TWEXTV-SErENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 217 



a foot. It is placed on the low trucks and drawn out by small mules, weighed 

 and dumped into the cars. 



After the discovery of this vein other localities were reported at various 

 places in Atchison and Doniphan counties, and the traditions of former coal 

 mining in the neighborhood were recalled. I have examined several of these 

 localities, and am convinced that, with possibly an exception in Doniphan 

 county, they belong to a different stratum entirely. On the state grounds of 

 the Soldiers' Orphans' Home, about three miles north of Atchison, there is a 

 coal outcrop measuring six to eight inches. This stratum is about 150 feet 

 above the Donald vein. I have traced it to a point about five miles south of 

 the orphans' home, where it thins out to only a half inch in thickness. This 

 smaller vein is much softer than the other, and is the one to which the tradi- 

 tions of Atchison coal mining refer. It is curious to observe how these tradi- 

 tions have magnified the thickness of the vein. It was a two-foot vein when 

 worked 30 years or more ago, according to traditions. I have opened up two 

 of the former drifts and find that the stratum measures only eight inches 

 at the most, and in this fact we find the explanation of the abandonment of 

 these first mining efforts. 



Encouraged by these traditions, a company was formed in Atchison some 

 years ago to prospect for coal. This company did a very foolish thing in 

 selecting a locality for their prospecting. They did not begin operations in 

 the native rocks of the bluffs, but went off near to the Missouri river and 

 sunk a hole some 800 feet. Of course they missed the Donald vein, for it had 

 been removed from where they were working by the Missouri river. Had 

 they operated closer to the bluff, beginning in bed rock, the 18-inch vein 

 would have been struck, and in all probability Atchison would have rivaled 

 Leavenworth by this time as a coal-mining locality. 



