COAL   PROSPECT   IN .  MORROW    COUNTY,    OREG.  407 
reported  record  of  a  diamond-drill  hole  602  feet  deep,  bored  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  prospects,  the  conclusion  is  reached  that  the  sedimen- 
tary rocks  are  probably  less  than  2,000  feet  thick.  The  beds  exposed 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  coal  mines  are  sandstones  of  varying 
degrees  of  coarseness,  but  softer  shale  is  reported  higher  up  on  the 
slopes.  A  few  poor  specimens  of  fossil  plants  were  collected  from 
the  roof  of  one  of  the  drifts  and  submitted  to  F.  H.  Knowlton  for 
determination.     He  reports,  in  part,  as  follows: 
This  material  contains  the  following  species: 
Monocotyledonous  plant  (unknown  to  me). 
Glypostrobus  cf.  G.  europajus  Heer. 
Quercus  consimilis?  Newberry. 
Populus  sp.? 
I  am  uncertain  about  the  age  of  this  material,  but  from  the  presence  of  what  appears 
to  be  Quercus  consimilis  I  incline  to  regard  it  as    *     *     *     upper  Clarno  [upper 
Eocene]. 
The  coal  was  discovered  some  years  ago  by  Willard  Herron,  by 
following  up  float  found  in  the  creek  bed.  The  property  is  now 
reported  to  be  owned  by  D.  A.  Herron,  C.  A.  Redfield,  and  George 
Conser  jointly,  and  the  statement  is  made  that  about  $82,000  has  been 
expended  in  exploitation  and  development.  Five  drifts  have  been 
carried  into  the  sides  of  the  canyon.  No.  1  is  only  a  few  feet  long, 
No.  2  about  50  feet,  No.  3  about  150  feet,  No.  4  about  380  feet,  and 
No.  5,  known  as  the  "Conser  tunnel/'  290  feet.  No.  4  is  in  the  best 
condition  for  examination  at  present  and  is  the  only  one  explored  at 
the  time  of  the  writer's  visit,  November  7,  1907.  It  has  been  driven 
into  the  west  side  of  the  canyon  wall  in  a.  nearly  westerly  direction, 
following  the  local  strike.  Near  its  entrance  the  drift  is  timbered, 
and  near  the  heading,  which  has  been  chambered  out  into  rooms  15 
or  20  feet  long,  10  or  12  feet  wide,  and  8  or  10  feet  high,  some  props 
have  been  placed.  The  immediate  floor  and  roof  of  the  coal  bed  are 
of  that  variety  of  black,  homogeneous,  nonfissile,  and  highly  carbon- 
aceous shale  usually  characterized  as  bone.  These  shale  bands  are 
only  a  few  inches  thick  and  above  and  below  them  appears  the  sand- 
stone which  makes  up  the  major  part  of  the  inclosing  formation.  The 
sandstones,  both  above  and  below  the  coal,  are  rolling  and  irregular, 
so  that  the  thickness  of  the  coal  is  variable.  The  coal  bed  where 
measured  is  about  53  inches  thick  and  consists  of  an  intimate  inter- 
bedding  of  bands  and  lenses  of  pure  .coal,  apparently  bituminous  in 
its  nature,  with  bands  of  bone  similar  to  that  forming  the  roof  and 
floor.  These  materials  are  interbedded  in  such  thin  bands  as  to  make 
it  difficult  to  separate  the  coal  from  the  bone  commercially.  Selected 
pieces  of  coal  can  be  taken  which  would  yield  a  low  percentage4  of  ash 
and  would  probably  give  high-grade  tests,  but  such  sampling  would 
not  yield  practical  results. 
