The Elk Mountain pilot., 1920-04-01
ANTHRACITE MINING IS MOVING


tuesday morning of this week,
Judge Stone presiding in the Probate
Division CT the County Court, had the
unusual experience of admitting to
p. obate- four wills that had been filed
at the same time. These wills were
presented to the court by Senator
Hc.herington and have been probated
for the purpose of perfecting the tt
tie to the Muncey anthracite coal
land recently purchased by the large
Salt Lake City syndicate.
Tire makers Of these wills were
Alexander Forsyth, Sophy E. Forsyth,
Allan Haley, and Ezra Churchill.
They were all formerly residents of
Windsor, Hants county, Nova Scotia,
Canada. these Gecedents were as
s7oiatss in holding the coal lands with
tho noted William j. hiuncey.
The probating of these wills is an
ether evidence that the dream OF
Muncey Is now soon to come true
anthracite coal west Of Pennsylvania,
is opened up and its products placed
upon th3 markets OF the world.
Many of the old timers in Gunnison
county will remember William W.
biu:icey and his wife. The former
died scme twenty-five years ago, but
Mrs Muncey is still alive, having re-
Gently moved to Southern California.
Billy Muncev, as he was generally
called, was typical man of the Old
Wes', Bret Harte type. He was well
edu atcd, fluent talker, n brilliant
witer, exceedingly fond of dog and
horse, and alas, also fond of the old
time booze and sometimes handy with
his gun. He was at one time rider
of the famous Pony Express. In this
capacity he had occasion to visit some
of the large, ruby silver mines of
these days. While at Salt Lake City
he heard of the great strike of ruby
silver rear Irwin in Gunnison county.
Leaving his employment as Express
NJ ssenger, he started across. the
country on his horse. for Irwin.
Riding up one of the branches of
the North Fork of the Gunnison rive,
late one afternoon, he saw upon the
side of mountain large dyke of
anthracite coal shining in the sun.
greatest coal regions of Canada,
man of his education could readily
appreciate the exceptional value of
his find. He at once lost interest in
the south made for the county seat
of Gum son county. Here he met
and became acquainted with County
Judge Edward F. Colborn, whom ne
interested in his coal project. They
formed company together with For
sy'h. Heley. and others Of Nova SEQ
Tia For lack of adequate transpor-
tation the project Jagged, although
1t was admitted to be one of the larg-
est known deposits of anthracite coal
and that, too. of an exceptionally fine
quality. Finally Billy Muncey died
and in him passed away the most en-
thusiastic booster for his coal How
ever Judge Cobb I'm has kept this pro-
iect in his mind all these years and
now conditions are favorable for the
bringing into reality the dream OF
his old time partner.
A transportation line IS being ar
rarged for to connect with standard
gauge railroad. large breaker is to
be built and soon hundreds of men
viii bc emp'c-ed In getting out this
,vcel'rnt COL for the ALREADY wait
ine ma ~ket But whatever is the fu
'ure of this section Of our county.
however famous it may become. we
trust that for old times sake these
mines will always b. known as "The
BiIlv Muncey Coal Banks"