The Elk Mountain pilot., 1909-10-07

'pS t"''tsy' "th 'uSh iS'chs tNS' .
in the Denver labrstory Of the fuel
testing plant show that the coke is
not Of the hest quality At the
Mosley mine the coal. 10 feet tLick
is metamorpliosed, probsbly hy the
heat from ar intrusive igneous
rock, although no such rock WAS
found IN contact with it. However,
it is located in the side of Mount
.Gnnnis,n, at no great distance from
extensive masses of igneous rock.
The coal is hard, black, dull vitre-
Gus in luster. fine grained, even to
seamy in texture. with conchoidal
fracture, free from bone, does not
slack on exposure to the weather.
aud cokes readily, A large qnan-
ity of equally good coal is reported
from Coal Geek, south of the area
investigated.
Anthracite coal OF good quality
occurs in the south slope of Mount
Gunuison at AN altitude Of 800
feet. Several exposures were Oh
served and the beds carefully
prospected by s & Porter The
rocks are faulted, crushed and cut
by dikes of ign-ous rock to such
an extent that individual beds can
not be traced for any considerable
distance. nor is the coal constant
in thickness or character. An
opening known as the Phillip pros
pect, was started on an y foot bed,
but the conl is crushed in places,
variable in thickness. and at u point
800 feet from the opening pinched
out entirely, The conl is hard and
dull in luster and is virtually a nat
ural coke changed by the heat of
igneous rocks, though without YES
ocular structure, probably because
of the pressure of the everything
strnta. This coal oc:urs in com.
paratively small blocks Of the coal
bearing formation surrounded by
and included in the igneouB rock
of the mountaiDs, and the coal is
SO disturbed aud SO uncertain in
occurrence that it has not been in
cludeh within the area here regard
ed rs productive coal land Al.
though OF excellent quality. it is
scanty in quantity and Diff cult OF
access, and its value from CON-
mercial standpoint is doubtful.
Four mines OF the Somerset dis
trict were producing Mt the time Of
the investigation. Two OF these,
the Copine and Cooperative, were
not equipped with machinery for
mining operations. 1t is located
in the side of the canon and the
coal is lowered 600 feet by means
of gravity incline TO the foot of
the cliff. where it is screened and
loaded directly into cars for ship
m.nf, The Utah Fuel company's
mine at Somerset is the largest pro
ducer in the district. and is the OBJ
jective point Of the North Fork
branch OF the Denver and Rio
Grande railroad. No information
in regard to this mine could be OBJ
tanned from the company.
No close estimate can be made of
the amount of coal in this field un-
til more is known Of tho number of
the coal beds and their variations
in thickness. The average thick
ness of workable coal, based on
available information is ] feet for
the Palisades district. 15 feet for
the Rollins district and 50 feet for
the Somerset district, 1t is prob
able that these figures will be in
creased when the beds are all pros
pected. If the practical limit of
available coal is assumed TO be
miles back from the outcrop. there
are about l20 square miles Of coal
land in the Palisades district,
about 235 square miles in the Rol
Inns district and about l95 square
miles in the Somerset district