79 



A Colorado manufacturer writes as follows upon the subject: 



The largest amount of charcoal is made and used in Lake County ; the Leadville 

 smelters there use daily about 10,000 bushels. Charcoal is made of both dry and 

 green timber. About three-fourths is made from dead timber, one-half of which is 

 down. One cord of wood will yield about 50 bushels of coal. Dry or dead timber, if 

 sound, will yield more than green, but the quality of the coal will be about the same.* 



Concerning the extensive use of charcoal by smelting companies, and 

 the consequent heavy draft upon tlie forests, it is reliably stated that 

 the use of charcoal in smelting is a convenience but not a necessity. 

 There is in many parts of this region an abundant supply of mineral 

 coal, of good quality, including dry, bituminous, or coking, and an- 

 thracite, and its use by smelting companies would simply involve the 

 employment of more skillful furnace men than are used under the present 

 system. 



FENcma. 



Although barbed wire is largely superseding the use of boards for 

 fencing, there is a continued demand for timber for fence posts, rails, 

 etc., and as farms and ranches are rapidly increasing in number, the 

 demand for fencing material is likely to grow in proportion. Much 

 dead timber is utilized in this way. In the mountains. Aspen is often 

 used for fence rails. For posts. Yellow Pine (here called Pitch Pine), 

 Cedar (Juniperus), White and Black Spruce, etc., are used. In a few 

 instances posts for wire fences have been made of bar iron. 



With the data available, it is impossible to state the amount of tim- 

 ber that is annually consumed in this region for fencing purposes. It 

 is a varying and probably an increasing quantity. 



FUEL. 



In the mountains, except in the immediate vicinity of coal mines, wood 

 is the principal fuel, and for this dead and fallen timber is largely used. 

 Except in the case of Piiion, it is unlikely that growing timber will 

 suffer greatly from this use, and the greater portion of the Pinon meets 

 its fate at the hands of the charcoal burners. In most of the towns, 

 and in the plains region, mineral coal is furnished of good quality and 

 at reasonable prices. 



Note.— Since the fael question is a most important one in connection with forest 

 preservation, the statistics of the supply of mineral coal are of great interest in this 

 place. The following notes, therefore, taken from the reports of the Division of Min- 

 ing Statistics and Technology, TJ. S. Geological Survey, are here inserted. 



In the Rocky Mountain district coal beds are found in a number of geological for- 

 mations, from the Carboniferous up to and including the Cretaceous. 



No detailed information of the entire coal area of the Rocky Mountain region, sim- 

 ilar to that which has been determined by State geological surveys of the coal basins 



From imperfect returns to a separate canvass, it would appear that the total con- 

 sumption of charcoal for smelting purposes in the region must be placed at round 

 4,000,000 busheJs, of which the three Leadville smelters take 2,364,000 bushels.— B, 

 E. F. 



