MARKETS FOR ALASKA COAL. 
27 
COMPETITION WITH IMPORTED COAL. 
The following districts in Alaska may produce coal either for local use or for export: 
Bering River, Matanuska River, Cook Inlet, Alaska Peninsula and adjacent islands, Yukon 
River, Seward Peninsula, and Cape Lisburne. The coal which is now being shipped to 
Alaska is derived from the following sources: Vancouver Island, Puget Sound, Australia, 
and the Appalachian region. Alaska coal will not only have to compete with these at 
home, but, if it seeks a more extended market, will also meet these coals on Puget Sound, 
at San Francisco, and in the navy-yards of the Pacific, and will also compete to some 
extent with the coal now being mined in California and Oregon. It is consequently 
important to compare the character of the Alaska coals with that of all those with which 
they may come into competition. Tins may be done by inspecting the following tables 
of analyses, which are the best available substitutes for actual practical tests and which 
may be relied on to give a close approximation to the quality and value of the coal: 
Average composition and character of Alaska coals. 
District and kind of coal. 
Mois- 
ture. 
Volatile 
matter. 
Fixed 
carbon. 
Ash. 
Sul- 
phur. 
Fuel 
ratio 
Bering River, anthracite, average of 7 analyses " 
7.88 
6.15 
78. 23 
7.71 
1.30 
12.86 
Bering River, semianthracite, average of n analyses" 
4.76 
13.27 
74.84 
7.12 
1.51 
5.68 
Matanuska River, anthracite, 1 sample & 
2.55 
7. 08 
84.32 
6. 05 
57 
11.90 
Matanuska River, semibituminous and bituminous, 
2.71 
20. 23 
65.39 
11.60 
3.23 
Matanuska River, lower grade bituminous, average 
6.56 
35.43 
49.44 
8. 23 
.37 
1.40 
Cape Lisburne, semibituminous, average of 3 analy- 
ses c. 
3.66 
17.47 
75. 04 
2.92 
.96 
i. it; 
Cape Lisburne, bituminous, average of 12 analyses c. 
9.46 
38. 42 
16.83 
5.24 
.38 
1.21 
Yukon River, bituminous, average of 9 analyses d . . 
4.69 
32. 05 
55.89 
6.97 
1 . 85 
Yukon River, lignite, average of 9 analyses d 
11.89 
41.11 
10.82 
6.20 
.89 
AlaskaPeninsula, bituminous, average of 5 analyses « 
2.34 
38.68 
49. 75 
9. 22 
1.07 
1.30 
Kachemak Bay, lignite, average of 6 analyses / 
19.85 
10. 18 
30. 99 
8.68 
.35 
.77 
24.92 
38. 15 
33.58 
3.85 
. 08 
Southeastern Alaska, lignite, average of 5 analyses/?.. 
1.97 
37.84 
35. is 
24.23 
1.02 
a P. 74. 
b P. 97. 
c Brooks, A. H., Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 36, 1905, p. 692. 
d Collier, A. J., Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 218, 1903, p. 64. 
e Average obtained from published and unpublished analyses by the U. S. Geol. Survey. 
f Stone, R. W., Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 259, 1905, p. 171. 
oMoffit, F. H.. Bull. IT. S. Geol. Survey No. 247, 1905, p. 67. 
ftDall, W. H„ Seventeenth Ann. Rept.*U. S. Geol, Survey, pt, 1, 3896, r>. 783. 
