Evening star., 1916-04-30
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT Is DOING

This era is likely to become in few
years still more an age Of cheap power
and all that this
Are of means in increased
productiveness of in
tip1ication of the comforts of life. as a
result of experiments by the bureau OF
mines Of the Department Of the In
terror. which have led to the working
out of promising new methods of uti-
lizing with marked efficiency the vast
deposits of Ignite that underlie ex-
tensive' tracts -eof public and private
lands in the west
Because OF what seemed to be in
surmountable obstacles, these great
deposits of brown imperfectly formed
coal have heretofore found only local
and restricted USE The eminently
practical fuel experts of the bureau OF
mines, however. believe that. under the
new treatment that they have developed
the western Ignite areas will become
the seats of great industries, and that
electrical power for such of these as
need to employ it. as well as for do
nestle and community uses in a large
at so low cost that it may become a
very close rival Of hydro electric pow
er At the same time. under the new
procedure. there will be produced fuel
profitably shipped to other regions.
The magnitude Of the western Ignite
regions is almost staggering. The
most extensive fields are in North Da-
kota. Montana. Wyoming. Colorado and
Texas. but in many other central west
ern and western states the deposits are
also large. In the one state Of North
Dakota alone about $4,000 square miles
are underlain by the brown coal meas
ures. many of them from ten to fifteen
in this single commonwealth several
hundred billion tons of Ignite are
available: throughout the western
part of the country. it is believed. the
runs we'll toward a thousand billion
to..s. With this tremendous volume OF
Ignite in existence in a portion of the
country where coal is not Plentiful the
economic value of an improved method
Of using the supposedly inferior fuel is
most important.
The chief drawback to the extensive
use of Ignite in the past has been
the presence in it of high percent
age of moisture. AS brought from
stance is water. This in itself has
meant that it is uneconomical to
transport the fuel long distances, and
also that it is uneconomical to burn
1t. since the presence of the moisture
lowers the temperature in the COM
bustion chamber. Another trouble
from the presence of the high per-
centage of moisture is that on ex-
posure the Jumps Slack" due to evap-
oration Of the water. rapidly breaking
down into small fragments and pow
der. The most elementary improve
ment in the Ignite industry. the bu-
reau Of mines found, Is the crushing
Of the large Jumps to uniform, rela-
lively small fragments soon after min =
ing. for this allows the escape of the
moisture with little Stacking An
other paying procedure, it develops. is
the drying Of the crushed Ignite in
kilns heated by mine waste.
The real economic solution of the
Ignite problem, however, is a trifie
more complicated, though involving no
on the fact that though Ignite to the
eye of the layman is more rocklike
than coal, in reality 1t contains a high
er proportion of volatile matter which
is more easily driven Off. Because of
this the fuel is admirable, the bureau
of mines finds. for the production of
gas which Is excellent for use in the
development Of power in internal COM
bustion engines, and for lighting.
heating, cooking and industrial fuel
uses. At the same time the Ignite
residue, after the gas has been driven
off, has a high fuee value and can be
manufactured prohtably into bri-
quettes. while there are also produced
as by-products a tar, rich in oil, and
ammonium sulphate. valuable as fer
tiliZer.