The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1913-03-07

1lSu OluIl, UUC TWO O1 tucu pEOO0OAy
the same as those at New Salem, and
at least one in the vicinity of Hebron.
The Ignite seam now being mined at
Sims is the lowest of the coal beds, and
the one near Hebron is the highest.
The number of workable coal beds in
Billings county issknown to be at least
twenty-one, not all of them being
present at any one point, but some oc-
curing in one locality and some in
another. They are distributed through
from 1000 to 10000 feet of strata and
range from 4 to IS feet in thickness.
The aggregate thickness of the coal in
these 21 beds is 157 feet.
In Mckenzie county there are atleast
eight coal beds ranging in thickness
from 81 to IL feet and several of them
covering many townships. They are
distributed through thickness of 700
feet of strata, or from the level of the
Little Missouri river to the tops of the
high buttes. Some of the upper ones
have burned out extensively or have
been eroded over large areas.
The coal of North Dakota is mostly
a brown Ignite with decidedly woody
structure, exhibiting clearly the grain
of the wood and having the toughness
of that material. It breaks or splits
readily along the grain but is broken
with difficulty in any other direction.
Portions of fiattened trunks or branches
are often found in the beds, bearing
close resemblance to the origional wood
except for the brown color. The same
bed is frequently more woody in some
portions than others, being made up of
alternating layers of tough brown lig-
mite and black lustrous, brittle material.
On exposure to the air the Ignite loses
part of it's moisture, which is frequently
as high as IS or 40 per cent, begins to
crack, and finally breaks up into small
pieces.
Many of the coal beds have burned
out over large areas and there are few
which have wholly escaped burning.
Some were doubtless set on fire by man,
others may have caught from prairie
fires, but it seems probable that spon-
taneous combustion has been the chief
cause.
This burning of the coal beds has
doubtless been going on for many
thousands of years, ever since the
erosion of the overlaying strata brought
them near the surface or exposed them
in the bluffs and buttes. Once started
the fire slowly smolders and works its
way farther and farther from the out
crop, the overlying clays settling down
as the coal is consumed and the cracks
thus opened admitting fresh supplies of
air. Thus coal bed which is not too
far below the surface may continue to
burn for long period, and instances
are known where beds have been on
fire for at least twenty years. It seems
improbable that the coal can burn very
far back from the outcrop when cover
ed by any considerable thickness of
rock, for after it has been consumed
the overlaying clays would settle down
and occupy its place, thus shutting off
the air and smothering the fire. It
seems likely, therefore, that those beds
of Ignite which have burned out many
square miles must have been near the
surface, as we find them today, when
they were being consumed.
The heat produced by the burning
coal has changed the everything clays
and sandstones. and either burned them
to red or pink clinker, or entirely
fused them into slag-like masses. These
clinker beds in places have a thickness
of 40 to so feet and are conspicuous
feature in some parts of western North
Dakota.
The coal production of the state for
1912, according to Mr.. Atkinson, the
state mine inspector, was 545, 900 tons,
or IA per cent more than was produced
in 1911, and greater amount than has
been mined in any one year during the
history of the state.
Wi1fnn Had Manv Visif0rs