RED   LODGE   COAL   FIELD,    MONTANA.  99 
many  points,  but  mines  are  located  only  along  stream  courses, 
where  they  can  be  reached  by  railroad  lines.  Stratigraphically  the 
coal  beds  at  Red  Lodge  and  Bear  Creek  are  identical  and  are  not 
of  the  same  age  as  the  coal  bed  mined  at  Bridger  and  Fromberg, 
being  several  thousand  feet  higher.  They  are,  however,  of  the 
same  geologic  age  as  the  coal  of  the  Bull  Mountain  field  and  that 
mined  at  Sheridan,  Wyo.  As  first  worked  at  Red  Lodge  the  beds 
were  numbered  in  consecutive  order  from  the  top  downward,  but 
since  these  numbers  were  established  a  bed  (No.  1§)  has  been  found 
between  1  and  2  and  another  bed  (No.  4J)  between  4  and  5.  The 
numbers  of  the  beds  given  on  PL  VI  correspond  to  those  used  in  the 
field.  As  exposed  at  Red  Lodge  bed  No.  1  contains  7  feet  of  coal 
overlain  by  carbonaceous  shale  and  underlain  by  4  to  6  inches  of 
shale  above  sandstone.  Bed  No.  1J  contains  5  feet  of  bright  coal 
with  many  thin  partings  and  has  a  sandstone  roof  and  shale  floor. 
Bed  No.  2  contains  8  feet  of  coal  in  six  benches,  with  partings  of 
shale  one-half  to  1  inch  thick.  It  rests  upon  shale  and  is  covered  by 
sandstone.  Bed  No.  3  contains  10  feet  of  dirty  coal  not  worked  at 
present.  Bed  No.  4  has  10  feet  of  good  coal  occurring  in  three 
benches,  with  a  parting  1  inch  thick  23  inches  below  the  top.  This 
bed  is  underlain  by  sandstone  and  covered  by  gray  shale.  Bed 
No.  A\  is  composed  of  3^  feet  of  coal  which  occurs  in  several  benches 
and  has  shale  both  above  and  below,  rendering  mining  so  difficult  that 
little  coal  is  now  taken  from  this  bed.  Bed  No.  5  contains  12  feet 
1  inch  of  coal  in  four  benches,  with  partings  one-half  to  2  inches 
thick,  and  lies  between  beds  of  hard  shale.  Bed  No.  6  shows  4  feet  11 
inches  of  coal  in  a  single  bench,  with  both  roof  and  floor  composed  of 
sandstone.  The  coal  below  bed  No.  6  is  not  worked  at  present  and 
is  placed  in  one  group  because  the  interval  between  the  beds  is  not 
suflicient  to  allow  any  one  coal  to  be  mined  without  disturbing  those 
above. 
Mining  is  generally  conducted  by  the  room  and  pillar  system,  the 
size  of  the  rooms  and  pillars  varying  according  to  local  conditions. 
Water  is  pumped  from  the  mine  at  Red  Lodge  and  from  one  mine  in  the 
Bear  Creek  district;  the  other  mines  are  dry  enough  for  mining  but 
contain  sufficient  moisture  to  obviate  sprinkling.  As  gas  is  present 
only  in  small  quantities,  open  lights  are  used  in  all  the  mines.  Most 
of  the  mines  require  powder,  but  in  two  of  them  the  coal  is  so  jointed 
that  vertical  columns  may  be  extracted  by  undermining  and  prying 
down.  Mining  is  done  by  hand  except  in  the  mine  of  the  Bear  Creek 
Coal  Company  on  bed  No.  3,  where  electric  machines  are  also  used. 
About  1,000  miners  are  now  employed  in  the  field,  working  under  the 
wage  scale  fixed  by  the  Montana  Coal  Operators'  Association  and  the 
United  Mine  Workers  of  America  in  joint  convention. 
