68 



the New Mexican gold field and that of Pike's Peak would thus 

 be formed. A sample of the Arkansas River gold, brought in by 

 Mr. Russell, yielded .971 by assay at the Dahlonega Branch 

 Mint, being worth about twenty dollars an ounce, or nearly the 

 same as the New Mexican gold. It would thus appear that the 

 Rocky Mountain gold is of superior quality, the average of the 

 California gold being from .875 to .885, and the Australian .960 

 to .966. 



Next to the gold, but probably of greater importance to the 

 country, is the existence in the Rocky Mountain chain of beds of 

 coal of the carboniferous period, corresponding in kind to those 

 of the great Appalachian coal-field. Beds or layers of coal or 

 lignite have at various times been reported to exist in the moun- 

 tains, but their age or character was unknown, but supposed to 

 be of a period more modern than that of the true coal. I was 

 able to determine by an abundance of fossils, that the true coal 

 measures are developed there, having found not only shells but 

 fossil ferns identical with species found in the coal measures of 

 Missouri and Ohio. Seams of bituminous coal and thick beds of 

 black shales occur only one mile from Santa Fe, and at other 

 places in the vicinity, and I have no doubt that explorations 

 would detect valuable beds at various points north and south 

 along the whole Rocky Mountain chain through New Mexico 

 and Kansas into Nebraska and beyond. 



Twenty miles from Santa Fe, and not far from the gold mines, 

 there is a bed of hard coal, specimens of which I examined and 

 found to be true anthracite or debituminized coal, apparently 

 equal in quality to the anthracites of Pennsylvania. The pre- 

 sence of beds of anthracite coal in the Rocky Mountains is of 

 great national importance in many points of view. One of the 

 great questions in connection with the proposed construction of a 

 railroad to the Pacific has been, — Where shall appropriate fuel 

 be obtained ? In these beds of anthracite coal we have a store of 

 the most compact fuel known, at a point nearly midway between 

 the Mississippi and the Pacific. Here, then, is one great reason 

 for the construction of a central road to the Rocky Mountains 

 near Santa Fe, coal not having been found, and probably not 

 existing, in workable beds in the lower and porphyritic ranges of 

 western Texas and southern New Mexico. Even if wood were 



