The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1913-11-22

lined I 1 !: | !. AGAIN !
lsls; Aiehols Claims The Only II! :! 4
Dried Ignite il stats. Has h.
\: II. Dry and Hight Crews. .s5l| IL
& Kiln-dried coal is what is claihaee
for the product mined from the Me.yy,
Nichols mine on the; southeastern o1s
skirts Of the village Of ,Medora. AYistNE
to the mine proves the assertion. ss; ssss
In company with G. S. Langde9
local agent for Medoea coal in. DickinsE
son. a PRESS representative accept
the invitation Of Mr.. Nichols the Arss
0f the week to visit the mine and sse
Ignite coal which is gaining such%4
favorable reputation throughout thie|
portion Of the state. Ssssss lsi5 III,
It will be remembered that jim
Brady tried to get an entrance to ths
Nichols mine from the west q year ADO
and after pushing into the hill fors sl40
feet he encountered real burning coal
mine and had to retreat in quick order.
The timbers in the entrance wore
burned and much dirt caved.in. An III.
spection9 of this abandoned entrance
shows that the clay walls have been
burned very hard. baked the same at
clay in the brick kiln. Il ii
+ A visit to the old entrance few rpde
further north reveals q scene rarely
found in any country-a burning coal
mine. The mouth Of this 100 #. en-
trance emits heat and smoke day and
night. b. .,t .;,..t 4: a. Ss3s'
State Geoloaist Babcock has esti-
mated that the Nichols homestead will
easily produce /. 400, 600 tons Of mined
coal from the top vein and for some
years it has been very tempting field
to old miners. But they all encounte tered
the pent up fire after getting into the
hill little over 100 feet and finally
abandoned the project. Finally the
owner Of the claim decided to try min:
ing little and started an entrance, u
the southeast corner Of his land. ID
the first place he had to buy eiehts acres
Of Mrs. Margaret Roberts to enable him
70 Gets q passage from the main, line cl
the Northern Pacific to Ria land
The Nichols vein Of Ignite coal is
10-feet deep and Is rs to 80 feet above
the river level and has 275 feet Of dirt
ovre it. Sixty feet below there is a 70
foot vein and above the vein worked
is a smaller one. 545;t .,y n
As soon as the miners had gotten their
entrance we'll into the hill they found a
very tough coal, perfectly dry. The
rooms being worked are $50 feet from
the fire and yet the temperature ranges
around 70 to 80 degrees. The coal is
run to the mouth Of the mine in reeu-
lar mine cars where the tipple throws
it into the wagons and it is hauled 600
feet to the railroad cars. The N. P.
crew was expected this week to put in
$50 feet Of spur tract which will reach
70 the mine entrance.
"A day and night shift are being used
at the mine and as soon as more rooms
are opened more men will be employed
and the daily output increased from one
and q half carloads to two. N i
There is a freight differental of 14c
in favor Of Medora over other Ignite
Goals shipped to Beach which Mr..
Nichols finds to be large item in his
favor and he is supplying about every
thing up there. In shipping to Oickin-
son he has handicap Of i3c but in
spite Of this he is able TO meet the
prices Of the older coal companies.
His mine is possibly the most economi- :
lcally operated Of any in the state. fie
has no expensive machinery OF build
Iings and the miners work by the ton.
Miss Mary Follis looks after the books
ID the: Nichols home. which is the only
Office force: Il; y
Some may think that the fire in the
cool on the west side Of the great hill
will work back in short time and de-
sroy the entire vein. This will not be
1.-THE case sat an The fire line is not
more than 8 q a inches thick. It smoul-
ders and the amount burned il years
10 scarcely pre receptable. Il
Nels$ Nichols has been is the stock
business all his life (associated with
John sRitt) and Sill has 200 Of more
horses When he fled his homestead on
The hill forming the Great cant wall d
Medora people though him crazy. ID
makina homesteads proof he arranged
With Oncle Sam Stor thhteN Il absolute p,,r.
chase Of any coal lands that he miehi
wish toSwork Y comm aIly III $20 pell pell
acre Ha IN Y alss. 4 cranes i & risht and
sIiils oyer of 10 acses II.