The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1928-12-31
ness OF the vein determine whether
pillars shall be left in place or not"
Mules and Railroad Used

'uae'' Oh lne PIT cars. the capa
! Guy OF which is about two tons
> Mulea-2s of them being kept in thu
n NINE from October to May--dras
M oIt the cars to tho main entry ant
| lhcre tram OF maybe half n doze,
70 AZ high as 40 Of the trundlers i
formed and run by electric donkey
down the miles Of main entry to I'll,
N halt, to be hoistod to the tor Of the
1'ppic and 20 through the process
oi weighing, screening possibl,
crushing and dumping into the
chutea which carry the fuel To the
'r9 bploT. On one track are loaded
INC massiYe chunks of coal, on an
qther the fin partly crushed grade
r ana on the middle track the medium
-lzod Ignite. A mechanical loader
"hlrls one mass into one end of tho
:, box car, then revcrscs and tossos
y he ne:;t load into the onpositc ord
The company has 5,a miles Of its
own railroad connected up with the
tracks Of the Northern Pacific near
ne workings and with the 500 near
the town of Wilton. AS the trains
OF loaded cars arc formed. the COM
panN locomotive takes them down or
, up inc Inc, according to the road to
receive the shipment. and delivery
Is made to the main lines.
! connected with the company's
railroad Is scale house with an
automatic wcgher which takes the
"cights of the loaded cars as tbcy
di'tt over the weighing platform
at q speed Of four miles an hour. 4
continuous tape registers the load
ahd inc welghmastcr copics the |
llgurcs from this into book record. |
me November records of the plant |
snow loadings Of 1915 box carloads
OF an average Of so tons 10 the car.
-, Origin in Railroad Plans
! me- railroad about the mine is an
auxiliary feature, but there is an
interesting relation between rail.
roads and tho Washburn dcvelop-
mcn'. Plans for railway on the east
crn slope of the Missouri led to the
discovery and development of the
nine. he late Senator w. u. Wash
h,rn. Of Minnesota. conceived the
'dea Of a line which the meanderiur
and tickle course Of the Missouri
river ahould not menace by any
bridging Of the stream. He meant
to build out of Bismarck by wav of
Winston over to Great Falls, Mont
ana, in 1898. The line was CON
%tructod from Bismarck GO miles to
Underwood. The 500 line sub
,s7duently acquired this trackagc and
bu'lt the present line out to Sanish
and to Drake
:. with the building Of the road,
senator Washburn began develop-
mcnt Of the country. He establish
ca ccntors along the line which were
10 become points Of population,
agriculture and shipping. These he
named for friends, the town of I'm
ocrwood deriving its designation
from +. c. Underwood. the eastern
railroad president. and Baldwin was
20 named in homo of brotherin-
law Of the senator.
Sought Water. Found Coal
On the present mine site the sen.
ator started to establish livestock
ranch. While making behring's in
icarci Of water tho coal drposits
we're encountered The deposit was
20 extensive and of such good
'uaity. while the trcelcss country C
1ad nothing else to offer in wav Of
ucl. so it was decided to establish
inning on the .slta of the proposed i
'anch: The Standardization has been |
mined out and abandoned. and to i
'yold the long underground moving /
" the coal to the shaft, the present /
lite WAS tapned and a new mine |
reatcd i'll 1917. II
Inc present operation is entered
Y a slope entry which dips down to
dcpth Of about 90 feet, then the |
ntr'es spread into the vast deposit |!
or miles, the aggregate Of which IS Il
y trarhagc 25. Part Of the way is l.
GIFTED by electric lights. The tin L
nd5 arc worked by the mere flicker |,
the little acotyline torches. +
Electric Ventilation II
ms extensive system Of workings |.
rugged up with two essential II
aiety systems. One is the pumping Is
y3ten', the other the ventilatipg. Il
he @oepage water is accumulated IN T.
llnTS along the mine course and is r
altered from these into large rs
rainage sump nearer the shaft hy' S
electric pumps. Close bv ~ +
tier large chamber has been ~ |#
waited IN tho coal and eq'ipped
~ powerful steam pump. This
'frloS to mine waters to tho sur III
zee and thus keeps the mine drain n
and dry. rs
The ventilatinc air $4,000 cubic 81
ct minute is driven down from h
&c surface by two fan houses. It is M
cciVen IN a Chamber Of its own and
en- alio"ed to pass through other IL
''!hpera Into the passagcways of
e ming, doors which break its
uis1 preventing the setting up Of :.
Interfering draft in the workings. i.
this system Of ventilation the M
mperaturc of the mine is kept at M
degrees the year round, while
= air is kept pure. No trouble
lth gas, as in eastern operations, is ziv'
lcountered. pc
Coal Ahead fer 40 Years abo
1t will take years to exhaust the 81
csent area of operation. When that to :
age is reached, the company Is pre- sulI
red to open another large deposit 6.6C
the southeastern section of it's The
operty. Test holes have been feat
iven and these show coal lying at run
rying DEPTHS Of Il to 1870 feet, the 7
d averaging about II feet in as
ickn7sS. There is a deposit it is the
lculated. capable Of lasting 40 Fer
srr, still to be mined. Fer
When the former site Of opera bur
ms was abandoned and the new side
pped. the company hsd village is $
miners cottages which no longer Fal
re conveniently located. Most Of T
sse wers moved to the new site is j
d those which remain will be Bisl
ought back next spring. to add to Oar
; % now OIL the edge of tbs min The
: plant. low,
The mine location extends along the
ridge running southeast from Mar
1ton. The theory Of the Ignite com
nation il that nthe glacial age alt.
es were float4d up against the chic