The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-02-10
COAL MEASURES
NOW AVAILABLE
Building of Salt Lake Route
Makes Possible Use of
Iron County Deposits.

The coal of southwestern Utah has been
known since 1854, when the first mine was
opened, but its remoteness from any large
market has restricted it's utilization to
the supply of local demands, for which
it has long been important The con-
structiOn of the San Pedro, Los Angeles
& salt Lake railroad has, however,
brought transportation facilities within
thirty-fiye miles of the important out
crops. and a branch line from this road to
the principal mines could easily be built.
Such railroad lines are said to have been
surveyed, but no construction work has
been done.
The coal is in Colob plateau east of
Cedar City and Kanarraville, and west
of the plateau in the eastern slope of
Pine valley mountain, near New Har-
mony. The structure of the region is
such that some of the coal crops out in
PERCEPTIONS cliffs bordering the plateau,
800 feet or more above the plains to the
west, AMI some of il is exposed at the
bottoms of the canyons and near the level
of the plains. For this reason a knowl-
edge of the geography. the stratigraphy
and the structure of the region is essen
tial to a proper estimate of the value of
the coal land. With the purpose of gain
ing such knowledge, Mr.. Willis T. Lee,
one of the biologists of the United States
geological survey. made q reconnaissance
survey of this Iron county field in the
summer of 1906, visiting the princfpaB coal
openings, Sampling the coal and deter
bearing rocks. A briefs preliminary report
of this work has just been published by
the survey in bulletin 316. which forms
part II of Contributions to Economic
Geology, 1885, and contains the results
of the government Investigations of COAL
Ignite and peat deposits. This report may
be obtained free of charge by applying to
the director of the survey at Washing
ton, d. c.
But little prospecting has been done in
the Iron county field, partly because the
has
located near the outcrop. and partly be-
cause it is exposed at the surface at so
many points along the outcrop. The work
able coal of The plateau is probably all at
the same horizon, though thin seams oc-
cur here and there at several other hOri-
IONS. Mr. Lee calls special attention to
a thin bed of limestone, containing many
fossils locally known as screw shells, -
which lies about 100 feet above the coal
and is used by prosDectors as a guide
in locating the coal bed. Several pros
poets have been located in this way
where the coal was covered with slide
rock.
The first coke ovens in southern Utah
were built near one of the mines of this
for smelling iron. but reports differ as to
coldng qualities of the coal from differ
ent parts of the field.
The proximity of this coal field TO de-
posits of iron ore in the Iron Mountains
will doubtless prove most important fac
tor in its future development. The ore
is too remote from existing smeIters to
be pFofitably utilized at the present time.
but the iron properties are rapidly being
acquired by large operators and will even
tually be productive. 1t is possible that
the coal might be used for smelling. the
iron ore near the mines. The New lHar-
mony coal, particularly. which is a semi
anthracite. may prove satisfactory for this
purpose If il can be obtained sufficiently
free from impurities. This coal differs
from the other Goals of the region in its
position in the IOWIandS west of the MA =
teau and its occurrence in several beds
of workable thickness.