MINERAL    RESOURCES    OF    BIGHORN    MOUNTAIN    REGION.        307 
Section  at  Monkers  &  Mather's  coal  mine  east  of  Buffalo,  Wyo. 
Feet. 
Yellow  sandy  clay 6-8 
Coaly  shale 4 
Grayish  sandy  clay 14 
Coal 7 
Shale 80 
Coal  on  1  foot  of  shale 3 
Coal 2 
Shale  and  slate 20 
Coal  on  1  foot  of  shale  and  coal .' 5 
Coal  on  2  inches  of  shale 7 
Coal 3 
Shale  and  slate 30 
Coal 3 
Shale  and  slate 17 
Clay  which  burns  to  clinker  in  air 50 
253 
In  the  vicinity  of  Buffalo  the  lignites  are  mined  extensively  for  local  use.  There  are  four 
>rincipal  beds  which  outcrop  in  a  zone  of  moderate  width,  passing  north  and  south  a  short 
jlistance  east  of  Buffalo.  The  beds  generally  vary  from  5  to  12  feet  in  thickness  and  lie  in 
L  series  about  200  feet  thick,  which  dips  very  gently  to  the  northeast.  The  principal  mines 
lire  within  3  miles  of  Buffalo  and  lie  to  the  east  and  north.  Monkers  &  Mather's  mine,  the 
ection  of  which  is  given  above,  is  about  1  mile  east  of  the  town  and  is  the  principal  producer, 
its  annual  output  averages  about  2,000  tons,  and  the  selling  price  is  about  $1.50  a  ton  at 
he  mine.     The  workings  are  underground. 
The  highest  coals  in  the  Clear  Creek  region  are  found  in  isolated  areas  in  the  buttes  and 
plateaus  of  the  clinker  region  10  miles  northeast  of  Buffalo.  The  beds  apparently  are 
■emnants  of  deposits  which  are  burned  out  elsewhere.  They  are  included  in  strata  free 
from  clinker  and  in  part  capped  by  gray  sandstone  and  clay,  which  overlies  the  upper 
blinker  bed  in  some  other  places  in  the  region.  A  number  of  such  occurrences  were  observed 
In  and  adjoining  the  northwest  corner  of  T.  51,  R.  80. 
i  In  their  southern  extension  toward  Crazy  woman  Creek  the  De  Smet  coal  measures  con- 
pain  coal,  but  no  large  deposits  appear.  There  is  a  uniform  succession  of  sandstones  and 
shales,  with  coaly  layers  at  intervals.  The  stratigraphy  is  less  marked  than  in  the  region 
to  the  north,  and  the  only  noticeable  feature  is  the  occurrence  of  clinker  for  a  short  distance 
in  two  lines  of  small  buttes  south  and  southwest  of  Long's  ranch.  Coal  6  feet  thick  is  mined 
2  miles  southwest  of  Long's  ranch,  but  it  is  not  of  very  good  quality.  Toward  Powder 
River  thicker  beds  appear,  and  in  the  region  about  the  head  of  the  Belle  Fourche  there 
are  extensive  and  thick  beds,  which  extend  southward  to  North  Platte  River  to  the  mines 
at  Glen  Rock. 
GOLD. 
At  intervals  during  the  past  decade  attempts  have  been  made  to  develop  gold  mines  in 
the  vicinity  of  Bald  Mountain,  but  the  results  have  not  been  encouraging.  The  basa 
gravels  of  the  Deadwood  formation,  especially  where  mixed  with  disintegrated  portions  of 
the  underlying  granite,  contain  fine-grained  free  gold,  but  the  values  are  low  and  the 
distribution  irregular.  The  highest  assays  reported  are  $2  a  ton,  but  the  amount  is  usually 
so  much  less  that  the  workings  have  not  been  profitable.  At  a  point  about  2  miles  west 
of  the  abandoned  Bald  Mountain  cabins  a  mill  with  jig  machine  was  in  operation  in  1903, 
working  the  disintegrated  sandstone  and  granite  at  the  base  of  the  Deadwood  formation, 
but  it  is  stated  that  only  small  portions  of  the  material  yielded  paying  results.  Some  of 
the  small  intrusive  dikes  or  chimneys  about  Fortunatus  Mill  are  reported  to  contain  some 
gold,  but  the  value  is  low  and  the  extent  of  mineralization  small. 
Another  locality  at  which  the  basal  sandstone  of  the  Deadwood  formation  has  been  found 
to  contain  gold  is  at  the  head  of  Kelly  Creek,  southwest  of  Buffalo.     At  this  place  a  3-stamp 
