The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1913-12-05
Source OF Cheap
Power For N. D.
Herbert A. Hard Of N. D. A. G.
Gives Scientific Facts About
the Lignite

Very few people are aware Of
the large future for and great
value of North Dakota s vast
deposit of Ignite which is destin-
ed to become our source of cheap
power in the state, y said DR..
Herbert A. Hard of the North Ds'
kota Agricultural college. "This
will. be possible through the manu-
facture Of gas and briquettes.
.'The agricultural college geo
logical survey as well as that of
the university is locating and
studying the rich deposits which
underly the whole west half of
the state. It is no uncommon
sight to see two or three twenty
five foot seams of coal on the
face Of a 200 foot bluff in the bad
lands.
'sWhi1e many of these coal
beds are not continuous, many
others are of vast extent, under
lying many townships. Some Of
them are cut through by coulees,
draws and valleys, only to 5ex-
tend for great distances under
the rock on both sides.
eve estimate that $4,000 square
miles Of the state are underlain
with coal. A large per cent of
this area has two, three, or more
coal beds of workable thickness
underlying.
''As to quality of our coal, true
it cannot be burned in all ordina1 !
CRATES to advantage, but the
quality and the quantity surely
warrants manufacturers in the
construction Of the right system Il
accommodate it. Without going
into the quantity of producer gas
and briquettes, (although it has
been determined) which ton Of
our Ignite will produce, l will
say that we have seen and tested
vast deposits which are capable
Of producing unlimited quantities
Of commercial producer gas, and
a high grade briquette which
ranks close to anthracite in heat
producing capacity. Once a
market is opened for the gas, the
gas alone is proven to be able to
pay for both it's making and the
briquetting of the solid residue.
This solid residue has its value
we'll established when it is under
stood that it is nearly the equal
of anthracite.
THE strange thing is that east
ern capital has not ere this,
sought to. develop the possibilities
of Ignite as cheap power and
install manufacturing plants for
it's consumption. We prophesy
that it will not be many years be
fore our wheat will be milled in
North Dakota and by cheap power
from Ignite. This will be done
at the principal cities Of the
western portion Of the state and
perhaps large gas mains will pipe
the gas to Fargo to serve mills.
and factories here.
That there is no more specu-
lation as to the heat units Of lig-
mite, its gas and its briquetts have
proven by exhaustive tests on q
commercial scale both at the,
United States Bureau Of Mines in
Missouri and by our own state
plant at Hebron. We are about
through with the experimental
stage and are now ready for
capital and business to install the
right furnace and plant for the,
extensive development Of the
states resources. With cheap
power, our large deposits of all
the kinds Of clay, from brick and
sewer tile to the fine pottery grad
es, will find an open market. Our
! cement will be developed.
Three rock mples, coming
from three different counties Of
4 the state have just yielded an
anal lysis silice Gus earth. = This
product has many uses such az
polishing powder fire brick, abb
sorbent, non-co uctor, etc, etc.
and there are large deposits: in.
/. different sectio ions of the state.
lsst. This count III. mol, u booster s
lowery statement but y few
plain facts from the diiiainnt iiiinn crested
]: s:Eource 81 our service in the feds.
rst and state gepl0g gica
best spnbl blicat tians Or others
VOL rlIliine this prob lem are TIE
3bienniial of 81 the uni yersityy
geolog 4 Il Saf ddress Y
leonard . M
ID. Bullet 581 \ Hit ig-