collier.] NULATO PROVINCE, WILLIAMS MINE. 55 
The Blatchford mine has no visible development or equipment. 
The workings lie below the level of the river, and the opening is cov- 
ered with water during* the summer months. The coal that has been 
mined has been taken after the river was frozen. The ice filling the 
upper part of the workings is first mined out, after which the coal is 
reached. The excavations probably do not exceed 40 feet in depth. 
The '"mine" is controlled by some employees of the Northern Com- 
mercial Company. It is leased, usually for the season, by one or two 
miners, who are satisfied if they can produce 100 tons of coal during 
the winter. Probably not over 300 tons have been mined since this 
coal was discovered. 
Williams mine. — This mine is located on the right bank of the 
Yukon 50 miles below Kaltag and about 100 miles* below Nulato. 
About 5 miles above the mine the river, after dividing into a number 
of channels, comes together at the foot of a series of bluffs, chief!} 7 of 
sandstone, but also containing conglomeratic and shaly beds, which 
extend approximately north and south and continue for a mile below 
the coal mine. The sandstone bluffs rise from the river to an eleva- 
tion of 150 feet, which elevation extends back from the river to the 
limit of vision. 
The sandstones in which the coal occurs carry fossil plants, which 
have been determined as Eocene (Kenai), and show the coal to be 
undoubted^ younger than the coal beds near Nulato. A mile or more 
above the mine there is an abundant fresh-water fauna in some of the 
sandstone beds. Some evidence of faulting appears in the bluffs about 
one-half mile above the coal mine and renders it difficult to estimate the 
thickness of the section. A study of the exposures indicates that the 
coal bed is overlain by at least 2,000 feet of sandstones, conglomerates, 
and black shales. At the coal bed the strike is N. 70° W. and the dip 
is 45° N. At the upper end of the bluffs the strike is about N. 30° W. 
and the dip is variable, but less than at the mine. 
One coal bed of workable thickness has been found at this place, but 
below this bed there are probabl} 7 other seams of possible commercial 
importance. The coal seam which is being worked has a thickness of 
39 inches and is divided into two nearly equal benches by a clay part- 
ing about three-fourths of an inch thick. The quality of the coal in 
the two benches is very similar. In the upper bench the coal appears 
dry and carries streaks of ""mineral charcoal." In the bottom of the 
lower bench a small amount of fossil resin, or amber, occurs. 
This bed has been followed 400 feet into the hill by the mine work- 
ings, and shows no variation in strike or thickness. 
