415 



The Olympic Coal Fields of Washington. 



By Albert B. Reagax. 



The Olympic Peninsula covers an area of about eight thousand square 

 miles. It is approximately a right angle triangle in shape with its hypote- 

 nuse on the Pacific side. Its shorter limb faces the "Sound," the longer limb 

 of the triangle faces the Strait of Juan de Fuea. This peninsula consists of 

 a moderately benched area forming a coastal bench surrounding a high 

 central area termed the Olympic Mountains which are situated somewhat 

 southeast of the center of the peninsula. And from this high area there 

 extends northwestward to Cape Flattery a gradual declining ridge. The 

 most commonly heard-of places of the region are LaPush and Quillayute 

 on the Pacific front and Xeah Bay, Clallam Bay, Port Angeles, and Port 

 Townsend on the Strait of Fuca side. 



The region is much fissured and faulted and much of the strata are tipped 

 at a high angle. The core of the Olympic Mountains is supposed to be 

 pre-Cretaceous in age. The exposed rocks along the Strait of Fuca are 

 Pleistocene and Tertiary. The Pleistocene is the Country rock from Port 

 Townsend to Fresh Water Bay north of Port Angeles. Eocene rocks are 

 exposed at Port Crescent, and from there northward to Cape Flattery and 

 then down the Pacific front as far south as the Point of Arches, the exposed 

 rock is Oligoeene-Mioeene. The Point of Arches appears to be pre-Cretaceous 

 in age, as do also the rocks at Point Elizabeth, one hundred twenty miles 

 further south, while the intervening coast exposures appear to be Cretaceous 

 in age. The troughs of the Quillayute river and its tributaries are incised 

 in Tertiary strata. 



Coal is exposed in the Oligoeene-Mioeene from Pyscht to Clallam Bay 

 on the Strait of Fuca, a distance of about eight miles. Coal is also found 

 inland near Fresh Water Bay. Small stringers of coal are also exposed 

 in the Hoko Canyon. Small seams of coal were also observed at Strawberry 

 and Johnson Points and near Portage Head on the Pacific Coast. Coal is 

 also found in the Quillayute trough. The three principal coal areas will re- 

 ceive special mention. 



The Quillayute Hirer Field. Aboul two miles southeast of Mora P. O. 

 on the east bank of the Quillayute River a coal seam runs in an east and 



