The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-02-10

necessary to make them cohensive
runs up the cost. Ignite, however,
can be briquetted without binding
material; at least, this is done with
some of the foreign lignites, and there
seems no reason why American lig-
mite as we'll should not make good
briquets. The Ignite briquet machine
which is being used in the government
| tests is a huge affair and simply exerts
enormous pressure on the Ignite, the
constituency of which Is such that n
solid, dense briquet is formed, which
makes an admirable fuel. Ignite
converted into cheap briquets, will
keep indefinitely and bear transpor-
tation. The gas producer has made
Ignite a great possibility in industrial
| development; the briquetting machine
promises to raise it into the class Of a
highly valuable domestic and heating
fuel.
Ignite Areas and Tonnage.
While the older coal fields of the
| Appalachian region may for some
| time lead in production, the advent
end the continued improvement of the
gas producer capable of utilizing the
| lower grade fuels will have an import
ant bearing on the distribution of in
| dustrial activities. With this feature
in mind it will be of interest to inquire
into the aextent of these little-knowr
Ignite Goals.
The latest field Investigations Of the
! United States geological survey show
that North Dakota has an area OF
! 81, $50 square miles-19 ,993,600 acres
-underlain with Ignite, In much OF
the field there are several beds or
seams, sometimes a dozen one below
the other. The tonnage of the state
| Is placed at the stupendous total of
! 500 900 100000 tons. AS compared with
this, the total tonnage estimated for
the great anthracite and bituminous, is
f112, 500, 900 900, and the importance OF
| the advent of the gas producer is rec
! cgnized when ii Is realized that every
ton of the North Dakota coal has more
driving power, utilized in the gas en-
CINE. than a ton of the very best of
the Pennsylvania coal used in steam
plants.
Montana will be a rich fhd for the
gas plant, since she has an estimated
| 500, 900, 100000 tonnage of Ignite and
low grade bituminous coal, as well AS
some high grade coal. In the San
Juan field of New Mexico the survey
BIOLOGISTS estimate over 100, 1000
coo tons of subbituminous coal, a
grade above Ignite and probably OF
little use for steaming purposes, but
efficient in the gas producer. Texas
has $4,000, 00O, 900 tons of Ignite, ut
terly worthless, according to the sur
yev tests, except in the gas plant
where it develops more energy than
West virginia's high grade coal. Even
Louisiana and Mississippi, which are
surely never thought Of as coal states
lave an area of over 10000 square
miles underlain with Ignite. In con-
siderinS some OF these large coal areas
it is something of a shock to find that
the great "coal trust" which owns the
entire anthracite field in Pennsylvania
has only $50 square miles Of coal land
on the coal map issued by the geologi-
cal survey this hard coal field appears
as an infinitesimal patch.
Summarizing the geological surve>
figures. the total area in the United
states underlain by Ignite subbltu-
nfnous coal--coal mostly of little II
any value in steam plants, but of grea'
i efficiency in gas producers-is 246,-
245 square miles, or over 150,000,00f
and its tonnage is 1,393,423,000 short
tons.
The tonnage Of the Ignite is cal
culated on the basis OF about 1900
tons per acre, one foot deep. Thus
If an acre is underlaid with, say, two
: 4-foot seams, 1t will contain 1890
tons of ignite. A square mile would
! contain 9,216,000 tons. In the tonnage
estimates Of the Ignite fields, undel
the regulations Of the interior depart
ment no account is taken Of the de
posits below 1000 feet. IL the es
Inmates included the Ignite founs
down to the 3,0OO-foot depth, as the!
do in the higher grade coal, the ton
mage would be UNNECESSARILY in
creased. 1t is interesting TO note. II
this connection, that the deepest min
| in the world---in Belgium--in which
coal Ia mined, approximately 400
feet below surface, Is a Ignite mine
Aiaska's Large Ignite Deposits.
Mention or Alaska's Ignite depos
: its should not be omitted About one
half of the territory's coal 10 believe
to be Ignite, and while there is no
guffacient information upon which t
base even an approximate estimate o
the total tonnage Of the various fields
: | it ii probable that the reserve of lig
) mite may be 50O,00O,000,O0O or NOR
{ tons.
4 TO better comprehend the extent 0
| this new resource, discovered In fac
/ through the gas producer. the amour
} OF coal already mined in the Unite
{ States may be compared with the es
: timated reserves. Since mining frs