The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-10-10
IDAHO HAST COAL MINE
WILL PROVE BIG ASSET
r. N. BELL DESERVES MUCH
CREDIT FOR ITS Ex-
PLoITATIoN.'

Upon his return recently from an
inspection Of the Teton Valley Coal
company's property in Teton county,
Robert N. Bell, state mine inspector,
gave the following interesting de-
scription of the mine and pointed out
the great value 1t would prove to the
people Of the state:
after 10 years persistent effort on
my part to call attention to the pos.
sibilities Of an important domesticire-
source Of coal in Idaho, the progress
at the coal mine, that has been made
by the Talbot interests in the past
few months, Is most gratifying and Of
such substantial nature as to abso-
lutely insure the whole upper Snake
river valley against future coal fam
inc conditions and a more reasonable
price for this essential domestic re-
quirement, in the near future.
Outlook Is Promising.
THE coal company is now employ
| ing 100 men in new development work
and the mine Is opening up in a splen-
did manner. The 5-foot vein. which Is
the present object of preliminary de-
velopment, is responding admirably
and is being laid open at the 50O-foot
level with a systematic double entry
plan of development 1t has been
equipped with a 65-horsepower hoist,
30-pound rails, two-ton skip, air
compressor and modern cutting ma
chimes, and a perfect ventilation sys-
| tenn.
AT the 500-foot level, at which
horizon the steep pitching 5-foot vein
shows perfect seam of clean high
grade coal with smooth hard walls,
and is being put in shape to mine on
the long wall shrinkage system. which
eliminates the necessity of touching
the coal with shovel and affords a
far more economic opportunity of put
ting the coal on the surface than
would flat vein or one of lower dip.
"The property has been systematic
ally surveyed during the past several
months with three lines of prospect
pits across the vein series which en-
brace more than 20 veins and has dis
from to 10 feet thick. This new
surface work, in addition to the de-
velopment work, has disclosed the un-
form parallelism and persistency of
] int in, - foy
fully two miles in length and has en-
phasized the most optimistic estim-
ates of coal tonnage that have previ-
ously been made on this property.
Constructing Adit Tunnel.
For the permanent development of
these remarkably interesting series of
high grade coal veins, new Develop.
ment drainage and ventilation adit
ready been started and is now we'll
under cover. This tunnel is being
driven at a horizon that will tap the
whole series of veins at the present
known 5o0-foot level reached by the
shaft on the 5-foot vein and will af-
ford splendid avenue for the future
economic handling of the entire series.
This new tunnel is being substan-
TALLY tmbered and is feet high
above the track and feet wide The
concrete foundations are already In
and the machinery on the ground for
the installation of 200 horsepower
steam driven electric plant for the
operation of the electric haulage sys-
TEN, air compressor and bunker ma
chinery.
Now Supply Local Demands.
"The mine. from the present limit
ed actual development work through
the shaft on the 5-foot vein Is pro-
ducing sufficient supply to cover all
local wagon haul demands and when
the railroad Is completed and this
new tunnel extended into the large
veins, the property will be in shape to
take care of the entire southeastern
Idaho requirements.
"The new railway spur, being con-
structed, starts from the Victor
branch short distance south of Te-
tonia towards briggs and will be 10
miles long when completed. 1t is be-
ing built by the Utah Construction
company, who have already completed
nearly twoNmiles of the grade They
have a big headquarters camp at Te-
tonia and four grading camps strung
along the route where large forces of
men and teams are employed and
steam shovel Is now being Installed
and 1t Is believed that the new spur
will ha anp,n1afad u,;tbi, o.,