Allen.] 260 [January 21, 



also the opinion of my friend, Prof. Ducatel, to whom I submitted 

 my specimens, that these pseudo-volcanic phenomena may be com- 

 pared with those described as occurring in other parts of the globe, 

 under the name terraines ardens ; although they are not here accom- 

 panied by the emission of flames." 1 



Vague rumors of burning coal beds on Powder River seem to have 

 been a long time current before their existence was positively estab- 

 lished by the visits of scientific observers. Lieut. Warren, in 1858, 

 in a letter to the Hon. Geo. W. Jones, relating to his exploration of 

 Nebraska, 2 thus alludes to them : " Everywhere throughout this [the 

 lignite tertiary] formation, beds are to be found sometimes of a thick- 

 ness of six and seven feet, and those on Powder River are said to be 

 still on fire over large areas, and in many places are entirely burned 

 out." They seem, however, to have been first described by Dr. 

 Hines, who visited them in 1859, while attached to General Ray- 

 nold's expedition. The locality is the Clear Fork of Powder River, 

 and he describes it as follows: "Eight miles below our yesterday's 

 camp we discovered the stratum of coal 3 (lignite) on fire. Consider- 

 able smoke issued therefrom, having a strong sulphurous smell. The 

 heat at this point was so intense that we could not stand within 

 twenty feet from whence the smoke issued. A thick layer of sand- 

 stone lying immediately above it, four feet, was completely calcined. 

 From this point, at the same elevation, to some distance below the 

 mouth of Clear Fork, I noticed the red color given to the banks by 

 the burning out of the coal bed. Here and there were portions that 

 had escaped. The origin of the fire I was unable to account for, un- 

 less it contains within itself the elements of spontaneous combus- 

 tion." 4 



Lieut. Maynadier also makes brief reference to the same locality, 5 

 and Gen. Raynolds speaks of Powder River as deriving " its name 

 from the sulphurous vapors rising from the burning beds of lignite." 6 



1 Rep. Hydrogr. Basin Upper Mississippi, pp. 39, 40. 



* Letter (an 8vo pampMet, pp. 15), p. 6, Jan. 29, 1858. 



* A bed six feet thick, and of excellent quality, " somewhat resembling Cumber, 

 land coal," exposed for a long distance on Clear Creek, near its junction with Pow- 

 der River. 



* Haydens' Rep. Geol. Expl. Yellowstone and Missouri, p. 96. 



e Raynold's Rep. of the Exploration of the Yellowstone River, p. 8, 1868. 

 « Ibid., p. 129. 



