collier.] NATION RIVER MINE. 35 
The fossils collected by Brooks at this time were of a fauna similar 
to that of the Nation River limestones, and Schuchert, who examined 
them, and who has also examined the larger collections made on the 
Yukon by the writer and the collection made in the Copper River 
Basin by W. C. Mendenhall, is now of the opinion that these beds 
should be correlated with the limestones at Nation River. 
Only one bed of coal has been found at Nation River. The mine work- 
ings arc abandoned, and, having caved in, could not be examined. The 
face of the bluff on which they are located is subject to local slides, 
by which the outcrops of coal are covered. A recent prospect hole 
near the top of the bluff showed about 2 feet of crushed coal and shale 
standing nearly vertical. 
W. E. Williams, who was superintendent of the mine, informed the 
writer that the coal bed here was never well defined. The coal was 
found in pockets and kidne} T s often as large as 8 feet thick and 1:3 feet 
long. When the mine was abandoned a large body of this kind that 
had been located was left unmined. Large pieces of this coal were 
found in the creek bed before the coal body was located. 
The coal mined at Nation River is distinct in character from any 
other coal mined on the Yukon. It is a bituminous coal, containing a 
low percentage of water, and showing no traces of woody structure. 
If these coals prove to be of Kenai age, the differences in their com- 
position may be accounted for by the greater degree of deformation 
which they have suffered. An analysis was made of a sample taken 
from a large pile, probably 100 tons, mined in 1898. It had been 
exposed to the weather on the river bank since that time, but appar- 
ently was not greatly altered. It had the following composition: 
Analysis of coal (sample No. 68) from Nation River mine. 
[Analyst, E. T. Allen, U. S. Geol. Survey . | per cent 
Water 1. 39 
Volatile combustible matter 40. 02 
Fixed carbon 55. 55 
Ash 3. 04 
100. 00 
Sulphur 2. 98 
Fuel ratio 1. 39 
This coal makes a good coke in the laboratory. A large part of the 
coal was dry and unfrozen and of good quality, while a smaller part 
was frozen and almost worthless as fuel. The distribution of the frost 
was probably due to the circulation of water through the bodies of 
coal. 
In 1897 the Alaska Commercial Company attempted to open a coal 
mine at this place, and about 2,000 tons a of coal were mined and 
« For estimates of the amounts of coal produced at points along the Yukon the writer is indebted to 
Mr. W. E. Williams, a mining engineer, who has operated coal mines on the Yukon since 1897. 
