110 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901. 



as Wainwright Inlet, a distance of about 200 miles. It is not certain, however, that 

 the beds at these various points represent the same coal field or even that they all 

 occur in the same formation. Though these coals have been somewhat exploited, 

 and numerous fossils, ranging from early Paleozoic to Mesozoic, have been reported 

 from the region, no definite conclusion has been reached concerning the geologic age 

 of the rocks in which the coals occur. 



Wai/nwright Inlet. — The most northerby occurrence of the coal yet reported along 

 this coast is at Wainwright Inlet, latitude 70° 37', longitude 159° 45'. Here it is said 

 by Mr. Woolfe," who discovered it in 18S9, to occur on the banks of Koog River, 

 which flows into the inlet. As the river is shallow at its mouth, flat-bottomed boats 

 or lighters would be required for getting the coal to the sea. The coal is described 

 by Mr. Woolfe "as being of better quality and containing less detritus than the 

 Cape Lisburne mineral. It appears to be a light but hard lignite, burning briskly, 

 with but little ash." It is somewhat surprising that this coal should excel the 

 Cape Lisburne coal in fuel efficiency, as the latter is believed to be the older, more 

 highly metamorphosed, and carbonized. Though the writer was not able to visit 

 the Wainwright Inlet exposure, at a point about 20 miles southwest of the inlet 

 paleontologic evidence showed the country rock to be probabty Jura-Cretaceous 

 (p. 74). Judging from topographic criteria, the same formation seems to extend 

 beyond Wainwright Inlet. Samples of apparent^ good coal were found near the 

 place where the fossils were collected. Analysis of one of these, however, No. 

 653 in the table (p. 114), shows that it is a lignite. 



Though coal float is found in the beach gravels at several localities along the 

 coast, actual outcrops of coal were not seen and are probably not numerous. 



Cape Beaufort. — Cape Beaufort, in latitude about 69° 10' and longitude 163° 36' 

 (see PI. V), marks the coastal terminus of the line of demarcation between the very 

 gently rolling or nearly flat lowland tundra country on the north and the more hilly 

 and low mountainous region on the south which merges with mountains that termi- 

 nate in Cape Lisburne. It lies about 70 miles northeast of Cape Lisburne. The term 

 cape is hardly applicable to Beaufort, however, as there is here no real promontory, 

 but onty a ridge rising to a height of about 800 feet above the uniform shore line. 



A 6-foot vein of coal occurs in the folded and faulted sandstone of this ridge. 

 It is probably best exposed about one-eighth to one-fourth of a mile from the coast, 

 whence it seems to extend farther inland and with care can probabty also be traced to 

 the coast. So far as observed, the vein dips gently southward with the rocks of the 

 region. As shown in the table of analyses under No. 665, page 114, this is a good 

 bituminous coal. 



It may be well to note that Doctor Dall, in his report on Alaskan coal and 



"Report on population and resources of Alaska at the Eleventh Census, 1890, Washington, 1893, p. 133. 



