fisher.]  COAL    IN    NORTH  WESTEBN    WYOMING.  359 
with  the  number,  size,  and  character  of  the  seams,  warrants  exten- 
sive development.  There  are  other  localities  in  which  a  careful, 
detailed  investigation,  both  by  prospecting  and  drilling,  is  to  be 
recommended.  The  general  distribution  of  coal  in  large  or  small 
quantities  throughout  the  entire  exposed  area  of  the  Laramie  for- 
mation encircling  the  basin  is  most  important,  in  that  it  will  always 
furnish  an  inexpensive  fuel  supply  to  settlers  livring  along  the  local 
irrigated  valleys.  Comparison  of  the  chemical  analysis  of  a  repre- 
sentative sample  of  coal  from  the  Bighorn  Basin  with  that  of  similar 
products  elsewhere,  shows  it  to  be  a  good,  average  variety  of  lignite, 
fully  capable  of  competing  with  some  of  the  standard  lignite  coals  now 
on  the  western  market.  Coal  enterprises  in  the  Bighorn  Basin  hitherto 
have  been  and  still  are  comparatively  small  and  unimportant,  and 
much  of  the  work  can  be  regarded  only  as  development.  This  is  not 
due,  however,  to  a  limited  supply  of  coal,  but  rather  to  the  smallness 
of  the  demand,  which  is  necessarily  limited  by  the  remoteness  of  the 
district  from  large  industrial  enterprises  and  the  absence  of  rapid 
transit.  From  1889  to  1900  the  total  coal  production  of  the  Bighorn 
Basin  was  3,000  tons,  taken  from  6  or  8  small  and  poorly  improved 
mines.  In  1903,  12  of  the  larger  openings  produced  over  5,000  tons. 
At  present  the  Wyoming  Coal  and  Fuel  Company,  of  the  Garland 
district,  is  making  preparations  to  place  its  coal  on  the  market,  and  in 
other  districts,  particularly  the  Thermopolis  and  Meeteetse,  the  present 
output  would  doubtless  be  increased  many  times  if  shipping  facilities 
were  available. 
Rocky  Fork  district. — While  the  Rocky  Fork  district,  comprising 
among  others  the  Red  Lodge  and  Bear  Creek  mines,  is  outside  the 
area  to  which  this  report  relates,  it  has  such  an  important  bearing  on 
the  possibilities  of  the  coal  deposits  in  the  north  end  of  the  Bighorn 
Basin,  especially  those  of  the  Silver  Tip  district,  that  a  brief  descrip- 
tion is  here  given. 
For  a  more  extended  account  of  this  field  the  reader  is  referred  to  a 
report  by  Mr.  J.  E.  Wolff  of  the  Northern  Transcontinental  Survey.  a 
Mr.  W.  H.  Weed,  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,6  has  since 
described  these  beds  in  connection  with  other  coal  deposits  in  Mon- 
tana. A  brief  statement  of  the  nature  of  the  deposits  has  also  been 
published  by  Mr.  G.  H.  Eldridge/ 
The  Red  Lodge  coal  deposits  are  contained  in  a  series  of  massive, 
gray  sandstones  and  shales,  the  latter  predominating,  which  overlie 
the  middle  shaly  division.     This  series  occurs  near  the  middle  of  the 
a  Wolff,  J.  E.,  Report  on  the  Rock  Creek  coal  field,  Montana:  Tenth  Census  of  the  United  States, 
1886,  pp.  755  and  plates. 
&Weed,  W.  H.,  The  coal  fields  of  Montana:  Eng.  and  Min.  Jour.,  vol.  53,  No.  20,  1892,  pp.  520-522. 
oEldridge,  G.  H.,  A  geological  reconnaissance  in  northwest  Wyoming:  Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey- 
No.  119,  1894,  p.  53. 
