The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1913-10-02

tnnindful of the government re
strictiuns on the mining of coal in the
interior of Alaska. a group of miners
To mine coal for their own use. In
wiling the interference of the special
agents of the United States land office.
watchdogs of the public domain in the
northern territory, the hardy pros
pectors and mining men are continu
ing to use the coal in their work, util~
izing it for thawing gravel in their
search for gold, heating their cabins
in the winter and as fuel in the forge
in pointing their picks and repairing
their machinery.
The miners are Murphy brothers
and Cook, and with them Is associated
Harry G. Cloes. an old time prospect
or in many northern camps Their
cabin is located on Elsie creek, a trib-
utary to Coal creek, which, in turn,
flows into the Totatlanika river, a
Tanana side stream.
In the many hundreds of thousands
of square miles of mineral land in the
interior of Alaska, Murphy brothers
and Cook are the only ones making
use of one Of the norths most import
ant resources. In the whole Yukon
watershed there is not another group
of Alaskans who are able to sit
around their cabin stove and toast
their feet at real coal fire.
Use the Coal.
The miners have been working pla e
Ger ground in the Totatlanika district
for the past eight years and in prevl-
Gus years have made use of the plen-
tiful supply of timber that grew
around their cabin. There is but liz
tie timber now and the men are de-
flying the emssaries of Uncle sam and
disregarding the intent of former
which withdrew the coal lands ni
: Alaska from entry and successfully
bottled up that important resource
kThe coal is used in the winter to het'
.
prospecting In former days the prim'
tive method of prospecting fro1ef
placer ground was by means of sue
cession of wood fires, built in the
holes After each fire, the thawe'
ground was taken out and another fir
started Totatlanika miners use Goa
fires and have found 1t much bette
than wood, The fire lasts longer AM
the thawing action penetrates deep
into the ground Besides, the coal |
much easier handled.
Unique Mining Methods.
Probably nowhere else in the worl'
is the same method of coal mining re-
sorted to as used by Murphy brothe"
and Cook Their mining is done Il
the winter as well as the summe
time. In winter the stream known q
Coal creek, where occur the coal velh
used by the men, glaciers over and tn
ice sheet attains a thickness of seV
eral feet over this ice sheet the min
ers drive with their dog teams, and
pile of empty sacks to the place wher
the vein outcrops. There, with til
aid of picks and shovels and well-ap
piled energy, they fill the sacks. loa
them on the sleds and with a heart
"mush on mush on to the digs the
start for their cabin with the coal. l
a day they mine enough coal to las
tbor, for tnputhc
The Totatlanika coal fields are
part of the Nenana belt, said to rep
resent the largest section of coal bear
ing land in Alaska. if not in the worl'
From the Totatlanika ba sin to the Ne
mana basin Is distance Of about
miles
Billions of Tons.
In the Nenana fields are outcrop
pings of coal veins varying from
few feet to over 100 feet in thickness
On Ignite creek, tributary of tn
NeDana river, the geological surve
has found 1873 feet of coal in 1S6 fe
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