THE GEEEN RIVEE COAL BASIN. 471 



posed to be about 3 feet in tliickness. Samples were taken from the second 

 and third seams, and the results, which coincide closely, are annexed here- 

 with. The dip of the strata is toward the southeast, at an angle of 10° to 

 15°, which further work will determine accurately. So far the mine has 

 been worked level free, and the main opening is 1,800 feet from the track 

 of the Union Pacific railroad. The principal drift is 1,000 feet long, 6^ feet 

 high, by 8 feet wide, and has been run in upon a very regular seam, the coal 

 being of nearly uniform quality and appearance from top to bottom. The 

 pillars left to support the roof are 10 feet square, and each room, of which 

 there are now 28, is 160 feet long. When the mine was first examined, in 

 August, no work had been done in it for three months, and every pillar was 

 firm and solid, showing that the coal does not shake in the mine. Both the 

 roof and the floor are of hard shale, very firm and unyielding, from which the 

 coal cleaves without difficulty or waste. In mining there is remarkably little 

 refuse, and so fer everything taken from the mine has been regarded and 

 accepted as merchantable coal. From the railroad to the mine the track is 

 laid vnth heavy T-rail, which extends about 150 feet into the main drift ; the 

 remainder is laid with the same rail, weighing 25 pounds to the yard. The 

 side track to the rooms in the mine have oak sleepers and pine ties, with 

 flat rail. 



Quality and Yield pee Acre of this Coal. — The coal from both the 

 second and third seams presents the same general appearance, though that 

 from the third seam is reputed the best; but work enough has not been 

 done to prove this statement. The analysis shows it to be very similar in 

 quality even now, and more extensive mining may tend to produce a better 

 coal than the number two seam furnishes. The specific gravity of each is 

 1.45; they are both of a lustrous, black color, and brilliant, conchoidal frac- 

 ture ; they do not soil the fingers, nor crumble into dust ; they stand trans- 

 portation remarkably well, and bear handling better than almost any coal we 

 examined ; they have a white, infusible ash, and no smell of 'sulphur was 

 evolved during the analysis ; they make about 52 per cent, of a dark-gray, 

 friable coke. Mr. W. A. Wagner, who has been coal inspector for the Union 

 Pacific Company, regards this coal as having but one superior (the Van Dyk), 

 so far as his knowledge extends, along the line of the road, and his opinion is 

 fully confirmed by the result of our own experiments. The engineers speak 



