470 MINmG INDTJSTET. 



Near Upton, a small settlement about eight miles up the Chalk, are 

 further discoveries of coal, but, like those of Grass Creek, they are as yet 

 only prospecting enterprises. 



The same may be said of those promising beds developed along the 

 Weber from Wanship to Kansas. 



Passing east from Bear River City the. coal series is not seen again until 

 upon the east side of Green River, where for a hundred miles it reappears 

 along the canon-like valley of the Bitter Creek. Here the first mine is 

 opened at Rock Springs, 124 miles east of Evanston. Folio v^ing the road 

 eastward are the following localities : Van Dyk mine. Point of Rocks, Hall 

 mine. Separation, and Carbon. Of these we have only notes upon the Hall 

 and Van Dyk, which are quoted, by permission, from the report of Messrs. 

 Ashburner and Janin, mining engineers, San Francisco. 



" The Hall Mine. — This property is situated immediately upon the 

 line of the Union Pacific railroad, four miles west of the Black Buttes sta- 

 tion, in Wyoming Territory. The claim, which was located by Mr. M. S. 

 Hall, extends for two miles east and west, or along the line of the railroad, 

 and back for a distance of six miles, toward the south, in the direction of 

 the Black Buttes Mountains. How much or what proportion of this large 

 tract is underlaid by the coal, it is impossible to state until more extensive 

 explorations are made, or until the limits of the field are determined by bor- 

 ing. There is, however, no doubt that a very considerable area is covered 

 by the two principal seams, and quite sufficient for the establishment of 

 permanent works of exploitation. This mine was discovered in June, 1868, 

 and work was commenced upon it in September of the same year. There 

 are four seams of coal known to exist upon the claim. The upper one, 4 

 feet 8 inches in thickness, is near the surface, and has never been developed, 

 as the coal would be likely to prove of inferior quality. The second seam is 

 5^ feet in thickness, and has been worked to considerable extent, furnishing 

 all the coal that has been sent to market from this mine. The third seam, 

 12 feet below the second and separated from it by a stratum of shale, is 9 

 feet 8 inches in thickness, and promises to furnish a coal fully equal in qual- 

 ity to that taken from the one above. No work has been done upon it, fur- 

 ther than to prove its existence. The lower seam is not developed, but sup- 



