248  CONTRIBUTIONS    TO    ECONOMIC    GEOLOGY,   1903.  [bull.  225. 
COAL. 
The  existence  of  coal  in  the  Deer  Creek  Basin  has  been  known  for 
at  least  twenty  years,  but  no  commercial  development  has  been  under- 
taken and  little  information  has  been  published  concerning-  it. 
In  1881  Devereux  a  noted  the  discovery  of  coal  in  this  field  as  fol- 
lows: "  Coal  was  discovered  in  Deer  Creek  Valley  in  the  early  part  of 
the  present  year  by  Anderson  and  Lillie,  two  prospectors.  As  soon 
as  the  discovery  became  known  a  great  deal  of  excitement  ensued,  and 
in  a  short  time  the  whole  valley  was  staked  out  into  claims." 
In  1885  a  committee,  consisting  of  Mr.  M.  Bannon,  of  Baltimore, 
Md.,  and  Mr.  C.  D.  Walcott,  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey, 
was  appointed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  to  examine  this  coal 
field  which  then  constituted  a  part  of  the  White  Mountain  Indian 
Reservation.  The  report  submitted  b}^  this  committee6  gives  the  ' 
histoiy  of  the  discovery  of  coal  as  follows: 
The  first  discovery  of  the  presence  of  coal  in  the  Deer  Creek  Valley  was  made  by 
David  Anderson,  a  prospector,  who  at  the  time  was  seaching  for  drinking  water  in  a 
small  wash  near  the  head  of  the  valley.  A  dark  band  of  dirt  in  the  side  of  the  wash 
attracted  his  attention  and  led  him  to  dig  into  it  and  ascertain  that  it  was  produced 
by  the  decomposition  of  coal.  The  date  of  the  discovery  was  the  latter  part  of  Jan- 
uary. 1881.  Anderson  notified  the  members  of  the  prospecting  party  to  which  he 
belonged,  and  claims  were  at  once  staked  out  along  the  line  of  outcrop  of  the  coal- 
bearing  rocks.  The  work  of  development  was  begun  soon  afterwards,  and  carried 
forward  as  rapidly  as  the  means  at  hand  would  permit.  Shafts  were  sunk  along  the 
line  of  the  coal  seams  first  discovered  by  Anderson,  and  numerous  prospect  holes 
dug  wherever  the  coal  "blossom"  appeared. 
In  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  dated  Washington,  D.  C,  February  16, 
1884,  the  Hon.  H.  Price,  Indian  Commissioner,  states  that  Indian  Agent  Tiffany,  at 
the  San  Carlos  Agency,  notified  the  miners  that  they  were  within  the  limits  of  the 
reservation  by  posting  notices,  dated  March  4,  1881,  on  the  trails  leading  to  the  mines, 
on  the  works  about  the  mines,  and  also  had  the  notice  read  to  passers.     This  did  not 
deter  the  prospectors,  and  the  work  of  development  went  on  until ,  1883,  when 
they  were  removed  by  order  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior  by  the  military  under 
General  Crook. 
Recently  the  south  line  of  the  reservation  has  been  changed  so  as  to 
exclude  the  Deer  Creek  coal  field,  and  this  has  caused  greater  interest 
to  be  taken  in  the  development  of  the  field. 
At  the  time  of  the  examination  of  the  above-mentioned  committee 
apparently  the  Upper  or  easternmost  field  was  the  only  one  known, 
and,  consequently,  their  report  deals  entirely  with  this  region.  They 
describe  the  coal  as  follows: 
The  strike  of  the  strata  in  which  the  coal  beds  occur  averages  north  70°  west 
(magnetic);  the  dip  of  the  coal-bearing  bituminous  shales  and  overlying  and  under- 
«Eng.  and  Min.  Jour.,  vol.  32,  1881,  pp.  404-405. 
''Walcott,  C.  D.,  and  Bannon,  M.,  Deer  Creek  Coal  Field,  White  Mountain  Indian  Reservation 
Arizona:  Senate  Ex.  Doc.  No.  20,  48th  Cong.,  2d  sess.,  pp.  2-7. 
