The Seward gateway., 1922-07-13
ALASKA COAL MINING COSTS TDO MUCH
CLAIM EASTERN COAL CAN BE DELIVERED MORE cHEAPLY
 AT WESTERN YARDS

mild surprise the report that D.. H | s. Foster Bain director of the Bureau of Mines, now in Alaska has told the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce not to place too much dependency upon coal mining as source of prosperity | for the territory. AS reported in the | dispatches Dr. Bain following his eX- animation of tte MatanusXa coal field suggested to the chamber that theI territory in the immediate future is tol get nlore tene1ILs out of tourist traf- ti' than cut Of coal, he arguing that itl is impracticable to ship coal out of Alaska for marketing in competition with other coals.
 Dr. Bain's superiors and fellow off, cials in the Department of the Inte- rior withhold comment, not having before them the exact text of what Dr Bain said. Some of the officials hold that the territOry's natural resources other than coal are or more value toI the Territory than the tourist traffic However, they interpret Dr. Bain's re ported statement as being warning to Alaskans that the coal resource is not by any means what it previously has been represented.
 The brutal fact is that the sum of public and private development of coal in Alaska including the eXpendi- ture by the navy of $1,600,0O0 on the reserve at Chickaloon in the Matanus- ka field, has been to demonstrate that it is not possible to mine Alaska coal with sufficient economy to competeI with like coal shipped from the Allan tic seaboard to the Pacific.
 A series of reports by qualified en gineers has demonstrated that it vii. cost an average of SIP ton to mine Chickaloon coal and deliver it in ship at Anchorage.
 The cost of Chickaloon coal deliver ed at the Puget Sound Navy Tard vii be approximately $4 ton more than the cost of Pocohontas coal and New River coal shipped from the Atlantic and delivered at the same navy yard, Under the circumstances the govern ment has practically given up hope for other than local purposes in the near future.
 This does not mean that the gov ernment is prepared to abandon en- tirely all idea of leasing the naval re, serve at Chicaloon. Further develop ment of that reserve is necessary tol insure the maintenance of reserve supply of coal for future naval pur poses. Further development of the reserve entailing the taking out ol more coal even at the high cost would mean the leaving underground in the form Of pillars and supports from two| to three tons of blocked out coal fol every ton taken out.
 The high cost of operation in theI Chickaloon navy reserve and in othel parts of the Matanuska field is due to the broken, folded and indeteTmi- nate character of the coal strata. The1 veins vary in width, are broken and obtruded that is masses of igneus rock obtrude themselves irregularly il the coal beds. It may be as indicated but not proved by diamond drilling operations, that further developmen, will uncover coal veins less broken ! and of more regular thickness but tna development will be expensive. This | is a hopeful aspect of the situation.
 The cost of operation is further in creased by the necessity for washing | all the coal taken out. At the Navy | reserve an excellent coal washery has been built, but the cost of washinga ap- | proximates $1 ton, while the loss ir volume from washing runs from 20 tC | 30 per cent Thus for every ten tons mined and washed only seven to eight tons of usable coal results.
 In the face of all of the handicaps the Department of Interior and the Navy department are both anxious to continue, preferably under lease, de- for two purposes, one to insure a future Pacific supply of coal for the navy; and, second to assist in the development of the industry as an aid to the establishment of other in dustries in the Territory.
 J. P. Morgan, of Seattle, represent ing the Libby-McNeil interests, arriv- ed from the interior last evening.