COAL   NEAR   CRAZY    MOUNTAINS,   MONTANA.  87 
high  grade  to  warrant  working  under  ordinary  circumstances;  but  owing  to  the  distance 
of  White  Sulphur  Springs  from  the  railroad  the  cost  of  transportation  of  coal  from  other 
points  has  been  prohibitive,  and  this  seam  furnished  the  only  available  source  of 
supply. 
In  the  Potter  Creek  valley  coal  is  reported  in  sec.  17,  T.  6  N., 
R.  8  E.,  with  a  thickness  of  6  inches.  On  top  of  the  cliff  just  west  of 
Harry  Blair's  house,  in  sec.  24,  T.  4  N.,  R.  7  E.,  the  Eagle  coal  has 
been  found,  but  the  thickness  is  less  than  1  foot  and  the  bed  is  con- 
sequently of  no  value  as  a  source  of  fuel.  Streaks  of  this  sort  may 
be  found  in  the  Eagle  sandstone  on  either  side  of  the  valley. 
The  only  locality  where  coal  approaching  workable  thickness  has 
been  discovered  in  the  area  here  described  is  at  the  head  of  Sixteen- 
mile  Creek,  in  the  ridges  of  folded  rocks  east  of  Potter  Creek.  It 
was  reported  by  Weed  in  the  Little  Belt  Mountains  folio  that  a  mine 
had  been  operated  here  for  several  years,  a  small  amount  of  coal 
being  taken  every  winter.  The  mine,  which  is  in  sec.  6,  T.  5  N., 
R.  9  E.,  and  is  the  property  of  Rees  &  Bangor,  of  White  Sulphur 
Springs,  was  abandoned  in  1906.  It  is  south  of  the  road  along  the 
creek  and  is  marked  by  a  cabin.  As  the  bed  stands  at  an  angle  of  35°, 
a  tunnel  was  driven  to  undercut  it  and  the  coal  was  taken  by  drifting 
and  stoping.  The  drift  is  about  200  feet  long  and  is  open  yet,  so 
that  the  character  of  the  bed  can  be  seen.  Portions  of  the  lagging 
have  rotted,  however,  and  caving  has  begun,  so  that  the  mine  may 
soon  be  closed.  The  bed  ranges  in  thickness  from  2\  feet  to  4J  feet. 
It  contains  at  the  top  17  inches  of  subbituminous  coal  which  is  hard 
and  bright  and  mines  in  blocks;  below  this  is  1  to  5  inches  of  plastic 
clay,  underlain  by  1  to  3  feet  of  crushed  and  dirty  coal  which  makes 
such  fine  slack  as  to  be  objectionable  for  steaming  purposes.  It  is 
said  to  be  a  good  blacksmithing  coal,  however.  According  to  John 
Rees,  one  of  the  owners,  the  comparatively  poor  quality  and  the 
thinness  of  the  solid,  black  coal  and  the  cost  of  the  long  wagon  haul 
necessary  to  deliver  the  product  at  the  nearest  market  make  mining 
unprofitable.  From  1883,  when  this  coal  was  discovered,  until  the 
mine  was  abandoned  in  1906  about  500  tons  were  mined. 
-  Two  shafts  were  sunk  to  this  coal  bed  at  the  head  of  the  coulee 
about  one-fourth  of  a  mile  south  of  the  above-described  mine  in  1889, 
but  at  a  depth  of  75  feet  the  bed  decreased  in  thickness  to  6  inches  and 
water  came  in  so  copiously  that  the  undertaking  was  abandoned. 
These  shafts  are  now  caved  full.  The  location  of  these  openings 
on  the  crest  of  a  sharp  anticlinal  fold  probably  accounts  for  the  dis- 
turbed and  crushed  condition  of  a  portion  of  the  bed,  and  may  in 
part  explain  the  marked  thinning  of  the  coal. 
Several  other  attempts  to  develop  this  coal  bed  have  been  made 
akmg  the  eastern  outcrop  on  the  north  side  of  this  fork  of  Sixteen- 
mile  Creek,  but  nowhere  did  the  prospecting  reveal  sufficient  coal  to 
induce  mining.     Only  one  measurement  of  the  bed  was  obtained 
