglomerate OF compacted quartZite
| boulders. The coal In one case lay hor-
| izontal and Ave feet thick and in an
! other IL was in two smaller seams sep
arated by a parting shale. The seam
| appears TO be n mass OF bone or bony
coal. 1t has a dull luster like bone
breaks with rough concholdal fracture
! and its high per cent OF ash. when
I burned, makes It an undesirable fuel
| How such coal was formed and deposited
is an interesting matter for speculation
The rocks below II forming the floor
! appear 10 have been deposited by rapidly
moving water, such as by river or by
| the waves OF great lake or sea. The
strata forming the roof would suggest
| deposition In very still water. The coal
may havo been formed from fine silt or
muddy sediments mingled with carbon
aceous matter slowly deposited in a basin
or marsh.