The Alaska citizen., 1917-03-12


 ...a lh- states last night Wallace CatacuG .-gretary ot the Fairbanks rumue,cu club. received com m-a.catou from John A. Davis. who
 Is in charge O. the preparatory work in connection with the establishment oi d miune experimental station in Fairbanks He l, now in Seattle arranging for inc purchase of ma .h.aess. equipment and supplies for the ra.ry Inks station He states that the. will be shipped rom Seattle 70 as 10 arrive in Fair banks during the early part of the sumner, He also writes that <, is not 9r decided just what kind , a bGlire will De required here. blt sill .eep rhc Commercial club .l,lsed en this mater
 It. tur same communication, lIr nayl ell .oses an abstract of DOT. lions of his report to Secretary Lane on he proposed work to be undertaken by the Fairbanks Expert mental n;ng station This ab -tract follows:
 Among he problems the question oJ cheapet fuel stands out above all other conditions and needs of the afrbank~ district, and beyond any IoubJ is the one pressing and im- Dortanl need for the station to meet and tha as soon as possible, since
 is the hey and corner stone of the uture development of their mining. In solving this problem the bureau will do Iore perhaps than in any other va, to help the industry at he present time.
 For the question oG quartz mining md the uIization of Iow-grade ores Jn any so.t of scale Is not only i'm possible, hut unthinkabIe under the present uel conditions; and even with placer workings, upon which this portion of Alaska has been de pendent ii the past. the point has been reached where the cream has been skinned from most of the Do nanza plaeers, with consequent ap- preciable slowing up of this indus ry. At present the cost of wood, the only available fuel, is from SIP 10 SIG per cord, and it requires two cords of wood to equal one ton of coal Thirty dollars per ton for fuel 1 S, of cou se, prohibitiye except for i the richest of placer ground. The 1 cost of furI is a larger item of min ng cost here than elsewhere, be cause the power used in hoisting, pumping and the other usual mining operations is of minor consideration, compared with the steam required for 1 thawing frozen ground. l am in formed that it is hoped to have the railroad completed from Fairbanks IS far as the Nenana field by Janu- | ary l, 1918, so that the Nenana liz nite can be placed on the market at 1 hat time Such coal making due allowance for the cost of mining and It's preparation for use, should not cost much more than $650 to $7.50 per ton, delivered at Fairbanks. Fuel at this price will. beyond question, make it possible to work a large | area of placer ground, which cannot be thought of at the present cost 1 as well as to open up and develop number of promising lode proper 1 ties which are known, but cannot be utilized economically at present.
 This fuel is, however, a Ignite, comparable with the ngnites of North Dakota, and containing high per, 1 centage of moisture, making it un, advisable to use it in the raw state. l Our first problem would be to study and advise the best methods for | its preparation for market. In the States, and especially in North Da
 l,Ota. this question has received a great deal of study. so that the work of the bureau can be to apply inten siyely and particularly, to the De | culiar conditions to be met there | the facts and processes that are 1 already available on the subject. Mir Riggs, Of the Alaska Engineering Commission, has offered us the use
 of his two boilers at Nenana, which are mounted side by side and from which it should be possible to ob tain some excellent comparative re suits in extensive fuel tests. In this
 work We should experiment with
 wood, raw coal, dried coal, partially carbonized coal and briquettes, study ing boiler efficiency, clinkering, waste and general suitability for steamins
 purposes. We could also make tests
 of these different materials in ordl