182        CONTRIBUTIONS   TO   ECONOMIC   GEOLOGY,   1907,   PART   II. 
inward.  The  bed  is  clean  except  for  two  6-inch  clay-ironstone  con- 
cretions observed  at  one  place.  The  mine  consists  of  a  slope  100 
feet  in  length  with  one  15-foot  room  turned  southward  at  a  distance 
of  80  feet  from  the  entrance.  The  roof  of  the  slope  is  sandstone, 
which  stands  without  timber.     The  bed  here  dips  7°  S.  65°  W. 
At  the  entrance  to  an  old  coal  mine  near  the  head  of  Polecat  Creek, 
in  sec.  24,  T.  57  N.,  R.  99  W.,  the  coal  bed  has  the  following  section: 
Section  of  coal  bed  at  the  head  of  Polecat  Creek,  in  sec.  24,  T.  57  N.,  R.  99  W. 
Shale.  Ft.    in. 
Coal 3 
Bone G 
Coal 1    2 
Shale. 
Total  coal 1    5 
Such  a  bed  would  not  be  worked,  but  it  is  reported  that  the  coal  is 
about  30  inches  thick  farther  in  the  mine.  This  report  could  not  be 
verified  because  the  workings  had  caved  in  and  could  not  be  exam- 
ined. The  coal  at  this  point  is  in  a  gentle  syncline.  Where  the  bed 
reaches  the  top  of  a  bluff  on  the  northeast  side  of  this  syncline  it  is 
concealed  by  terrace  gravel,  beneath  which  it  runs  north-northwest- 
ward to  the  Montana  line.  The  gravel  is  thin,  and  prospecting  could 
be  carried  on  by  sinking  small  shafts  or  drill  holes  through  it.  The 
gravel  is  cut  through  by  a  small  creek  which  exposes  the  coal  in  the 
W.  \  sec.  1,  T.  57  N.,  R.  99  W.  too  imperfectly,  however,  to  make 
it  possible  to  measure  the  thickness  of  the  bed.  There  are  two  sim- 
ilar exposures,  probably  of  the  same  bed,  in  the  SE.  \  NE.  \  sec.  35 
and  the  SW.  \  NW.  \  sec.  25,  T.  58  N.,  R.  99  W.  The  coal  is  possibly 
workable  at  both  these  places.  At  the  latter  exposure  the  following 
section  was  made: 
Section  of  coal  bed  in  sec.  25,  T.  58  N.,  R.  99  W. 
Shale.  Ft.    in. 
Coal G 
Shale 1 
Coal 9 
Shale ■     \ 
Coal 4 
Shale 8 
Coal 1    5 
Total  coal 3 
North  of  the  State  line,  in  Montana,  the  Laramie-Fort  Union 
coals  are  less  than  2  feet  thick  at  all  points  examined.  It  is  reported 
that  a  bed  of  workable  thickness  occurs  on  the  head  of  Cottonwood 
Creek,  but  it  could  not  be  found.  Three  coal  beds  about  18  inches 
thick  wore  found  on  the  west  side  of  Little  Cottonwood  Creek,  and 
there  are  innumerable  smaller  beds. 
