Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-10-11
DIR. A. G. LEONARD'S
WORK OF NORTH DAKOTA GEO
LOGICAL SURVEY DURING
PAST, SUMMER. 49,

PAST. SUMMER.
During the past summer work was
carried on by the North Dakota Geo
logical Survey both in the eastern
and western portions of the state.
The investigation of the coal fields
of Billings county was continued
and together with the information
gathered in previous years, sufficient
material has now been secured for
the preparation Of detailed report
of the coal deposits of this portion
of North Dakota. This region was
selected for detailed study because
of the excellent opportunity afforded
in the Little Missouri bad lands for
the examination of coal beds, where
these are so we'll exposed in numer-
GUS outcrops. i1,
The party working in Billings
county was in charge of the state
geigoligist, DR.. A. G.. Leonard, and
with him were two university stu
dents, Edgar H. Wells, and Harry
A. Hanson. 1t was found that no
less than q workable coal beds are
present in that county alone, not all
of them occurring at any one point,
but some being found in one local
ity and some in another. These q
coal beds range from four to thirty
five feet in thickness and-are dis
tributed through from 1000 to 1900
feet of strata. The total thickness
of the coal in these Fl seams is 100
feet. .... -. .sel;eSenT "
Some of the individual coal beds
cover large areas. One with a
thickness varying from five to six
teen feet, has known extent of
twenty miles in one direction and
twenty-five in another, with an area
Of at least SO square miles and prob
ably much greater. II Another seam
of coal was traced thirty-six miles
| north and south, and twenty-four
| miles east and west, and while it's
known area, as shown from outcrops
is nearly 900 square, miles, it un-
donbtedly has an extent of LOO to
| $500 square miles. This coal bed,
with thickness ranging from nine
to fifteen feet, and over, has been
largely burned out or removed by
erosion, but it still underlies a Mum
Der of townships. 49,. :. :, -.
AT least half dozen beds were dis
covered which were not before
known to occur. The lowest coal
seams in the geological column, and
therefore the oldest, are those found
in the vicinity of Yule, In southern
Billings county. The highest and
youngest are those which appear in
Sentinel Butte and in the northwest.
ern part of the county.
It is interesting to know that &C,
cording to the estimates of the
United States geological survey,
North Dakota has 500 billion tons of
coal, or more than any other state
in the union. It is the function of
the state geological survey to make
d these coal resources known as wide
1ly as possible, in order that they
may be developed, and this the sur
yey is doing in it's reports, which
deal with the coal and clays of thu,
region. VT
The discovery of the large fossil
bones of enormous land reptiles
(Dinosaurs) was another important
result of the summers field work
These were found in the bad lands
a few miles from the new town OF
Marmarth, and several. large boxes
of them were shipped to the state
university to add to it's collection
Many of these huge bones were bur
led in the clays Of the region, and
some of them had been washed out
and were lying on the surface. This
discovery is Of increased Importance
> owing to the fact that these fossil
bones will make 1T possible to deter.
mine the geological age of the
strata in which the fossils occur
the age of the formation having beer
in doubt up to the present time.
The work In the eastern part o
the state was in charge of Mr.. J. G
Barry, of the state university, ant
consisted in the mapping of the geo
logocial formations of Pembina ant
Cavalier counties and adjoining POI
tons of Walsh and Ramsey counties
0 It was found that the northeastern
: portion of North Dakota can be di
0 vided, or the basis of its topographi
8 features, into three districts, name
t ly: The Red river valley; the deep
;, bordering the valley on the ives
!. ly disseeted Pembina mountain
j and the high rolling prairie whicl