COAL  IN  CLALLAM  COUNTY,  WASH." 
By  Ralph  Arnold. 
INTRODUCTION. 
Location. — Clallam  is  the  northwestern  county  of  Washington,  and 
occupies  a  long,  narrow  strip  in  the  northern  portion  of  the  Olympic 
Peninsula.  Two  coal  fields  in  the  county  are  now  being  prospected. 
The  first  is  located  immediately  south  of  Freshwater  Bay,  7  miles 
west  of  Port  Angeles,  the  county  seat,  while  the  second  is  between  the 
Pysht  River  and  Clallam  Bay,  about  35  miles  west  of  the  same  town. 
The  Freshwater  Bay  field  is  accessible  by  road  or  boat  from  Port 
Angeles,  while  that  at  Clallam  Bay  is  reached  only  by  water. 
Description.1' — The  natural  and  commercial  development  of  north- 
western Washington  is  dominated  by  the  Olympic  Mountains,  a  por- 
tion of  which  occupies  the  greater  part  of  Clallam  County.  These 
mountains,  which  are  a  labyrinth  of  sharp,  serrated  ridges  and 
jagged  peaks,  occupy  an  area  of  about  3,000  square  miles  in  the 
central  portion  of  the  Olympic  Peninsula  and  culminate  in  Mount 
Olympus  at  an  altitude  of  8,150  feet.  Between  the  mountains  and 
the  Strait  of  Juan  de  Fuca  is  a  narrow,  rather  rolling  terrace, 
averaging  about  200  feet  in  elevation,  while  to  the  west  of  the 
Olympics  is  broad  strip  of  hilly  country  extending  from  the  vicinity 
of  Ozette  Lake  to  Grays  Harbor. 
Owing  to  the  heavy  precipitation  on  the  peninsula  (Neah  Bay,  in 
the  northwest  corner,  having  the  maximum  mean  annual  rainfall  for 
the  United  States),  many  rivers  rise  in  the  central  portion  of  the 
Olympics  and  descend  through  deep,  precipitous  canyons  to  the 
more  level  border  lands.  These  rivers  are  navigable  only  for  canoes, 
and  for  these  only  in  the  lower  channels,  but  they  offer  an  unlimited 
field  for  the  development  of  cheap  power. 
°  These  notes  on  the  coal  resources  of  Clallam  County  were  made  in  June,  1904,  during 
a  reconnaissance  of  the  Tertiary  formations  of  the  Olympic  Peninsula  coast  line,  under 
the  direction  of  Dr.  William  H.  Dall.  The  writer  was  assisted  in  the  field  work  by  Mr. 
Chester  Washburne,  of  Eugene,  Oreg.,  and  by  Mr.  Russell  G.  Wayland,  of  Seattle,  Wash. 
6  The  only  description  of  the  little-known  Olympic  Mountain  region  heretofore  pub- 
lished is  found  in  "  The  Olympic  country,"  by  the  late  S.  C  Giiman  :  Nat.  Geog.  Mag., 
vol.  7,  1896,  pp.  133-140,  with  map. 
413 
