6TI W. H. WEED TWO MONTANA COAL FIELDS. 



Similar sections at the other openings show that the seam, though less 

 free from parting dirt than at Sandcoulee, is yet a valuable property. 

 The coal from many of the openings shows peacock tints and. like thai 

 of Sandcoulee, holds pyrite balls. The openings at this part of the field 

 show generally a firm sandrock roof over the coal. 



&^ 



Other Parts of the Great Falls Coal Field. 



The Otter Creek coal has already been mentioned. The seam is too 

 thin to pay working,and whether it thickens to t be south in a continua- 

 tion of the Belt Creek basin, as present indications appear to point, can 

 be determined only by drill prospecting, as natural exposures are wanting. 



Nothingis known of the eastern extension of the Great Falls field about 

 Dry Arrow, Sage and Willow creeks and -the Judith basin, save the notes 

 made by Eldridge for the Northern Transcontinental survey, though the 

 country has been prospected for several parties by local experts ; but the 

 -earn shows a workable thickness that will be of value when the Judith 

 basin is traversed by a railroad. 



The western extension of the Great Falls Held shows a promising thick- 

 ness of coal at several points. The coal seam outcrops in the bluffs of 

 Smith river and at Hound creek, but the openings are of small extent 

 and are not worked at present. The coal seam is in a steep bluff some 

 ."»oo feet above the river and shows a thickness of 5 feet '.' inches. Its 

 character is much like that of the Sandcoulee coal — a roof of hard slate 

 caps a dull coal, which lower down is streaked with bright coal. A thick 

 parting of sandy shale separates this upper bench from a good coking 

 coal below. 



A mile and a half up Hound creek the seam is said to be but four feet 

 thick and to thin rapidly toward the south. To the northward the seam 

 thins out to four feet in the bluffs of Mings coulee, where it dips toward 

 the south, showing a shallow basin. 



The seam is also reported to outcrop at the base of the mountains at 

 the head of Bird creek, near Chestnut, and but a few miles beyond. 



As further exploration of the field is made in the search for special 

 grades of fuel better fitted for metallurgical purposes, there will be more 

 information available concerning the extent of the field and the geology 

 of the Kootanie formation. 



Age of the Great Falls Coal. 



To 1'rofessor J. S. Newberry belongs the honor of first establishing the 

 age of the Great Falls formation. The fossil plant remains upon which 

 this identification rests have been obtained from two localities : (1) a 



