CHAPTER YIII. 
COAL, BUILDING-STONES, GYPSUM, METALS, AND ORES. 
Coal most abundant on the eastern part of the line.-—Coal along the Arkansas and Canadian rivers.—In petit jean and 
SUGAR-LOAF MOUNTAINS.-ALBUQUERQUE OR SANDIA MOUNTAINS.—At OJO PESCADO.-CANON DE CHACO.- At BELLINGHAM BAY.-—- 
Vancouver’s island.—Cowlitz coal.—Bitumen of los angeles.—Building-stone.—Granite and gneiss.—Limestone and 
SANDSTONE.-TlIEIR DISTRIBUTION OVER THE ROUTE.-GYPSUM, ITS APPLICATIONS IN THE ARTS.-USED FOR WINDOW-LIGHTS.—- 
Gold.—Old and new placers.—Resemblance of the deposites to those of California.—“Dry diggings.”—New Mexican 
METHODS OF MINING AND WASHING. YlELD OF THE PLACERS. ABSENCE OF WATER.—USE OF SNOW-WATER.—QUALITY OF THE 
G0 LI) .—Rights in the placers.—Mining laws.—Quartz veins.—Mines.—Gold in the great basin and bernardino 
SIERRA. ArMAGOSA MINE.-—SAN FRANCISQUITO PLACER. COPPER, LEAD, AND SILVER.—IRON. SALT. 
COAL. 
The principal and almost the only coal deposites along the route are found on the eastern 
portion of the line, bordering the valley of the Arkansas and Canadian rivers. The other 
localities either do not offer the coal in beds of sufficient thickness to he profitably worked, or 
the quality is greatly inferior. 
Coal along the Arkansas and Canadian .—Beds of coal are numerous along the Arkansas 
and its tributaries, hut there is not yet any very definite and specific information concerning 
their thickness and extent, or the quality of the coal. Dr. Geo. C. Shumard states, that 
numerous workable seams of coal have been discovered in Washington county, and that it 
exists in almost inexhaustible quantities throughout the county of Sebastian, where “ the seams 
vary in thickness from a few inches to seven feet, and lie in such a manner that they can be 
wrought easily.” 1 
The first mention of the coal by Mr. Marcou, in his notes, was on his arrival at the Petit 
Jean mountain, where, on the right bank, one or two ranges of high hills containing beds of 
coal were found. Twelve miles south of Fort Smith, Mr. Marcou notes a bed of bituminous 
coal twelve feet thick, containing traces of oxide of iron. Other beds, from two to twelve feet 
thick, are found in the adjoining counties further south. Sugar-loaf mountain, which is thirty 
miles south of Fort Smith, contains coal at its base and in the middle. (See notes, June 19.) 
At the plantation of Mr. King, Camp 1 to 2, a well had been dug forty feet deep, and a bed 
of coal three feet thick passed through. Coal-beds are noted near Camp 7, and Lieutenant 
Whipple states that a blacksmith living at that place uses the coal of the vicinity in his forge. 
These facts, and the extent and character of the carboniferous strata along the Canadian, 
show us that the eastern part of the route, from Little Rock to Delaware mountain, traverses 
an extensive coal region. It may safely be assumed, that coal can be conveniently obtained at 
almost any point along that section of the line. 
Albuquerque Mountains .—The next point at which coal, or its indications, was found is in the 
Sandia or Albuquerque mountains. Here blackish shales were found without coal, but it was 
reported that coal could be obtained at Manzana, several miles north. It is somewhat doubtful 
whether this coal, if obtained there, is of the same age as the bituminous shales of the Sandia 
mountain ; it may be more modern. The deposites of coal at the Raton Pass are at the north 
1 Shumard, in Marcy’s Red River Report, p. 180. 
