COAT,  IN  NORTI  [WESTERN   COLORADO  AND  NORT11KASTERN  UTAH.        305 
at  this  place,  and  the  coal  should  be  available  there  from  the  higher 
beds  as  well  as  from  the  one  opened  at  the  mine.  Owing  to  its 
peculiar  situation  it  is  very  doubtful  if  all  of  the  coal  of  the  Douglas 
Creek  district  can  be  assumed  to  be  of  commercial  value  at  the 
present  time.  The  almost  universal  burning  in  this  part  of  the  field 
has  destroyed  practically  all  of  the  coal  at  its  outcrops,  and  by  reason 
of  the  location  of  these  beds  in  the  summits  of  the  ridges  the  burn- 
ing may  also  have  extended  to  considerable  depth.  The  fact  that 
much  of  the  coal  is  situated  wholly  above  ground  water  would  make 
the  complete  burning  of  practically  all  the  valuable  beds  very  prob- 
able in  many  and  perhaps  most  of  the  narrow  ridges.  Such  a  con- 
dition is  all  the  more  likely  on  account  of  the  intricate  network  of 
steep  canyons  that  intersect  the  region.  The  coal  is  thus  subdivided 
into  patches  of  an  almost  infinite  detail  of  outline,  the  actual  tracing 
of  which  would  be  rather  difficult. 
Toward  the  flanks  of  the  broad,  gently  arched  uplift  these  coal- 
bearing  beds  descend  to  and  below  water  level  or  are  more  deeply 
covered,  and  in  that  portion  of  the  district  they  are  thus  in  more 
favorable  positions  and  attitudes  for  mining  purposes. 
Throughout  the  western  part  of  the  district,  or  west  of  the  actual 
drainage  basin  of  Douglas  Creek  itself,  no  coal  was  noted,  but  it  is 
evident  that  erosion  has  progressed  rather  deeply  into  the  Wasatch 
beds  at  many  points,  and  it  is  very  likely  that  some  of  the  more  valu- 
able coals  may  some  time  prove  to  be  accessible  at  no  great  depths 
within  these  valleys,  should  demand  ever  be  made  for  their  develop- 
ment. 
East  of  the  settlement  at  Dragon,  winch  is  the  terminus  of  the 
Uintah  Railway,  the  upper  valleys  of  Evacuation,  Missouri,  and 
Texas  creeks  are  evidently  eroded  in  the  Wasatch  beds  underlying 
the  Green  River  formation.  These  strata  are  shown  by  the  bluffs 
of  red  and  white  banded  clays  and  soft  sandstones  which  line  the 
lower  canyon  walls  or  form  the  bare  washes  in  their  lower  valleys. 
These  valleys  are  covered  with  slabs  and  blocks  of  oolitic  rock  and 
sandstone. 
Character  of  the  coal. — It  seems  fair  to  assume  thai  the  coal  of  this 
district  is  similar  in  character  and  thickness  to  that  of  the  White 
River  districts  to  the  north  and  also  to  that  of  tin1  better  known  and 
exploited  fields. on  the  south  side  of  the  Book  Cliffs  divide.  Analyses 
of  coals  from  the  south  side  of  Raven  Park  (Nos.  5519  and  5520,  p. 
314)  are  doubtless  as  truly  representative  of  the  Douglas  Creek  district 
as  they  are  of  the  White  River  field  in'  general. 
A  comparison  of  the  relative  efficiency  or  heating  value  of  this 
coal,  as  shown  by  the  calorimet  ric  determinations,  indicates  that  it 
is  very  similar  to  most  of  thai  in  the  Danforth  Hills  field  and  also  to 
the  Mesaverde  coal  of  the  Yampa  field  of  Routt  County,  and  that 
it  may  be  properly  classed  as  bituminous. 
71  197     Bull.  341     09         20 
