156 
ALASKAN MINERAL RESOURCES IN 1904. 
[BULL. 259. 
to be about 5 feet thick, of which the middle portion is very hard and 
shiny. Some chunks of it will melt and coke like bituminous coal 
when put on the fire. 
In the cliff at Bluff Point, 171 feet of strata contain 18 feet of coal 
in seams ranging in thickness from 3 inches to 4^ feet. The character 
of the series is shown by a typical section measured near the mine 
camp at the west end of the Cook Inlet Coal Fields Company Railroad. 
Section of Kenai formation at Mine Camp, Kachemak Bay. 
Sandstone 
Clay shale 
Coal 
Clay shale 
Coal (sample 3) 
Shale 
Sandstone 
Coal 
Clay shale 
Coal 
Clay shale 
Sandstone 
Clay shale 
Coal (Cooper seam, sample 4) 
J hu'kness. 
Ft. hi. 
30 
25 
7 5 

9 


5 
1 
5 
3 
30 
2 
16 
L'O 
2 
9 
1 
15 
11 10 
16 
Clay shale 
Coal 
Clay shale 
Coal 
Clay shale 
Sandstone 
Clay shale and coal streak 
Coal 
Clay shale 
Sandstone 
Coal 
Sandstone to beach 
Total 
Thickness; 
Ft. 
3 

12 

26 
40 
IS 
1 11 
34 
2 
10 
50 C 
382 K 
In this section there are 9 coal yearns, having a total thickness of 24 
feet. The smallest seam in the section is 5 inches and the largest "\ 
feet 5 inches. The rocks dip slightly to the east along the shore anc 
at an angle of 15° or 20° into the bluff. It is at this point that the 
greatest amount of development work has been done. 
The Cook Inlet Coal Fields Company chose this as the best portioi 
of the field for developing a large mine, and began extensive opera 
tions in 1899. They constructed a railroad 7k miles long which extend 
from their dock at the outer end of Homer spit back to the mainland 
where it rises to the top of the bluff about 200 feet above the bead 
and ends at Coal Creek. A house and store, with over a dozen tool 
engine, and storage houses were built at the dock and this group o : 
buildings is known as Homer. Eight or ten buildings constituting th i 
mine camp were erected at the other end of the railroad, and undei 
ground work was begun in the fall of 1899 by driving a three-comparl ■ 
ment shaft 125 feet. In 1900 tunnel No. 1 was driven in the face c 
the bluff on a seam of coal 6^ feet thick, but it proved to be very wil 
