The Nenana daily news., 1918-07-31


 House of Representatives, frequent references were made to the coal lands of Alaska. Some interesting facts were adduced in connection with Ignite coal, which occurs in generous quantities in this territory and suggestions were offered for the treatment of this fuel in such a way as to prevent its waseful use and to make possible it's ship ment to distant markets.
 Representative Patrick D. Norton, of North Dakota, urged an appro- priation of S5O,00O for the special investigation of Ignite coals with a view to their most efficient treat ment and use, especially with refer ence to their utilization in produc- ing fuel for nternal-combustion en- zines and in supplying benzine, tolu- enc and other basis materials re- quired by the dyestuff and related chemical industries"
 The sum of $25,O00 is now avail able for the establishment of mining experiment stations, and Representa- tive Norton, in support of his pro- posal for an appropriation of S50,O0O, said:
 "I have been given reasonable assurance that under existing laws and under the appropriations which have been made for the establish ment of mining experiment stations of the United States Bureau of Mines throughout the country that a mining experiment station will be established during the present year somewhere in the Northwest given over entirely to the carrying on of investigations to discover practical processes of briquetting Ignite coal and of investigations to discover the practical ways of developing the mining and wider use of Ignite coal for fuel purposes"
 Mention Made of Alaska Railroad Representative Norton took oc- casion to mention the Government railroad in Alaska, in the following paragraph:
 ''In Alaska S35,OOO,OOO are being spent on a railroad there, and it seems probable that the develop ment of large part of the territory served by the railroad will depend upon the utilization of Ignite"
 Relative to the production of liz mite coal, the present wasteful methods of using it and plans for bringing about an economic con- sumption of it, the representative from North Dakota is quoted by the Congressional Record as saying: ! "The nations coal resources of all ranks total 3,553, 3,637, 100000 min- able tons. Of this total 1,O51,29O.- i ooO,OO0 tons, or nearly one-third IS Ignite. Of this Ignite 964,424,- Ooo,OOO tons are located in North and South Dakota and northeastern Montana; in Texas approximately 23,OO0,00O,OOO tons; in Alaska T.. 4,3OO,OOO tons, and relatively smaller quantities in several of the other Western and Southern states
 "This Ignite coal in it's natural state contains 30 to 40 per cent water and for this and other reasons inherent in the Ignite itself it is not very desirable fuel as mined, Millions of tons of bituminous ard anthracite coals are shipped an- nually into these lignite-bearing sec tions-literally carrying coal to Newcastle'-resulting in high prices TOT both industrial and domestic fuel
 
 necessarily imposing a great hand:- cap upon the industrial development o1 these sections, the tying up of transportation equipment much need. ed for other service, and in other substantial economic lost motion.
 The economic problem is not a local but national one.
 Crates Cause Waste