Geological Papers. 2S!7 



massive sandstone, interbedded with an occasional stratum of con- 

 glomerate. In it are interbedded several workable seams of coal. 



This coal-field was visited by Prof. J. S. Newberry, while a 

 member of one of the Pacific railroad surveying parties. He ob- 

 tained specimens of coal from a vein near Slip Point. Of this coal 

 he gives the following analysis:'^ 



Fixed carbon 46.40 per cent. 



Volatile matter 50.97 " 



Ash 2.63 



Total 100.00 per cent. 



In 18B4 or 1865 a prospect was opened in the sea cliff two and 

 one-half miles east of Slip Point.'^ Concerning this old mine, Mr. 

 S. C. Gilman, in his article on the Olympic country, has this to say: 



"Between Pillar Point and Clallam bay, on the Strait of Fuca, 

 is the abandoned Thorndike coal-mine. There are said to have 

 been 'six leads of coal, ranging in thickness from one to three feet, 

 dip ten degrees; distance from coal leads, 12 to 100 feet; forma- 

 tion, sandstone.' This is said to have been one of the best coals 

 found in Washington. It was mined for some time, until it pinched 

 out or was cut off by a fault, and the vein was lost and the work 

 abandoned."^'' 



Quoting from Doctor Arnold:^*' "The remains of the old pier 

 from which the coal at the mine was loaded onto schooners were 

 still visible in 1892, when Mr. J. S. Diller visited the locality. The 

 location of the mine is given on the Coast and Geodetic Survey chart 

 (No. 6300) as two and one-half miles east of Slip Point, Clallam 

 Bay. Mr. Bailey Willis also mentions the occurrence of coal meas- 

 ures on the Clallam and Psyche (Pysht) rivers in his report on the 

 coal-fields of Washington territory."" 



The real prospecting and development work in the region dates 

 from about 1904. At this time Mr. O'Brien, of the Port Angeles 

 Coal and Coke Company, above mentioned, made a thorough in- 

 vestigation of the section of country lying between the Pysht and 

 Clallam rivers and the strait coast, finding workable coal-seams as 

 follows: One four miles inland and one seven miles inland, and 

 three on the ridge facing the strait between Pillar Point and Slip 

 Point ; one seam exposed on the coast being 40 inches in thick- 

 ness, another 80 feet stratigraphically below this one of 12 inches 

 in thickness, and the other, a 22-inch seam, in the neighborhood of 



73. Pacific Railroad Report, vol. IV, part II, p. 67. 



74. Landes, Henry, The Coal Deposits of Washington : Ann. Rept. Washington Geol. Surv.. 

 vol. I. 1901. p. 258. 



75. Nat. Geog. Mag., vol. 7, 1896, p. 139. 



76. Loc. cit.. p. 417. 



77. Tenth Census, vol. 15, 1886, p. 760. 



