The Churchill county standard. (Fallon, Nev.) 1908-1920, 1909-10-14
COAL LAND MONEY AVAILABLE
May be Used to Develop Arid
Lands of the West. Idea
Popular.

could today sell for cash every acre of
public coal land which it owns in the
West, according to the scale OF prices
now prevailing, the Reclamation Ser
vice would have funds not only SUI
ficient to complete every irrigation pro-
ject in the course of construction, but
in addition, funds ample to irrigate
every remaining acre of arid land for
which adequate water supply could be
found. And when this great work was
completed, the coal land fund would
still be far from exhausted.
Staggering as that statement may
appear, it is borne out by facts and
figures prepared by the United States
Geological Survey. For great num-
ber of years the survey has been
studying the coal resources of the West.
As a result of research thus far made
it has in hand da,a justifying the fore
going assertion. And this estimate is
conservative, for it proceeds on the
assumption that all the Government
coal land will be disposed OF according
to prevailing prices, when us matter
of fact, 1t is reasonable to assume that
in time prices generally will advance.
Coal of the best quality, which the
Government now sells for cents a ton,
will certainly IN time sell for more, and
there will be corresponding advance
on Goals of lower qualify.
The estimated amount of coal in the
various Western states is 1889, $50, 000,-
900 tons, of which Oregon has 1,000,-
900, 900, Washington 200, 600, 600 and
Utah 1876, 900, 900, QUO tons. Two-thirds
of this fuel belongs TO the Government.
The price at which public coal land is
now sold runs from $40 an acre, the
minimum price fixed by Congress, to a
tentative maximum of 5000 an acre
fixed by Secretary Ballinger.
Save in the case of lignites and low
grade -bituminous Goals, the mini
mum price is no longer accepted by the
Government in payment for its coal
lands. Anthracite and cooking btu
minous Goals are valued at to 8 cents
ton; high-grade non-coking bitumi-
nous Goals are valued at l to cents a
ton.
High-grade sub-bituminous and low
grade bitum;nous at Il to cent ton.
The very lowest grades sell at the
fiat rate of $40 or $40 an acre, accord
ing to their location with respect to
railroad.
Taking cent per ton as a fair average
price at which the Government coal
lands ultimately will be disposed Of,
the Goals of the public domain of the
West are estimated to be worth
$l3, 264, 400, 900.
In eight years the United States Rec
lamation Service has expended only $50
600, 900 in the construction of irrigation
works, its expenditure for 10 years will
not exceed $40, 900, 900. On this basis,
the money represented by the coal de-
posits on the public domain would keep
the reclamation work going at its
present rate for 2S42 years. 1t is abb
surd, of course, to presume that there
is water sufficient to keep the Recla-
nation Service busy through all those
centuries. As matter of fact, it is
roughly estimated by reclamation en-
gineers, that at the end of so years,
with reasonable progress, the water
supply of the West will be utilized to
it's fullest extent for irrigation purposes.
While the figures given are more or
less speculative, they serve to empha-
size the fact that a great portion Of
the money to go into the reclamation
fund in future years will be derived
from the sale of public coal lands. The
receipts from this source, at the present
time are not large, because there has
been lull in operations under the
modified coal land law and the coal land
regulations. Government coal lands
are no longer given away. 1t was
former Secretary Garfield who called a
check to this and it has been Secretary
Balinger who has gone Mr.. Garfield
one better in the disposal Of Govern
ment coal lands. The purchaser today
buys at rate which the Government
considers fair, yet one to which he can
offer no valid objection. But that
price often reaches $50 or SIS an acre,
according to the value of the coal he
acquires.