404  CONTKIBUTIONS   TO   ECONOMIC   GEOLOGY,    1907,    PAKT   II. 
Analysis  of  sample  of  coal  obtained  near  Medford,  Oreg. 
[P.  M.  Stanton,  chemist  in  charge.] 
As  received.   Air  dried. 
Laboratory  No I        5346. 
Loss  of  moisture  on  air  drying. 
Moisture 
Volatile  matter 
Fixed  carbon 
Ash 
Sulphur 
Calories 
British  thermal  units 
11.30 
23.39 
31.89 
33.42 
5346. 
2.00 
9.49 
23.87 
32.  54 
34.10 
1.16  1.18 
4, 183  4, 268 
7,529  7,683 
The  sample  taken  is  a  complete  section  of  the  coal  bed  exposed 
and  represents  what  has  to  be  removed  in  working  the  coal.  It  con- 
tains not  only  the  good  coal,  but  all  the  shaly  partings.  The  high 
percentage  of  ash  indicates  that  the  bed  contains  much  that  would 
have  to  be  thrown  away  in  mining.  The  ash  is  about  four  times  as 
great  as  that  of  the  bed  mined  at  Libby,  in  the  Coos  Bay  region. 
In  prospecting  the  region  systematically  the  entire  coal-bearing 
series  should  be  drilled  from  top  to  bottom  to  determine  the  number, 
position,  and  relative  value  of  the  beds,  and  then  they  should  be 
worked  at  the  top  first.  If  the  lower  beds  are  worked  out  first,  those 
next  above  may  be  rendered  unworkable  by  caving  and  thus  lost. 
It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the  coal  beds  extend  to  a  very  great 
distance  beneath  the  Cascade  Range  before  being  disturbed  by  the 
rising  lavas  of  the  range,  but  it  may  well  be  that  they  continue  far 
enough  to  give  a  considerable  body  of  coal  of  various  grades  that  will 
supply  for  the  present,  in  some  measure,  local  demands  for  fuel  and 
that  will  in  the  future,  when  producers  and  gas  engines  are  perfected, 
furnish  an  important  source  of  power. 
Several  other  prospects  have  been  opened  to  the  north  and  also  to 
the  south  of  those  of  Mr.  Little,  but  nowhere  are  the  works  extensive 
enough  to  show  continuity  of  the  beds. 
COAL  NEAR   ASHLAND. 
Four  miles  north  of  Ashland  several  coal  beds  have  been  faced  up 
in  short  slopes  by  D.  P.  Greninger.  A  striking  feature  of  this  coal, 
as  of  that  near  Medford,  is  the  decided  increase  in  the  amount  and 
improvement  in  the  quality  of  the  coal  to  the  northeast,  but  the 
workings  are  not  extensive  enough  to  afford  a  fair  opportunity  of 
estimating  their  value.  Neither  lavas  nor  faults  were  encountered 
here.  The  beds  are  not  so  large  as  those  farther  north.  They  have 
furnished  a  few  tons  of  coal  for  the  local  market. 
Greater  activity  is  shown  4  miles  east  of  Ashland,  near  the  "Gillett 
Lithia  Springs,"  where  the  Ashland  Coal  Company  has  run  slopes 
into  two  coal  beds,  the  upper  12  feet  and  the  lower  5J  feet  thick,  sepa- 
