stoxe.J COAL IN SOUTHWESTERN ALASKA. 169 
SOUTH COAST FROM OHIGNIK BAY TO END OF PENINSULA. 
Other points on the peninsula where coal occurs in small amount are 
Coal Cape, near Mitrofania Island, west longitude 159 ; Portage Bay, 
160° 35'; Beaver or Otter Bay and Coal Bay, 161° 40', west of Shu- 
magin Islands. Nothing is known of the coal at these localities, but it 
is assumed to be of the same character as that found farther east along 
the peninsula; it occurs probably in thin seams. 
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS. 
The chain of islands that extends westward from Alaska Peninsula 
is composed largely of volcanic material but contains some sedimen- 
tary and metamorphic rocks. Lignite-bearing beds are supposed to 
occur on several of the islands, the supposition being drawn inferen- 
tial^ from reports of localities where amber has been found. The 
only island on which coal is said to exist a is Akun, which is on the 
south side of Unimak Pass. It is probable that thin seams of lignite 
of limited extent may be found in the Aleutian Islands, but as far as 
present information goes it is doubtful whether any of them may be 
commercially valuable. 
ANALYSES. 
In the following table proximate analyses of coal from most of the 
fields in southwestern Alaska are given. These were all made in the 
chemical laboratory of the U. S. Geological Survey, with the exception 
of the analysis of Matanuska coal made by C. C. Bogardus, of Seattle, 
Wash. The samples from Kachemak Bay, Port Graham, andChignik 
River were collected by the writer. Each sample represents the com- 
mercially valuable portion of a seam. These samples were washed and 
dried several hours in the open air before crushing and quartering, 
and sealed in tin cans, so there was little chance for evaporation din- 
ing the six months which elapsed before they were analyzed. Two 
sets of analyses were made, one from samples ground in a cotfeemill, 
and the other ground to powder in an agate mortar. The analyses of 
the coarse-ground samples are believed to represent more closely the 
condition of the coal as it would be mined and marketed, and are given 
below. Five analyses, made by George Steiger, are from samples col- 
lected by W. H. Dall in 1895. They were " taken from the seam and 
tied in bags of stout duck, and analyzed immediately on arrival at 
headquarters" 6 several months later. 
a Dall, op. cit., p. 811. &Dall, op. fit., p. 827. 
