boLLiER.] NULATO PROVINCE, MINE NO. 1. 57 
Coal mini No. 1. — This mine is situated on the right bank of the 
Yukon 25 miles below the Williams mine. Above and below this 
place for several miles there are sandstone bluffs rising about 50 feet 
above the river. At the coal mine the bluffs recede and a bench about 
50 feet high appears between them and the river. The opening to the 
coal mine is located on this bench. 
The sandstones containing this coal also carry fossil plants, but the 
collection made was too meager to permit determination of their age. 
These beds strike N. 60° W., and at the coal mine dip 35° SW. 
About 1 mile above this place the sandstones have the same strike, but 
dip to the northeast at an angle of 25°, indicating an anticlinal struc- 
ture, with the coal bed exposed on the southwestern limb. 
The coal seam has a thickness of from 2? to 3 feet. The following 
analysis of a sample taken from the croppings of this vein near the old 
entrance to the mine indicates a good quality of bituminous coal. 
The croppings where the sample was obtained were exposed to the 
sun, and in all probability the amount of water in freshly mined coal 
would be somewhat greater than this analysis shows: 
Analysis of coal (sample X". 288) from coal mine No. 1, 80 miles below Kaltag. 
[Analyst, E. T. Allen, U. S. Geol. Survey.] 
Per cent. 
Water 4.82 
Volatile combustible matter 34. 62 
Fixed carbon 55. 65 
Ash 4. 1)1 
100. 00 
Sulphur 0. 21 
Fuel ratio 1. 61 
Coke sinters slightly. 
The Alaskan Commercial Company attempted to open a coal mine 
here in the winter of 1898. W. E. Williams was manager of these 
operations, and 900 tons were produced, but the mine was abandoned 
the same year on account of the difficulty of keeping out water. The 
mine buildings still left include one frame building and two cabins. 
The workings included a 9 by 7 foot slope tunnel, which at the time of 
the writer's visit was full of water. 
Halls Rapids. — These so-called rapids, which are merely a slight 
acceleration of the sluggish current of the Yukon, are about 50 miles 
above Anvik. There a series of bluffs composed of white and yellow- 
ish tuffs, containing some impure lignite seams, extends along the right 
bank of the Yukon. Some of these lignite beds have been opened by- 
shallow prospect tunnels. About one-half mile below the so-called 
rapids a seam of coal about 6 inches thick was seen in this tuff. This 
cropping has been traced several hundred feet, but the bed is probably 
not very extensive. The coal has a compact, lignitic appearance and 
