300 EXPLORATIONS ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN OF UTAH. 



cal Engineers, thick beds of coal crop out south of our road, at various points on Bitter 

 Creek, an eastern affluent of Green River, which are probably a continuation of the 

 coal of North Platte River, which has been discussed in section III. 



The Sulphur Creek coal, when fresh, is perfectly black, and has the luster of 

 stone-coal, but it has a brown streak, and is only a superior brown coal of more recent 



(section 111): it appears, however, to be of better quality. Captain Stansbury men- 

 tions it, in his report of explorations in the vallev of the' Great Salt Lake, as a bitu- 

 minous coal, pieces of which, although much weathered, burned in a camp-fire with a 

 bright, clear flame. I had no opportunity to obtain quite fresh pieces, as the outcrop 

 was much covered up; but General A. S. Johnston, commanding Department of Utah, 

 had it tried, and found it so useful for blacksmithm- that he secured the locality as a 

 military reservation. To judge from the weathered pieces, it is, however, inferior to 

 the San Pete coal. It contains some sulphur and gypsum. Tt would be easy to get 

 many thousands of bushels of this valuable material in an open quarry. The Muddy 

 (Veek coal is undoubtedly a continuation of the same beds, and the coal of White 

 Clay ( 'reek is, also, the same, or holds a similar position. 



The coal from San Pete Valley is the best I have seen west of the Mississippi River 

 coal-basin: but. as the pieces that I saw from there had been obtained In mining 

 from the interior of the stratum, it cannot well be compared with the weathered pieces 

 from Sulphur Creek. It is a bituminous, black coal, with a brown streak, and closely 

 resembles bituminous stone-coal, and as it cokes somewhat it is well adapted to the 

 same purposes. It contains some gypsum ; otherwise no analysis has been made of 

 our specimens. At ( 'amp Floyd, it has been extensively used for blacksmithing, and 

 the workmen informed me that it gives an excellent heat, but leaves much ashes, and 

 is inferior to the bituminous coal of Pennsylvania. As this coal maybe considered as 

 occurring on the border of the Great Basin, more will be said of it "in section V. If 

 a railroad should be built across the continent in this latitude, the coal of the Wahsatch 



Pf'tfolcuM. I he spring of petroleum, near the continuation of the Sulphur Creek 

 coal-bed. one mile from that creek, has been mentioned above, and before by Captain 



Stansbury. He found, in an open country, several small, shallow demotions in the 



more nameneu aim somewhat nuxe.l wnm soil, forms the bottom and sides of the spring. 

 Seldom more than two or three gallons will accumulate, and I could scarcely succeed in 

 filling one bottle with a spoon, because some people had taken it off a day or two previous- 

 Emigrants and Mormons collect it as wagon-grease, and as a liniment for bruises, &c. 

 By boring, I suppose, a considerable supply of the oil might be secured. 



Mineral springs.— We only know of the small springs, a few miles west of Muddy 

 Creek, on the old Salt Lake City road. Their water contains some carbonic acid and 

 some salts, and tastes not unpleasantly. It deposits some calcareous tufa, which, at one 

 of the springs, is colored red by a little iron. 



