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GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES, 



has been burning for several years. Such fires may be started in 

 many ways, but this particular fire is supposed to have started spon- 

 taneously in broken coal. Coal of comparatively low rank, such as 

 that mined at Vulcan, is subject to spontaneous ignition, especially 

 when crushed and undergoing alternate wetting and drying, by 

 which the carbon of the coal is oxidized or combined with the oxygen 

 of the air or the water so rapidly as to start a fire. In the old 

 Wheeler mine, which was opened 5'ears ago in the mountain point 

 on the north side of the valley, just beyond the village of Newcastle, 

 it was found impossible to prevent the coal from taking fire, and 

 many years ago, after repeated and unsuccessful attempts were 

 made to extinguish it, the mine was abandoned, and the coal is still 

 on fire. Spontaneous ignition of coal has occurred not only in mines 

 but on the outcrop of coal beds of rather low rank, and these fires 

 have burned as long as air was available, making the adjacent rocks 

 bright red and, where the heat was especially intense, melting them 

 to slag or clinker. 



The railroad swings to the right along the banks of Colorado River 

 and enters Newcastle. This place is well known as a coal-mining 

 center and is one of the points for reaching the 

 great hunting ground of the "White River Plateau 

 to the north. It was to Newcastle that Theodore 

 Roosevelt came in 1904, while he was President of 

 the United States, on one of his famous hunting 

 expeditions. From the station may be seen the bottom layers of the 

 Mesaverde formation in the hills immediately back of the village, and 

 on the north (right) and ahead may still be seen the scars on the 

 mountain side and the dump of the old Wlieeler mine that was aban- 

 doned because of fire. The red color, due to burning, and possibly the 

 smoke of the fire may be seen from the train. The Mesaverde is one 

 of the greatest coal-bearing formations in the world. In the end of 

 the Grand Hogback, on the right (see PI. LXII, A)^ the aggregate 

 thickness of coal in beds over 4 feet thick is about 109 feet. One of 

 these beds — the Wheeler — is 40 feet thick, and several others are 

 more than 10 feet thick.*^ At the time these coal beds were formed 



Newcastle. 



Elevation 5.562 feet 

 Population 447. 

 Denver 373 miles. 



^'The coal-bearing rocks (Mesaverde 

 formation) dip toward the west under 

 the overlying rocks and then reappear 

 between DeBeque and Palisade. These 

 two areas of sandstone constitute the 

 edges or rims of a great structural 

 trough known as the Uinta Basin. A 

 section across the trough is shown in 

 figure 37. This basin forms one of the 

 great reserves of coal in the Rocky 

 Mountain region. It extends from 



Crested Butte in Gunnison County 

 nearly to the Wasatch Mountains in 

 Utah and is estimated to contain 160 

 billion tons of coal. The coal is mined 

 in the Crested Butte district, at New- 

 castle and for several miles to the 

 south, at Cameo and Palisade, at 

 Thompson, Utah, and at Sunnyside and 

 Castlegate, near the west end of the 

 field. Coal is not mined in other parts 

 of the basin either because the beds 



