48 THE BOOK CLIFFS COAL FIELD. 
entirely for domestic purposes and the coal is transported by wagon. 
In 1906 the average cost of coal at the country mines was $1.75 a 
ton; at Palisades the price was quoted at $2.25 a ton, and at Grand 
Junction the retail price for lump coal not delivered was $3 a ton. 
Slack sold for between 50 and 75 cents a ton. 
DEVELOPMENT. 
Very little has been done in developing the eastern part of the 
Book Cliffs coal field. The four mines with railroad connections are 
reported to have produced in 1905 a total of only 5,300 tons, while 
the other mines are for the most part country banks that yield but a 
few hundred tons each a year. 
The proximity of the field to a trunk railroad and the ease with 
which short branch lines can be constructed across the shale plain to 
the base of the cliffs render the transportation problem comparatively 
easy. The situation of the coal, however, several hundred feet above 
the base of the cliffs, except in the creek valleys, makes it difficult of 
access and usually necessitates the construction of a steep tramway or 
an aerial cable. Favorable conditions for reaching the coal by shafts 
are rare, except in the broader valleys, and the greater part of the 
coal probably will be worked from the outcrop. 
An important consideration is the lack of water, which will prove 
a detriment to the commercial development of a large part of the 
field. Throughout the greater portion of the year there is either no 
surface water in the vicinity of the cliffs, away from Grand River, 
or water is present in very small quantity. Springs are scarce and 
the prospect of obtaining sufficient supplies of underground water is 
not favorable. The Cameo, Riverside, and Palisade mines, being 
near Grand River, do not experience this difficulty, and the Book 
Cliffs mine is located near one of the rare springs. Water is hauled 
from Atchee by the Uintah Railway for the men at the Carbonera 
mine. In the vicinity of several of the workings, as in Horse Creek, 
Utah, there is a small perennial stream, but for many miles along the 
cliffs there is insufficient water for mining purposes. Water from an 
irrigation canal is hauled by wagon to the mines north of Fruita, a 
distance of 8 or 10 miles. 
The first development work on the coal in this area is said to have 
been in 1882 at the old Book Cliff mine, north of Grand Junction. 
The Cameo mine was opened about 1895, and the Palisade mine is 
reported to have been started also about that time. These are the 
chief mines of the area and they supply the needs of the settlements 
in Grand River valley. The Carbonera mine, the only other with 
railroad connections, was not opened until 1904, and is used entirely 
for the needs of the Uintah Railway, which is a short road from Mack, 
Colo., to the gilsonite deposits at Dragon, Utah. There are only 
