River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-09-08

l which sold for $33, 910.60, making a dlspo-
| sition OF the coal lands in the last two
| years of about $1,000 acres for 81, SOo,OO
| The present congress, as already said,
| has separated the surface of coal lands,
| either classified or withdrawn for classl-
/ fication, from the coal beneath, so as 10
1 permit at all times homestead entries
/ upon the surface of lands useful for ag-
| riculture and to reserve the ownership
/ in the coal to the government. The ques-
| ton which remains to be considered Is
| whether the existing law for the sale OF
| the coal in the ground should continue
| in force or be repealed and a new metnod
/ Of disposition adopted. Under the present
| law the absolute title in the coal be-
| meath the surface passes to the grantee
! Of the government. The price hxed is
| upon an estimated amount Of the tons
| of coal per acre beneath the surface, and
| the prices are fixed so that the earnings
| will only be a reasonable profit upon the
| amount paid and the investment neces-
| sary But of course this is more or less
| e,uesswork and the government parts
| with the ownership of the coal in the
| ground absolutely. Authorities of the ge-
illogical survey estimate that in the
| United States today there IS a supply of
| about three thousand billions of tons of
| coal, and that of this one thousand billions
| are in the public domain. OF course, the 9TH
! err two thousand billions are within private
| ownership and under no more control as
| coal may be sold than any other private
| property. If the government leases the
| coal lands and acts as any landlord
| would, and imposes conditions in It's
| leases like those which are now imposed
| by the owners in fee of coal mines in the
| various coal regions of the east, then 1t
! would retain over the disposition OF the
| coal deposits choice as TO the assignee
| of the lease, of resuming possession at
the end of the term of the lease, when
| might easily be framed to enable 1t TO
| exercise limited but effective control
| in the disposition and SAFE of the coal to
| the public. It has been urged that the
! leasing system has never been adopted in
| this country, and that its adoption would
| largely interfere with the investment OF
| capital and the proper development and
| opening up of the coal resources. L ven
| ture to differ entirely from this view.
| The question as to how great an area
| ought to be included in a lease to one
| Individual or corporation is not free from
| difficulty; but in view of the fact that
| the government retains control as owner,
I think there might be some liberality in
| the amount leased, and that $500 acres
! would not be too great maximum.
| By the opportunity to readjust the
| terms upon which the ccai shall be held
| by the tenant either at che end Of each
| lease or at periods during the term, the
| government may secure the benefit OF
| sharing in the increased price of coal and
| the additional profit made by the tenant.
| BY imposing conditions in respect to the
| character of work to be done in the
| mines, the government may control the
| character of the development of the
| mines and the treatment of employees with
| reference to safety. By denying the
right to transfer the lease except by the
| written permission of the governmental
| authorities, it may withhold the needed
| consent when it is proposed to transfer
| the leaSehOl to persons Interested in eS-
| tablishing a monopoly Of coal production
| in any state or neighborhood. The change
| from the absolute grant 70 the leasing
| system will involve a good deal Of
| trouble in the outset and the training of
| experts in the matter of making proper
| leases; but the change will be a good
| one and can be made. The change is in
the interest of conservation, and I am
| glad to approve it.
Alaska Coal lands.
| The investigation Of the geological sur
| vey show that the coal properties in
| Alaska cover about 1900 square miles,
| and that there are known 90 be available
| about Is, OO0, 0000 600 tons. This is, however,
| an underestimate of the coal in Alaska,
| because further developments will prob
| ably increase this amount many times;
| but we can say with considerable GER
tainty that there are two fields on the
| Pacific slope which be reached by
raflwaysat a reasonable cost from deep
| water-in one case about fifty miles and
| in the other case Of about $50 miles
| which will afford certainly 5000, 900
| tons of coal, more than half of which is
| of a very high grade of bituminous and
| of anthracite It is estimated to be worth,
| in the ground, one-half a cent a ton,
| which makes it's value per acre from $50
| to $500. The coking-coal lands of Penn
| sylvania are worth from $500 to $1,000 an
Ill of1a AIN1No o0Iaio toll
worth from $40 to 1886 an acre, and the
| fields in the central states from $40 to
| $20 900 an acre, and in the Rocky noun
| tains $40 to $500 an acre. The demand for
| coal on the Pacific coast is for about
| 4,5OOOO0 tons year. It would encounter
the competition Of cheap fuel oil, Of
| which the equivalent of 100000 tons of
| coal year is used there. 1t is estimated
| that the coal could be laid down at Sc
| attic or San Francisco, a high-grade BIZ
| luminous, at 81 a ton and anthracite at
| IS or Sc ton. The price of coal on the
Pacific slope varies greatly from time to
time in the year and from year to year
from 81 to $12 ton. With a regular coal
supply established, the expert of the
| geological survey, Mr.. Brooks, who has
| made a report on the subject, does not
| think there would be an excessive profit
| in the Alaska coal mining because the
/ price at which the coal could be sold
| would be considerably lowered by compe-
| tition from these fields and by the pres
| ence of crude fuel oil. The history of the
! laws affecting the disposition of Alaska
| coal lands shows them to need amend
ment badly.
On November 12 1906, President Roose-
welt issued an executive order with
drawing all coal lands from location and
entry in Alaska On May 16, 1907, he
| modified the order so as to permit valid
| locations made prior to the withdrawal
| on November r. 1906, to proceed to entry
| and patent. Prior to that date some 900
| claims had been filed, most of them said
| to be illegal because either made fraudu-
| lently by dummy entrymen in the inter
est of one individual or corporation, or
because of agreements made prior to 10
| cation between the applicants to cooperate
| in developing the lands. There are SO
claims for 160 acres each, known as the
| CUNNINGHAM claims" which are claimed
| to be valid on the ground that they were
| made by an attorney for 80 different
and bona fde claimants who, as
! alleged, paid their money and took the
| proper steps to locate their entries and
| protect them. The representatives of the
government in the hearings before the
land Office have attacked the validity of
these Cunningham claims on the ground
that prior to their location there was an
understanding between the claimants to
| pool their claims after they had been
| perfected and unite them in one COM
| pany The trend of decision seems to
show that such an agreement would in
validate the claims, although under the
| subsequent law of May 2S, 1908, the con-
solidation of such claims was permitted
| NJ ~