Evening star., 1911-08-13
What Where the Mysterious Controller So Much Lnegt

troller bay region in particular are of
peculiar interest. The Bering glacier.
which borders this region the east.
is a huge. even-surfaced, stagnant mass
of glacial ice. which is fed by many
glaciers coming from the high noun
tains north of it. Portions of the sur
face Of this glacier form a good high
way to some of the coal camps in the
east end of Bering river coal field, but
most of it is so covered by irregular
masses of rock and gravel and cut by
such gigantic crevaSSeS that travel
over its surface is extremely difficult
and dangerous.
The post office and chief trading CEN
ter for the entire Controller bay region
is katalla. situated on the shore of
Katalla bay. and now the landing place
for steamers Chilkat, near the mouth
of Bering river, is mixed settlement
Of whites and natives, and a stopping
place on the way up the river to the
coal field. The town of Kayak. on Wing
ham island. which was formerly a post
office and steamer landing, is now prac-
tically abandoned. There are no other
settlements except the camps of the
various coal and OIL companies. which
are scattered throughout all parts Of
this region. The only communication
Controller bay has with other regions
is by water.
Coal-bearing rocks occur all through
this region. and a large amount Of the
coal is above drainage level. Many of
the coal beds are known to outcrop in
the bottoms OF the valleys, and the dip
is SO slight that all can be reached by
tunnels at the level Of the valley floors.
There is no doubt that enough coal can
be thus reached to support a large
mining industry for long time. Shaft
ing or slope mining will not be neces-
sary for many years, although the later
Developments of the region will doubt
less depend on the coal which is below
the general drainage level
In speaking of coal mining, G. c.
Martin, one Of Uncle Sans mining en-
gineers employed by the geological sur
vey, said:
1.-The coal mining industry of Alaska
is still in practically undeveloped con-
dition. Coal has been mined intermit-
tently and on a small scale at several
places for many years, but the In
dustry has never been of much i'm
portance, the maximum total produc-
ton for all Alaska in any one year
being less than 1000 tons. This has
been because the better coal has not
been well known until recently, and
cannot he shipped without railway con-
nectons from the mines to tidewater
and also because no adequate provision
has been made for granting title to
sufficient tracts to assure profits on the
large investments which are required.
Alfred H. Brooks, also of the United
States geological survey, in report Is
sued by that bureau in 1910, and refer
ring to the Bering river coal field, the
coal field expected to be reached through
the Controller bay terminal said
'.One of the two Alaska fields contain
ing the largest known amount Of high
grade coal lies about twenty-eiEht miles
northeast of Controller bay. The field is
drained by Bering river. from which 1t
received its name The surveyed parts
Of the Bering river fed embrace ABOUT
twenty-five square miles underlain by
anthracite and about twenty-eight square
miles underain by semi7bituminous and
semi coal
THE workable coal beds in this field are
from three to twenty-five feet thick, but
through local swellings a much higher
maximum thickness is attained The
fields also include some coking coal. Very
little work has been done in this field, so
it is impossible 70 state the physical
condition Of the coal below the surface,
but It seems likely that many beds will
be found to contain a large amount OF
slack.
1T appears to have been about 1896
that the Bering river field first attracted
the notice of prospectors, and about two
wears later the Matanuska field was also
found. BY 1901 prospectors had begun 70
recognize the Importance OF these Two
fields But it was not until the geologl-
cal survey had completed its examina-
ton in 1905. that the public outside Of
Alaska began to realize that these fields
contained large quantity Of high-grade
fuel.
Meanwhile, the exodus 10 Alaska.
which took place from 1897 to 1900, be
cause of the placer-soid discoveries. had