216 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



COAL IN ATCHISON COUNTY, KANSAS. 



By E. B. KNERE. 



In August, 1893, an interesting vein of coal was found exposed in the bed 

 of a narrow ravine between two bluffs facing the Missouri river, about two 

 miles south of the city of Atchison. At the point of discovery the vein 

 measured 16 inches, and on trial the coal was at once recognized to be of good 

 quality. Within a few days hundreds of people visited the spot, and as almost 

 every one carried back with him some of the coal for exhibition and trial, a 

 colored man by the name of O'Connel, who had formerly mined coal at Leav- 

 enworth, was encouraged to open up the vein. He brought a few wagon-loads 

 to the city and paraded the streets. 



Some months after this, the Atchison horse-car line was abandoned pre- 

 paratory to the introduction of an electric system, and the car drivers were 

 thrown out of employment. One of their number, Mr. Ada, conceived the 

 idea of working the coal field south of town, and with the help of several of the 

 former car drivers, with shovels and picks and wheelbarrows, they went to 

 work. The coal is so favorably situated that their mine, now known as the 

 Ada mine, has paid all its expenses from the very beginning in coal taken out. 



Shortly after this enterprise was undertaken, the Donald Bros, dry-goods 

 firm opened up the vein in the bluff about a half mile south of the Ada mine. 

 The Donalds at once invested considerable capital, employed a body of expert 

 miners and made quite an extensive entry. They have now been at work 

 less than two years, but have removed the coal from an area of more than 

 500,000 square feet. At the present time they are operating their mine with 

 electric machinery. 



This vein of coal varies in thickness from 16 to 20 inches, and is very hard 

 for a bituminous coal. A chemical analysis gives the following results: 



Water 3.43 



Volatile gas 30.02 



Fixed carbon 55.79 



Ash 10.76 



100.00 



The specific gravity of the coal is 1.17. The heat units were calculated to 

 be 6642 gram calories. The coal contains very little sulphur, and this is com- 

 bined as calcium sulphate, and therefore is unobjectionable. There is no iron 

 sulphide, pyrite, mixed up with the coal. This is further proven by the fact 

 that the ash is a light gray — almost white. Iron in the coal would color the 

 ash reddish. The objectionable form of sulphur in coal is as iron sulphide, 

 for when this is present it readily combines with the fire grates of stoves, etc., 

 burning them out. Hence it is fortunate that pyrite is absent from Atchison 

 coal. 



The natural facilities for mining this stratum of coal are the best, with 

 the exception that the strata of soapstone above and below the coal are very 

 hard. At the Donald mine the vein lies about 30 feet above the water of 

 the Missouri river, and about 15 feet above the road bed of the Missouri 

 Pacific railroad. In the process of mining, the coal does not have to be lifted 



