THE  COAL  OF  THE  BLACK  HILLS.  WYOMING. 
By  N.  II.  Darton. 
Location  of  bed*. — In  sandstones  of  lower  Cretaceous  age,  on  the 
west  side  of  the  Black  Hills  uplift,  in  Wyoming,  there  are  local 
deposits  of  soft,  bituminous  coal  which,  at  some  localities,  attain 
sufficient  thickness  to  be  of  some  commercial  importance.  In  the 
extensive  series  of  sedimentary  rocks  uplifted  in  the  Black  Hills 
region  only  the  Lakota  formation  (lower  Cretaceous)  contains  work- 
able coal  deposits  and,  in  the  thick  mass  of  rocks  of  Carboniferous 
age,  including  the  representatives  of  the  Coal  Measures  of  the  East, 
only  a  few  thin  coaly  layers  appear.  The  areas  of  valuable  coal  are 
not  .large  and  they  are  separated  by  districts  in  which  the  strata 
appear  to  be  entirely  barren. 
The  coal  is  mined  in  four  areas,  the  principal  one  being  at  Cam- 
bria, near  Newcastle,  Wyo.  There  are  smaller  workings  near  Alad- 
din, at  the  north  end  of  the  uplift.  The  coal  has  also  been  mined 
for  local  use  at  several  points  in  the  vicinity  of  Sundance  and 
Edgemont. 
Cambria. — In  the  vicinity  of  Cambria,  north  of  Newcastle,  there 
is  a  coal  basin  of  considerable  extent,  the  principal  coal  bed  in  which 
is  7  feet  or  more  in  thickness  and  of  excellent  quality.  Coal  has 
been  mined  at  Cambria  for  the  last  fifteen  years,  and  during  this  time 
somewhat  more  than  0,000,000  tons  have  been  produced,  having  an 
average  shipping  value  of  about  $1.50  per  ton.  For  several  years 
the  product  was  over  half  a  million  tons,  valued  at  $800,000,  but  a 
somewhat  less  amount  is  now  mined.  A  portion  of  the  product  is 
converted  into  coke,  which  is  shipped  to  smelting  works  in  the 
northern  Black  Hills. 
The  mines  are  at  Cambria,  (H-  miles  north  of  Newcastle,  where  a 
settlement  of  about  500  inhabitants  owes  its  existence  and  suste- 
nance to  the  mining  and  coking  operations.  It  is  connected  with 
Newcastle  by  a  branch  line  from  the  Burlington  and  Missouri  Iliver 
Railroad.  The  coal  underlies  all  of  the  plateau  on  the  west  side  of 
Salt  Creek,  but  the  coal  measures  have  been  cut  through  by  Little 
Oil  Creek,  Oil  Creek,  Plum  Creek,  and  their  branches.  To  the 
south  and  west  they  dip  below  the  surface,  and  pass  beneath  a  thick 
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