Wining dept. 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 fl 
 
{ 
 
 
 f , 
 
J 
 
THE 
 
 COAL MINES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 WESTERN COAST 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 BY 
 
 W. A. GOODYEAR, 
 
 MINING ENGINEER. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO: 
 A. L. BANCKOFT & COMPANY. 
 
 1877. 
 
/ u 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877, 
 
 BY W. A. GOODYEAR, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IN writing this little book, the object which I have 
 had in view has been not so much to discuss the geo- 
 logical character of the Pacific Coast coal fields as to 
 give, what has never yet been published, a full and in- 
 telligible description of the mines themselves as they 
 exist to-day . To what extent I have succeeded in accom- 
 plishing this, the reader must judge. 
 
 I regret that my acquaintance with the mines of 
 British Columbia, which are for the most part confined 
 to Vancouver's Island, is not sufficient to justify me in 
 attempting to give any particular account of them. I 
 have, therefore, excluded them from this work, although 
 they are of no little importance, and are rapidly increas- 
 ing their annual production. 
 
 The volume, in its present form, is mainly the result 
 of my own work, travels and observations, extending 
 over a period of nine or ten years, during which period 
 it is safe to say I have done more work in, and have 
 been personally more familiar with the actual condition 
 and workings of, the various coal mines of the Pacific 
 Coast than any other engineer has done. 
 
 In addition to this, however, I am also greatly in- 
 debted, as the text itself will show, to the labors of my 
 friend and former partner, Mr. Theodore A. Blake, M. 
 
 188144 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 E., who is even more intimately acquainted with the 
 mines of Washington Territory than I have been myself, 
 and whose early investigations of the Seattle coal field, 
 in particular, were exceediDgly thorough and valuable,. 
 I desire, furthermore, to express my obligations es- 
 pecially to Mr. P. B. Cornwall, President of the Black 
 Diamond Coal Company; and, in general, to the officers 
 and superintendents of the other coal companies through- 
 out the country, for the liberality with which they have 
 not only furnished all such information as I have di- 
 rectly asked from them, but also freely placed at my 
 disposal every other facility for acquiring a full and 
 thorough knowledge of their respective mines. 
 
 W. A. GOODYEAR. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO, March, 1877. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PREFACE 3 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 CALIFORNIA : 
 
 THE MT. DIABLO COAL FIELD 6 
 
 The Clark Vein 12 
 
 The Little Vein 25 
 
 Section of Strata on Line of Clayton Tunnel 27 
 
 The Black Diamond Bed 30 
 
 Faults and Disturbances 36 
 
 Ventilation 44 
 
 Haulage, Storage and Transportation 48 
 
 Pumping and Drainage 52 
 
 Peacock and San Francisco Mines 55 
 
 Central Mine 56 
 
 Empire Mine 61 
 
 Teutonia Mine 64 
 
 Rancho de Los Meganos 66 
 
 THE CORRAL HOLLOW COAL FIELD 69 
 
 THE LIVERMORE MINE 72 
 
 OTHER COAL LOCALITIES 73 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 OREGON : 
 
 THE Coos BAY MINES * 83 
 
 The Eastport Mine 86 
 
 The Newport Mine 88 
 
 New Mine 90 
 
 MISTAKES AND FAILURES . . 92 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. . 
 
 PACK: 
 WASHINGTON TERRITORY : 
 
 . BELLINGHAM BAY MINE <j<) 
 
 TALBOT MINE 103 
 
 RENTON MINE 104 
 
 SEATTLE COAL AND TRANSPORTATION COMPANY'S MINKS 106 
 
 PUYALLUP CAKING COAL 1 28 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 MISCELLANEOUS: 
 
 COST OF PRODUCTION AT MT. DIABLO MINE:; 130 
 
 STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION AND TRADE 132 
 
 RELATIVE VALUES OF DIFFERENT COALS 140 
 
 CONCLUSION.. . 151 
 
" 
 
 OF THE 
 
 NIVERSiTY 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 CALIFORNIA. 
 
 THE coal fields of the western coast of North America 
 are limited in extent, and of comparatively recent geo- 
 logical origin. They are none of them of the Carbonif- 
 erous Age, and, indeed, so far as yet known, none of 
 them date back of the Cretaceous Period. They mostly 
 furnish a non-caking, bituminous coal, which belongs to 
 the class of lignites or brown coals. Vancouver's Island, 
 however, produces caking coal; and some caking coal 
 of good quality has also been found in Washington Ter- 
 ritory. Small quantities of anthracite have been found 
 on Queen Charlotte's Island, and probably also in Wash- 
 ington Territory. But no workable mine of anthracite 
 has ever been discovered on the Coast, and the little 
 that has been found has always proved, on investigation, 
 to have been the result of local and special metamor- 
 phisrn. Of the two States and one Territory which 
 border the Pacific Ocean between Mexico and British 
 Columbia, Washington Territory is by far the most lib- 
 erally supplied with coal. Oregon comes next, and Cali- 
 fornia last. In fact, California is decidedly unfortunate 
 in the extent and the character of her coal fields. For, 
 although it is easy to find coal at many localities in the 
 Coast Range from one end of the State to the other, as 
 well as at certain points in the western foot-hills of the 
 
6 COAL MINES. 
 
 Sierra Nevada; yet it generally happens either that its 
 quality is poor, or its quantity is small, or else that it 
 is situated in the heart of the mountains so far from 
 market that the cost of transportation alone would far 
 exceed the value of the coal. 
 
 I begin this treatise, however, without further prelude, 
 by giving a description of the only field within the State 
 where coal has hitherto been profitably mined, viz. : 
 
 THE MT. DIABLO COAL FIELD. 
 
 The extent of the Mt. Diablo coal field may be stated 
 in broad terms to be some ten or twelve miles along the 
 line of outcrop of the beds running through the northern 
 part of township 1 north, range 1 east, and the north- 
 western and central portions of township 1 north, 
 range 2 east, Mt. Diablo meridian. 
 
 The details of this line of outcrop are, in many 
 places, very irregular, and especially so in the western 
 portion of the field, where the hills are high, and the 
 canons are deep and steep. But its general course may 
 be described as follows: It is curvilinear, and convex 
 towards the north. Beginning in the north-east quarter 
 of section 7, township 1 north, range 1 east, it runs at 
 first north-easterly, but curves rapidly to the east till it 
 reaches a point in the north-west quarter of section 8, 
 from whence it follows for almost three miles a nearly 
 true east course across the northern portions of sections 
 8, 9 and 10, and close to the northern edges of these 
 sections. But in going easterly across section 11, it 
 bends to the south, and crossing the south half of sec- 
 tion 12, enters the south-west quarter of section 7 in 
 
CALIFORNIA. 1 
 
 the adjoining township. From thence it follows an 
 irregular south-easterly course across the north-western 
 and central portions of the township as far as the 
 "Brentwood Mines," upon the Rancho de Los Me- 
 ganos, and near the line between sections 22 and 27 of 
 township 1 north, range 2 east. Beyond this locality 
 to the south-east, the beds have not been traced with any 
 certainty. The dip, throughout, is in a northerly di- 
 rection; but it varies in amount at different localities 
 from 12 or 15 up to 32 or 33, being generally highest 
 in the western portion of the field. 
 
 A range of high hills, whose culminating points on 
 sections 8 and 9 reach altitudes of fifteen hundred to 
 seventeen hundred feet above the sea, runs in a general 
 east and west direction across the northern half of 
 township 1 north, range 1 east, and is separated by a 
 narrow valley on the south from the still higher mount- 
 ainous region which culminates in the double summit 
 of Mt. Diablo itself, three thousand eight hundred and 
 fifty-six feet in height. 
 
 In going east, however, from section 9, the hills di- 
 minish in height, and following the line of the coal 
 beds south-easterly across the next township, they 
 gradually fall lower and lower, till we reach the level 
 of the valley at the " Brentwood Mines," which are sit- 
 uated in the edge of the San Joaquin plain, at an alti- 
 tude of only between one hundred and two hundred 
 feet above tide-water. In its higher portions, this 
 range of hills is deeply scored by canons in all direc- 
 tions, and it is among these canons in the northern 
 slopes of the range, that the hitherto paying mines are 
 located. 
 
8 COAL MINES. 
 
 The strata have been considerably disturbed at nu- 
 merous localities by faults of greater or less magnitude; 
 and the coal beds themselves are subject, within short 
 distances, to so great variations in thickness and quality 
 of coal, as well as in the character of the rocks which 
 inclose them, that it is not possible with present knowl- 
 edge to certainly recognize any single bed in the eastern 
 portion of the field as being the same with any one of 
 those which have been so extensively worked in the 
 western portion. 
 
 By the phrase, ' ' Mt. Diablo coal field," as here used, 
 must be understood not merely the actually productive 
 region, but the whole extent of the belt through which 
 there has been found some definite evidence of proba- 
 bility that the beds were once continuous, or nearly so, 
 and within which sufficient discoveries have been made 
 to lead to the expenditure of any considerable sums of 
 money in explorations and attempts to develop new 
 mines. The area within which the mines have hitherto 
 been profitably worked, however, is far more limited in 
 extent. It lies among the higher hills in the western 
 portion of the belt above described, and includes a dis- 
 tance of only about two miles and a half along the 
 strike of the beds, from the western limits of the Black 
 Diamond Company's workings in the north-east quarter 
 of section 7, where the beds either split up and run out, 
 or become too much crushed and broken to pay for 
 working, to the most eastern limits of the Pittsburg 
 Company's workings in the south-west quarter of section 
 3, and the north-west quarter of section 10, where they 
 are stopped by the wall of a great fault which inter- 
 venes between them and Stewart's mine on the east. 
 
CALIFORNIA. 9 
 
 The "Central (i. e., Stewart's) Mine "is not here in- 
 cluded within the profitably productive limits, for the 
 simple reason that while it has produced considerable 
 coal, its shipments having been sometimes as high as a 
 thousand tons per month, it is more than probable that 
 its production has been at a loss, instead of a profit, to 
 its owners. 
 
 Within the productive limits above indicated, the 
 chief openings of the mines as well as the dwellings of 
 the miners, and other buildings, are, owing to the topog- 
 raphy of the country, concentrated at two considerable 
 villages, about a mile apart. The first of these villages, 
 known as "Nortonville," is located on the south-east 
 quarter of section 5. 
 
 The second one, known as " Somersville," is chiefly 
 on the south-east quarter of section 4, township 1 north, 
 range 1 east. Each village is in the bottom of a sort of 
 amphitheatre among the hills, and at the head of a deep 
 canon, which runs northerly some three miles to the edge 
 of the San Joaquin plain, from which point the distance 
 north across the plain to the river is also in each case 
 about three miles. Down each of these canons there 
 runs a railroad of the ordinary gauge (4 feet 8J inches) 
 to points of shipment on the San Joaquin river, just 
 above its junction with the Sacramento. Each railroad 
 is therefore about six miles in length, the Black Dia- 
 mond Railroad running to the Black Diamond Landing 
 (otherwise known as New York Landing), and the rail- 
 road from Somersville (called the "Pittsburg Railroad") 
 running to Pittsburg Landing, some two or three miles 
 further up the river. The height of the villages them- 
 selves above tide-water ranges from seven hundred to 
 eight hundred and fifty feet. 
 
10 COAL MINES. 
 
 Iii the north-west corner of the south-east quarter of 
 section 5, a round-topped hill rises to a height of one 
 thousand three hundred and forty-eight feet above low 
 water, and near the middle of the line between the 
 north-west and south-west quarters of section 4, a sim- 
 ilar hill rises to a height of about one thousand five 
 hundred feet. Each of these two hills (between which 
 runs the canon of the Black Diamond Railroad) is con- 
 nected with the hills to the south, in which lie the 
 mines, by a saddle some three hundred or four hun- 
 dred feet lower than its own summit the saddle be- 
 tween Nortonville and Somersville being some three 
 or four hundred feet higher than the village of Norton- 
 ville itself. 
 
 There are few points in the hills containing the mines 
 which rise to a greater height than the higher of the two 
 hills just described. At Nortonville, as well as at Som- 
 ersville, the canon, at the head of which stands the vil- 
 lage, forks into numerous branches which spread upwards 
 in all directions to the south, south-east and south-west 
 among the hills, thus cutting up the surface of the min- 
 ing ground by rough and precipitous gulches, often two 
 hundred to three hundred feet in depth, so that the line 
 of outcrop of the beds, as already stated, is at this locality 
 very irregular in detail and deeply indented by the 
 gulches. The rocks which inclose the mines consist of 
 unaltered, grayish and reddish silicious sandstone, 
 generally not very hard, alternating with occasional 
 strata of rather soft clay-rock, the whole belonging to 
 the latest formations of the cretaceous period. 
 
 The coal beds, which have been profitably worked to 
 a greater or less extent, are three in number, and are 
 
CALIFORNIA. 11 
 
 known respectively as the " Clark Vein," 'the "Little 
 Vein," and the " Black Diamond Vein." Of these, the 
 Clark Vein is the highest in stratigraphical position; 
 next in order below it comes the Little Vein; while the 
 Black Diamond Vein is the lowest, and underlies both 
 the others. The beds lie nearly parallel with each 
 other, all dipping to the north; and at the immediate 
 localities of the villages, both of Nortonville and Somers- 
 ville, the amount of dip is from 30 to 32. 
 
 In the Clayton tunnel, at Nortonville, the level dis- 
 tance from the floor of the Clark Vein south to the roof 
 of the Black Diamond Vein is six hundred and ninety- 
 six feet, and the dip here being about 31, it follows 
 that the total thickness of the strata, including the 
 Little Vein, between the Clark and Black Diamond 
 Veins is, at this locality, about three hundred and fifty- 
 nine feet. At certain points the level distance between 
 the beds is somewhat less than it is here, while in other 
 places it is considerably greater. This is due mainly 
 to changes in the degree of dip of the beds; though it 
 is more than probable that the actual thickness of the 
 strata between them also varies somewhat at different 
 localities. 
 
 All the valuable mining ground here for a distance of 
 nearly two miles and a half is now owned and controlled 
 by three different companies, viz. : the Black Diamond 
 Coal Company, the Union Coal Company, and the Pitts- 
 burg Coal Company. The Black Diamond Company 
 owns the south half of section_5, the north half of section 
 8, and the north-west quarter of section 9. The Union 
 Company owns the south-west quarter of section 4, and 
 used to lease and mine the coal also in an adjoining 
 
12 COAL MINES, 
 
 strip to the east, between six hundred and seven hun- 
 dred feet wide, on the south-east quarter'of section 4. The 
 Pittsburg Company owns the balance of the south- 
 east quarter of section 4, together with an additional 
 tract which covers portions of the north-east quarter of 
 section 9, the north-west quarter of section 10, and the 
 south-west quarter of section 3. 
 
 THE CLARK VEIN. 
 
 The only bed which has been worked continuously 
 throughout the whole distance controlled by these com- 
 panies is the Clark Vein. This bed varies in thickness 
 at different points from a minimum of eighteen or twenty 
 inches to a maximum of four feet and a half, or a trifle 
 over. The greatest variations in the thickness of this 
 bed, however, do not occur within the limits of the Black 
 Diamond Company's property, the minimum thickness in 
 that property being twenty-eight or twenty-nine inches, 
 and the maximum thirty-eight or thirty-nine; while the 
 average for the whole mile of the Clark Vein controlled 
 by this company, and as deep as the workings have yet 
 extended, is thirty-two or thirty-three inches. On going 
 east from the section line, however, into the south-west 
 quarter of section 4 the bed grows rapidly thinner, and 
 for a considerable distance in the western portion of the 
 Union Company's ground its thickness ranges under 
 twenty-four inches, being sometimes as low as eighteen. 
 But in the eastern portion of the Union mine it again 
 increases in thickness, and maintains across the south- 
 east quarter of section 4 a thickness of from three to 
 four feet, reaching its maximum in the Pittsburg Com- 
 
CALIFORNIA. 13 
 
 pany's ground not far from the line between sections 3 
 and 4, where, as already stated, it is sometimes a little 
 over four and a half feet thick. The Clark Vein is gen- 
 erally free from interstratification of slate or dirt of any 
 kind, and with the exception of a certain portion in the 
 western part of the Black Diamond Company's mines 
 near the south-west corner of section 5, where, for sev- 
 eral hundred feet it has been rather badly crushed by 
 movements and bendings of the strata, the whole of it 
 makes good, clean coal. Its roof and floor are also gen- 
 erally very good, so that it requires but little timbering. 
 The floor is everywhere good solid sandstone, and the 
 roof throughout the Black Diamond Company's mines, 
 and in ,the western portion of the Union Company's 
 ground, with few and small exceptions, consists also of 
 the same material. But where the coal begins to in- 
 crease in thickness in the eastern part of the Union 
 mine, a thin stratum of rather soft clay rock makes its 
 appearance on top of the coal and between it and the 
 overlying sandstone. Further east, this clay stratum is 
 nearly continuous, forming, generally, the immediate 
 roof of the coal throughout the Pittsburg Company's 
 ground, and seeming, as a rule, to be thickest where 
 the coal is thickest. It reaches, in places, a maximum 
 thickness of from two to two and a half feet, and as it 
 separates easy from the overlying sandstone, it causes, 
 of course, some extra trouble and expense, and occa- 
 sionally more or less danger in mining the coal. But 
 it is nothing very serious. 
 
 The chief openings to the Clark Vein are, first, the 
 Black Diamond Company's openings, which are three. 
 Of these the first is what is known as the "little slope," 
 
14 COAL MINES. 
 
 or the "hoisting slope;" the second is the "Mount 
 Hope slope," and the third is the Black Diamond shaft. 
 Second, the Union Company's slope. Third, the slope 
 of the old " Eureka Company," which formerly owned 
 a tract about eleven hundred feet wide immediately ad- 
 joining the Union Company on the east, and now 
 belonging to the Pittsburg Company. Fourth, the 
 Pittsburg slope. Fifth, the "Independent shaft," sit- 
 uated on ground formerly owned by the old "Inde- 
 pendent Company," but now also belonging to the 
 Pittsburg Company. 
 
 The mouth of the "hoisting slope" of the Black 
 Diamond Company is situated in the bottom of a deep 
 ravine which runs up southerly and south- westerly 
 among the hills, and is eight hundred and thirty-three 
 feet above low water in the San Joaquin river. This 
 slope, which is ninety-eight feet long, goes down to the 
 south with a pitch of about 35 through the strata over- 
 lying the Clark Vein. From its foot, a level gangway, 
 known as the "Clark Vein Main Gangway," has been 
 driven east and west on the Clark Vein throughout the 
 company's property, and is over a mile in length across 
 the southern part of section 5. The slope is furnished 
 with a double track, and a steam hoisting engine whose 
 cylinder is 14"X30". Through this slope Las been 
 hoisted nearly all the coal which has come from the 
 Clark Vein within the limits of the Black Diamond 
 Company's property above the level of the Clark Vein 
 main gangway, besides all the coal which has come 
 from the Black Diamond Vein through the Clayton 
 tunnel. 
 
 The mouth of the "Mount Hope slope" is situated 
 
CALIFORNIA. 15 
 
 about four hundred and fifty feet .north-easterly from 
 that of the "hoisting slope," and is seven hundred and 
 ninety-seven feet above low water. The slope is two 
 hundred and ninety-three feet long to the Clark Vein, 
 and has an inclination, or pitch, of 37 15' to the south. 
 From its foot, the "Mount Hope Gangway" runs east 
 and west on the Clark Vein through the property, and 
 is also over a mile in length. The height of the "lift" 
 between the Mount Hope and the Clark Vein main 
 gangways (i. e., the slope distance measured on the 
 dip of the coal bed from centre to centre of these gang- 
 ways), is in the vicinity of the Mount Hope slope about 
 three hundred and six feet. But in the western portion 
 of the property the height of this "lift" increases con- 
 siderably, owing to a decrease in the dip of the bed, 
 the gangways being driven nearly level, or with only so 
 much grade, about one in one hundred, as is necessary 
 in order to drain them, and to facilitate the hauling out 
 of the loaded cars. The Mount Hope slope is provided 
 with a double track and a hoisting engine, with cylinder 
 14"X30". From a point on the Mount Hope gang- 
 way eighty-five feet east of the foot of the Mount Hope 
 slope, a double tracked counter-slope runs down on 
 the coal with a pitch of about 31 to the north, a dis- 
 tance of three hundred and seventy-seven feet to the 
 "Lower Mount Hope Gangway," which is the lowest 
 gangway yet opened on the Clark Vein by the Black 
 Diamond Company. The coal from this lower gang- 
 way, until they began to hoist through the shaft, was 
 hoisted up the counter-slope by an underground hoist- 
 ing engine 16"X30", placed at the head of the counter- 
 slope, and supplied with steam from the boilers at the 
 surface by a pipe leading down the Mount Hope slope. 
 
16 COAL MINES. 
 
 The Black Diamond shaft is distant about six hun- 
 dred and twenty feet in a direction a little north of 
 west from the mouth of the Mount Hope slope. It is 
 a vertical shaft, heavily and well timbered, and meas- 
 ures twenty-two feet four inches by eleven feet ten 
 inches from out to out, being divided into three com- 
 partments, viz. : one pumping compartment five by nine 
 feet, and two hoisting compartments, each six by nine 
 feet in the clear, inside of timbers. The mouth of the 
 shaft is eight hundred and thirty-nine feet above low 
 water, and its present depth to the level of the lower 
 Mount Hope gangway is four hundred and fifteen feet, 
 and the foot of the shaft is about fifty feet south of this 
 gangway. The shaft is furnished with two iron, double- 
 decked safety cages, each cage raising two loaded mine 
 cars at a time, and each car containing about a ton of 
 coal. The hoisting power for this shaft consists of a 
 pair of large steam engines working directly on the 
 winding shaft, each engine having a twenty-four inch 
 cylinder, and five foot stroke. The cables used here 
 are flat wire ropes winding on spools. 
 
 The mouth of the Union Company's slope is situated 
 very close to the line between the south-east and south- 
 west quarters of section 4, and is eight hundred and 
 sixty-six feet above low water. The slope itself is four 
 hundred and seventeen feet long to the Clark Vein, with 
 a pitch of 37 45' to the south. From its foot a gang- 
 way runs east and west on the Clark Vein through this 
 company's property. From a point on this gangway 
 two hundred and forty-four feet west of the foot of this 
 slope, a counter-slope runs down on the bed with a pitch 
 of 28 23' to the north, three hundred and four feet to a 
 
CALIFORNIA. 17 
 
 second gangway, and then about three, linn dred feet 
 further to the third or lowest gangway in this mine. 
 Each of these slopes was worked by a steam hoisting 
 engine placed at its head, the underground engine at 
 the head of the counter-slope being supplied with steam 
 from boilers at the surface as in the case of the Mt. 
 Hope and its counter-slope. 
 
 The old Eureka slope was about two hundred and 
 ninety feet long, with an average pitch of about 43 15' 
 to the south. It was furnished with a three-rail track 
 and a hoisting engine, 10"X24". Its mouth is seven 
 hundred and eighty-six feet above low water. There 
 was also a counter-slope fifty-five feet west of the foot 
 of the surface-slope which went down some six hundred 
 feet or more, and was furnished with a double track and 
 a hoisting engine, 12"X24" '. The whole of that portion 
 of the Clark Vein originally owned by the Eureka Com- 
 pany has already, however, been worked out and ex- 
 hausted, and these openings are therefore now 'aban- 
 doned. 
 
 The Pittsburg slope is in the southeast cornsr of sec- 
 tion 4. Its mouth is eight hundred and thirty-eight 
 feet above low water. It goes down in a direction, 
 somewhat to the west of south, with a pitch of 25 50' r 
 and is about two hundred and forty feet long to the 
 Clark Vein. It is furnished with double track and 
 steam hoisting engine, 12"X24". From its foot a gang- 
 way runs both ways on the bed through the company's 
 property. From a point on this gangway twenty-five 
 feet west of the foot of the surface-slope, a counter- 
 slope runs down on the dip about eight hundred feet 
 with a pitch of about 31 30' to the lowest gangway in 
 
18 COAL MINES. 
 
 the mine. There are, however, two intermediate gang- 
 ways, one at a point three hundred feet and the other 
 at a point five hundred and seventy-nine feet down from 
 the head of the counter-slope. The slope is double- 
 tracked and is worked by a steam engine, 14"X30", at 
 its head. 
 
 In the eastern part of this mine and distant nearly a 
 a quarter of a mile from the foot of the surface-slope, 
 there is another counter-slope running down from the 
 upper gangway to the second one. This slope is also 
 double-tracked and furnished with a hoisting engine. 
 Both the underground engines are furnished with steam 
 through pipes conducting it from the boilers at the 
 mouth of the surface-slope. 
 
 The Independent shaft is a vertical shaft sunk by the 
 now defunct Independent Company about the year 
 1865, at a point a little south-west of the centre of the 
 north-east quarter of the south-east quarter of section 4. 
 The size of this shaft from out to out is nearly sixteen 
 feet by ten, and it is divided inside the timbers into 
 three compartments, viz. : one pumping compartment, 
 three feet by seven feet eight inches, and two hoisting 
 compartments, each four feet by se.ven feet eight inches 
 in the clear. Its mouth is seven hundred and nineteen 
 feet above low water, and it is seven hundred and ten 
 feet deep. 
 
 Some curious engineering was displayed in connection 
 with the sinking of this shaft. It was represented, for 
 example, at the time of its commencement, that it would 
 strike the Clark Vein at a depth of from four hundred to 
 four hundred and fifty feet; yet the position of the Clark 
 Vein, and the amount of its dip in this vicinity, were at 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
 CALIFORNIA. 19 
 
 thai time already well known, and a .little simple meas- 
 urement and computation would have demonstrated then 
 as well as now the fact that a vertical shaft to the Clark 
 Vein at that locality, must be in the neighborhood of 
 nine hundred and fifty feet in depth instead of four hun- 
 dred or four hundred and fifty. However, they went 
 down seven hundred and ten feet, and then getting tired 
 of sinking, left about twenty-four feet in the bottom of 
 the shaft for a sump, and started a level tunnel to the 
 south, at the depth of six hundred and eighty-six feet, 
 for the coal. They drove this tunnel to the Clark Vein, 
 its length proving to be (according to the best accounts 
 afterwards obtainable) about four hundred and twenty 
 feet. When within about one hundred and fifty feet of 
 the coal, they struck a large stream of water, which ne- 
 cessitated heavy pumping machinery, and a steam engine 
 was erected and a Cornish pump put in. But the found- 
 ations for the engine were bad, and it was never firm 
 upon its bed. Moreover, the only available water was 
 that from the mine, which was so heavily charged with 
 a mixture of various sulphates, with probably some free 
 sulphuric acid, as to be exceedingly destructive to the 
 boilers. Nevertheless, the Clark Vein was at last 
 reached, and a gangway driven, and a considerable area 
 of coal worked out above its level, stretching upward 
 towards the lower workings of the Eureka Company. 
 But the work was done at a heavy loss, and it was finally 
 abandoned, the parties who inaugurated it becoming 
 bankrupt. It is said that the amount of money ex- 
 pended here before the coal was reached was over one 
 hundred and fifty thousand dollars. While the work 
 was in progress a connection was made with the lower 
 
20 COAL MINES. 
 
 Eureka workings by a shoot driven up along the coal for 
 purposes of ventilation. This shoot afterwards an- 
 swered the purpose of a water-drain for the Eureka 
 mine; and the Eureka Company, having in the course of 
 time purchased the Independent property, employed 
 the Independent shaft, at considerable expense, for a 
 year or two, merely as a pumping shaft, in which the 
 water was held at a certain level, which just sufficed to 
 drain the lower workings of their own mine. But after 
 having exhausted the Clark Yein in their own property 
 down to the top of the old Independent workings, the 
 Eureka Compan}', in its turn, stopped work, and subse- 
 quently sold both the Eureka and Independent proper- 
 ties to the Pittsburg Company, which now owns them. 
 The Independent shaft is now abandoned and idle. It 
 will be noticed, however, that the level at which the 
 tunnel from the foot of this shaft struck the Clark Yein 
 is at a considerably greater depth than any other point 
 which has yet been reached in the Mt. Diablo mines. 
 
 As a general rule, the coal close to the surface of the 
 ground is not of good quality in any of the beds. The 
 outcrop of the Clark Yein is in many places nothing 
 more than a soft clay shale, light brown in color, and 
 very slightly carbonaceous. At a few points there was 
 good coal in the Clark vein very close to the surface ; 
 but the depth at which the coal in this bed first becomes 
 marketable generally ranges from one hundred to two 
 or three hundred feet, measured on the dip of the bed. 
 
 The height to which the coal has been worked in the 
 hills up towards the outcrop, varies greatly, of course, 
 at different localities, depending on the configuration of 
 the surface, which the ravines have scored so deeply; 
 
CALIFORNIA. 21 
 
 and at one point depending on another circumstance, 
 viz., the fact that immediately to the south of the "Lit- 
 tle Slope" of the Black Diamond Company, and extend- 
 ing for a considerable distance, both east and west of 
 it, there was an area of several acres in which the coal 
 was entirely wanting, and which presented every ap- 
 pearance of having been at some time in the past on 
 fire and burned out. The maximum height, however, 
 to which the coal has been mined on the Clark bed, 
 within the limits of the Black Diamond Company's prop- 
 erty above the Clark Vein main gangway, is about six 
 hundred and seventy-five feet; and a fair statement for 
 the average height of the workings above this gangway 
 for the whole distance of a mile across the southern 
 part of section 5, would be about five hundred feet. 
 
 The height of the "lift," also about one mile in 
 length, between the Mt. Hope, and the Clark Vein 
 main gangways varies from a minimum of three hun- 
 dred and six feet in the eastern portion of the mine to 
 a maximum of about five hundred in the western por- 
 tion, owing to a decrease in the dip of the bed going 
 west. Probably a fair average for the height of this 
 lift for the whole mile would be about three hundred 
 and fifty feet. The height of the next lower "lift," 
 and the present lowest one on the Clark Yein, in the 
 Black Diamond Company's mines, i. e., the lift between 
 the Mt. Hope and the Lower Mt. Hope gangways, in- 
 creases going west from three hundred and seventy- 
 seven feet in the eastern part of the mine to about 
 four hundred and fifty in the western part. This " lift" 
 is now only about four thousand three hundred feet 
 long, the Lower Mt. Hope gangway not having been 
 
22 COAL MINES. 
 
 driven so far to the west as the upper gangways have 
 been. 
 
 The Clark Vein at the present time (1877), may be 
 said to be practically exhausted throughout the Black 
 Diamond company's property down to the level of the 
 Lower Mt. Hope gangway, the -quantity of coal which 
 yet remains to be extracted from above that level being 
 very small; but below this gangway it is all untouched 
 and solid. 
 
 In the Union mine, they have worked above their 
 Clark Yein gangway No. 1 (i. e.), the gangway at the 
 foot of their surface-slope, for a height of about 600 
 feet up to the old Manhattan gangway. The latter 
 gangway (driven by the old Manhattan Com pan} 7 , which 
 formerly owned the north-west quarter of section 9, 
 and afterwards sold it to the Black Diamond Com- 
 pany), started on the outcrop of the Clark Vein in 
 the bed of a gulch in the south-west part of the 
 south-east quarter of section 4, and was driven west- 
 erly on the Clark Vein some twenty-four hundred or 
 twenty-five hundred feet, extending for most of this 
 distance into and along the southern edge of the south- 
 west quarter of section 4. Some coal was extracted 
 here by the Manhattan Company, and their workings 
 are said to have extended in places as high as about 
 three hundred feet above this gangway. But these old 
 workings have long been caved and closed, and there is 
 no very reliable information obtainable now as to their 
 exact extent. The Manhattan Company also drove a 
 tunnel from this gangway south to the Black Diamond 
 Vein, and opened several hundred feet of a gangway on 
 that bed, but never took out much coal from there. 
 
CALIFORNIA. 23 
 
 The height of the lift in the Union Mine between the 
 Clark Vein gangway No 1 and the Clark Vein gangway 
 No. 2 is about three hundred and four feet; and through- 
 out the Union Mine the Clark Vein is now exhausted 
 down to the level of this latter gangway, which is only 
 a few feet higher than the lower Mt. Hope gangway of 
 the Black Diamond Company. Furthermore, the Union 
 Company have continued their counter-slope some three 
 hundred feet further down the dip, and driven from its 
 foot another gangway (their Clark Vein gangway No 3), 
 from which, in 1876, they were working an additional 
 lift of about three hundred feet of coal. Thi^ gang- 
 way was driven west only about eighteen hundred feet 
 from the foot of the counter-slope when the mine was 
 abandoned and closed in December, 1876. 
 
 There are no accurate records now obtainable of the 
 extent of the workings in the upper part of the old Eu- 
 reka Mine. But the Clark Vein was entirely cleaned 
 out here as far up as it would pay to work towards the 
 outcrop, and it is evident, from the situation of the 
 slope and the shape of the hills at that locality, that 
 these workings must have extended in places to a height 
 of some five or six hundred feet above the gangway which 
 runs at the foot of their surface-slope. The Eureka 
 Company also worked out through their counter-slope 
 two additional lifts, aggregating some six hundred feet 
 or more below this gangway, and cleaning out everything 
 down to the top of the old Independent workings, from 
 which point the distance down through the latter to the 
 gangway at the level of the tunnel from the foot of the 
 Independent shaft, must have been in the neighborhood 
 of four hundred feet, since the total distance measured 
 
24 COAL MINES. 
 
 on the dip of the bed from this lowest gangway up to 
 the gangway at the foot of the Eureka surface-slope 
 was between one thousand and eleven hundred feet. 
 Thus, for a certain distance, here in the ground, for- 
 merly owned by the Eureka and Independent companies, 
 the Clark Yein is practically exhausted to the depth 
 of fifteen hundred or sixteen hundred feet measured 
 on the dip of the bed from the outcrop down to the 
 tunnel from the foot of the Independent shaft. But 
 a direct comparison of this distance with the distances 
 down from the outcrop at other localities, will not 
 give the correct differences of absolute height between 
 the bottoms of the mines, since the hills along the line 
 of outcrop vary a good deal in height, arid rise consid- 
 erably higher in the Union and Black Diamond prop- 
 erties than they do here in the old Eureka. In fact the 
 distance on the dip of the bed from this lowest gang- 
 way of the old Independent Company up to the level of 
 lower Mt. Hope gangway of the Black Diamond Com- 
 pany, would be about seven hundred and forty feet. 
 
 In the Pittsburg mine, the coal on the Clark Yein 
 has been worked to heights ranging from six hundred 
 feet, or less, to a maximum of between nine hundred 
 and a thousand feet on the dip above the gangway 
 which runs at the foot of their surface-slope, and above 
 the highest of these workings the additional distance 
 up, through soft and worthless coal and shale to the out- 
 crop itself, is from two hundred to three hundred feet. 
 Below the foot of the surface-slope, there have been 
 worked through the counter -slope in the Pittsburg 
 mine three additional lifts of three hundred, two hun- 
 dred and seventy-nine, and two hundred and twenty-one 
 
CALIFORNIA. 25 
 
 feet respectively, making the total maximum depth 
 worked on the Clark Vein in this mine, measured on 
 the dip, between seventeen hundred and eighteen hun- 
 dred feet; and below the lowest Pittsburg gangway it 
 will still be about five hundred and thirty feet farther 
 down the dip to the level of the tunnel from the foot of 
 the Independent shaft. 
 
 THE LITTLE VEIN. 
 
 Before speaking of the workings on the "Little 
 Vein," it will be well for the sake of clearness to de- 
 scribe two tunnels in the Black Diamond Company's 
 property which are driven from daylight south into the 
 hills, and run nearly level through the superincumbent 
 strata to the Black Diamond Yein. The first of these 
 is known as the Upper Black Diamond Tunnel. This 
 is the highest and the oldest of all existing openings to 
 the Black Diamond Vein. Its mouth is in the right 
 hand or south-east side, and near the bottom of the 
 same ravine in which is situated lower down the mouth 
 of the Clark Vein hoisting slope. It is distant from the 
 latter a little over eight hundred feet, in a direction 
 somewhat to the west of south, and is one thousand 
 and thirty-four feet above low water level. It is also 
 some little distance to the south of the line of outcrop 
 of the Clark Vein. The tunnel is straight, and runs in 
 a direction about 2 east of true south for a distance 
 of four hundred and twenty-two feet to the Black Dia- 
 mond Vein. At a point one hundred and twenty^ feet 
 from its mouth, it cuts a seam of coal, which is at this 
 locality fourteen inches thick. At a point one hundred 
 
26 COAL MINES. 
 
 and ninety-six feet from its mouth it cuts another and 
 smaller seam. These two are the only seams of coal 
 exposed in the Upper Black Diamond Tunnel above the 
 Black Diamond Vein; the rest of the strata consisting 
 of sandstones and shales. 
 
 The second of the two tunnels now in question has 
 been already mentioned, and is known as the Clayton 
 Tunnel. Its mouth is in the bottom of the ravine, 
 about one hundred and sixty feet south-westerly from 
 the mouth of the Mt. Hope slope, and is seven hundred 
 and ninety feet above low water. This tunnel is also 
 straight, and runs about 4J to the west of south, a dis- 
 tance of nearly eleven hundred feet to the Black Dia- 
 mond Vein. It has an ascending grade of about one 
 foot in a hundred going in. The distance in from its 
 mouth to the point where it cuts the centre of the Clark 
 Vein is three hundred and sixty feet. 
 
 The following sketch shows a section of the strata as 
 exhibited along the line of this tunnel. The various 
 strata are numbered in the sketch to correspond with 
 the numbers in the first column of the tabular descrip- 
 tion which immediately follows. The clip here being 
 about 31, the actual thickness of the strata is a trifle 
 over one half the distances which they occupy respec- 
 tively along the level floor of the tunnel. In the last 
 two columns of the tabular description, both these 
 figures are given; the first one containing the respective 
 level distances along the floor of the tunnel, and the 
 last one the actual thicknesses of the various strata in 
 feet and decimals of a foot. 
 
CALIFORNIA. 
 
 27 
 
 SECTION OF STRATA ON LINE OF CLAYTON TUNNEL. 
 
 DESCRIPTION. 
 
 Distance on 
 floor of tun- 
 uel, in feet. 
 
 Actual 
 thicknesf 
 
 in feet. 
 BLACK DIAMOND VEIN, forty inches coal, with seven or eight 
 
 feet of bone above and below 35.0 18.0 
 
 Heavy-bedded sandstone Dry 66.5 34.2 
 
 Heavy-bedded sandstone -Wet 40.0 20.6 
 
 Thin-bedded and ferriiginous sandstone 4.0 2.0 
 
 Heavy-bedded sandstone Wet , 31.0 16.0 
 
 Thin-bedded carbonaceous shales Dry 10.0 5.2 
 
 Numerous alternations of sandstones and thin shales: some of 
 
 the latter carbonaceous Dry 35.0 18.1 
 
 Heavy-bedded sandstone Dry 20.0 10.3 
 
 Alternations of sandstone aud thin shales, the latter some- 
 times carbonaeeoxis Wet 25.0 12.9 
 
 Same alternations as in 9, but dry 45.0 23.2 
 
 COAL, five or six inches thick 1.0 0.5 
 
 Alternations of sandstones and thin shales - Dry 139.0 71 6 
 
 Heavy-bedded sand-rock Dry 48.0 24.7 
 
 COAL about one foot thick, with six inches of bone on each side 
 
 of it 4.0 2.0 
 
 Heavy-bedded sand-rock Dry 146.0 75.2 
 
 Heavy-bedded sand-rock Dry 18.0 9.3 
 
 Coarse-grained sand -rock, generally heavy-bedded 64.0 33.0 
 
 CLAKK VEIN, thirty-four inches of coal 5.5 2.8 
 
 Same sandstone as in 17 137.5 70.8 
 
 Fine-grained, bluish and clayey rock, moderately heavy-bed- 
 ded, with occasional bands of coarser sand-rock a few inches 
 
 thick 127.0 65.4 
 
 Thin-bedded clay shales, to mouth of tunnel 93.0 47.9 
 
 21, 
 
 Between 15 and 16 in the above section there is a streak of carbonaceous shale one 
 foot thick, and also a second one of about the same thickne&s between 16 and 17. 
 
 As there are two little seams of coal above the 
 Black Diamond Vein in the Upper Black Diamond tun- 
 nel, so also there are two little seams in the Clayton 
 tunnel between the Black Diamond Vein and the Clark 
 Yein. But it will be seen, on closer inspection, that 
 
28 COAL MINES. 
 
 the positions of the upper and lower little seams in the 
 two cases do not correspond to each other respectively. 
 In fact, their distances from the middle of the Black 
 Diamond Yieu are such that the lower seam in the 
 Clayton tunnel corresponds closely in position with the 
 upper seam in the upper Black Diamond tunnel; while 
 there is no seam in the Clayton tunnel corresponding to 
 the lower one in the upper Black Diamond tunnel; and 
 furthermore, the mouth itself of the latter tunnel ap- 
 pears to be further south by some sixty feet than the 
 proper position at this level for the upper seam of the 
 Clayton tunnel. Therefore, as the distance between 
 these two tunnels in the direction of strike of the 
 beds is only some three or four hundred feet, and 
 as no faults of any magnitude have been discovered 
 within this distance in any of the workings on either 
 the Clark or the Black Diamond Vein, it is extremely 
 probable that the lower seam in the Clayton tunnel is 
 really identical with the upper one in the upper Black 
 Diamond tunnel, in spite of the fact that if we consid- 
 ered the respective thicknesses of the seams alone we 
 might be induced to draw an opposite inference. More- 
 over, the entire disappearance of the lower little seam 
 of the upper Black Diamond tunnel within the short 
 distance of less than four hundred feet between it and 
 the Clayton tunnel, and the decrease in thickness of the 
 upper little seam of the upper tunnel within the same 
 distance, from fourteen inches to five or six inches only, 
 are in perfect keeping with numerous other cases 
 throughout the Mt. Diablo mines, in which consider- 
 able variations in thicknesses of strata within short dis- 
 tances are matters not of doubt but of certainty, having 
 been fully exposed by the underground workings. 
 
CALIFORNIA. 29 
 
 It has been previously stated -(page 10), that the 
 number of beds which have been profitably worked at 
 the Mount Diablo mines is three; but it will be seen 
 presently that there is a strong probability that at 
 different localities two separate and distinct beds have 
 been confounded under the general name of "Little 
 Vein," and that the whole number of beds which have 
 been more or less worked with profit, should, therefore, 
 be stated at four. 
 
 There have been no "Little Yein" workings in the 
 property of the Black Diamond Company, for the rea- 
 son that in this portion of the field none of the little 
 seams where cut by tunnels between the Clark and 
 Black Diamond veins have been of sufficient thickness 
 to pay for working. But in the eastern part of the 
 Union Mine, and also in the western part of the old 
 Eureka Company's ground, one of these little seams 
 reached a thickness ranging from sixteen to twenty- 
 four inches of good coal, and has therefore been quite 
 extensively worked, yielding an aggregate of perhaps 
 from forty to fifty thousand tons of coal. This vein 
 is in all probability identical with the upper little seam 
 in the Clayton tunnel; for the total thickness of the 
 strata between it and the Clark Vein in the Clayton 
 tunnel is about one hundred and twenty feet, while the 
 thickness between the Clark Yein and the "Little Vein," 
 which has been worked in the Union and Eureka, as 
 shown by the workings at two different localities, is in 
 the Union ground about one hundred and seventeen 
 feet, and in the Eureka ground about one hundred and 
 nineteen feet. There can be no question about the 
 Little Yein in the Eureka ground being identical with 
 
30 COAL MINES. 
 
 that in the Union; for the workings have actually con- 
 nected with each other under-ground. But at a point 
 considerably farther east, in the Pittsburg Mine, and 
 in the north-east corner of the north-east quarter of 
 section 9, a "Little Vein" has been worked to a con- 
 siderable extent by means of a little slope driven down 
 to it through the Clark Vein, at a point a few hundred 
 feet south-west of the mouth of the main Pittsburg 
 slope already described. And here the thickness of 
 strata as exposed in the little slope below the Clark 
 Vein, and above the Little Vein, is about two hundred 
 and fifteen feet. It is probable, therefore, that this 
 "Little Vein" is a different seam from the one in the 
 Union and Eureka grounds, and that it underlies the 
 latter. 
 
 THE BLACK DIAMOND BED. 
 
 The chief openings to the Black Diamond Bed, with 
 the exception of the two tunnels already described, do 
 not run directly out to day-light, but are in the shape 
 of tunnels entirely underground, driven south from 
 various gangways on the Clark Vein. 
 
 The Black Diamond Company has four such tunnels. 
 Two of these run south directly from the Black Diamond 
 shaft. The first or upper one, known as the "Black 
 Diamond Tunnel No. 2," is at the level of the Mount 
 Hope gangway, which it intersects at a point two hun- 
 dred and sixty feet south of the centre of the shaft. 
 The second, and lower one, known as the "Black 
 Diamond Tunnel No. 3," starts from the foot of the 
 shaft at a point about six feet higher than the level of 
 the lower Mount Hope gangway, so that the cars from 
 
CALIFORNIA. 31 
 
 this tunnel will run on to the upper platform of the 
 double-decked cage which receives at the same time on 
 its lower platform the cars from the lower Mount Hope 
 gangway. 
 
 From the south ends of these tunnels, gangways are 
 driven both east and west on the Black Diamond Yein, 
 and are known respectively as the " Black Diamond 
 Gangway No. 2," and the "Black Diamond Gangway 
 No. 3." The gangway described hereafter at the south 
 end of the Clayton tunnel, and formerly known as the 
 "Lower Black Diamond Gangway," being now called 
 the "Black Diamond Gangway No. 1." 
 
 About twenty-one hundred to twenty-two hundred 
 feet west from the shaft, two other tunnels are driven 
 south to the Black Diamond Vein, one from the Mount 
 Hope, and the other from the lower Mount Hope gang- 
 way. These tunnels are known respectively as the 
 "West Black Diamond Tunnel No. 2," and the "West 
 Black Diamond Tunnel No. 3." 
 
 In the Union Mine, a tunnel runs south from the 
 Clark Yein gangway at the foot of the surface slope, 
 and in line with that slope to the Black Diamond Vein; 
 and a lower tunnel to the same vein runs south from 
 the gangway on the Clark Yein next below the one at 
 the foot of the surface slope, and is about seventy -five 
 feet east of the counter-slope already described in this 
 mine. From the south end of the upper one of these 
 tunnels a gangway was driven a few hundred feet to the 
 west; but the driving of this gangway was stopped 
 when it was found that it was south of the section line," 
 and therefore in ground belonging to the Black Dia- 
 mond Company. From the south end of the lower 
 
32 COAL MINES. 
 
 tunnel, a gangway has been driven a long distance west, 
 and a considerable lift of coal worked out above it and 
 between it and the section line. 
 
 From the south end of the upper Black Diamond 
 tunnel already described, in the ground of the Black 
 Diamond Company, a gangway was driven a few hun- 
 dred feet to the east, and over three-fourths of a mile 
 to the west. 
 
 From the south end of the Clayton tunnel the Black 
 Diamond Gangway No. 1. (formerly known as the 
 "Lower Black Diamond Gangway ") was driven west 
 considerably over three-fourths of a mile, and east a lit- 
 tle less than three-fourths, making the total length of 
 this gangway something over a mile and a half. This is 
 the longest single continuous gangway which exists in 
 the Mt. Diablo mines. For a short distance at its east- 
 ern end, it runs along but a few feet below the level of 
 the old Manhattan Gangway on this bed, already men- 
 tioned, and driven many years ago.; and this part of the 
 Black Diamond Gangway, No. 1. was only driven for 
 the sake of making a connection with the old Manhattan 
 tunnel for purposes of ventilation. 
 
 The Black Diamond Yein is everywhere a much more 
 expensive bed to work than the Clark Yein. This is 
 owing to the bad character of the immediate roof and 
 floor of the coal. The whole thickness of the Black 
 Diamond bed varies in different localities from six or 
 eight to eighteen or twenty feet. But the greater por- 
 tion of this thickness consists of interstratified clay 
 slate, and " bone," the last word being a miners' term 
 to designate a very impure, slaty and worthless coal, 
 which forms a weak roof and a bad floor, requiring 
 
CALIFORNIA. 33 
 
 much timbering and gradually swelling so badly on ex- 
 posure to the air as to crush the timbers, and necessitate 
 frequent cutting down of the bottoms of the shoots and 
 the gangway floors. The workable coal, wherever it ex- 
 tends in the Black Diamond Vein, lies nearly in the 
 middle of the mass forming the thick bed just described, 
 and has bone and shale both above and below it. It 
 generally attains its maximum thickness at those locali- 
 ties where the whole bed reaches its maximum de- 
 velopment, or in other words, where the workable coal 
 is thickest; there, also, the "bone" and slate are thick- 
 est, both above and beneath it, and vice versa, where 
 the total thickness of the bed is least, there the worka- 
 ble coal thins out or even disappears entirely and the 
 whole bed becomes worthless. The coal itself, however, 
 in this bed, wherever thick enough to be worked with 
 profit, is generally clean and free from interstratified 
 slate or "bone", and there have been considerable 
 areas in the Black Diamond Vein which have yielded 
 rather better, because harder, coal than most of that 
 produced by the Clark Vein. 
 
 Throughout the whole length of the upper Black 
 Diamond Gangway, except for a little distance in the 
 extreme western portion of the mine, the coal was good, 
 and its thickness averaged about forty-four inches 
 though varying at different points from thirty-six to 
 fifty-four. 
 
 The maximum height of the lift worked out above 
 this gangway was about five hundred and seventy-five 
 feet. But its average height was much less than this, 
 amounting to not far from three hundred and fifty feet. 
 
 The height of the lift between the upper Black Dia~ 
 3 
 
34 COAL MINES. 
 
 mond Gangway and the Black Diamond Gangway No. 
 1., varied from a minimum of about four hundred 
 and twenty feet at a point some four or five hundred 
 feet west of the upper Black Diamond tunnel, to a 
 maximum of a little over five hundred and fifty feet in 
 the western part of the mine. This increase in the 
 height of the lift towards the west is due here, as well as 
 on the Clark bed, to a decrease in the amount of dip as 
 we go west. 
 
 There was a small patch of good coal left un worked 
 above the top of the highest workings above the upper 
 Black Diamond Gangway, which is now inaccessible 
 from below, but which may possibly be worked out 
 hereafter by means of a new and shallow opening 
 from the surface of the hills: and there are also a few 
 acres of good coal not yet worked out in the northwest 
 quarter of section 9, above the level of the Black Dia- 
 mond Gangway No. 1. Bat with these two exceptions, 
 the Black Diamond Yein is already exhausted down 
 to the level of the latter gangway. 
 
 The height of the lift between the Black Diamond 
 Gangway No. 1 and the Black Diamond Gangway No. 2, 
 at a point about five hundred and ninety feet east of the 
 Black Diamond Tunnel No. 2, is three hundred and 
 fifteen feet. At the south end of the Black Diamond 
 Tunnel No. 3, the height of the lift from there up to the 
 Black Diamond Gangway No. 2, is three hundred and 
 eighty-two feet. 
 
 From the south end of the Clayton tunnel, westerly, 
 along the Black Diamond Gangway No. 1, the coal was 
 worked continuously all the way, and the whole lift ex- 
 hausted as far west as the gangway was driven. For 
 
CALIFORNIA. 35 
 
 a few hundred feet, however, to the west of the tunnel, 
 the coal was not quite so thick as it was in the upper 
 gangway, the average for the first eight hundred feet 
 here being only about thirty-four inches; and at a point 
 one thousand and sixty feet west of the tunnel there was 
 a small fault, beyond which, for a distance of some three 
 hundred feet, the coal was rather soft. But west of this 
 the coal again was good and hard, and with an average 
 thickness of probably forty inches, reaching in places a 
 maximum of four feet and a half. 
 
 To the east of the Clayton tunnel, the coal on this 
 gangway was thinner, but maintained an average (though 
 gradually diminishing), thickness of twenty-nine inches 
 for a distance of some three hundred and thirty feet, 
 becoming gradually, however, more and more streaked 
 with "bone." Within the next fifty feet, it dwindled 
 rapidly to only eight or ten inches in thickness, becom- 
 ing entirely worthless, and at the same time so dirty as 
 to be called no longer "coal," but "bone." From 
 thence, eastward, for a distance of between eight hun- 
 dred and nine hundred feet along this gangway, there 
 was no coal of any value whatever, and the total thickness 
 of the bed for a portion of the way was only some five or 
 six feet, consisting entirely of slate and bone. But at a 
 point about twelve hundred and fifty feet east of the 
 tunnel, the coal again comes in, and then continues of 
 fair quality and with a thickness ranging from two and 
 a half to three and a half feet, for a distance of some- 
 thing like two thousand feet in the north-west quarter 
 of section 9. This quarter-section covers a massive hill, 
 which rises to a height of a little over fifteen hundred 
 feet above tide-water; and it is probable that the good 
 
36 COAL MINES. 
 
 coal in this hill, at about Jhe central part of the quarter- 
 section, extends to a height of nine hundred or one 
 thousand feet on the dip of the bed above the present 
 gangway. But it has yet been worked to a height of 
 only about three hundred feet above the gangway; 
 though at one point a shoot was driven up to test its 
 quality some seven hundred feet above the gangway, 
 and it was found to be good as far up as this shoot 
 extended. 
 
 At a considerable distance to the east of the old Man- 
 hattan tunnel, two or three other openings have been 
 made to the Black Diamond Yein by means of tunnels 
 and slopes driven by the old Eureka and the Pittsburg 
 companies in ground now belonging to the latter com- 
 pany, but the coal was not found thick enough and 
 good enough to pay for working, and no mining of any 
 account has been done there. It is only within the mile 
 and a half already described, which is traversed from 
 end to end by the Black Diamond Gangway No. 1, that 
 the Black Diamond Vein has ever been worked with any 
 profit. 
 
 FAULTS AND DISTURBANCES. 
 
 Throughout the Mt. Diablo coal mines the beds are 
 frequently more or less disturbed by faults and disloca- 
 tions. Within the two and a half miles of profitable 
 working, some seven or eight of these faults are of con- 
 siderable magnitude, involving throws of from ten or 
 fifteen feet to one hundred and fifty feet or more, and 
 immediately outside of this two miles and a half, both 
 on the east and on the west, there are disturbances of 
 still greater magnitude . But besides these larger faults, 
 
OF THE 
 
 OF 
 
 ,CAUF^|i> CALIFORNIA. 37 
 
 the smaller disturbances scattered throughout* the mines 
 and involving well-marked dislocations, or throws, of 
 from five or six feet down to as many inches or less, are 
 extremely numerous. These disturbances are generally 
 most sharply defined and may be most easily studied in 
 the Clark Vein. Many of the smaller ones are entirely 
 local in character, and extend but very short distances; 
 and it is only a very few of the largest ones which ap- 
 pear to extend through the whole mass of strata between 
 the Clark and Black Diamond Veins with sufficient uni- 
 formity in character and direction to render it possible 
 to recognize with certainty the same fault in both the 
 veins. 
 
 The longest distance which occurs anywhere in the 
 mines without any fault or disturbance of noticeable 
 magnitude, is a distance of about two thousand feet on 
 the Clark Vein, stretching east from the Black Diamond 
 shaft into the western portion of the Union mine. The 
 foot of the Black Diamond shaft itself, however, is 
 immediately opposite the point where a fault, involving 
 a throw of from fifteen to twenty feet down to the west, 
 crosses the Lower Mt. Hope gangway. This fault, 
 like most of the larger ones in the Mt. Diablo mines, 
 has a north-easterly and south-westerly course, and its 
 plane dips at a steep angle towards the north-west. It 
 shows through all the upper works on the Clark Vein, 
 and its position may be traced upon the mine-map by 
 the sudden changes in the directions of the three suc- 
 cessive gangways on that vein, where it crosses them. 
 It is also probable, through not certain, that this fault 
 extends through the intervening strata to the Black 
 Diamond Vein, as there is a fault of several feet down 
 
38 COAL MINES. 
 
 to west in the latter vein, which crosses the Upper Black 
 Diamond gangway eight hundred feet west of the upper 
 tunnel, and the Black Diamond gangway No. 1, at a point 
 one thousand and sixty feet west of the Clayton tunnel, 
 running north-easterly and south-westerly, and in such 
 a position that although not exactly in line with this 
 fault upon the Clark Yein, yet by curving slightly, as 
 it is very likely to do, through the intermediate strata, 
 it may very easily connect with it. 
 
 To the west of this, for a distance of over three thou- 
 sand five hundred feet, there is no single fault upon 
 the Clark Yein which equals it in magnitude, though 
 there are many smaller ones. 
 
 In the Union mine, there are five large faults. One 
 of these is to the east of the Union slope; one is just 
 west of it, and is a considerable downthrow to the w r est; 
 the three others are still further west, two of them be- 
 ing upthrows to the west, and one, the largest of all of 
 them, a downthrow of sixty or seventy feet to the west. 
 Some of these faults, doubtless, also run through to 
 the Black Diamond Vein; but they show themselves 
 there in such modified forms that among the multi- 
 plicity of minor disturbances it is not easy to recognize 
 them. 
 
 In the eastern part of the old Eureka Company's 
 ground there is a large fault which, so long as this com- 
 pany continued to work, formed practically the dividing 
 line between its underground workings and those of 
 the Pittsburg Company. 
 
 At a point in the eastern part of the Pittsburg Mine, 
 about nine hundred feet east of the foot of the Pittsburg 
 slope, a fault crosses the gangway larger than any of the 
 
CALIFORNIA. 39 
 
 preceding, and consists of an upthrow of something over 
 one hundred and fifty feet to the east; and at the ex- 
 treme eastern limit of the Pittsburg Company's work- 
 ings, the gangway terminates at the wall of another 
 fault, which has never yet been thoroughly explored, 
 and perhaps never will be, but which, judging from 
 the position of the outcrop of the Clark Vein, at points 
 further east toward Stewart's mine, must consist of an 
 upthrow to the east of not less than three hundred to 
 four hundred feet, and possibly .more. 
 
 It would be both impracticable and useless to describe 
 all the smaller disturbances scattered through these 
 mines. But, as an illustration of the frequency with 
 which they sometimes occur, the following description is 
 given from actual measurement of a somewhat remark- 
 able "trouble" which extends for some distance along 
 the Clark Yein main gangway, in the western part of the 
 Black Diamond company's mines: Beginning at a point 
 about twenty-one hundred and ten feet west of the foot 
 of the Little Hoisting Slope, we have first a jump of 
 seven inches down to west; then 
 
 20 feet further west, a jump of 17 inches up to west. 
 
 171 ft ft ft ft Q t< it It (I 
 
 12 J- " le " " 12 " down " " 
 
 2 " " " " 12 " up " " 
 
 6J " " " " 22 " down " " 
 
 341 tt tt tt it 7 tt U p a tt 
 
 2 ft ft tt tc -tn tt tt et tt 
 1Q it tt tt tt 10 tt tt it tt 
 
 Then for a short distance the ground is very irregular 
 and the coal entirely disappears, with the exception of 
 
40 COAL MINES. 
 
 a thin and irregular seam, which bends first up and 
 then down to the west, to where the coal conies in on 
 the gangway again, which it does with a jump down to 
 west at a point about seventeen feet west of the twelve- 
 inch jump last noted. We then have 
 
 5 ft. farther west, a jump of 10 inches down to west. 
 
 4" 
 
 tt tt 
 
 1 1 
 
 29 
 
 " 
 
 up 
 
 12" 
 
 It it 
 
 tt 
 
 4 
 
 c i 
 
 down 
 
 2" 
 
 tt tt 
 
 tt 
 
 4 
 
 it 
 
 up 
 
 3" 
 
 tt 1 1 
 
 It 
 
 2 
 
 1 1 
 
 tt 
 
 2" 
 
 ft ft 
 
 1 1 
 
 5 
 
 it 
 
 down 
 
 3" 
 
 tt If 
 
 t t 
 
 31 
 
 n 
 
 1 1 
 
 14" 
 
 8" 
 
 1 1 t t( 
 
 ( 
 It tt 
 
 r an irregular roll and 
 : jump resulting in a 
 { change of 
 
 a jump of 
 
 30 
 31 
 
 tt 
 tt 
 
 up 
 
 c t 
 
 22" 
 
 tt tt 
 
 tt 
 
 42 
 
 1 1 
 
 down 
 
 This was the last jump measured; but there were 
 more of them, and the " trouble" extended some little 
 distance further west. Throughout its whole extent, 
 both coal and sandstone were of course very badly 
 crushed, some of the latter being just ready to fall to 
 powder and run like loose sand, and very little coal was 
 obtained from here till, on going farther west, the faults 
 became less frequent. 
 
 It sometimes happens that the same fault in different 
 portions of its course varies considerably in the amount 
 of its throw, showing that the displacement in such 
 cases has involved a twisting of the strata. There is 
 one notable instance of this kind in the eastern part of 
 the Union mine. In the upper workings here a fault of 
 considerable magnitude runs about north-east and 
 south-west, and at the highest point of the workings 
 
CALIFORNIA. 41 
 
 exhibits itself as an upthrow of sixteen feet to the east. 
 But it curves gradually to the north in going down, thus 
 being convex to the east, while at the same time the 
 amount of its throw gradually diminishes, until, at the 
 point where it crosses the present lowest gangway in 
 the mine, its course is about north and south, and its 
 upthrow is only eighteen inches to the east. 
 
 With reference to the direction of throw in the faults, 
 the general law holds pretty well throughout these 
 mines, that, where the plane of a fault is inclined from 
 the vertical, it is the hanging wall of the fault which 
 has gone down. But this law, though general, is not 
 universal, and cases are occasionally found here in 
 which the throw is in the opposite direction. 
 
 The general line of strike of the beds, in spite of all 
 faults and disturbances, is very straight for a distance 
 of nearly a mile and a half in a direction about N. 86 
 W (true course), from the Pittsburg slope to a point 
 about as far west as the middle of section 5; and within 
 this distance the dip does not vary greatly from 30, 
 ranging in general from 28 to 32. 
 
 But, going west from the middle line of sections 5 
 and 8, the beds and the strata curve far around in a 
 gradual sweep to the south, while at the same time their 
 dip gradully diminishes until it does not exceed 20; 
 and in the western part of the Clark Vein main gang- 
 way there were places where it was only 15. The general 
 form and shape of the beds as they lie in this part of 
 the mines, therefore, is that of warped surfaces. And this 
 state of things produces, of course, a gradual divergence 
 of the gangways of each bed from each other, and a grad- 
 ual increase in the height of all the "lifts" in going 
 west. 
 
42 CO A L MINES. 
 
 This great curve of the beds to the south, in the west- 
 ern part of the mines, is evidently preliminary to a great 
 and sudden disturbance of the strata, which is proven 
 by other evidence to exist in the eastern halves of sec- 
 tions 6 and 7, and within a short distance to the west of 
 where the mines have stopped. But none of the gang- 
 ways, on either the Clark or Black Diamond Vein, were 
 driven far enough west to actually encounter this great 
 disturbance. They were stopped because, for various 
 reasons, it was not profitable to drive them further. In 
 the upper Black Diamond gangway, the coal still kept 
 its place and thickness, but had grown rather soft and 
 friable, and in this expensive bed, with the disadvantages 
 of a dip of only 18 to 20, and nearly a mile of under- 
 ground haulage, it would not pay to go further for coal 
 of so poor a quality. The face of the Black Diamond 
 Gangway No. 1, struck a fault, the magnitude of which 
 was not known; and though the coal here was of good 
 quality, and over four feet thick up to the fault, yet the 
 dip here, as well as in the upper gangway, was low, 
 and the underground haulage was over a mile. So it 
 was not considered advisable to drive further, upon the 
 chances, in the face of the additional fact that the near 
 proximity, though not the exact locality, of great dis- 
 turbance to the west, was certain. In the Clark Vein 
 main gangway, the work was finally stopped because of 
 a somewhat interesting fact of altogether a different kind. 
 Here the Clark Vein gradually split into two portions 
 which grew thinner and thinner until they almost dis- 
 appeared. At a point, probably a thousand feet back 
 from the final face of the gangway, an almost impercep- 
 tible seam or parting first made its appearance in the 
 
CALIFORNIA. 43 
 
 middle of the bed. Tins parting at first was ilot thicker 
 than a knife-blade, and it ran a considerable distance 
 before it presented any further special change. But 
 then it begun slowly to increase in thickness, and grad- 
 ually developed itself into a little layer of clay -slate. 
 This change went on slowly for some distance, the coal 
 above and below the slate being still good, but decreas- 
 ing slightly in thickness, till at a point four hundred and 
 eighty-five feet from the final end of the gangway, there 
 were two streaks of coal, each about one foot thick, with 
 a few inches in thickness of slate between them. 
 
 Here the gangway struck the first jump of a series of 
 small faults and roils which continued for some distance, 
 and there was a sudden increase in the thickness of slate 
 between the two bands of coal. The gangway was still 
 driven on, however, in the hope that .the coal might 
 come in again; but with prospects which only grew 
 worse and worse; the coal growing thinner and the slate 
 growing thicker, till at last the upper seam of coal was 
 only about three inches thick, and the lower one six 
 inches, while the clay-rock between them had increased 
 to a thickness of about five feet. The work was then 
 abandoned. 
 
 The exact condition of the face of the Mt. Hope gang- 
 way when abandoned is not known to the writer. But it 
 is evident in any case that it was driven far enough to the 
 west, so that in the light of the development already 
 made in the gangway next above, it was not likely to pay 
 to drive it further. It probably went to the first of the 
 series of little faults and rolls described above; for it 
 stopped only about five hundred feet short of the Clark 
 Vein main gangway itself. 
 
44 COAL MINES. 
 
 To the east of the Pittsburg slope a similar state of 
 affairs exists in the strike and dip to that above de- 
 scribed in the western part of the Black Diamond com- 
 pany's mines, but on a somewhat smaller scale, and in 
 an opposite direction. Though broken in the middle 
 by a large fault, the gangways here run far to the south 
 of east; and the dip ako in the eastern part of the Pitts- 
 burg mine is considerably less than it is in the vicinity 
 of the slope. Moreover, as already stated, the works 
 at the end here abut directly against the wall of a great 
 upthrow of some three or four hundred feet to the east. 
 
 VENTILATION. 
 
 In mines situated as these are, with a general dip of 
 about 30, among high hills and deep canons, there is 
 rarely much difficulty in securing good ventilation, if 
 the matter be properly attended to; and the only arti- 
 ficial means in general use to aid the natural venti- 
 lation at the Mt. Diablo mines is the keeping of fires 
 at the bottoms of the ventilating shafts. In only one 
 instance has mechanical ventilation been resorted to 
 on any considerable scale. In the Lower Mt. Hope 
 gangway to the westward of a point about twent} T -two 
 hundred and fifty feet west of the Black Diamond 
 shaft, all the water (and its quantity is considerable) 
 which issues from the roof and floor of the Clark Vein, 
 besides being a solution of sulphates, is supersaturated 
 with sulphuretted hydrogen to such an extent that on 
 exposure to the air it rapidly forms white deposits of 
 sulphur everywhere; while the excess of gas escaping 
 contaminates the air so much as to cause serious trou- 
 
CALIFORNIA. 45 
 
 ble by its effects upon the eyes, which itr quickly ren- 
 ders sore, inflamed, and almost blind, probably by 
 reason of its decomposition with the formation of mi- 
 nute quantities of sulphurous and sulphuric acids in 
 contact with the moisture of the eyes. It was found 
 impossible, with the ordinary means of ventilation em- 
 ployed here, to sent a sufficient volume of air through 
 this portion of the mine to keep it clear enough of sul- 
 phuretted hydrogen to enable the men to work more 
 than a very few hours at a time without becoming nearly 
 blind. The trouble at last became so serious that the 
 men absolutely refused to work there without better air. 
 The experiment was tried for a few days of keeping 
 chloride of lime exposed to the air throughout that por- 
 tion of the gangway affected, with a view to decompose 
 and absorb the deleterious gas; but for some reason it 
 appeared to fail to accomplish the work, while the men 
 complained that the pungent odor of the chloride of lime, 
 in addition to the sulphur gas, only made matters worse. 
 Then one of the largest sizes of Hoot's patent rotary 
 blowers was obtained, and, driven by a small steam 
 engine, was set to forcing air through a pipe down the 
 the Black Diamond shaft and into that part of the mine, 
 the air afterwards finding its exit from the mine through 
 a ventilating shaft connecting with the western part of 
 the Mt. Hope Gangway. This made a decided improve- 
 ment, but was yet far from being satisfactory. The 
 action of the blower was therefore reversed, and it was 
 made to exhaust the air, which then entered the mine 
 through the ventilating shaft just mentioned. This did 
 much better, and the work in this part of the mine was 
 resumed and continued, though slowly and with diffi- 
 
46 COAL MINES. 
 
 culty; for the blower, after all, only partially removes 
 the gas, enough of which still remains to make it very 
 troublesome. 
 
 There is a little fire-damp in all the beds of the Mt. 
 Diablo mines, and there are now and then localities 
 which it is necessary to watch pretty closely. But the 
 quantity of this gas has never been great enough to 
 necessitate the general use of the safety-lamp in the 
 workings; and it has, therefore, only been used as a 
 precautionary means for testing the presence of the gas 
 in certain localities where it was known that small quan- 
 tities of it were liable to collect. Numerous small cas- 
 ualties, resulting in the more or less severe burning, and 
 occasionally in the death of one or two men have, how- 
 ever, occurred here from time to time, from explosions 
 of fire-damp, nearly all of which have originated in the 
 gross carelessness of the sufferers themselves in going 
 with naked lights into the top of blind shoots or other 
 places which had been standing idle for awhile, and 
 where they knew, or ought to have known, that fire- 
 damp was liable to be present. But besides these minor 
 casualties there have also occurred, during the history 
 of the mines, three or four explosions of greater mag- 
 nitude, which cannot be said to have resulted from the 
 special ignorance or carelessness of individual miners. 
 None of these explosions did much damage to the 
 mines; but one or two of them have resulted in serious 
 loss of life. 
 
 The worst one of all was the explosion, or more prop- 
 erly the burning, of July 24, 1876, on the Black Dia- 
 mond bed, in the lower and eastern part of the Black 
 Diamond Company's mines, which resulted in the death 
 
CALIFORNIA. 47 
 
 of eleven men. This was occasioned by a.'* 'blown out" 
 shot. There was no explosive mixture present where 
 this disaster occurred previous to the firing of the shot; 
 for the men were working all along there with naked 
 lights, and the ventilation was good and strong. But 
 on the firing of this shot (which was a pretty heavy one, 
 being a two and a quarter inch hole, charged probably 
 with from twenty to twenty-four inches of black pow- 
 der), the flame traveled between two and three hundred 
 feet along the face of the coal, following a crooked 
 course through cross-cuts, etc., developing a hardly no- 
 ticeable amount of explosive force, but badly burning 
 all the men whom it caught in its course, and then as- 
 phyxiating both them and others by the after-damp 
 which followed the flash. The cause of this explosion 
 was probably two-fold. First, it is well known that in 
 coal seams containing fire-damp, any diminution in the 
 atmospheric pressure, whether sudden or gradual, is 
 accompanied by a correspondingly sudden or gradual 
 liberation of increased quantities of fire-damp from the 
 face of the coal. It is more than probable, therefore, 
 that the recoil, which in an elastic medium Like the air, 
 and especially in confined localities, must instantly fol- 
 low the first impulse of the heavy concussion of such a 
 shot, would liberate suddenly from the adjacent face of 
 the coal a certain quantity of fire-damp, which might 
 issue forth quickly enough, and be sufficient in quantity 
 to catch fire either from the flash of the shot itself, or 
 from burning particles of coal-dust ignited by that 
 flash. Second, the part of the mine where this acci- 
 dent happened was very dry, and the shot itself must 
 have raised in its immediate vicinity a dense cloud of 
 
48 COAL MINES. 
 
 fine coal-dnst. Now recent experiments have shown 
 that a mixture of fire-damp and air which contains far 
 too little fire-damp to be capable of either exploding or 
 burning by itself alone, becomes readily explosive if 
 mixed with a sufficient quantity of impalpably fine coalr 
 dust. There is every reason, therefore, to believe that the 
 propagation of the flame in this instance was effected by 
 an intimate mixture of the air with a certain quantity 
 of fire-damp and a dense cloud of coal-dust, the pres- 
 ence of the last two of which was mainly due to the 
 concussion of the shot itself; and the whole affair is 
 strongly illustrative of the danger of the use of powder 
 in coal seams where fire-damp is known to exist. 
 
 The Mt. Diablo coal is liable, under favorable cir- 
 cumstances, to spontaneous combustion; and, in the 
 Black Diamond bed, it is always necessary to shut up 
 the old workings, so as to prevent access of air to the 
 gob, which would otherwise heat and eventually take 
 fire; but in the Clark bed, with its freedom from "bone' 7 
 and its good sandstone roof and floor, no such precau- 
 tion has been found necessary. 
 
 HAULAGE, STORAGE, AND TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 The gauge of the mine-tracks is different in the differ- 
 ent mines. In the Pittsburg mine it is twenty-six 
 inches; while in the Black Diamond mines it is three 
 feet. The size and shape of the mine-cars employed 
 also varies somewhat in the different mines. The inside 
 dimensions of those used by the Black Diamond Com- 
 pany are six feet six inches long, two feet six inches wide, 
 and two feet eight inches high. These cars are built of 
 
CALIFORNIA. 49 
 
 wood, banded with iron, and hold about a ton each of 
 loose coal. 
 
 In the Black Diamond Company's mines, the under- 
 ground hauling is done entirely by horses and mules; 
 but in some of the other mines, and especially in the 
 Union and Eureka, a great deal of it has been done by 
 hand, the men pushing the cars. 
 
 No coal-breaking machinery has ever been used or 
 needed here. In fact, one serious trouble with this 
 soft coal is that it crumbles too easily and makes too 
 much slack without any other breaking than that which 
 it necessarily gets in mining and handling. 
 
 The bunkers at the mines are furnished with screens 
 which separate the marketable coal into two sizes only, 
 known as "coal" and " sceenings," respectively. But 
 this screening is often very imperfectly done. The slack 
 which falls through the finest screen is generally thrown 
 away, though within the last few years considerable of 
 it has been burned under the boilers at the mines, and 
 occasionally a little of it has been sold for various pur- 
 poses. The Black Diamond Company's bunkers are 
 also furnished at the top with automatic dumping ar- 
 rangements, so that the mine-cars dump themselves 
 into the bunkers. The size of the bunkers varies, of 
 course, with the requirements of the different mines. 
 The largest one ever built here is that which receives 
 the coal from the Black Diamond shaft. This bunker 
 has a capacity of about sixteen hundred tons, i. e., 
 eleven hundred tons of coal and five hundred tons of 
 screenings. It stands at a distance of some five hun- 
 dred feet or more from the mouth of the shaft, and the 
 loaded cars are hauled to it and the empty ones hauled 
 
50 CO A L MINES. 
 
 back to the shaft by an endless wire-rope worked by a 
 clip-pulley, which is driven by a small steam engine. 
 The floor of this bunker has a pitch of 33, and the 
 vertical height between the mine-car track above it and 
 the railroad track beneath it is eighty-four feet. 
 
 The Black Diamond railroad is a trifle over five and 
 eight-tenths miles in length. Of this, the first two and 
 eight-tenths miles from the river to the edge of the hills 
 is straight and has a grade which, though not uniform, 
 being less near the river than it is near the hills, never- 
 theless averages for the whole two and eight-tenths miles 
 about sixty feet to the mile. The remaining three miles 
 in the canon, from the edge of the hills up to Norton - 
 ville, is very crooked, and has an average grade of about 
 one hundred and ninety feet to the mile. The maximum 
 grade, however, is much heavier than this, and is sit- 
 uated at the upper end of the road nearest the mine, 
 where, for a distance of five-eighths of a mile, the uni- 
 form grade is two hundred and ninety-three and three- 
 fourths feet to the mile. The minimum radius of 
 curvature in this road is three hundred twenty-one 
 and one-fourth feet, corresponding to about an 18 
 curve. This, also, is at the upper end of the road, 
 leading to one of the bunkers. Its use was necessitated 
 by the position of the bunker and the narrowness of the 
 canon. It is just about as sharp a curve as the loco- 
 motives employed here will travel on without leaving 
 the track. 
 
 The cars now employed on this road have flat wooden 
 bottoms, with rectangular sheet-iron sides and ends 
 strengthened with angle iron. One of the ends consists 
 of a door, hung from a bolt which runs across the top, 
 
CALIFORNIA. 51 
 
 and furnished with a strong latch on each side. The 
 cars are four-wheeled. Each car occupies about ten 
 feet of track, and stands about six feet two inches 
 high above the rails. The interior dimensions of the 
 car body are as follows : length, eight feet; width, six 
 feet four inches; height, three feet four and one-half 
 inches. These cars weigh, on the average, about four 
 thousand pounds apiece, and each car carries from ten 
 thousand to eleven thousand pounds, or a trifle over 
 four and one-half tons of coal. From twelve to sixteen 
 of these cars form an ordinary coal train. The loco- 
 motive merely hauls the empty cars up to the mine. 
 When loaded, the train runs down to the landing by its 
 own gravity, and it needs, of course, careful attend- 
 ance at the brakes fo prevent it from running too fast. 
 Indeed, whenever the track is muddy and slippery, as 
 is often the case in the rainy season, it is found neces- 
 sary, in addition to the most careful handling of the 
 brakes, to sand the track to a greater or less extent be- 
 fore the descent of every train over that portion of the 
 road which has the heaviest grade. 
 
 The Pittsburg railroad is of nearly the same length 
 as the Black Diamond, and is very similar to it both in 
 the distribution and in the amount of its grades and 
 curvatures. The cars used upon this railroad are of 
 iron, but of somewhat less capacity than those -above 
 described, and also somewhat different in construction, 
 being arranged to dump through trap-doors in the bot- 
 tom of the car, while the Black Diamond cars run on 
 to a special dumping arrangement at the end of the 
 wharf, which then tips up with the car upon it till the 
 floor of the car makes an angle of 35 or so with the 
 
52 COAL MINES. 
 
 horizon, when the door at the lower end being unlatched, 
 the coal runs out. 
 
 PUMPING AND DRAINAGE. 
 
 There has never been any general system of drainage 
 for the Mt. Diablo mines ; but each company has 
 pumped out its own water independently of all the rest. 
 In the year 1869, I made a careful survey to ascertain 
 what could be done in the way of a drain tunnel, and 
 found that a tunnel about seven thousand feet in length 
 from a point in the SomersvilJe canon to the Clark bed 
 would drain all the mines of Nortonville and Somers- 
 ville to a depth of only about three hundred feet above 
 low water in the San Joaquin river, or in other words, 
 to a point a little below the lowest levels ever yet 
 reached by the workings in any of the mines, excepting 
 those from the bottom of the Independent shaft. 
 
 This tunnel might have been driven for a cost of only 
 about fifty thousand dollars, and at the time when the 
 survey was made, there was talk of doing it. But the 
 different companies to be benefited by it could not 
 not agree as to the exact proportion of its cost which 
 ought to be paid by each of them respectively; and so 
 after talking awhile to no purpose, the matter was 
 dropped; since which time the Black Diamond, the 
 Union and the Pittsburg companies have all three of 
 them been lifting their water to points over five hundred 
 feet vertically higher than the level at which this tun- 
 nel would have drained them all; and it is safe to say 
 that from then up to the present time, the aggregate 
 cost of the item of pumping alone has been at least 
 
CALIFORNIA. 53 
 
 four or five times what the total cost of the tunnel would 
 have been. And this is not, by any means, the only in- 
 stance in which the existence and rivalry of so many 
 different companies within so small a field, combined 
 with short-sighted policy, and bad management in other 
 ways, have caused the expenditure of large sums of 
 money which are practically wasted, and which might 
 otLerwise have been saved to the owners of the mines. 
 The Independent shaft was a bad job, as well as a bad 
 speculation, from beginning to end; and the new Black 
 Diamond shaft itself, with all its machinery, although a 
 splendid piece of workmanship, was an unnecessary ex- 
 pense, inasmuch as the Mt. Hope counter-slope, which is 
 large, commodious, well-timbered, protected by heavy 
 pillars on either side, and furnished with a double track, 
 and a pumping compartment besides, was already down 
 to the same level as the present foot of the shaft, before 
 the sinking of the shaft was begun; and it would have 
 been easy to have hoisted through this slope, at no 
 greater expense than it will now cost to hoist through 
 the shaft all the coal that is likely to ever come up 
 through the shaft. 
 
 It would be easy to point out many other ways .in 
 which money has been wastefully spent at the Mt. 
 Diablo mines; but I will only mention here one other 
 matter in this connection. Situated as these mines 
 are, their whole extent from the eastern limit of the 
 Pittsburg to the western limit of the Black Diamond 
 company's workings, was none too great for a single 
 colliery; and if in the early history of the mines the 
 various companies had combined into a single organi- 
 zation to control and manage the whole, then not only 
 
54 COAL MINES. 
 
 the Black Diamond railroad itself, but also the whole 
 establishment of shaft, slopes and machinery for pump- 
 ing and hoisting at the village of Nortonville would 
 have been needless and superfluous, and their entire cost 
 might have been saved; for a single railroad in the 
 Somersville canon would have amply sufficed to trans- 
 port all the coal which these mines have ever furnished, 
 or ever will furnish; while, at the same time every ton 
 of it could have been brought to daylight in this canon 
 more cheaply than it has been brought to the surface 
 at the various openings through which it has actually 
 been extracted. 
 
 For this purpose, the tunnel above referred to as a 
 proposed drain tunnel, which was never driven, should 
 not only have been driven, but should have been made 
 a large sized working tunnel and furnished with a double 
 track and all other facilities for the rapid extraction of 
 coal. 
 
 I do not think it is too much to say that if this had 
 been done, and if the general management of the mines 
 had been at the same time placed in the hands of a com- 
 petent engineer, then the total production of these 
 mines up to the present time (which amounts approx- 
 imately to one and three-quarter million tons) might 
 have been furnished at an average cost price of one dol- 
 lar less per ton than under existing circumstances its 
 actual average cost has been. In other words, I be- 
 lieve that up to the present time the aggregate sum of 
 one million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars 
 could have been saved to the owners of the Mt. Diablo 
 coal mines, if all the natural advantages which the sit- 
 uation of the field presented had been utilized with the 
 best economy. 
 
CALIFORNIA. 55 
 
 PEACOCK AND SAN FKANCISCO MINES. 
 
 To the west of the Black Diamond Company's Mines, 
 for a distance of a mile or two, there has been, in the 
 past, considerable prospecting done for coal among the 
 hills, and a number of slopes and tunnels have been 
 driven some distance underground, at different points, 
 upon the outcrops of small seams of coal. But nothing 
 has ever been discovered here of any value, and the 
 only two localities worth mentioning now are the old 
 "Peacock" and "San Francisco" mines. 
 
 The first of these was unquestionably upon the Black 
 Diamond bed, and is situated about a quarter of a mile 
 south-westerly from the extreme weste'rn limit to which 
 the Black Diamond Company pushed their old "Upper 
 Black Diamond Gangway." This gangway, at its face, 
 when abandoned, was running S. 46 30' W., true 
 course, or about S. 30 W., magnetic, and the clip of 
 the bed at the same point was about 20 to the north- 
 west. It will also be remembered that the "Lower 
 Black Diamond Gangway," as well as the corresponding 
 levels on the Clark bed, in this portion of the Black 
 Diamond Company's mines, all show the same great 
 curve of the strata here to the south in going west. 
 Yet there is no sudden break of anj r considerable mag- 
 nitude so far as those works extend. But at the Pea- 
 cock mine, only about a quarter of a mile distant, we 
 find the bed striking S. 75 W., magnetic, and dipping 
 to the north at an angle of 45, thus proving that within 
 this short distance there is a great disturbance of some 
 kind, resulting in a sudden change of some 45 in the 
 direction of the strike, and an increase of about 25 in 
 the amount of dip. 
 
56 COAL MINES. 
 
 I am not informed as to the full extent of the work 
 which was done in the " Peacock," as it was already 
 abandoned before I first saw it in 1868. But a slope 
 was sunk for ventilation, and a tunnel was driven at 
 least some eight hundred or nine hundred feet in length. 
 The ground, however, was found to be badly broken 
 and crushed, and the coal was soft and worthless. 
 
 The San Francisco mine is situated about half a mile 
 to the west of the Peacock. A slope was sunk here 
 about three hundred feet, on a bed whose dip is about 
 41 at the surface of the ground, but increases to 50 
 at the depth of one hundred and sixty feet, from which 
 point a gangway was driven east two hundred and sev- 
 enty-five feet, and west about seventy-five feet. At the 
 eastern face of this gangway the coal was about two 
 feet thick, and had a course of N. 70 E., magnetic, 
 and a dip of 65 to the north. Below this stratum of 
 coal there was about six feet of soft clay-rock, and then 
 another stratum of coal about one foot thick. Above 
 it there was also another small streak of coal separated 
 from it by a layer of clay-slate. Small faults were very 
 numerous here, and the coal was soft and friable, and 
 never paid to mine. A little of it was once hauled to 
 the village of Pacheco, for sale. But as early as 1869, 
 the work was already abandoned. It is very probable, 
 though not certain, that this mine also is on the Black 
 Diamond bed. 
 
 CENTRAL MINE. 
 
 Passing now to the eastward from Somersville, the 
 first mine which we encounter is the "Central" better 
 known, perhaps, as "Stewart's Mine." This mine is 
 
CALIFORNIA. 57 
 
 situated in a steep and narrow ridge which was nearly 
 east and west across the northern part of section 10, 
 and the mine itself is in the north-east quarter of this 
 section. It was originally opened by a level tunnel 
 driven northerly from a point considerably beneath the 
 line of outcrop of the beds in the steep and almost 
 precipitous southern face of the ridge. 
 
 The course of this tunnel is just about north magnetic, 
 and its length to the Clark bed is about one thousand 
 and thirty feet. It of course cuts through the underly- 
 ing beds. The tunnel is not at right angles to the gang- 
 way, the course of the latter being somewhat to the 
 north of west magnetic. There are exposed in this tun- 
 nel, beneath the Clark bed, four distinct seams of coal, 
 none of which, however, are here of any value. Start- 
 ing from the Clark bed and going south along the tun- 
 nel towards its mouth, we find these seams as follows: 
 The first one at a distance of one hundred and thirty 
 feet shows eighteen inches of impure coal. The second 
 one, about one hundred and fifty-seven feet further 
 south, shows twenty-two inches of similar material. 
 The third one, seventy-three feet further south, is nine- 
 teen inches thick; and the fourth one, supposed to be 
 the Black Diamond bed, is one hundred and eighteen 
 feet still further south. There can be no reasonable 
 doubt, in spite of differences and diminished thickness in 
 the section of the strata between them, that the two beds 
 here called the Clark bed and the Black Diamond bed, 
 respectively, are in reality the same beds as those which 
 bear these names at Nortonville and Somersville. In 
 this mine, some of the small beds between the two con- 
 tain considerable gypsum in thin sheets and scales, fill- 
 
58 COAL MINES. 
 
 ing seams in the soft and worthless coal. On the Black 
 Diamond bed a gangway was once driven here some 
 distance both east and west from the tunnel, and it is 
 said that the bed was from three to four feet thick, and 
 that about a thousand tons of coal were extracted from 
 it, which, however, was of very poor qualitj^, being both 
 soft and "bony." It had been entirely abandoned 
 previous to my first examination of the mine in 1869. 
 
 In April, 1870, a gangway had been driven here, on 
 the Clark bed, two hundred and seventy-five feet east, 
 and three hundred and seventy-five feet west from the 
 tunnel, and a good deal of coal extracted, the bed aver- 
 aging about thirty-nine inches in thickness, and clipping 
 to the north at an angle of 28 or 29. Just west of the 
 tunnel, a large fault, consisting of an upthrow to the 
 west, estimated at eighteen feet, crosses the gangwa} T 
 very obliquely, running north-west and south-east. To 
 the west of this there were no more faults so far as the 
 gangway was then driven, and the coal was bright and 
 clean, but soft and friable. To the east from the tunnel 
 there was a constant succession of small and irregular 
 jumps all the way to the face of the gangway, and the 
 coal here was badly crushed and very soft. Above this 
 gangway the breasts had then been worked to a maxi- 
 mum height of about four hundred and fifty feet, the 
 total distance on the dip of the bed, up to the outcrop, 
 being about seven hundred feet. And some of the best, 
 i. e., the hardest, as well as the cleanest coal ever taken 
 from the mine had come from the top of these breasts, 
 up nearest to the surface of the ground. 
 
 In connection with the popular fancy that coal must 
 of necessity improve indefinitely in quality with indefi- 
 
CALIFORNIA. 59 
 
 nite increase of depth beneath the surface, it may be 
 well here to state the fact that at Nortonville, the mines 
 have never, even from their lowest depths, produced 
 any better or harder coal than was a great deal of that 
 which came from the top of the very highest workings 
 on the Black Diamond bed, more than five hundred feet 
 above the old " Upper Black Diamond Gangway." 
 And this is not all: It is true, as a general rule, through- 
 out all tlie Mt. Diablo mines, that when a depth of 
 from one hundred to three hundred feet is attained, 
 measured on the dip of the bed from the outcrop, there 
 is after and below that no further improvement in the 
 quality of the coal which can be shown to be to any ex- 
 tent dependent upon or connected with the additional 
 increase in the depth. 
 
 Since 1870, a tunnel has been driven in Stewart's 
 mine from the Clark bed northerly entirely through the 
 ridge and out to daylight on its northern side. Since 
 the completion of this tunnel all the coal mined has 
 been taken out through it, thus saving some two miles 
 of cartage around and over the hill. 
 
 It is not probable that this mine has ever been a 
 profitable one to work. And though it has produced in 
 the aggregate a considerable quantity of coal, it has not 
 been worked continuously, but irregularly and spas- 
 modically, sometimes lying idle for many months, and 
 then again producing as high as from nine hundred to 
 one thousand tons of coal per month. After this sort 
 of fitful life for some eight or ten years, it has recently 
 again shut down, and it is doubtful whether it will ever 
 be much more worked hereafter. 
 
 Going east from Stewart's mine, we next find in the 
 
60 GOAL MINES. 
 
 bottom of a canon near Coclirane's house and close to 
 the centr^ of section 11, the outcrops of two beds, which 
 in all probability represent the Clark bed and the Black 
 Diamond bed respectively. At this point the beds run 
 very nearly east and west, and dip to the north at an 
 angle which Cochrane states to be about 32. 
 
 Some prospecting was done at this locality years ago, 
 but the coal was not found good enough to warrant 
 mining. 
 
 Beyond Cochrane's, as we go east, the thickness of 
 the strata and the characteristics of the various beds 
 themselves change so much that, though there is, of 
 course, no lack of positive opinion on the subject 
 among some of the men who are pretty familiar with 
 the ground; and though there are here and there a few 
 facts known which really do point to some probability 
 in the matter with reference to certain beds, yet it is 
 impossible, in the light of all the developments hitherto 
 made, to recognize anywhere, with any certainty, a sin- 
 gle bed as being identical with either the Clark or the 
 Black Diamond bed of the Mt. Diablo mines. 
 
 The next development to the east of Cochrane's, is 
 in the north-east part of the south-west quarter of sec- 
 tion 12. Here a slope was sunk about two hundred 
 feet some years ago, in a direction of north 16 west 
 magnetic upon a bed of coal with a pitch of about 27. 
 There was no coal visible here at the surface of the 
 ground, but only a slightly carbonaceous shale for the 
 first eighty or ninety feet. But then the coal began to 
 come in, and at the bottom of the slope there is said to 
 have been three feet of pretty clean, though rather soft, 
 coal, with a good sandstone roof. It is also said that 
 
CALIFORNIA. 61 
 
 two small schooner loads were once shipped from the 
 bottom of this slope. 
 
 EMPIRE MINE. 
 
 The next development is at the locality now known 
 as the "Empire Mine." This is in the south-west part 
 of the south-east quarter of section 12. 
 
 A slope was originally sunk here about two hundred 
 feet in 1860 or 1861, when the work was stopped by the 
 influx of water which the parties had not the means to 
 handle. There was visible here at the surface of the 
 ground only a little streak of soft clay-shale about eight 
 or ten inches thick, which was of rather a light yellow- 
 ish hue, being but very slightly colored by carbonaceous 
 matter, and having sandstone immediately above and 
 below it. This could not be called a very promising 
 outcrop, certainly. But, on going down, it was found 
 that this streak of shale increased steadily and rapidly 
 in thickness, and also grew rapidly more and more car- 
 bonaceous, till, at the depth of one hundred feet slope 
 distance, it had already developed into a four and a half 
 foot bed of what might very properly be called coal, 
 though it was still impure and very soft and friable. 
 Its quality still continued to improve rapidly to the 
 bottom of the slope. It was, however, abandoned. 
 
 But in the year 1875, Mr. George Hawkshurst, the 
 superintendent of the Union mine, at Somersville, in 
 connection with one or two other parties, again took 
 hold of this old slope, cleaned it out, enlarged it, fur- 
 nished it with a double track, put up pumping and 
 hoisting machinery, and sunk it to the depth of six 
 
62 COAL MINES. 
 
 hundred feet (slope distance), and then drove a gang- 
 way both ways from its foot. 
 
 My last visit to this property was December 11, 1876. 
 At this time the gangway was driven about three hun- 
 dred feet west and nearly four hundred feet east from 
 the slope, with a general course of N. 75 E., magnetic, 
 the dip of the bed being about 23, and the direction of 
 the slope itself being N. 6E., magnetic. 
 
 The coal along this gangway ranges from three feet 
 six inches to a little over four feet in thickness. At the 
 west face of the gangway it was four feet three inches 
 thick. Of this, the upper twelve inches was tolerably 
 clean coal; the next twelve inches was " bony," and the 
 lower two feet three inches was clean coal, though rather 
 softer than the average Mt. Diablo coal. The floor of 
 the bed is sandstone. Along the roof of it there runs a 
 stratum of from live to eight inches of soft clay-slate, 
 which, however, is not continuous, the solid sandstone 
 sometimes coming down to the coal. Above this little 
 streak of slate there is everywhere good solid sandstone. 
 In the eastern part of the gangway there is one fault, 
 which consists of a down-throw to the east of just about 
 the thickness of the vein. West of the slope, there are 
 only one or two little jumps, of a few inches each. 
 
 From a point a few feet east of the foot of the slope, a 
 tunnel was driven south some three hundred feet through 
 the sandstone, in order to strike an underlying bed which 
 had been previously discovered by a little shaft sunk 
 about ninety feet south of the mouth of the slope and 
 one hundred feet deep. This bed, as seen in the shaft, 
 is said to consist of three feet of good clean coal, like 
 the bottom bench of the upper bed, without any " bone" 
 
CALIFORNIA. 63 
 
 and with good sandstone roof and floor. This bed they 
 had not yet reached in the tunnel at the time oi' my 
 visit, though at a distance of a little less than two hun- 
 dred feet from the upper bed they had passed through 
 a small coal seam about eighteen inches thick. Since 
 that time, however, they have struck the lower bed in 
 the tunnel, and found it, as I am told, to consist here of 
 a bottom bench of twenty-two or twenty-three inches of 
 clean coal, overlaid by about fourteen inches of worth- 
 less "bone." The appearance of this "bone' at the 
 depth where the tunnel strikes it, while there was no 
 " bone" at the bottom of the little shaft so much nearer 
 the surface of the ground, is not an encouraging fact with 
 regard to the future prospects for a mine upon this bed. 
 
 At a point some six hundred feet south of the mouth 
 of the slope and very close to the section line between 
 sections 12 and 13, there has been another little shaft 
 sunk about ninety feet, and from the bottom of it a 
 drill-hole was pushed some thirty feet lower. They are 
 reported to have passed through several little streaks of 
 coal in this shaft, and at the bottom of the drill-hole to 
 have struck something which they believe to be the 
 Black Diamond bed, as they assume the bed upon 
 which the slope is sunk to be the Clark bed, and the 
 one struck in the tunnel to be one of the "Little Veins" 
 between the two. But this assumption, though not im- 
 probable, is, as already stated, by no means proven. 
 
 A recent survey shows that the mouth of the Empire 
 mine is about four hundred feet above tide-water, and 
 that a railroad from there to the village of Antioch, on 
 the San Joaquin river, will be about five and a half 
 miles long, and will have two tunnels, aggregating 
 
64 COAL MINES. 
 
 something over one thousand feet in length. It is the 
 present intention of the owners to build this road. 
 
 TEUTONIA MINE. 
 
 Next east of the Empire mine comes the old "Teu- 
 tonia." This is in the south part of the south-west 
 quarter of section 7 of township 1 north, range 2 east, 
 the month of the mine being only about one hundred 
 and fifty feet north of the section line. This mine was 
 furnished with steam hoisting and pumping machinery. 
 But at the time of my first visit to it in September, 
 1869, it had already been idle and abandoned for some 
 two years, and nothing has been done there since. Ac- 
 cording to the best information which I have been able 
 to obtain, however, relating to this mine, the slope, 
 which was furnished with a double track and with 
 sheet-iron mine-cars, went down upon a bed of coal 
 about four hundred feet, with a pitch of about 26. 
 From the bottom of the slope a gangway was driven 
 east something like one hundred feet. Just west of the 
 slope the bed was broken by a large fault jumping up 
 to west, beyond which the work was never carried. 
 The bed was about thirty-six inches thick, the lower 
 half of it being bright, clean, shelly coal, not very hard, 
 and the upper half being "bony." It will be noticed 
 that this description of the bed itself is remarkably like 
 that of the bed which was struck by the tunnel in the 
 Empire mine in the latter part of December, 1876; 
 and it is indeed not at all unlikely that it may be in 
 reality the same bed. 
 
 The fact is worth noticing here that on October 11, 
 
CALIFORNIA. 65 
 
 1875, before the underlying bed had been found at the 
 Empire mine, Mr. J. Cruikshank (who is well informed 
 as to the early work which was done in this region), in 
 some notes which he gave me, placed the Teutonia 
 slope upon a bed underlying the "Clark Yein," and 
 located the outcrop of the " Clark Yein" itself at a point 
 some distance to the north of the mouth of the Teutonia 
 slope. 
 
 On the north-east quarter of section 18, township 1 
 north, range 2 east, there is another old slope, known 
 as the "Israel Opening." This slope is said to be some 
 two hundred feet deep, with a pitch of about 25. It 
 is said, furthermore, that at its bottom there was three 
 feet of clean and tolerably hard coal, and that some 
 rooms were opened and several cargoes of coal once 
 shipped from here. It is supposed that this slope is 
 on a bed which underlies the one on which the Teu- 
 tonia slope is sunk. 
 
 On the north-west quarter of section 16, township 1 
 north, range 2 east, there are several small openings, 
 only one of which is worth mentioning now. This is a 
 slope which runs down about north magnetic with an 
 average pitch of 21. It is said to be about two hun- 
 dred feet deep, and also that at the bottom of it there 
 were three feet of clean coal, with sandstone roof and 
 floor. In December, 1876, the lower part of this slope 
 was full of water, down to the surface of which it was 
 one hundred and thirty -five feet, and at this depth there 
 was nothing like good coal to be seen, but only a streak 
 of dirty " croppings," about one foot in thickness. 
 
COAL MINES. 
 
 KANCHO DE Los MEGANOS. 
 
 On going still further to the east from here, there is 
 for some distance hardly any exposure of the rocks at 
 the surface, and there have never been any holes sunk 
 until we reach the south-east quarter of section 22, and 
 the north-east quarter of section 27, upon the Rancho 
 de Los Meganos, in township 1 north, range 2 east. 
 Here there are known to exist at least three beds of 
 coal of workable thickness associated with heavy de- 
 posits of a good quality of fire-clay. 
 
 A small shaft in the south part of section 22, known 
 as the " Hoisting Shaft," and eighty-eight feet in depth, 
 shows the following section of the strata, the measure- 
 ments being vertical, and beginning at the top or mouth 
 of the shaft: 
 
 Feet. Inches. 
 
 Clay and clayey material .... 34 4 
 
 Black clay 14 8 
 
 Coal 2 4 
 
 White clay, hard and somewhat sandy 4 8 
 
 Coal 4 
 
 Blue fire-clay 5 
 
 Coal 3 6 
 
 Clay (with three regular coal-seams, about one 
 
 foot thick each) 8 
 
 Coal 7 
 
 Clay 3 
 
 Coal 1 2 
 
 Clay 4 
 
 There has been mined here, chiefly from the "7 foot" 
 and the "3 J foot" beds, through shallow slopes and 
 
CALIFORNIA. 67 
 
 shafts, without the use of other power than that of hand 
 and horse, an aggregate of probably somewhere between 
 five thousand and ten thousand tons of coal, most of which 
 has been used under the boilers at the "Engine Shaft." 
 
 The general course of strike of the beds here is about 
 N. 72 W. magnetic, and their dip to the north-east, but 
 so far as yet explored somewhat variable in amount, 
 ranging from 16 to 26 at different points. 
 
 The "Engine Shaft" is sunk at a point about eleven 
 hundred feet north-easterly from the line of outcrop of 
 the beds, is about three hundred and eighty feet deep, 
 and is divided into three compartments, two hoisting 
 and one pumping, each compartment being 8 ft. x5 ft. 
 clear inside of timbers. The shaft is well timbered 
 and is a good piece of workmanship. At its bottom 
 there is a seven-foot bed of coal upon which a gangway 
 was driven west in 1868, to a distance of two hun- 
 dred and seventy-five feet from the shaft. No gang- 
 way was ever driven east from the shaft, and the foot of 
 the shaft itself is in a fault which appears to be an up- 
 throw to the east, of considerable magnitude. Very 
 little coal was ever mined from here, and what was 
 taken out was burned under the boilers at the shaft. 
 The quantity of water to handle here was pretty large, 
 and the shaft was furnished with a Cornish pump, the 
 pumping engine having a 22-inch cylinder with 48-inch 
 stroke, and being geared 4 to 1. The hoisting engine 
 has a 16" x 48" cylinder and is geared 3 to 1. 
 
 It was but a few months after reaching the coal at 
 the foot of this shaft, when, the company which owned 
 the property getting into financial trouble, the work 
 was suspended, and the shaft allowed to fill with water. 
 
68 COAL MINES. 
 
 Since that time it has been once again pumped out, 
 and kept clear of water for a month or two, when, 
 owing to similar causes, it was -again allowed to refill. 
 And in this condition it has remained up to the pres- 
 ent time, the water standing about forty feet below the 
 mouth of the shaft. 
 
 It is believed by Mr. E. F. Lord, the engineer in charge 
 of this property since 1871, as well as by Mr. Clarence 
 King, mining geologist, who made a report upon it in 
 1874, to Mr. S. E. Lyon of New York, that the seven- 
 foot bed at the foot of the engine shaft is entirely a 
 different and separate bed from any of those upon which 
 any mining has been done in the shallow workings near 
 the outcrop, and that the latter beds, denominated by 
 King the "Lord Series," underlie the former, the 
 vertical thickness of the strata between the upper and 
 lower seven-foot beds being supposed to be about one 
 hundred and twenty-five feet. 
 
 But while this theory is not a priori particularly im- 
 probable, it is yet far from being proven to be true, and 
 it is based upon facts which, after a recent careful ex- 
 amination of the ground by myself, and with my expe- 
 rience of over nine years of intimate acquaintance with 
 the coal mines of the Mt. Diablo region, I consider to 
 be of very questionable import, and of little value. 
 
 It would be nothing wonderful if this seven-foot bed 
 at the foot of the engine shaft (which bed consists, by 
 the way, of three distinct benches of coal, separated 
 from each other by two layers of clay-slate a few inches 
 each in thickness), should eventually turn out to be 
 identical with, and at this depth the only representa- 
 tive of, the whole series of beds which has been called 
 
CALIFORNIA. 69 
 
 the "Lord Series." But it is a question .upon which 
 the paucity and the doubtful significance of existing 
 developments render speculation idle, and which addi- 
 tional underground explorations alone can finally settle. 
 Whatever the fact may prove to be, however, in this 
 respect, there can be no question in any case that the 
 quantity of coal in the Kancho de Los Meganos is great. 
 And, though I have never seen any coal in this property 
 which was quite so hard or which would bear handling 
 and transportation so well as the average of the Mt. 
 Diablo coal, nevertheless, as it can be cheaply mined 
 and cheaply sold, there is good reason to believe that 
 it will pay to open up and work this mine, so soon as 
 the property shall be freed from legal complications and 
 a clean title shall be vested in some party who has both 
 the money and the intelligence which it will certainly 
 require to handle it properly. 
 
 With the Eancho de Los Meganos, the Mt. Diablo 
 coal field may be said to terminate, no explorations to 
 the east or south-east of here having ever developed 
 anything in the shape of coal worth mentioning until 
 we come to another fiwld, viz., 
 
 THE CORRAL HOLLOW COAL FIELD, 
 
 In the hills to the south of the Livermore Pass. There 
 is a general description of this coal field, together with 
 the developments which had been made here in the way 
 of exploring and mining for coal up to the year 1862, 
 in the volume of The Geology of California, published 
 by the State Geological Survey in 1865, pages 34 to 38, 
 to which the reader is also referred. 
 
70 COAL MINES. 
 
 In the year 1870, I visited the locality myself, in the 
 employment of the State Geological Survey. In the 
 eight years which had then intervened since Mr. Brew- 
 er's last visit, there had been considerable work done 
 and a good deal of money expended in prospecting and 
 mining for coal in the Corral Hollow canon, the results 
 of which had only tended, however, to confirm the ac- 
 curacy of the opinion expressed on page 36 of The 
 Geology of California, that "the disturbances of the 
 strata in this district were so extensive that it was to be 
 feared that these coal beds would not be made avail- 
 able;" while the quality of the coal itself had also been 
 proven to be somewhat inferior to that of the Mt. 
 Diablo mines, inasmuch as it is softer and more friable, 
 and crumbles worse upon exposure to the atmosphere. 
 
 At the old Pacific mine (otherwise called the "Eureka 
 mine," and "O'Brien's mine,") no work had been done 
 since 1862. Farther down the canon, though my notes 
 of the trip show many detailed observations of the 
 strike and dip of the strata, as well as of the other vis- 
 ible surface indications, the only mention it is worth 
 while to make of them here is the fact that they all con- 
 firm the statement that the strata are greatly disturbed. 
 All the lower mines were already, at the time of my 
 visit, in August, 1870, entirely closed and abandoned; 
 and the best information I could obtain respecting the 
 underground developments in them was from Mr. Car- 
 roll, who had lived here for some years, and w r as pretty 
 familiar with the work that had actually been done. 
 According to his statements, the old shaft of the "Com- 
 mercial Company" (which is situated on the south side 
 of the creek, some half or three quarters of a mile below 
 
CALIFORNIA. 71 
 
 the shaft of the old " Coast Eange Company," described 
 on pages 37 and 38 of The Geology of California), 
 was sunk about two hundred feet, and a tunnel was 
 driven from its bottom about one hundred and eighty 
 feet to the south. This shaft was not in coal, and the 
 tunnel from its foot did not strike coal. A short dis- 
 tance below this point there is another shaft sunk to 
 a depth of about eighty feet by Mr. Header. This also 
 was not on coal, and no drifting was done from it. 
 
 The next opening which we come to is the "lower 
 shaft" of the Commercial Company. This shaft is in 
 the coal, is about three hundred feet deep, and fur- 
 nished all the coal which came from the Corral Hollow 
 mines during the years 1869 and 1870. But at the time 
 of my visit the hoisting-works had recently been burned 
 down, and the mine itself, as well as its waste heaps, 
 was on fire. The dip in this mine was very steep to 
 the south. 
 
 At the Almaden mine, a little further down the canon, 
 there is a shaft about three hundred feet deep, and 
 a tunnel was driven southerly from its foot about seven 
 hundred feet, but no coal was found, except two or 
 three seams of no value. Carroll thinks there is coal 
 here to the north of the shaft. The dip here is south- 
 erly. 
 
 While this work was going on previous to 1870, the 
 Western Pacific Railroad Company had also expended 
 a few thousand dollars in laying down a track from 
 Ellis Station to the mouth of Corral Hollow canon,, in. 
 the hope of getting coal from these mines for use upon 
 their locomotives, in which hope they were, not unnat- 
 urally, disappointed. 
 
72 COAL MINES. 
 
 I have not heard of any further mining for coal in 
 Corral Hollow canon since 1870; and the total amount 
 of coal ever sent to market from this locality has been 
 very small. 
 
 But outside of Corral Hollow canon, and yet within 
 the limits of what may be properly called the Corral 
 Hollow coal field, there has bean some prospecting and 
 a little mining done. 
 
 THE LIYERMORE MINE. 
 
 Within about a mile to the west of the Pacific mine, 
 and on the west side of the crest of the watershed which 
 here divides the waters of the Livermore valley from 
 those of the San Joaquin valley, there is situated the 
 "Livermore Mine." At this mine, when I visited it in 
 July, 1875, they had sunk a slope of about three hun- 
 dred and eighty feet upon a bed of coal whose strike 
 was just about east and west magnetic, and whose dip, 
 though somewhat variable, averaged to the bottom of 
 the slope about 40 to the north. 
 
 At the surface of the ground, there was visible here 
 only a little black dirt; but the coal began to come in 
 at a point about fifty feet below the mouth of the slope. 
 At the bottom of the slope, when I saw it, the bed was 
 about five feet thick, but contained three or four little 
 streaks of clay, from half an inch to three inches thick. 
 The coal itself was soft, and crumbled on exposure, like 
 that of the mines of Corral Hollow canon. Some fur- 
 ther work was done here in the latter part of 1875. A 
 steam hoisting engine was erected, and bunkers were 
 built, and some drifting was done underground, but the 
 work has since been abandoned. 
 
CALIFORNIA. 73 
 
 It is reported that since 1875 another coal ' discovery 
 has been made at the so-called " Summit Coal Mine," a 
 short distance to the north-east from the Livermore 
 mine, and that considerable prospecting work has been 
 done there, with promising results. But of this I can- 
 not speak positively, not having seen the ground. 
 
 OTHER COAL LOCALITIES. 
 
 Outside of the Mt. Diablo coal field, there are numer- 
 ous localities besides Corral Hollow scattered through- 
 out the coast range of mountains from San Diego to 
 Crescent City, and a number of localities also in the 
 western foothills of the Sierra Nevada, in California, 
 where more or less coal has been found. None of these 
 localities have yet proven themselves to be of any finan- 
 cial value here, and the great majority of them would be 
 utterly worthless in any country. I proceed, however, 
 to mention a few, which either from their own intrinsic 
 merit, or else from the noise which has been made about 
 them, are worthy of special notice. 
 
 First. In the southern part of Los Angeles County, at 
 a locality about twelve or thirteen miles easterly from 
 the town of Anaheim, in the mountains on the south 
 side of the Santa Ana Elver, not over a mile from the 
 river, and at an altitude of some fourteen hundred or 
 fifteen hundred feet above its bed, there are exposed in 
 the precipitous mountain-side some ten or twelve thin 
 seams of impure coal, distributed through something like 
 a hundred feet in thickness of shales and sandstones, no 
 single coal seam being over about one foot thick. I vis- 
 ited this locality in 1872. The whole thing is worthless. 
 
74 COAL MINES. 
 
 Second. It is said that there is a locality upon Los 
 Gatos Creek, in the eastern flank of the Coast Range, in 
 the southern part of Fresno County, where there are ex- 
 posed no less than four or five beds which show in their 
 croppings from three feet to four and one-half feet re- 
 spectively of a good quality of coal, which it would pay 
 well to mine if it were within reasonable distance of a 
 market. This locality I have not seen. 
 
 Third. There is in the hills on the south side of the 
 little valley called Yallecitos, in the western part of 
 Fresno County, and distant some five or six miles in a 
 north-westerly direction from the New Idria Quicksilver 
 mine, a bed of coal which strikes N. 85 W., magnetic, 
 and dips 80 to 85 to the south. This bed is certainly 
 over seven feet in thickness, as, at the time of my visit 
 in April, 1871, it had already been pierced to that extent 
 by a tunnel which had not yet gone through it. This 
 tunnel struck the bed at a depth only about forty feet 
 below the surface of the ground. So far as exposed 
 at that time, the coal was pretty uniform in quality 
 throughout, and appeared but little contaminated with 
 earthy matter. It however contained considerable gyp- 
 sum in thin scales filling its seams, and it was soft and 
 friable. But its quality was good enough, on the whole, 
 to warrant a belief that it might, with proper arrange- 
 ments, be used to some extent with advantage in the 
 reduction of quicksilver ores at the New Idria mine, 
 where wood is scarce and expensive, though whether 
 since then it has actually been so utilized, I am not 
 informed. 
 
 Fourth. On the Middle Fork of the -Eel Kiver, about 
 seven or eight miles south of the village of Bound Yal- 
 
CALIFORNIA. 75 
 
 ley, in Mendocino county, and in the north-east corner 
 of section 11 of township 21 north, range 13 west, Mt. 
 Diablo meridain, there is a bed of coal exposed, cross- 
 ing the channel of the river in a direction N. 45 W. 
 to N. 50 W. magnetic, and dipping from 20 to 30 
 north-east. 
 
 This bed is from fourteen to fifteen feet thick, and is 
 all good coal with the exception of a single streak of 
 shale in the middle of it, about five or six inches in 
 thickness. The coal is immediately overlaid and under- 
 laid by heavy beds of very fragile shales. 
 
 The shales above the coal are not far from seventy- 
 five feet thick, and are overlaid by very hard and highly 
 metamorphic rocks, containing large quantities of jas- 
 per and other silicious matter. 
 
 The shales beneath the coal are about twenty feet 
 thick, and are underlaid by a bed of unaltered sand- 
 stone some ten or twelve thick, which again rests upon 
 the same hard, metamorphic rocks which overlie the 
 shales above. The whole thickness, coal and all, there- 
 fore, of the belt of unaltered strata which includes this 
 coal bed, is at this locality only about one hundred and 
 twenty -five feet. 
 
 The quality of the coal itself is a little better than 
 that of the Mt. Diablo mines. In fact, it is the best 
 coal which I have seen from anywhere in California; 
 while at the same time this is the thickest bed of a 
 marketable quality of coal that is yet known to exist 
 within the state. Two causes, however, combine to 
 render it improbable that it will ever furnish coal for 
 the San Francisco market. In the first place, there is 
 plenty of evidence close at hand that the rocks in that 
 neighborhood have been greatly disturbed, and it is 
 
76 COAL MINES. 
 
 very uncertain how far the bed could be followed with- 
 out being found crushed and broken up by faults; while 
 at the same time extensive metamorphism of the rocks 
 has been peculiarly localized and capriciously distrib- 
 uted throughout this region, and very irregular patches 
 and belts of highly metamorphosed rocks alternate in 
 all directions with no less irregular belts and patches 
 which seem to have almost entirely escaped the meta- 
 morphic action. And, in the second place, the locality 
 is in the heart of the Coast Range of mountains, and in 
 order to reach it, it would be necessary to construct a 
 railroad for a long distance through a very rough region, 
 which would render the cost of transportation so great 
 that coal can be laid down in San Francisco from Wash- 
 ington territory or Vancouver's Island for less cost per 
 ton than from here. There are said to be several other 
 localities to the west and south-west from Round Valley 
 where some croppings of coal have been found, but 
 none of these are of any special interest. 
 
 Fifth. In the eastern part of Shasta County, there is 
 among the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada a region 
 of considerable extent, including portions of several 
 townships, where the volcanic materials which cap the 
 mountain spurs and ridges are generally underlaid by 
 a body of coal-bearing strata of recent origin. These 
 strata consist of soft and unaltered shales and sand- 
 stones, and they are spread out unconformably over the 
 upturned edges of the metamorphic gold-bearing slates 
 which form so large a part of the mass of the Sierra. 
 Their general position is not far from horizontal, though 
 at different points they dip gently in various directions, 
 the angle of dip rarely, if ever, exceeding 6 or 8. The 
 aggregate thickness of these strata is probably not over 
 
CALIFORNIA. 77 
 
 one or two hundred feet; and they belong' to that geo- 
 logical period which immediately preceded the com- 
 mencement of volcanic activity in that portion of the 
 range. 
 
 At a point in the north-west quarter of section 20, 
 township 33 north, range 1 west, Mt. Diablo meridian, 
 there was in September, 1874, an open cut in a hill 
 side, thirty -five feet long, beyond which a tunnel had 
 been driven fifteen feet underground; and in this tun- 
 nel there was exposed a coal-bed whose total thickness 
 was twelve feet. This thickness was made up as fol- 
 lows, beginning at the top : 
 
 Feet. Inches. 
 
 Coal, slaty and worthless 1 6 
 
 Slate 6 
 
 Coal.. 7 
 
 Slate 5 
 
 Coal 11 
 
 Slate 3 
 
 Coal 1 2 
 
 Slate 3 
 
 Coal 1 
 
 Slate . . 110 
 
 Coal 5 
 
 Slate 4 
 
 Coal 4 
 
 Slate 2 
 
 Coal 1 10 
 
 Slate 4 
 
 Coal 4 
 
 Slate 3 
 
 Coal 6 
 
 Total , 12 
 
78 COAL MINES. 
 
 What is here designated as "coal," however, was it- 
 self more or less impure, being often traversed by still 
 thinner sheets of clay and dirt, whose thickness ranged 
 from that of a sheet of paper up to half an inch, or so. 
 It was also soft and friable, and disintegrated rapidly 
 on exposure to the air. This to be sure was very close 
 to the surface of the ground. 
 
 When I again visited the same locality, in April, 1876, 
 this tunnel had been driven some thirty feet further 
 underground, and then allowed to cave, and the place 
 was inaccessible. I was told by Mr. Kincaid, who 
 did the work, that at the face where he last stopped 
 the coal was somewhat harder, and contained less slate 
 than where I saw it in 1874. But heavy as this bed is, 
 its quality at the best, so far as yet explored, is such 
 that unless it improves very materially on driving fur- 
 ther into the hill, it is not likely to pay to mine. 
 
 In the near vicinity of this point, also, there has been 
 considerable other prospecting work done, and one tun- 
 nel has been driven some four or five hundred feet in 
 length. But none of this work has developed so much 
 coal as the open cut and tunnel just described. 
 
 I also saw more or less of coal croppings at various 
 other localities scattered about through this region. 
 For example, on section 3, section 7, section 8, and sec- 
 tion 21 of this same township, also on section 12, town- 
 ship 33 north, range 2 west, and also at a point which 
 is probably in section 9, township 34 north, range 1 
 west. Croppings are said to be exposed also in section 
 27 and section 28 of township 33 north, range 1 west. 
 But very little work has been done, however, at any of 
 these localities, and no coal has yet been found which 
 it would pay to mine. 
 
CALIFORNIA. 79 
 
 Sixth. In lone Yalley, at the western edge of the foot- 
 hills of the Sierra Nevada, in Amador County, there is 
 a coal-bed, which has attracted some attention, at a lo- 
 cality which I visited incidentally in November, 1871, 
 while more especially engaged in studying for the State 
 Geological Survey the ancient auriferous gravels, which 
 are so widely distributed over the western flanks of the 
 Sierra. 
 
 This coal is also of very recent origin; quite proba- 
 bly, indeed, not older than some of the auriferous grav- 
 els themselves. The bed lies nearly horizontal, and 
 ranges at different points from five or six to twelve or 
 fifteen feet in thickness. It is overlaid and underlaid 
 by a very soft clay-rock, and its depth beneath the sur- 
 face of the ground is small, being sometimes not more 
 than thirty or forty feet. The material itself is strictly 
 a lignite, still showing a good deal of the woody tex- 
 ture. It is not black nor lustrous, but of a dull earthy 
 brown color, very soft and friable, and makes a large 
 quantity of ash. Nevertheless, it burns very freely with 
 a bright flame, and the ashes do not form any trouble- 
 some clinker. It has been employed for years as fuel 
 for a flouring-mill at lone City, the distance to haul it 
 being about three-quarters of a mile. At the time of 
 my visit, this mill, driven by a steam engine of 14" cyl- 
 inder and 36" stroke, was using no other fuel, and was 
 consuming of this, as Mr. Hall, the proprietor, informed 
 me, about three tons per day, costing less than a dollar 
 and a half per ton at the mill. This was certainly very 
 cheap fuel; and the lone Valley coal will be likely to 
 continue for many years to supply a certain moderate 
 local demand for various purposes; but it will not bear 
 
80 GOAL MINES. 
 
 transportation to any great distance, and it is not likely 
 to ever compete with other coals in the general market. 
 Since the beginning of 1876, a new mine has been 
 opened here, and there has been a good deal of talk 
 about it; but whether the quality of its coal is in reality 
 any better or poorer than was obtained from the earlier 
 workings I do not know, not having yet seen the mine 
 myself. 
 
 Seventh. At the village of Lincoln in the Sacramento 
 valley, in the south-western part of Placer county, there 
 is also a coal deposit, of which great expectations have 
 from time to time been entertained. I have never ex- 
 amined this deposit and do not know the extent of the 
 work which has been done. But I have seen some of 
 the coal which it has furnished and such of it as I have 
 seen was decidedly inferior in quality even to the lone 
 Valley coal; so poor, in fact, as to be practically worth- 
 less. 
 
 Eighth. At American Canon, in the south-western 
 part of Solano County, there are, for some distance in the 
 bluff along the right bank of the canon, heavy but irreg- 
 ular croppings of black carbonaceous shale, containing 
 streaks from one inch to eight or ten inches in thickness 
 of coal. Most of these croppings, however, are not in 
 place, as there has been more or less land-sliding nearly 
 all the way along the steep face of the bluff. 
 
 The attempt has been made once or twice to organize 
 a company to mine here for coal. But there has never 
 vet been sufficient work done here to prove what lies 
 in the solid hill back of the croppings. The locality 
 would also be rather an expensive one to prospect satis- 
 factorily, and the surface indications are not on the 
 
CALIFORNIA. 81 
 
 \ 
 
 whole particularly promising. With reference, how- 
 ever, to transportation and proximity to market, the 
 situation is a very favorable one if ever a good mine be 
 found here. 
 
 Ninth. There have been occasional paragraphs in the 
 newspapers, within the last year or two, with reference 
 to the discovery of what has been asserted to be a 
 heavy bed of a superior quality of coal in the range of 
 hills next east of the Santa Kosa Valley in Sonoma 
 County. But I am not aware that this discovery has 
 yet proven itself to be of any value. 
 
 Tenth. In addition to all the foregoing, there have 
 been numberless "coal discoveries" reported in the 
 newspapers from time to time, in almost every corner 
 of the State; but more especially in the Coast Range of 
 mountains, and more particularly still in the counties 
 of Santa Cruz and Monterey, and in the Contra Costa 
 hills which stretch south-easterly from Carquinez straits 
 through Contra Costa and Alameda counties, and in the 
 foothills which skirt the southern and western flanks of 
 Mt. Diablo itself. And in very many, probably indeed 
 in nearly all of these numerous localities, a little coal 
 of some sort has actually been found. But none of 
 them all have yet proven to be of any practical value, 
 and the statement still remains true to-day, as it has 
 done in the past, that the only locality in California 
 where coal has ever yet been mined with profit to any 
 noteworthy extent, is at the old Mt. Diablo mines. 
 
 But it is furthermore true to-day, of the Mt. Diablo 
 
 mines themselves, that all of them which have been 
 
 profitable in the past have already seen their best days 
 
 and are now rapidly declining; while outside of these 
 
 6 
 
82 COAL MINES. 
 
 old mines the most promising region yet known in the 
 State is the eastern and yet unworked part of the Mt. 
 Diablo coal field, in which the most promising develop- 
 ments yet made are at the Empire mine and at the 
 Rancho de los Meganos. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 OREGON. 
 
 THE Coos BAY MINES. 
 
 The only coal mines hitherto worked with profit in 
 Oregon are located at Coos Bay, on the western coast of 
 the State, about one hundred miles north of the Cali- 
 fornia boundary, and some forty miles to the north of 
 Cape Blanco. 
 
 The full extent of the Coos Bay coal field is not yet 
 definitely known, and it will probably be many years 
 before it will become so. The wild nature of the coun- 
 try, which is everywhere covered with dense and heavy 
 forests, renders exploration extremely slow, laborious 
 and expensive; while the distance from market, com- 
 bined with the difficulties of navigation make it impos- 
 sible to mine coal here with profit, except at a few 
 points, where it is found of good quality, favorably sit- 
 uated for cheap mining, and very close to navigable 
 water. 
 
 It is already known, however, that this coal field cov- 
 ers at least several hundred square miles of territory, 
 stretching from the mouth of the Umpqua river on the 
 north to points beyond the Coquille river on the south, 
 and extending back from the coast to distances of from 
 fifteen to twenty miles inland. 
 
84 COAL MINES. 
 
 The general character of the surface of the country 
 thus designated is that of a hilly region, carved into a 
 perfect labyrinth of steep and narrow gulches, and in 
 the vicinity of Coos Bay, pierced in every direction by 
 numerous "sloughs," or long narrow and crooked in- 
 lets, which though usually not very deep, often allow 
 the tide-water to set back in them many miles. The 
 lower portions of the Umpqua and the Coquille rivers 
 themselves also assume the character of these so-called 
 "sloughs," and the tide ebbs and flows in them for a 
 considerable distance back from the coast. 
 
 Over the greater portion of this region the hills rarely 
 rise to altitudes of more than five or six hundred 
 feet above tide-water; but the banks of the sloughs 
 are generally abrupt and steep, and the gulches which 
 cut the hills in every direction are so numerous as well 
 as deep and steep, that with the heavy timber and fre- 
 quently the dense underbrush besides, the country is a 
 very hard one to prospect, or to travel through. 
 
 As a general rule, along this portion of the coast, 
 each river or inlet has in front of it a bar of sand, upon 
 which the water is not so deep as it is in the sloughs 
 inside. These bars, moreover, are shifting, and the 
 deepest channels over them vary more or less in posi- 
 tion as well as in depth, with every heavy storm. The 
 depth at low water on the bar in front of Coos Bay va- 
 ries, in different seasons, from nine to thirteen or four- 
 teen feet; and it is a most serious disadvantage to the 
 Coos Bay coal mines that t]iis depth is so small as not 
 to permit the general use of vessels for transporting the 
 coal, which will carry more than from three hundred to 
 four hundred tons at a cargo. Moreover, in the winter 
 
OREGON. 85 
 
 the sea is frequently so rough that it is unsafe for ves- 
 sels oj: any kind to attempt to cross the bar; and it has 
 happened more than once that vessels laden with coal 
 and lumber have been land-locked in Coos Bay, and 
 unable to get out for over a month at a time. 
 
 Coos Bay itself is roughly crescent shaped, convex 
 towards the north. From the head of the bay proper, 
 which is about at the village of Marshfield, Isthmus 
 Slough continues navigable some six or eight miles far- 
 ther south for vessels as large as can ordinarily cross 
 the bar. There is thus included between the upper and 
 lower portions of the bay, and between Isthmus Slough 
 and the ocean coast a peninsula, which in its southern 
 portion is eight or nine miles wide. Empire City, on 
 the lower portion of Coos Bay, is on the north-west 
 side of this peninsula; the village of North Bend is at 
 its extreme northern point; while Marshfield is on its 
 eastern side, and, as already stated, at about the head 
 of the bay itself. 
 
 There is a saw-mill at Empire City, another at North 
 Bend, and a third at Marshfield. The united capacity 
 of these three mills amounts to not far from fifty thou- 
 sand feet of lumber per day. There has been some 
 shipbuilding done here; and North Bend has turned 
 out one or two remarkably fast sailers. A large pro- 
 portion of the so-called Port Orford cedar, viz., the 
 white cedar of Oregon, which reaches the San Francisco 
 market, comes from the Coos Bay mills. All three of 
 the villages named above are in township 25 south, 
 range 13 west, Willamette meridian. The paying coal 
 mines of Coos Bay are all in township 26 south, range 
 13 west. There are only two mines which have been 
 
86 COAL MINES. 
 
 profitably worked in the past, viz., the Eastport mine 
 and the Newport mine, and there is at the present time 
 but one more which gives any reasonable promise of 
 profit in the future. 
 
 THE EASTPORT MINE. 
 
 At a point on the left bank of Isthmus Slough near 
 its mouth and a mile or so above Marshfield is the 
 mouth of "Coal-Bank Slough." From here up the 
 latter slough, which is small and crooked and navigable 
 only at high water, it is about three-fourths of a mile to v 
 the point of shipment of the coal from the Eastport 
 mine. This mine is situated in the north-east quarter 
 of section 4 of township 26 south, range 13 west, though 
 it is opened by a tunnel whose mouth is in the north- 
 west corner of section 3; while its most northerly under- 
 ground workings probably also extend somewhat beyond 
 the township line on the north into the south-east quar- 
 ter of section 33 in the adjoining township. The height 
 of the mouth of the mine above tide water is stated to 
 be one hundred and sixty or one hundred and seventy 
 feet, and the length of the railroad from there to the 
 landing on Coal-Bank Slough is about seven-eighths of 
 a mile. This railroad is a wooden tramway of about 
 four feet gauge furnished with a strap iron rail. The 
 cars are of wood, with trap door discharges at the bot- 
 tom, and hold about two and a half tons each. Each 
 empty car is hauled separately from the landing up to 
 the mine by a horse or mule. The loaded cars run 
 down to the landing by their own gravity, and four of 
 them being coupled together constitute a train, the 
 brakes of which are managed by one man. 
 
OREGON. 87 
 
 The coal bed here strikes about true- north and south, 
 and throughout the upper portions of the mine has an 
 average dip of about 8 to the west. The aggregate 
 thickness of the coal mined ranges from four to five 
 feet, averaging about four feet and a half, in two benches 
 of nearly equal thickness with a stratum of soft clay- 
 slate between them whose average thickness is about 
 six inches, though it ranges in different parts of the 
 mine from four to ten. Above the upper one of these 
 two benches comes a stratum of clay-slate, generally 
 about one foot in thickness, and immediately over this 
 again about one foot of coal. But this so-called "top 
 coal " is not generally taken down, for the reason that 
 the material overlying it is a soft and weak clay-rock 
 which would not form so good a roof for the mine as 
 the slate beneath the top coal does, while at the same 
 time that coal, though generally of good quality, is not 
 thick enough to pay for handling so much rock as would 
 be necessary in order to obtain it. 
 
 This mine is opened by a tunnel driven westerly from 
 a point below the outcrop of the bed a distance of some 
 seven hundred feet to where it strikes the coal. From 
 this point a gangway has been driven a considerable 
 distance both north and south, and all the available 
 coal above its level taken out. From a point in this 
 gangway some five or six hundred feet south of the tun- 
 nel a slope has been sunk following the dip of the bed 
 to the west a distance of about nine hundred feet. From 
 this slope gangways have been driven north and south 
 at various points, some of them to distances of two thou- 
 sand feet or more, and the upper lifts thus obtained 
 are also by this time pretty well exhausted. At the 
 
88 COAL MINES. 
 
 time of my last visit to this mine, in May, 1876, the 
 gangway from the foot, or extreme western end of this 
 slope, had extended about two hundred and fifty feet 
 north and three hundred and fifty feet south from the 
 slope. In going down this slope the dip of the bed it- 
 self gradually decreases from about 8 at its head until 
 within about one hundred feet of its foot it vanishes 
 altogether, and for the remaining distance the coal lies 
 just about level. At the same time, however, the bed 
 becomes somewhat more irregular and shows numerous 
 small rolls with occasional faults, which make it more 
 expensive to mine, while the coal itself is not quite so 
 hard and good as it was in the upper levels of the mine. 
 
 THE NEWPORT MINE. 
 
 The Newport Mine is in the northern part of section 
 9 of township 26 south, range 13 west, and its mouth is 
 only about ninety feet above tide water. Its point of 
 shipment is also on Coal Bank slough, at some little dis- 
 tance above that of the Eastport mine. The railroad 
 from the mine to the landing is a little less than two 
 miles in length, laid with the strap rail, with a gauge 
 of three feet two inches, and for a portion of the dis- 
 tance it has an up grade for the load of about one hun- 
 dred feet to the mile in order to gain sufficient height 
 at the landing for shoots to load the vessels. It is fur- 
 nished also with a little four-wheeled locomotive, only 
 two of the wheels being drivers, which is said to weigh 
 seven tons and to have cost about four thousand dollars. 
 This engine hauls four cars at a time, containing ten 
 tons of coal, from the mine to the landing. 
 
OREGON. 89 
 
 The Newport Mine is opened by a tunnel or gangway, 
 which starts in the croppings of the bed 011 the south 
 side of a ravine and runs directly in the coal itself for 
 a distance of over two thousand feet to the south, en- 
 tirely through the spur of the hills in which the mine is 
 located and out to daylight on the other side. No coal 
 has }-et been mined here below the level of this gang- 
 way. The maximum height of the lift above it in the 
 middle of the spur was probably over fifteen hundred 
 feet. But the greater portion of this is now worked 
 out, and in May, 1876, the foreman of the mine in- 
 formed me that the quantity of available coal then re- 
 maining above this gangway would not exceed a two 
 years' supply at the rate of fifty tons per day. Another 
 gangway can be driven here, however, at a lower level 
 which will give an additional lift of two or three hun- 
 dred feet below the present one and thus furnish several 
 years' further supply of coal before it will be necessary 
 to do any pumping or hoisting. 
 
 The bed which is here worked is unquestionably the 
 same as that in the Eastport mine, and has about the 
 same thickness and the same general characteristics. 
 Its strike here also is north and south, and its average 
 dip in the Newport Mine about 9 to the west. 
 
 There are very few faults or disturbances of any 
 sort so far as the works have yet extended in either 
 of these mines, with the single exception of the gradual 
 diminution of the dip already noticed in the lower por- 
 tion of the Eastport mine. But there is evidence that 
 within half a mile, or less, to the west of the Newport 
 mine there is a disturbance of considerable magnitude. 
 For the eastern part of section 8 and the western 
 
90 COAL MINES. 
 
 part of section 9 are occupied by a liigli ridge, known 
 as Yokam Hill, in tlie sides of wliicli may be seen at 
 various points the outcrops of a bed of coal, which is 
 in all probability identical with the one that is worked 
 in the mines, but which here lies at an altitude above 
 tide-water, which at one point is over three hundred 
 feet higher than the mouth of the Newport mine. And 
 in Yokam Hill, also, the bed, though elevated more 
 than three hundred feet above the horizon which it oc- 
 cupies in the Newport mine, still dips gently to the 
 west. There is, therefore, in all probability, either a 
 single fault or a series of faults of considerable magni- 
 tude in the strata between Yokam Hill arid the New- 
 port mine. 
 
 There are also scattered here and there over other 
 portions of the peninsula indications of a probability 
 that faults and dislocations are by no means uncommon, 
 although very little has yet been seen of them in the 
 workings of the mines themselves. 
 
 NEW MINE. 
 
 As already stated, the Eastport and the Newport 
 mines are the only ones which have hitherto been suc- 
 cessfully worked at Coos Bay. But at the present time, 
 March, 1877, Mr. B. B. Jones is engaged in building a 
 railroad, and opening a new mine at a locality on the 
 left bank of Isthmus Slouch, some five or six miles 
 above Marshfield, and opposite the little village of 
 Coos City, which stands on the right bank at the ter- 
 minus of the wagon road coming from Hoseburg over 
 the coast range of mountains; and this mine bids fair 
 
OREGON. 91 
 
 to become of greater value hereafter than either the 
 Eastport or the Newport. It has already been proven 
 by a tunnel driven some five hundred or six hundred 
 feet upon a coal-bed in the direction of about north 18 
 east true course, from a point in the bed of a gulch 
 in the north-east corner of the south-east quarter of 
 section 22 of township 26, south range -13 west. 
 
 The mouth of this tunnel is one hundred and four 
 feet above the level of low water in Isthmus Slough, 
 thus giving plenty of height for bunkers, dumps, etc., 
 while a railroad of only about half a mile in length, which 
 can be cheaply built, will convey the coal from the bunk- 
 ers at the mine to deep water on the slough. 
 
 At the point where the tunnel was commenced, there 
 was no visible outcrop whatever of the coal at the sur- 
 face of the ground; but a few feet beneath the surface 
 a dark-colored streak began to show itself, which grew 
 rapidly thicker and purer until within about one hundred 
 feet from the mouth of the tunnel it had developed into 
 a bed of good coal about four feet thick. Beyond that 
 point, so far as the tunnel has yet extended, this bed will 
 furnish from four to four and one-half feet of clean, hard 
 coal, of a quality as good as the best hitherto furnished 
 by the Coos Bay mines. The strike of the bed is about 
 north 18 east true course, and its dip is about 8J to 
 the east. It has in the middle of it a streak an inch or 
 two in thickness of a soft clay "mining;" but the re- 
 mainder of the bed is good, clean coal, which separates 
 easily from the roof and floor; and as, furthermore, 
 both roof and floor consist of good, solid sandstone, 
 the coal can be mined from this bed for a little less 
 cost than it can at either of the other mines, where the 
 
92 GOAL MINES. 
 
 roof is not so good. So far as can be judged from sur- 
 face indications, also, there is every probability that 
 this mine will prove an extensive one, and that the 
 quantity of coal which can be cheaply extracted from it 
 will be large. It is pleasing to be able to add that the 
 well known experience and ability of Mr. Jones give 
 good assurance that this property will be prudently 
 managed, and that in so far as coal mining at Coos Bay 
 can be made profitable hereafter, he may be expected 
 to make this mine pay. 
 
 MISTAKES AND FAILURES. 
 
 It is not so pleasant, however, to contemplate the 
 wasteful expenditure of money which has been made 
 within the last few years at other localities about Coos 
 Bay by thoroughly incompetent, if not in some cases 
 dishonest, parties in searching and mining for coal. It 
 probably would not exceed the truth to assert that since 
 the year 1870 there has been expended in this way, in 
 the immediate vicinity of Coos Bay, an aggregate sum 
 of not less than half a million of dollars, every dollar 
 of which is a total loss, and at least nine-tenths of which 
 would certainly have been saved if the advice of a com- 
 petent engineer had been sought and followed. 
 
 As it has been a time-honored practice among the 
 gold and silver bearing quartz veins of California and 
 elsewhere, to erect a costly mill, with all its apparatus 
 complete for crushing, amalgamating, etc., before the 
 mine was sufficiently developed to prove whether there 
 was anything in it worth crushing or not, so the usual 
 practice in these experiments at Coos Bay has been to 
 
OREGON. 93 
 
 build railroads, bunkers and wharves before any coal 
 had been found that was worth mining; and in more 
 instances than one under circumstances where there 
 never was any reasonable probability that any coal 
 would be found which it would pay to mine. 
 
 It may not be amiss to briefly describe two or three 
 of these Quixotic undertakings. The first one, and 
 perhaps the least Quixotic of all those which have in- 
 volved heavy expenditure, w^as in progress at the time 
 of my first visit to Coos Bay, in August, 1872, and was 
 known as "Hardy's Mine." 
 
 This mine was located on the north-east side of the 
 bay, nearly opposite the village of North Bend, and on 
 the peninsula between Haynes's Slough and Jordan's 
 Slough. Its wharf w r as built at Jordan's Point. The mine 
 was opened by a tunnel whose mouth was on the north- 
 east quarter of the south-Avest quarter of section 1, of 
 township 25 south, range 13 west, and which ran in a di- 
 rection north 33 east magnetic, about eight hundred and 
 fifty feet to where it struck the coal-bed, from which 
 point a gangway had been driven at the time of my visit 
 (August, 1872), about four hundred feet to the north. 
 So far as the gangway then extended, the strike of the 
 bed was about true north, and its dip 16 or 18 to the 
 west. This gangway lies beneath the western slope of 
 a ridge which runs nearly north and south across the 
 peninsula in question, and whose crest is said to rise 
 something over four hundred feet above low water. 
 Along the eastern slope of the ridge the coal crops out 
 at two or three points from fifty to one hundred feet 
 below its crest, and in these croppings the coal appeared 
 to be of fair quality. But in the gangway below, it was 
 
94 COAL MINES. 
 
 found to be soft and to crumble very badly on exposure 
 to the weather. The bed itself is, in all probability, 
 identical with the one in the Eastport and Newport 
 mines, as it consists of the same three layers of coal 
 with streaks of clay-rock between them, arranged in the 
 same order, and preserving very nearly the same thick- 
 ness, both relatively and absolutely, as at those mines. 
 But besides the fact that the coal was soft and air- 
 slacked very badly, the bed itself, though not troubled 
 so far as the gangway then extended with faults of any 
 noticeable magnitude, was, nevertheless, more or less 
 irregular and rolling in its course, and the roof was soft 
 and weak. 
 
 Subsequent to August, 1872, the gangway was driven 
 some distance further to the north, and the coal was 
 said to improve in quality as they advanced. But 
 whether in reality it did so or not, it does not appear 
 that the improvement in any case was sufficiently great 
 to produce a good marketable quality of coal, and the 
 enterprise was shortly afterwards abandoned. 
 
 The mouth of the tunnel was about eighty feet above 
 low water. Both the tunnel and the gangway, with a 
 view to furnishing them with double tracks throughout, 
 were foolishly driven of twice the size which was 
 necessary; a bunker was built at the mine capable of 
 holding about one thousand tons of coal ; a railroad 
 was built thirty-seven hundred feet in length from this 
 bunker to the landing at Jordan's Point, and at the 
 landing a high and costly wharf was also built. 
 
 It is the general belief among people who are more 
 or less familiar with the history of the matter that over 
 one hundred and fifty thousand dollars were sunk in 
 
OREGON. 95 
 
 this experiment. Certain it is, in any case., that a large 
 sum was expended here in outside improvements and 
 works of a character which contributed nothing towards 
 proving the real value of the mine, and which them- 
 selves possessed no value as soon as the mine was 
 proven worthless. 
 
 A large sum of money has also been expended to no 
 purpose by the " Coos Bay Union Coal Company," at a 
 locality known as the "Utter Mine." Here, also, 
 bunkers were erected, and a railroad several miles in 
 length was built, with wharves, etc. The mine is sit- 
 uated some distance to the south of the head of Isthmus 
 Slough. Of this property I cannot speak from personal 
 observation, not having visited the mine myself, though 
 I have seen some very poor coal which was said to have 
 come from there. I am informed, however, by a gen- 
 tleman who has seen the mine, and whose statements I 
 consider reliable, that in order to reach the coal a tun- 
 nel was driven in a south-easterly direction some five 
 hundred or six hundred feet through sandstone, and 
 that a gangway was then driven, nearly east and w r est, 
 for a distance of some seventeen hundred feet along the 
 bed, whose dip was southerly at an angle of some 16 
 or 17. The bed itself was about six feet in thickness, 
 with one streak of clay-slate five or six inches thick in 
 the middle. The upper bench of coal was of pretty 
 good quality, but the lower one was soft. My informant 
 thinks there would be a fair prospect for a paying mine 
 here were it not for the cost of transportation. He 
 adds, however, that there is only a very short lift of 
 coal above the level of the present gangway, and as the 
 configuration of the surface does not admit of driving a 
 
96 COAL MINES. 
 
 tunnel at a lower level, it would be necessary to sink in 
 order to get the coal. 
 
 It is only necessary to add to the above statements 
 concerning this mine, the simple fact that its location 
 is such tli at the cost of transporting its coal from the 
 mine to navigable water would prevent its competing 
 successfully with other mines which are much more fa- 
 vorably situated in this respect. Mr. Utter informs me 
 that this company has shipped altogether about ten 
 thousand tons of coal. It might be interesting to know 
 how much this coal has cost per ton. 
 
 There is also another property owned by the so-called 
 " North Pacific Coal Company," and situated at no great 
 distance from the Utter mine, upon which considerable 
 money has been spent, but to which the same obstacle 
 has been fatal from the beginning, viz. : the cost of 
 transportation. 
 
 But among all the mistakes which have been made at 
 Coos Bay, there is none so conspicuous or so inexcusa- 
 ble as that involved in the opening of what is known 
 as the "Henryville mine;" and it would be difficult to 
 find in the annals of coal mining anywhere an instance 
 of grosser ignorance and incapacity, combined with 
 more reckless folly, than has been displayed in the so- 
 called development of this pseudo-mine. 
 
 The locality is on the right bank of Isthmus Slough, 
 some three miles above Coos City, and about at the 
 head of any practicable navigation in the slough. It 
 is close to the water's edge, and the situation, there- 
 fore, would have been good enough if a mine had 
 existed there. But there was never any reasonable evi- 
 dence of any probability of the existence in this prop- 
 
OREGON. 97 
 
 erty of a pound of coal which it would pay -to mine. 
 There is, however, a heavy bed, some seven or eight 
 feet in thickness, of alternating layers of chiy-slate, 
 "bone," and other worthless materials, including some 
 soft and dirty coal, which strikes about north and south, 
 and dips to the east. Upon this bed, a slope was 
 started down, not in the direction of the dip of the bed, 
 which, as just stated, would have been about east, but 
 obliquely to it with a course of about N. 53 E. This 
 slope was continued down in this direction, following 
 approximately the general course of the plane of the 
 bed through faults and disturbances of various kinds,, 
 and with an average pitch of about 10 or 12, for a dis- 
 tance of some tivelve hundred feet, without any visible 
 improvement whatever in the character of the materials 
 which constitute the bed, and with no other result than 
 that of demonstrating the fact that this bed, worthless 
 as it is anyhow, is also considerably broken by faults 
 and other disturbances. This was the mine! But this 
 is not all. A pair of costly and very handsomely fin- 
 ished steam engines, said to have been originally built 
 for use in the Palace Hotel at San Francisco, were pur- 
 chased and sent up and erected there for hoisting 
 engines. Boilers, pumps, etc., were supplied, of course. 
 A small town was built. A bunker was erected on piles- 
 in the water near the middle of Isthmus Slough, capa- 
 ble of holding nearly one thousand tons of coal. A 
 track from the mine to the top of this bunker was laid 
 over a trestle-work, also resting on piles, some nine 
 hundred feet in length and about fifty feet above high 
 water in the slough. No screens were furnished either 
 at the mine or at the bunker, it being asserted that "this 
 7 
 
98 COAL MINES. 
 
 coal was of such superior quality (!) that it needed no 
 screening, the fine being as good as the coarse." More- 
 over, the bunker itself was divided in its interior by 
 vertical cross-partitions running from top to bottom into 
 ten separate compartments. The only reason which I 
 have ever heard assigned for this last performance is 
 that it was done for the purpose of keeping separate 
 from each other as many different qualities of "supe- 
 rior" coal; all of which, it was expected, would be 
 obtained from this same utterly worthless bed. 
 
 There is another locality upon the same property, a 
 little over a mile north-easterly from here, where con- 
 siderable money has also been foolishly spent in sinking 
 a slope some five hundred feet in a place where there 
 was abundance of evidence on the surface of the ground 
 that the rocks were badly crushed and broken, as they 
 were also found to be in the slope itself. But this is 
 not worthy of further description. 
 
 It is stated by good authority that the amount of 
 money which has been expended on this Heuryville 
 property alone considerably exceeds two hundred thou- 
 sand dollars. Nearly the whole of this is a dead loss, 
 and it is with equal certainty a loss which would never 
 have happened if any competent person had been sent 
 to examine the property in the first place. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 
 
 The coal mines of Washington Territory are situated 
 at Bellingham Bay, close to the British Columbia line, 
 and in the vicinity of Seattle, on the eastern shore of 
 Puget Sound. 
 
 BELLINGHAM BAY MINE. 
 
 At Bellingham Bay there is but one mine, which is 
 owned by the Bellingham Bay Coal Company. This 
 mine is located at the edge of the shore of Bellingham 
 Bay. It is opened by a slope some nine hundred feet 
 in length, which goes down on the bed in a direction N. 
 30 W. magnetic, with a pitch of about 35. About one 
 hundred feet of the length of this slope is on trestle- 
 work, above ground. The slope is oblique to the dip, 
 the course of which at this point is about N. 57 W., 
 magnetic. 
 
 The bed here worked is about fourteen feet thick; 
 but it contains so much interstratified slate and "bone" 
 that all the coal has to be carefully sorted by hand be- 
 fore it is sent to market. Moreover, after several years' 
 experience in working the whole thickness of the bed, 
 it was at last discovered that the lower half of it is so 
 dirty that it is better economy to leave it in the mine 
 
100 COAL MINES. 
 
 than it is to attempt to work it. Accordingly, for the 
 last few years, only about seven feet in thickness of the 
 upper part of the bed has been mined. 
 
 At several times during its history this mine has been 
 on fire, and once or twice it has been extinguished by 
 flooding it with sea-water from the bay. 
 
 At various levels, one above the other in this mine, 
 four gangways have been driven to considerable dis- 
 tances north-easterly from the slope. To the south- 
 west of the slope one gangway was driven a short 
 distance only, running directly out under the waters of 
 the bay; but the coal in this direction was found poor, 
 and the works took fire, and this portion of the mine 
 is now closed up. 
 
 Above the lowest gangway, running north-easterly 
 from the bottom of the slope, a lift extending about one 
 hundred and fifty feet up the slope has been practically 
 exhausted, and is now abandoned and filled with water. 
 The three gangways remaining above tlis top of this 
 lift are now known as the " upper," the "middle," and 
 the " lower" gangways, respectively. The middle gang- 
 way is about one hundred and eighty or one hundred 
 and ninety feet up the slope above the lower one. The 
 lower gangway is about twenty-two hundred and fifty 
 feet in length. Its course in starting from the slope is 
 about N. 33 E., magnetic, and the dip of the bed is 
 here about 33 J. But in going north-east the gangway 
 curves gradually around to the north and west, while at 
 the same time the dip of the bed gradually diminishes, 
 until at its face the gangway is running about N. 21 W., 
 magnetic, and the dip of the bed is only 11. For a 
 distance of about seven hundred and fifty feet from the 
 
WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 101 
 
 face of tins gangway back towards the slope, the coal 
 in the lift between this and the middle gangway is all 
 worked out. For the remaining fifteen hundred feet 
 the coal in this lift is nearly all solid. 
 
 The middle gangway extends north-easterly from the 
 slope about seventeen hundred feet, and the lift between 
 it and the upper gangway is exhausted for this whole 
 distance, with the exception of some ten or eleven 
 rooms stretching backwards four hundred and fifty to 
 five hundred feet from the face, which are only about 
 half worked out. 
 
 The upper gangway was driven over two thousand 
 feet north-easterly, and all the coal between it and the 
 surface of the ground is exhausted. 
 
 There probably remains in this mine an available 
 supply of coal, if no accident happens, for three or four 
 years to come, at its present rate of production. There 
 is some fire-damp in this bed, and it requires constant 
 watchfulness, though naked lights are generally used. 
 
 There has been some very poor management displayed 
 in the history of this mine, one or two rather amusing 
 instances of which it may be well enough to specify. The 
 water immediately in front of the mouth of the mine is 
 shallow. It was necessary, therefore, to build a tram-way 
 for some little distance along the shore, in order to reach 
 a point where the water was deep enough so that it would 
 not be necessary to build too long a wharf. This road, 
 which is a trifle over three-fourths of a mile in length, 
 was built with an ascending grade for the load, though 
 there was already plenty of height for bunkers, so that 
 in hauling the coal from the mine to the bunkers it has 
 constantly required more than two mules to do the same 
 
102 COAL MINES. 
 
 work which would easily have been done by one if the 
 road had had a proper grade. Also in the bunkers, 
 which are very heavily built, the screens are very badly 
 arranged, and the floor of the bunker has a slope of only 
 25, so that it is necessary to rehandle most of the coal 
 after it has passed the screens in order to get the 
 bunkers filled. Again, in the construction of the wharf 
 itself, the attempt was made, in the face of the teredo 
 navalis, which is very active and destructive here, to 
 render the wharf more durable by merely increasing the 
 number of the unprotected piles which were driven to 
 support it; the result being a forest of three or four 
 times the number of piles which were of any use beneath 
 the wharf, all of which, of course, are being as rapidly 
 eaten away as any single pile would be. 
 
 In the country a few miles back of Bellingham Bay, 
 and on the north side of Whatcom Lake, there has been 
 discovered a bed of caking coal, which the Bellingham 
 Bay Coal Company has spent, and is spending, some 
 thousands of dollars, rather unwisely in my opinion, in 
 attempting to develop. This bed strikes north-easterly 
 and south-westerly, and dips at varying angles to the 
 north- west. At one point, which I visited in August, 
 1876, the bed was well exposed, and showed a thickness 
 of from seven to eight feet. A little tunnel had also 
 been driven in upon it here for a distance of something 
 like a hundred feet. All of the coal from this bed 
 would coke well ; but the bed was very dirty, and 
 contained large quantities of intermingled slate and 
 "bone." It was easy to select hand specimens here 
 of a clean and beautiful quality of fat, caking coal, 
 which would be very valuable if found in a regular bed 
 
WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 103 
 
 of uniform and equal quality of even half 'the thick- 
 ness of the bed which was here exposed; but no large 
 quantity of any such quality of coal was visible. There 
 is also abundant evidence that the heavy body of 
 nearly unaltered sandstone and shales which overlies 
 this bed has been a good deal disturbed by faults 
 and dislocations. But this is not the worst of the in- 
 dications. The coal itself is almost immediately un- 
 derlaid by highly metamorphic talcose and argillaceous 
 slate, traversed in all directions by little, irregular 
 stringers of quartz, and perfectly similar in appear- 
 ance and general character to vast quantities of the same 
 material, which may be found among the auriferous 
 slates of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada in Cali- 
 fornia. 
 
 I think, therefore, that the expenditure of probably 
 some eight or ten thousand dollars, which is being made 
 here in driving a tunnel for the purpose of opening up 
 this bed in depth is not very well warranted, and that 
 there is little probability of its developing anything 
 sufficiently regular and uniform in quantity and quality 
 to pay for working. 
 
 TALBOT MINE. 
 
 The only coal mines yet worked to any noteworthy 
 extent in Washington Territory besides that of Belling- 
 ham Bay, are those of the Seattle Coal and Transporta- 
 tion Company, the Kenton Coal Company, and the 
 Talbot Coal Company. 
 
 Both the Eenton and the Talbot mines have been 
 opened within the last three or four years, and though 
 I visited both of them in January, 1875, I am not so 
 
104 COAL MINES. 
 
 well informed with reference to their later develop- 
 ments as with reference to those of the Seattle Coal and 
 Transportation Company. 
 
 The opening of the Talbot mine is situated on the 
 south-east quarter of section 19 of township 23 north, 
 range 5 east, Willamette meridian. In January, 1875, 
 a tunnel had been driven here some two hundred feet, 
 starting in a north-easterly direction, and then curving 
 around to nearly an east course. 
 
 In the face of this tunnel there was exposed a bed of 
 coal from six to eight feet thick, of which the lower 
 three or four feet seemed to be pretty clean and pure, 
 though rather soft coal. The upper portion of the bed 
 was still softer, and was also more or less impure. The 
 bed dipped at a gentle angle, which I estimated at 
 7 or 8 to the south-east. The roof and floor were also 
 soft and weak, and there was not more than twenty-five 
 or thirty feet of cover over the coal, even at the face of 
 the tunnel. Nevertheless, the quality of the coal was 
 such that I then considered the prospect fair for a de- 
 velopment of something of a mine there. Since then a 
 good deal of additional work has been done, and the 
 company are now shipping a reputedly good quality of 
 of coal to San Francisgo; though whether it be at a 
 profit or at a loss, I am not informed. 
 
 KENTON MINE. 
 
 The property of the Kenton Coal Company is located 
 in sections 17, 20 and 29 of township 23 north, range 5 
 east, Willamette meridian. The mouth of the mine is 
 situated near the left bank of Cedar river about a mile 
 
WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 105 
 
 from its mouth, and in the south-west quarter'of section 
 17., Two beds have been worked here to a considerable 
 extent, both of which strike about S. 10 W. true 
 course, and dip to the east with an average inclination 
 of about 15. 
 
 The upper bed is about seventeen feet in thickness, 
 but contains some interstratified bone, there being about 
 ten feet of good coal in the bed. The lower bed has a 
 total thickness of about thirteen feet, of which the 
 lower five or six feet is so bony that it is worthless, 
 while the upper seven or eight feet is nearly all good 
 coal. Between these two beds there is a thickness of 
 about eighty feet of sandstone and shales, including 
 one bed about five feet thick of impure coal. The up- 
 per bed was first opened by a level tunnel driven 
 directly in upon its course a distance of some twelve 
 or fifteen hundred feet, and a considerable quantity of 
 coal was extracted from it. But after the opening of 
 the lower bed, the upper one was abandoned, as the 
 coal in the lower bed was found to be cleaner, and more 
 cheaply mined than in the upper one. The lower bed 
 was first reached by a level tunnel driven obliquely 
 to its course through the overlying strata, a distance of 
 nearly two hundred feet to the coal. From this point a 
 gangway has been driven south a distance of nearly two 
 thousand feet, and a large quantity of coal extracted. 
 Within this two thousand feet there has been found a 
 single fault, consisting of a large jump up to the south. 
 But this is the only disturbance of any magnitude that 
 has been found. 
 
 When the Kenton mine was first opened in 1874, the 
 company built about two miles of railroad from the 
 
106 COAL MINES. 
 
 mouth of tlieir mine to a point of shipment upon Black 
 river, a mile or two below the mouth of Cedar river. 
 From this point the coal was sent down the Black and 
 Duwamish. rivers to Seattle in barges. They subse- 
 quently, in 1875, extended this line of railroad about 
 two miles further to a point upon the Duwamish river 
 about nine miles from Seattle. These four miles of 
 railroad were built along the previously surveyed and 
 partially graded line of the Seattle and Walla Walla 
 railroad. Still later, during the year 1876, the Seattle 
 and Walla Walla Railroad Company built and equipped 
 the remaining nine miles of road to Seattle, so that 
 both the Renton and Talbot Coal companies now have 
 a continuous all rail line direct from the mouths of the 
 mines to Seattle. 
 
 On the north-west quarter of the south-west quarter 
 of section 20, the Renton Company has recently struck, 
 by boring at the depth of about seventy feet beneath 
 the surface, a bed of coal which is believed to be iden- 
 tical with that upon which the Talbot Company is work- 
 ing, and probably different from either of those already 
 opened by the Renton Company. It is stated that the 
 bed, as passed through in boring, was about eleven feet 
 thick, with, as nearly *ts could be judged, from nine to 
 ten feet of good workable coal. 
 
 SEATTLE COAL AND TRANSPORTATION COMPANY'S MINES. 
 
 The openings of the mines of the Seattle Coal and 
 Transportation Company are situated about ten miles 
 in an air line in a south-easterly direction from the town 
 of Seattle, and near the centre of section 27 of town- 
 ship 24 north, range 5 east, Willamette meridian. 
 
WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 107 
 
 From the mines a railroad of three feet 'gauge ex- 
 tends about three miles to the top of the bluff on the 
 eastern shore of Lake Washington. Here the loaded 
 cars are lowered over an automatic plane about nine 
 hundred feet in length to the edge of the lake. They 
 are then taken on board of a barge, and towed a dis- 
 tance of some eight miles to the head of Foster's Bay, 
 a little cove in the western shore of the lake. From 
 here a railroad extends about one-third of a mile across 
 the portage between Lake Washington and Lake Union. 
 The cars are then taken on a steam barge, which carries 
 them some three miles to the southern end of Lake 
 Union, whence a railroad about three-quarters of a mile 
 in length leads to the point of shipment at Seattle. 
 
 The town of Seattle itself is located on the eastern 
 shore of Duwamish Bay, and about the north-west cor- 
 ner of section 5, township 24 north, range 4 east. 
 
 The coal field in the vicinity of Seattle was carefully 
 and extensively studied by Mr. T. A. Blake during the 
 spring and summer of 1868, for the benefit of certain 
 private parties in San Francisco; and its perfect availa- 
 bility and great value as a source of supply for the San 
 Francisco market were at that time fully demonstrated 
 by the results of his observations. 
 
 But the Mt. Diablo mines were then in the freshness 
 of their prime, and the short-sighted policy of some of 
 the gentlemen for whom Mr. Blake was acting, led them 
 to doubt his opinions, and to maintain in opposition to 
 his better judgment, that it was impossible for coal 
 from Seattle to ever compete in the San Francisco 
 market with coal from the Mt. Diablo mines. The re- 
 sult was that they neglected to secure, as they might 
 
108 COAL MINES. 
 
 have done at that time, for a price which was a trifle in 
 comparison with its intrinsic worth, a coal property 
 which is already proving itself by that sort of logic 
 which business men, who are not engineers, can under- 
 stand, to be the most valuable coal mining property yet 
 discovered in the United States west of the Rocky 
 Mountains. 
 
 After Mr. Blake's examinations there in 1868, the 
 Seattle coal field lay idle for about three years. But 
 in 1871 some new parties took hold of it, and made the 
 first real attempts to mine coal here for market. The 
 shipments to San Francisco were in that year a little 
 less than five thousand tons. For the succeeding three 
 years the shipments were also small, which was due to 
 the fact that the owners were men of small means, and 
 were obliged to struggle against all the disadvantages 
 of a lack of adequate capital, combined with the steady 
 and active opposition of a powerful clique of capitalists 
 in San Francisco. It has, therefore, been only since 
 1874 that they have been in a position to be able to 
 really begin to make the market feel what the capacities 
 of the Seattle coal field are. 
 
 Whether Seattle coal is capable of competing with 
 Mt. Diablo coal or not, may be judged somewhat from 
 the statistics of the last three years. In 1874, the re- 
 ceipts of Mt. Diablo coal at San Francisco are stated to 
 have been two hundred and six thousand two hundred 
 and fifty-five tons, while in 1876 they were one hundred 
 and eight thpusand and seventy-eight tons. 
 
 In 1874, the receipts of Seattle coal are given at nine 
 thousand and twenty-seven tons, and in 1876 at ninety- 
 five thousand three hundred and fourteen tons. These 
 
WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 109 
 
 figures are taken from the San Francisco. Commercial 
 Herald and Market Hevietv, whose statistics are generally 
 the most reliable of any that are published concerning 
 the coal trade here. 
 
 It would exceed the proposed limits of this little vol- 
 ume for me to give here all the details of information 
 contained in Mr. Blake's reports and letters of 1868, 
 which he has kindly permitted me to use; but I shall 
 give the more important portions of them. And, in the 
 first place, a few words with reference to the topography 
 of the region may not be out of place. In an unpub- 
 lished report, dated April, 1868, he says: 
 
 "The coal field in question, so far as hitherto proved, 
 lies on the east side of Lake Washington, in King County, 
 Washington Territory, This lake, which is long and 
 narrow, has its longer axis in a general northerly and 
 southerly direction, and occupies a depression in the 
 hills east of the town of Seattle. A narrow strip of 
 high land separates it from the waters of Seattle Bay 
 (i. e., Duwamish Bay). 
 
 "Immediately behind the town, the hills, covered 
 with dense forests of spruce and cedar, rise quite rap- 
 idly until the summit of the ridge is attained, at an 
 elevation of perhaps two hundred and fifty feet. After 
 a series of elevations and depressions for a distance of 
 about a mile and a half, the ground then falls rapidly 
 to the borders of Lake Washington. 
 
 "On the eastern shore of Lake 'Washington, the land 
 is high, and is cut by streams flowing from the east and 
 discharging into the lake. 
 
 "Two of these streams are known as Coal Creek and 
 Honey Dew Creek, the latter being the more -southerly 
 
110 COAL MINES. 
 
 of the two. The ridge between them, commencing ab- 
 ruptly at the lake, rises at intervals, until at a point 
 some three miles east it attains an elevation of between 
 five and six hundred feet above the level of the lake. 
 It has its lateral canons or swales opening north and 
 south into the valleys of Coal and Honey Dew Creeks. 
 It is in this main ridge, striking in a direction nearly 
 east and west, that several heavy beds of a superior 
 quality of coal are known to exist." 
 
 He then proceeds to describe first a bed whose out- 
 crop was visible on the north side of Coal Creek and 
 close to the line between sections 22 and 27, as follows : 
 
 "On the north side of the creek, and crossing a little 
 ravine opening into the canon of Coal Creek, a bed of 
 coal has been exposed for a continuous distance of thirty 
 feet or more. This bed may be considered at least five 
 feet in thickness, though the carbonaceous matter ex- 
 tends over a width of eight feet. The upper portion 
 however is largely intermixed with shale and is value- 
 less. The strike of the bed is about ten degrees north 
 of west or south of east (true course) and its dip thirty- 
 five degrees (35) towards the north, consequently into 
 the hill on the north side of the creek. The bed is in- 
 cluded in a soft sandstone which disintegrates rapidly 
 on exposure to the atmosphere. From this point the 
 creek flows in a general westerly direction for about 
 half a mile. It then bends to the north-west, and within 
 a short distance cuts the line of the coal bed. At the 
 latter point an exposure on the bank of the creek shows 
 a bed of coal of similar character and size with the same 
 dip and trend. It may be considered as almost certain 
 that the bed between these points is continuous. But 
 
WASHINGTON TERRITORY. Ill 
 
 its position, dipping into the hill, and the.fadt that the 
 vertical height of its line of outcrop is nowhere very 
 considerable, are not in its favor. No very great quan- 
 tity of coal could be taken from above the water level, 
 and when that was reached, mining would become more 
 expensive, as pumping and hoisting would be neces- 
 sary." 
 
 He next describes three much more important out- 
 crops situated farther up Coal Creek, as follows : 
 
 "About the central portion of section 26, three coal 
 beds cross the stream obliquely, and are all included 
 within a distance of about three hundred and fifty feet 
 at right angles to their strike. These beds show a per- 
 fect parallelism in dip and strike to each other, and to 
 the bed already noted as occurring farther down the 
 creek and on its northern side. 
 
 "The lowest of the three beds has been opened by a 
 tunnel driven in upon its course from the left bank of 
 the creek a distance of one hundred feet. 
 
 "The middle bed, one hundred and fifty feet approxi- 
 mately above the first, is simply exposed in the face of 
 the bank." 
 
 "The third or upper one of the three, about two hun- 
 dred feet from the second, is opened by a tunnel on its 
 course sixty feet in length. 
 
 "The following are the details of the cross-sections 
 of these three beds so far as can be seen, beginning 
 with the lowest: 
 
112 COAL MINES. 
 
 " No. 1. Thickness nine feet arranged as follows: 
 
 Feet. Inches. 
 
 Coal of superior quality, free from impurities. . 3 6 
 
 Clay .- 3 
 
 Coal of superior quality, free from impurities 3 
 
 Clay 3 
 
 Coal of superior quality, free from impurities. . 2 
 
 "No. 2. Thickness about eight feet. Section not well 
 exposed. 
 
 " No. 3. Thickness seven feet, arranged as follows: 
 
 Compact coal of superior quality 4 ft. in. 
 
 Clay Oft. 3 in. 
 
 Coal 8 in. to 12 in. 
 
 Clay 3 in. to 5 in . 
 
 Coal 4 in. 
 
 Soft clay-slate with intermingled coal. . .12 in. to 15 in. 
 
 "It thus appears that the lower bed will furnish eight 
 and one half feet of good marketable coal in a thickness 
 of nine feet. In the middle bed the quantity is uncer- 
 tain. In the upper bed the lower five feet is coal of 
 nearly uniform quality, excepting a single clay seam of 
 about three inches thickness, and would all be mined. 
 
 "The lower one alone of these three beds will prob- 
 ably furnish a greater mass of good coal in a given 
 length and breadth than any mine yet worked on the 
 Pacific Coast of North America. 
 
 "Proceeding westerly on the course of the beds, the 
 hill rises quite rapidly, and the highest summit is per- 
 haps two hundred and fifty feet above the creek where 
 the beds have been opened by the tunnels already men- 
 tioned. Their strike is such as to continue on in the 
 
WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 113 
 
 main ridge towards the lake. As an evidence of their 
 continuity, two of them have been exposed near the 
 east line of section 27, at a point over half a mile west 
 from that at which they cross Coal Creek. We also 
 have in the upper bed of all pn the north side of Coal 
 Creek, evidence of continuity of these beds, which show 
 at these various points an identical dip and strike, and 
 further still a probability of their extending well on to- 
 wards if not to the shore of Lake Washington." 
 
 Mr. Blake adds further in this report: "From what 
 has been said, it would appear that the property as a 
 whole is one whose development will form an important 
 step in the history of our productive interests. It is 
 somewhat inconveniently located, demanding both water 
 and land transportation before the delivery of the coal 
 at a favorable shipping-point. However, its favorable 
 situation and surroundings for inexpensive mining, to- 
 gether with the superior quality and great quantity of 
 the coal, more than compensate for the other disadvan- 
 tages of its location. 
 
 "The question of our future coal supply is a most 
 important one. California, though rich in metals and 
 abounding in wealth, is without any extensive coalfield. 
 The Mt. Diablo mines are not 'inexhaustible, and fur- 
 nish but an inferior article of coal." 
 
 As already stated, this report was written in April, 
 1868. In September of the same year, I collated from 
 letters received from Mr. Blake in the meantime a quan- 
 tity of additional information and discoveries relating 
 to the Seattle coal beds, from which I now extract the 
 following: 
 
 "In May last, or about a month subsequent to the 
 8 
 
114 COAL MINES. 
 
 date of the preceding report, Mr. Blake again went to 
 Washington Territory, with the purpose, among other 
 things, of investigating more fully than previous oppor- 
 tunities had permitted him to do, certain important 
 questions relating to the extent and general character 
 of the Seattle coal field. He has now been for some 
 time in the vicinity of Seattle, and the following state- 
 ments are collated from his recent letters." 
 
 Country West of Lake Washington. 
 
 "The strike of the coal beds, as shown upon sections 
 26 and 27, is about N. 80 W. (true course), and their 
 dip is about 35 to the north. 
 
 "By reference to a map, it will be seen that the 
 direction of this strike produced to the west, crosses 
 Mercer Island in Lake Washington, and cuts the mouth 
 of the Duwamish river about three miles south of 
 Seattle. 
 
 "Moreover, the parallelism of the different beds and 
 the apparent regularity and continuity of the inclosing 
 strata, wherever they were exposed and could be exam- 
 ined, to the east of the lake, were so complete as to 
 lend plausibility to the supposition that the coal might 
 continue uninterruptedly westward, not only to the lake, 
 but also across it and through Mercer Island to the op- 
 posite shore, and perhaps be ultimately again found 
 upon the main land between the lake and the Duwamish 
 river, or even still farther west. 
 
 "Under these circumstances, it became, of course, a 
 matter of the greatest importance to collect all the 
 available stratigraphical and lithological information 
 bearing upon this question, and thus ascertain as defi- 
 
WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 115 
 
 nitely as possible the probability or improbability of 
 such being the fact; for if the coal could be found upon 
 or near the tide-water to the west, its extraction and 
 shipment would become a matter involving far less ex- 
 pense and a corresponding increase of profit. 
 
 "To this point, then, the attention of Mr. Blake has 
 been especially directed. But the difficulties in the 
 way of exploration have been considerable. There are 
 few or no exposures of the strata along the eastern 
 shore line itself of Lake Washington, and none what- 
 ever upon Mercer Island, while the exposures upon the 
 main land west of the lake are few and far between, the 
 surface being generally composed of glacial drift and 
 alluvium, and the whole country being covered with 
 dense forests filled with fallen trees and underbrush. 
 The investigation has therefore necessarily been slow; 
 but with the exception of the interior. of the peninsula 
 or cape lying west of the Duwamish river, the whole 
 country has been prettj well examined from Seattle as 
 far south as the south end of Lake Washington, and 
 from the eastern shore of the lake as far west as Admi- 
 ralty Inlet and the bluffs along its western shore. The 
 results of this examination, so far, have not been favor- 
 able. 
 
 "Carbonaceous matter has been discovered at various 
 localities, but nowhere in quality and quantity sufficient 
 to warrant the conclusion that it forms the outcrop of 
 any workable and valuable bed of coal. 
 
 "With reference to the important question of the 
 course and continuity of the strata, enough has been 
 learned to show that the regularity and uniformity, 
 which seem to be so complete throughout the coal field 
 
116 COAL MINES. 
 
 to the east of Lake Washington, do not continue 
 through the country lying west of it. On the contrary, 
 between the lake and the western shore of Admiralty 
 Inlet, the rocks, where exposed, vary considerably in 
 lithological character, and dip and strike in different 
 directions, showing that there exists here either a sys- 
 tem of varied flexures in the strata, or a series of exten- 
 sive faults and dislocations, perhaps both. 
 
 " It does not necessarily follow from this that work- 
 able beds of coal may not exist somewhere in this region 
 west of the lake. But it does follow that it is impossible 
 to say with any certainty in advance of actual discovery, 
 whether such is or is not the case, or to predicate with 
 any degree of probability where they may be found, in 
 case they do exist." 
 
 East of Lake Washington. 
 
 11 But if explorations generally, west of Lake Wash- 
 ington, have been thus unfavorable in their results, the 
 case has been far otherwise with the additional ones 
 which have been made towards the east. 
 
 " Here the coal-bearing strata have been found to rest 
 upon the northern flank of a mass of metamorphic rock 
 which appears to form a belt stretching through the 
 country east and west a short distance to the south of 
 the coal beds, and may have formed an anticlinal axis 
 to the upheaval which has raised the coal to its present 
 position. Upon it the coal-bearing strata appear to lie 
 with remarkable uniformity and parallelism of strike 
 and dip wherever they have been observed, and no evi- 
 dence of faults or dislocations has been discovered 
 here. But other outcrops of coal have been found, 
 
WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 117 
 
 which enhance in no small degree the probable extent 
 and value of this coal field, already apparently immense; 
 since they go to show the existence here of other valu- 
 able beds, different from any of those referred to in the 
 preceding report." 
 
 Some four miles east of Lake Washington there is 
 situated another lake known as " Sammammish," or 
 " Squak" Lake. A creek runs into this lake from the 
 south-east. At a point in the course of this creek, close 
 to the line between sections 33 and 34 of township 24 
 north, range 6 east, "a very heavy bed of coal at least 
 sixteen feet in thickness is exposed at intervals for 
 one thousand feet or more by a small stream down the 
 side of a steep mountain. A portion of this bed con- 
 tains considerable slate. But a quarter of a mile north 
 of it there is another bed, which is a nine-foot bed of 
 dear, fine coal of best quality " " It is probable that this 
 last is the same bed as the lowest of the three which 
 cross Coal Creek near the centre of section 26, township 
 24 north, range 5 east." 
 
 1 'Again, on section 27, in the latter township, at sev- 
 eral places along a small creek which runs into the little 
 lake called 'Boren Lake,' near the south-west corner 
 of the same section, there is to be seen the outcrop of a 
 very massive bed of coal, which is, in places, nearly 
 twenty feet thick, but contains a good deal of slate. 
 This* is the lowest of all the beds yet discovered here, 
 and may be the continuation of the lower one of the 
 two already described as seen at ' Squak.' ' 
 
 Then follow the descriptions of several other crop- 
 pings. One of them on Coal Creek, in the south-east 
 part of section 26, had been recently exposed by a 
 
118 COAL MINES. 
 
 cross-cut in the bank bordering the stream, and showed 
 a thickness of from seven to eight feet. The lower part 
 of it was slaty, and the upper portion intermixed with 
 dirt. But at least three feet of the middle of the bed 
 was marketable coal. 
 
 Near the south-east corner of section 25 there was 
 another outcrop, respecting the size and character of 
 which, however, no particulars were received. A third 
 one was near Coal Creek, and close to the centre of the 
 north-west quarter of section 26, and was said to promise 
 about four feet of good coal two feet on each side of a 
 streak of slate or " bone' 7 about one foot in thickness. 
 
 It was stated at the same time that the two beds 
 already mentioned (see page 113) as having been ex- 
 posed near the east line of section 27, at a point over 
 half a mile west from that at which they cross Coal 
 Creek were believed to be the two upper ones of "the 
 three" which cross Coal Creek near the centre of section 
 26, and that the upper one of the two was here only 
 about four feet in width, while at Coal Creek it is seven 
 feet; the lower one also, being evidently narrower than 
 the middle one of the three beds at Coal Creek. And 
 this was thought to indicate a possible thinning out of 
 the beds in going west. We shall see more clearly here- 
 after how nearly this surmise came to the actual truth. 
 
 I continue my extracts: "A careful re-examination 
 has also been recently made of 'the three' beds at the 
 point where they cross Coal Creek. There is nothing 
 new to be said respecting the upper bed here. Some 
 opening having been made, however, upon the middle 
 bed, which is mentioned in the report as being simply 
 ' exposed in the face of the bank,' a view has been ob- 
 
WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 119 
 
 tained of its cross-section. The present condition of it, 
 however, is not such as to reveal its true character with 
 certainty. But, as now shown, there appears to be a 
 band of dirt and slate, from eighteen inches to two feet 
 wide running through the middle of the bed, with about 
 two and a half feet of good coal on each side of it. 
 4 With regard to the lowest of the three, the nine foot 
 vein,' says Mr. Blake, 'I am more and more pleased with 
 it. The whole bed can be mined; and I do not think 
 more than three inches in the whole nine feet will be 
 found to be unmarketable. It is certainly a noble bed. 
 Such a small quantity of bone compared with the mass 
 of coal in the bed is almost inappreciable, and it can 
 only be detected in the far end of the tunnel by the 
 closest observation.' This tunnel will be recollected is 
 in about one hundred feet. 
 
 "The distance along the line of strike of the beds 
 from the most westerly point, where workable coal has 
 yet been found, to the most easterly one at ' Squak' is 
 between five and six miles. Throughout this distance, 
 the strike and dip of the beds, wherever shown, is uni- 
 formly the same, and the probability is that the coal is 
 continuous. 
 
 "It now appears, moreover, than instead of four beds 
 of coal, which were all of which we were aware at the 
 time of writing the preceding report, there are probably 
 110 less than five or six distinct beds within a distance 
 of about three-quarters of a mile, measured at right an- 
 gles to their strike, all of which are likely to prove 
 workable and more or less valuable, while one of them, 
 at least, shows a thickness of about nine feet of good 
 solid coal in what is to all practical intents and purposes 
 a single body. 
 
120 COAL MINES. 
 
 "We say that there are probably no less than five or 
 six distinct beds. There may be more. It is true, 
 however, that in a country so densely timbered as this, 
 and where the exposures of the strata are so rare, ex- 
 cepting along the banks of the creeks, whose beds are 
 also filled with fallen logs, etc., it is difficult to make 
 examinations so complete as might be desired. And it is 
 perhaps possible that some of these appearances may be 
 due to faults or flexures causing the same beds to re- 
 appear with perhaps slightly varied character at different 
 points not in the same line of strike. But no evidence 
 of any such dislocations has yet been seen ; while the 
 perfect parallelism of the beds themselves, and the uni- 
 formity in strike and dip of the inclosing strata wher- 
 ever seen, speak very strongly against the probability 
 of the existence of faults of such magnitude, or flexures 
 of such a kind, as would be necessary in order to ac- 
 count in this way for the positions in which the coal is 
 seen. 
 
 "It is certain, then, that the facts at present warrant, 
 and we believe that developments in the future will jus- 
 tify, the probabilities as stated above. And if this be 
 the case, it will not be easy to over-estimate the future 
 importance of the Seattle coal field to the commercial 
 and productive interests of the Pacific Coast; notwith- 
 standing the heavy outlay which will be required to 
 open the mines upon a proper scale, and to put the coal 
 in the market." 
 
 I have been thus copious in my extracts from these 
 old reports and notes of 1868, for two reasons : First, 
 because they present as clear and concise an outline of 
 the early discoveries at the Seattle mines as it would be 
 
WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 121 
 
 possible for me to compile to-day; and second, because 
 I consider it an act of justice to Mr. Blake himself to 
 show that he appreciated, at a time when others refused 
 to recognize, the great value of the Seattle coal field. 
 
 I recollect that in 1868 it was Mr. Blake's private 
 opinion that, with adequate means to handle these mines 
 to the best advantage, it would be possible to lay the 
 coal from them alongside the wharves in San Fran- 
 cisco, at a total cost for mining and transportation, 
 which should not exceed five dollars ($5.00) per ton iii 
 gold coin. And I recollect also that this opinion was 
 then ridiculed as the height of absurdity. I do not 
 hesitate to say that my own opinion in 1877 is, that, 
 with adequate means and proper management, the same 
 thing can be accomplished at a cost of four dollars and 
 fifty cents ($4.50) per ton in gold coin. 
 
 I proceed now to describe the later developments of 
 the Seattle Coal and Transportation Company. In 
 1871, certain of the beds had been discovered close to 
 the surface of the ground at a point considerably to the 
 west of the most westerly point where they had yet been 
 actually proven to exist at the time of Mr. Blake's ex- 
 aminations in 1868. Work was therefore commenced 
 at a point about six hundred feet west and some two 
 hundred and fifty feet north of the centre of section 27, 
 by starting two tunnels in an easterly direction into 
 the hill. These two tunnels were at about the same 
 level, and were about ninety feet apart horizontally, 
 each of them being driven in directly upon the course 
 of a bed of coal. Each tunnel, therefore, answered as a 
 gangway through which to work and extract the coal. 
 The southern tunnel upon the lower bed was designated 
 
122 COAL MINES. 
 
 as "Tunnel No. 1," and the northern one upon the 
 upper bed as "Tunnel No. 2." 
 
 When Mr. Blake again visited the property in 1873, 
 he found "Tunnel No. 1," to be already about twenty- 
 four hundred feet long, and "Tunnel No. 2," about six- 
 teen hundred feet, while a third one called "No. 3," 
 had also been started and driven a short distance upon 
 a bed still farther north. It appears also, that by this 
 time, some additional prospecting had been done at 
 Coal Creek, whereby the beds or some of them were 
 better exposed here than they were in 1868, for he now 
 gives the following description of five beds at the creek, 
 beginning with the lowest: 
 
 "No. 1. As nearly as could be measured, for it is not 
 yet opened up, is fifteen feet in thickness. 
 
 "No. 2. The point of its intersection with Coal Creek 
 was not known previous to this visit, when in company 
 with the superintendent and foreman of the mine, the 
 bed was found, but no measurement of it could be made 
 on account of the overlying gravel. 
 
 "No. 3. Is opened by a tunnel driven in westerly 
 from the creek about one hundred feet, showing a per- 
 fect bed of very compact, clean, bright coal, eleven feet 
 in thickness. 
 
 "No. 4. Is not opened, but a section in the bank ad- 
 joining Coal Creek shows five feet of clean coal of most 
 excellent quality. 
 
 "No. 5 is opened by a tunnel driven in as on No. 3 
 for a short distance westerly on its course. There are 
 two seams, giving in the aggregate seven feet of clear 
 coal, separated by a clay streak two to four inches thick. 
 This streak of clay will serve to facilitate mining." 
 
WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 123 
 
 It is here evident that what he now calls "No. 3," is 
 th,e same bed which in 1868 he calls the "nine-foot 
 bed," but which it now appears will yield eleven feet of 
 coal instead of nine. It also appears that "No. 4," and 
 "No. 5," are the middle and upper ones of the three 
 beds first described at this locality, but both of them 
 looking decidedly better in 1873 than they did in 1868; 
 while "No. 1" and "No. 2" are underlying beds further 
 south. 
 
 He then gives the following table, showing the thick- 
 ness of the coal in the beds at both ends of the prop- 
 erty, and the probable aggregate thickness of coal in 
 all the beds, and remarks at the same time, that it will 
 be seen from this table that the beds diminish in thick- 
 ness going west, or increase going east. 
 
 Thickness at Intersec- Thickness at Western 
 
 tion with Goal Creek. End of Property. 
 
 No. 1 15 feet 10 feet (?) estimated. 
 
 "2 5 " (?) 5 " 
 
 "3 11 " 5 " 6 inches. 
 
 "4 5 " 3 " 
 
 "5.. . 7 " 5 " 
 
 Totals 43 feet. 28 feet, 6 inches. 
 
 From this table it is evident, that at the time when it 
 was written, Mr. Blake supposed the eleven-foot bed at 
 Coal Creek to be identical with that bed at the western 
 end of the property, which is five and one half feet 
 thick, and upon which "Tunnel No. 2" was driven; 
 while the underlying five-foot bed upon which "Tunnel 
 No. 1" was driven was supposed to be identical with the 
 bed designated "No. 2" at Coal Creek. 
 
124 COAL MINES. 
 
 Now the actual facts of the case, as subsequently 
 proven by further underground work, are as follows: 
 In driving the tunnels eastward into the bill, the ninety 
 feet of level distance, involving with the dip of 38 an 
 actual thickness of about fifty-five feet of solid sand- 
 stone between the two beds at the mouths of the tun- 
 nels, grows gradually thinner and thinner, until, at the 
 distance of about thirty-one hundred feet, it disappears 
 altogether, and these two coal beds unite their aggre- 
 gate thickness in one magnificent bed, which thence- 
 forth yields from ten to eleven feet of good, clean solid 
 coal. 
 
 This, then, is the eleven-foot bed which shows on 
 Coal Creek; and this fact, together with some other 
 developments which have been made since 1873, render 
 it far less probable than it then seemed, that the beds 
 diminish much in thickness as they go west. 
 
 The direction of these tunnels is about S. 77J E. 
 (true coarse), and the average dip of the beds has 
 proven to be about 38 to the north. 
 
 My own first visit to this locality was in January, 
 1875, which was still some time before the two beds 
 came together in the workings. So far as the workings 
 then extended, the bed of tunnel No. 1 preserved an 
 average thickness of just about five feet, and that of 
 tunnel No. 2 of about five feet and a half. No. 2 was 
 a little the cleaner of the two beds, containing no slate 
 or "bone" whatever, except a single little streak of soft 
 slate an inch or two in thickness in the centre, which 
 served admirably for a "mining." In No. 1, a little 
 slate might be seen here and there, somewhat irregu- 
 larly distributed; but its quantity was very small, and 
 
WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 125 
 
 tlie coal itself was said to be generally a little harder 
 than that from No. 2. The roof and floor of both the 
 beds were of good solid sandstone, and hardly any 
 timbering was required in the mine. In No. 1, however, 
 the roof and floor were not quite so regular and smooth 
 as they were in No. 2, and the roof was not so strong, 
 being a somewhat more micaceous sandstone, and ex- 
 hibiting rather more tendency to a slaty structure. 
 
 They were, both of them, beautiful beds to work. 
 Their thickness was good; their dip was right; their 
 roofs and floors good; there were no faults; their coal 
 itself was good and hard and clean; there was no pump- 
 ing nor hoisting, and hardly any timbering was needed. 
 How much every one of these items means in its bear- 
 ings on the unavoidable cost of mining, will be best 
 understood by those who have had most experience in 
 working beds of a different character, such, for example, 
 as those of the Mt. Diablo mines. But since the union 
 of the two in one clean, solid bed eleven feet in thick- 
 ness, the conditions for cheap mining are even more fa- 
 vorable than they were before, and there is not, to-day, 
 a coal mine in North America, west of the Kocky 
 Mountains, which for cheapness of mining, can compare 
 with this magnificent bed. 
 
 In December, 1876, the total length of the gangway 
 here was four thousand eight hundred and seventy feet, 
 or, in other words, it was already driven seven hundred 
 and seventy feet beyond the point where the two beds 
 united; and the average height of the " lift" above the 
 level of this gangway was between five hundred and six 
 hundred feet. 
 
 From a point in this gangway about seventy-five feet 
 
126 COAL MINES. 
 
 east of where the two beds united, a tunnel has been 
 started and already driven (in February, 1877), one 
 hundred and fifty feet or more in a southerly direc- 
 tion at right angles to the strike, in order to cut two 
 other beds, which are already known to exist in this 
 direction. It is expected to reach the first of these two 
 beds, called the "Clarence Bagley Vein," or the " Sev- 
 enteen-foot Vein," within a distance of about three hun- 
 dred and fifty feet; and the other one, known as the 
 " Seven-foot Vein," at a point about seventy -five feet fur- 
 ther south. Both these beds have been traced for a long 
 distance along the hill-tops by the sinking of little pits 
 at intervals along their line of outcrop. The "Seven- 
 teen-foot Vein" is, as its name implies, about seventeen 
 feet in thickness, of which at least seven feet of the 
 lower part is said to be clean and good. The upper 
 portion of the bed contains some "bone," but not so 
 much but what Mr. Shattuck, the manager of the mine, 
 thinks that it will all be workable. The "Seven-foot 
 bed" is from six and a half to seven feet thick, and is 
 said to be all clean, hard coal, with the exception of a 
 single streak of clay three inches thick, about two feet 
 above the bottom of the bed. 
 
 About one hundred and fifteen feet to the north from 
 the mouth of "Tunnel No. 2" is the mouth of "Tunnel 
 No. 3," which has been driven east about two hundred 
 and twenty-five feet upon a bed of coal some five or six 
 feet in thickness, which proved, however, too dirty and 
 slaty to pay to work. But again, about two hundred 
 and eighty -five feet further north comes another bed 
 known as "No. 4." Upon this bed "Tunnel No. 4" has 
 been driven easterly some three hundred and fifty to 
 
WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 127 
 
 four hundred feet, but no coal has yet been mined here. 
 The bed, however, proves to average about four and a 
 half feet thick, all clean, splendid coal, of a quality a 
 little superior to that from the eleven-foot bed. 
 
 It thus appears that in the western portion of this 
 company's property, and near the centre of section 27, 
 there are now known to exist not less than six beds of 
 coal, only one of which is too poor in quality to pay for 
 working, while the remaining five will yield an aggre- 
 gate thickness of certainly not less than twenty-seven or 
 twenty-eight, and probably from thirty to thirty-five feet 
 of good marketable coal. Two out of the five workable 
 beds unite, moreover, in going east, to form the eleven- 
 foot bed. 
 
 One of the chief disadvantages under which this com- 
 pany has been compelled to labor has, of course, been 
 the cost of its transportation. The present route, by 
 which their coal is transported from the mines to Seat- 
 tle, was comparatively a cheap one to build, as it involves 
 only between four and five miles of railroad altogether, 
 the rest of the transit being by water; but it is a very 
 expensive route to operate, and it is now proposed to do 
 away with it. 
 
 A narrow-gauge railroad, as already described, has 
 now been built from Seattle up the valley of the Duwa- 
 misli Eiver to the Renton mine, a distance of about 
 thirteen miles. From the latter point, an additional 
 five or six miles of road is all that is required to reach the 
 mines of the Seattle Coal and Transportation Company, 
 and thus give them an all-rail line to Seattle, around the 
 southern end of Lake Washington, whose total length 
 will be but three or four miles greater than is that of 
 
128 COAL MINES. 
 
 their present tedious and complex line. It is intended 
 to complete this connection during the current year. 
 
 PUYALLUP CAKING COAL. 
 
 Besides the locality already described where caking 
 coal is known to exist near Lake Whatcom, back of 
 Bellingham Bay, there are numerous other localities in 
 Washington Territory at some distance back from the 
 coast, but more particularly along and in the vicinity 
 of the Skagit and Puyallup rivers, where more or less 
 caking coal of good quality has been found. It is also 
 probably true, that a little anthracite has been found at 
 several points within the Territory. Whether any an- 
 thracite exists however, which can be made commer- 
 cially available, I do not know, but do not think it 
 probable that it does. 
 
 With reference to the caking coal upon the Skagit 
 river, I have no information worth publishing beyond 
 the fact that some samples of it are certainly of good 
 quality. 
 
 But along the Puyallup river and its branches, in 
 townships 18 and 19, north, range 6 east, Willamette 
 Meridian, there is a considerable field of caking coal, 
 some of which at least is of most excellent quality. 
 This field was visited in April, 1875, by Mr. T. A. 
 Blake, who, on his return, brought with him about a 
 ton of the coal to San Francisco. This coal was tested 
 for blacksmithing purposes, and at the San Francisco 
 Gas Works for gas. It proved to be a most excellent 
 blacksmith coal, and Mr. Blake furnishes me the follow- 
 ing result of the test at the Gas Works: 
 
WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 129 
 
 "Two hundred and fifty pounds of coal, coarse and 
 fine without selection, yielded over ninety-two hundred 
 cubic feet of gas of fifteen-candle power per ton, and 
 left one hundred and eighty-two pounds of coke of 
 finest quality. A test of the gas for sulphuretted hy- 
 drogen, with paper dipped in solution of acetate of lead, 
 showed that it contained less sulphur without purifica- 
 tion than the Company's gas, made from a mixture of 
 Australian and Nanaimo coal, contained after purifica- 
 tion." 
 
 The bed from which this coal was taken was about 
 six feet thick and contained a streak of slate in the 
 middle of the bed about fifteen inches thick. Other 
 beds are reported to exist from three to fifteen feet in 
 thickness. It is also reported that some anthracite has 
 been found in this vicinity. 
 
 What the commercial value of this coal field may 
 prove to be is yet a very doubtful question, for Mr. 
 Blake states that the beds where he saw them, "will 
 certainly be found to be badly broken up," i. 'e. with 
 faults and other disturbances. The problem is, how- 
 ever, in a fair way of being solved since the Northern 
 Pacific Railroad Company are already courageously en- 
 gaged in building a branch railroad up the valley of 
 the Puyallup river in order to reach this coal. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 COST OF PEODUCTION AT MT. DIABLO MINES. 
 
 The cost of mining and transporting the Mt. Diablo 
 coal has varied very greatly, not only between the dif- 
 ferent mines, but also at different times and under vary- 
 ing circumstances for the same mine. The differences 
 in this respect have been so great, indeed, that any 
 single statement of the actual cost for any particular 
 mine at any definite time would be of no value whatever 
 as an index of the cost at the same time for a different 
 mine, or for the same mine at a different time. This 
 fact is well illustrated by the history of the Black Dia- 
 mond Company. At their mines, the monthly averages 
 of the cost per ton for labor alone in mining the coal 
 and putting it into the bunkers at the mines, exclusive 
 of the cost of timber and all other supplies, have ranged 
 at different times since 1867 from a minimum of about 
 two dollars and thirty-seven cents to a maximum of 
 very nearly four dollars; or say, including supplies, 
 from about two dollars and seventy -five cents to four 
 dollars and fifty cents, or a little more, per ton. Within 
 the same time, the monthly averages of the cost of the 
 railroad transportation from the mines to the landing 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 131 
 
 have ranged from twenty-five or thirty cents to over one 
 dollar per ton; while the cost also of the water trans- 
 portation from the landing to San Francisco has varied 
 between thirty-seven cents and one dollar and twenty- 
 five cents per ton. 
 
 But then, again, these three items of cost for mining, 
 for land transportation, and for water transportation 
 have rarely or never reached either their maxima or 
 their minima values simultaneously, and consequently 
 the actual highest or lowest figures of total cost for the 
 mining, transportation, and delivery of the Mt. Diablo 
 coal at any particular time would not be obtained by 
 adding together separately either the highest or the 
 lowest of the figures given above. 
 
 This total cost, however, has varied at different times 
 since 1866, from a minimum of about five dollars, or 
 possibly a little less, to a maximum of somewhere be- 
 tween six dollars and fifty cents and seven dollars per 
 ton. But for a general estimate of the total average 
 cost of all the Mt. Diablo coal which has ever been sent 
 to market, the sum of five dollars and seventy-five dol- 
 lars per ton may be taken as a fair approximation. 
 
 It may also be stated in this connection, that the 
 average loss of coal in the pillars and in waste of one 
 kind and another in the working of the Mt. Diablo 
 mines has been, as nearly as it can be estimated, not 
 far from twenty-five per cent. In other words, only 
 about three-fourths of the coal which the beds contained 
 has been extracted and utilized throughout the whole 
 extent of the works. 
 
132 COAL MINES. 
 
 STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION AND TRADE. 
 
 In order to show as nearly as may be the growth and 
 magnitude of the coal production and trade of the Pacific 
 Coast up to the present time, I first present the follow- 
 ing table which is here reprinted from the columns of 
 the San Francisco Commercial Herald and Market Re- 
 view for January 18, 1877, without further change than 
 the omission of some insignificant items from Queen 
 Charlotte's Island, Sitka, Saghalien, Fuca Straits "and 
 Japan, which aggregate altogether only fifteen hundred 
 and sixty-four tons : 
 
H 00 X> 00 00 00 OO OC OO 00 00 OO OO GO 00 00 00 00 
 
134 COAL MINES. 
 
 This table requires, however, a few explanatory re- 
 marks. In the first place, with reference to all the coal 
 which comes here by sea from outside the Golden Gate, 
 i. e., to all the coed which arrives here, except the Mt. Diablo 
 and the Rocky Mountains, the figures in this table have 
 been generally obtained by taking the reports of the 
 vessels on their arrival, and before discharging as to 
 the quantity of coal they had on board; and these re- 
 ports vary slightly in almost every cargo from the 
 amount as actually weighed when the vessel comes to 
 be discharged. These differences are of course small, 
 and are sometimes in one direction and sometimes in 
 the other. But on the average, and in the long run, it 
 is probable that the first reports are slightly in excess 
 of the actual quantities as weighed. 
 
 In the second place, it will be noticed that this table 
 purports to give only the "receipts of coal at San Fran- 
 cisco," and this is what it actually does give with a good 
 degree of accuracy for all the other coals excepting that 
 from the Mt. Diablo mines. 
 
 But the figures which it gives for these mines do not 
 represent either the actual " receipts at San Francisco," 
 or the total product of the mines. What do they repre- 
 sent, with a fair approach to accuracy, is the total quan- 
 tity which has been shipped away from the mines. There 
 is, and always has been, a large proportion of the pro- 
 duct of the Mt. Diablo mines which has been delivered 
 on board of steamers and other vessels at Pitts- 
 burg and New York landings, and which has been 
 been partly burned in steamers on the bay and rivers, 
 and partly sent direct to Sacramento, Stockton, Yallejo, 
 and other places, without ever coming to San Francisco; 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 135 
 
 and all the coal so disposed of is included in those 
 figures. But, on the other hand, they do not include the 
 large item of consumption at and in the immediate 
 vicinity of the mines themselves. 
 
 With reference to the mines of Oregon and Washing- 
 ton Territory, the figures in this table, being the 
 receipts at San Francisco, represent pretty nearly niue- 
 tenths of the total production of the mines, the aggre- 
 gate consumption at and in the vicinity of the mines, 
 and also upon ocean steamers, being not far from ten 
 per cent, of the production. 
 
 In the case of the Vancouver Island mines, the fig- 
 ures probably do not represent quite so large a propor- 
 tion as nine-tenths of the production; for, besides the 
 town of Victoria and some smaller settlements, which 
 draw their supplies almost entirely from these mines, 
 the quantity of Vancouver Island coal which has been 
 burned on ocean steamers is considerably larger than 
 of Washington Territory, or of Oregon coal. 
 
 With these explanations, the above table may be 
 taken, except in the case of the Mt. Diablo mines, for 
 as good a general exhibit of the statistics of the coal 
 production and coal trade of the Pacific Coast from 1860 
 to 1876, inclusive, as it is possible now to compile. 
 
 But, with reference to the Mt. Diablo* mines, having 
 had better facilities than any mere statistician has had 
 for knowing the truth about the mines and their opera- 
 tions, I have compiled the following table, which, with 
 the accompanying explanations and remarks, may be 
 relied upon as furnishing a more accurate statement, 
 and a closer approximation to the total production of 
 these mines than has ever yet been published, or than 
 
136 
 
 CO A L MINES. 
 
 is likely to be compiled or published hereafter, for the 
 first sixteen years of their existence. 
 
 It should be mentioned that in this table, as well as 
 in the preceding one, all the figures are in tons of 
 two thousand two hundred and forty pounds avoir- 
 dupois : 
 
 1 
 
 Black 
 Diamond. 
 
 d 
 6 
 
 d 
 
 Pittsburg. 
 
 Eureka. 
 
 Independ- 
 ent. 
 
 a 
 
 Central (ap- 
 proximate 
 only). 
 
 Estimated 1 
 additional 1 
 product. 
 
 Total pro- 
 duction. 
 
 1861 
 
 1,370 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 2oO 
 
 6 620 
 
 1862 
 
 10 672 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 728 
 
 23 400 
 
 1863 
 
 14,232 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 28 968 
 
 43 200 
 
 1864 
 
 12,421 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 38,279 
 
 50,700 
 
 1865 
 
 14.491 
 
 11,187 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 34 852 
 
 60 530 
 
 1866 
 
 16,009 
 
 14,224 
 
 9,599 
 
 7,391 
 
 15 678 
 
 65 
 
 
 21 054 
 
 84 020 
 
 1867 
 1868 
 
 38,368 
 70.100 
 
 24,167 
 21.641 
 
 21,909 
 22,920 
 
 10,908 
 15,815 
 
 14,338 
 
 
 3,000 
 3 OOit 
 
 12.000 
 10 200 
 
 124,690 
 143 676 
 
 1869 
 
 79,548 
 
 17,274 
 
 27 938 
 
 16 945 
 
 
 
 4 72Q 
 
 10 800 
 
 157 234 
 
 1870 
 
 7,C8 
 
 20, 563 
 
 23,958 
 
 10246 
 
 
 
 5 055 
 
 11 400 
 
 141 890 
 
 1871 
 
 75,536 
 
 17.V09 
 
 22,339 
 
 18,194 
 
 
 
 7 215 
 
 12,000 
 
 152,493 
 
 1872 
 
 103,008 
 
 21,494 
 
 26,714 
 
 16 831 
 
 
 
 9 612 
 
 1H 200 
 
 190 859 
 
 1873 
 
 104.596 
 
 22,600 
 
 32,36-2 
 
 4 075 
 
 
 
 8,578 
 
 14 400 
 
 186 611 
 
 1874 
 
 117.804 
 
 30,002 
 
 43 546 
 
 
 
 
 9 000 
 
 15 000 
 
 215 352 
 
 1875 
 
 83,645 
 
 26365 
 
 33,628 
 
 
 
 
 8 000 
 
 15 000 
 
 166 638 
 
 1876 
 
 63,048 
 
 24,000 
 
 21 801 
 
 
 
 
 3 000 
 
 16 200 
 
 128 049 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 875,516 
 
 250,726 
 
 286,714 
 
 100,405 
 
 30,016 
 
 65 
 
 61,189 
 
 271,331 
 
 1,875,962 
 
 In the column here headed "Black Diamond" there 
 is given, from the books of the Black Diamond Coal 
 Company, the total production of their mines, except- 
 ing the amounj; consumed for hoisting and pumping 
 under the boilers at the mines. It includes the local 
 sales by the superintendents at the mines and at the 
 lauding, and the consumption by the locomotives on 
 their railroad, as well as by their tug upon the river 
 and bay. 
 
 The rest of the mines named in this table, with the 
 exception of the "Central," are all located at Somers- 
 ville. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 137 
 
 The first shipments of coal from the Mt. t)iablo mines 
 were in 1861, and besides the old companies at Norton- 
 ville, which were all afterwards purchased by the Black 
 Diamond Company, and whose product is therefore in- 
 cluded in the column headed " Black Diamond," several 
 of the Somersville companies also began to ship coal in 
 the same year, all the coal at this time and for several years 
 afterwards being hauled to the landings by teams. The 
 Pittsburg railroad first began to carry coal from Som- 
 ersville in March, 1866, and with the single exception 
 of the Union Mine from the beginning of 1865, the best 
 information which can now be obtained respecting the 
 production of the Somersville mines prior to the com- 
 pletion of this railroad must be gleaned from the news- 
 paper statistics, the old account books of these various 
 companies, some of which were very loosely kept in the 
 first place, having been long ago scattered about, and 
 many of them destroyed. 
 
 In the column headed "Union," the production of 
 that mine for the years 1865 and 1866 is given from the 
 books of the Union Coal Company. The figures given 
 for that mine subsequent to 1866, together with all the 
 figures given for the Pittsburg, the Eureka, the Inde- 
 pendent and the Manhattan Coal Companies, are from 
 the books of the Pittsburg Railroad Company, and 
 show the quantities transported over the railroad from 
 the different mines respectively. These quantities, how- 
 ever, do not represent the total production of the mines 
 inasmuch as they do not include, first, the local sales at 
 Somersville and at Pittsburg Landing ; second, the 
 quantity consumed by the locomotives on the Pittsburg 
 railroad, and third, the consumption under the boilers 
 
138 COAL MINES. 
 
 for pumping and hoisting at the various mines of Som- 
 ersville. The Manhattan Company shipped no coal after 
 1866; the Independent Company shipped none after 
 1867; and the Eureka Company none after 1873. The 
 Union mine was also closed and abandoned about the 
 first of December, 1876. The Central mine stopped 
 work in the early part of the year 1876. 
 
 In the column headed "Central (approximate only)," 
 there is given, as nearly as it can now be ascertained, 
 the product of the Central mine. The figures in this 
 column for the years 1869 and 1870 are accurate and 
 from the books. For the remaining years they are esti- 
 mates based upon the best information obtainable, 
 and are "approximate only." 
 
 The figures in the column headed "Estimated Addi- 
 tional Product" are estimates intended to cover the 
 following items: First. The total production from 1861 
 to 1864, inclusive, of all the mines except the Black 
 Diamond, together with the local sales and consump- 
 tion under boilers for those years at the mines of that 
 company. Second. For 1865, the total production of all 
 the mines except the Black Diamond and the Union, 
 together with the local sales and consumption at the 
 mines of those two companies. Third. For 1866, the 
 quantity hauled by teams in the first three months of 
 that year from all the Somersville mines except the 
 Union, the local sales at Somersville, the consumption 
 by the locomotives of the Pittsburg railroad, and the 
 consumption under the boilers at all the mines; also, 
 the production in that year of the San Francisco, the 
 Peacock, the Central, and the Teutonia mines. Fourth. 
 From 1867 to 1876, inclusive, the consumption under 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 139 
 
 boilers at all the mines, the local sales at Somersville 
 -and Pittsburg Landing, the consumption by locomotives 
 on the Pittsburg railroad, and the total product of all 
 mines other than those specified in the table. 
 
 It will be noticed that the figures in this column from 
 1861 to 1866, inclusive, are such as to make the total 
 production for those years equal to the amounts 'given 
 for the same years in the table of the Commercial 
 Herald and Market Review. I have made them so, be- 
 cause I am disposed to believe that for these six years 
 during which no very accurate accounts were kept, the 
 figures in that table, though purporting to show only the 
 "receipts at San Francisco," are, nevertheless, in all 
 probability, large enough to cover the whole product of 
 the mines. 
 
 In the estimate of sixteen thousand two hundred 
 tons for 1876, there is included the product of the Em- 
 pire mine for that year, which, I am informed by one 
 of its owners, was about three thousand tons. With 
 this single exception, more than nine-tenths of all the 
 quantities given in this column of estimates for the ten 
 years subsequent to 1866, were burned under the boilers 
 at the mines for pumping and hoisting purposes, the 
 items of local sales and consumption on the railroad 
 being comparatively very small. The estimates are 
 based upon a good general knowledge of the charac- 
 ter and comparative magnitude of the operations at 
 the different mines, and upon the fact that for several 
 years past, although no accurate account of it has been 
 kept, the consumption beneath the boilers at the mines 
 of the Black Diamond Company alone is known to have 
 averaged not far from six hundred tons per month. 
 
140 
 
 COAL MINES. 
 
 RELATIVE VALUES OF DIFFERENT COALS. 
 
 As the proximate analysis of a coal does not give the 
 means of computing its calorific power, and as it fur- 
 nishes at best but an imperfect means of estimating its 
 practical value, I have not thought it worth while to re- 
 produce here a table of hitherto published analyses of 
 Pacific Coast coals. Those who are interested in these 
 analyses will find them in the State Geological Survey 
 Report Geology of California, vol. 1, p. 30, and in 
 a table compiled by Mr. Archibald R. Marvine, in 
 the Annual Report for 1873, of the United States 
 Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, 
 by F. V. Hay den, pp. 113, 114. I will only present 
 here two hitherto unpublished proximate analyses of 
 Seattle coal, of which No. 1 was made for Goodyear & 
 Blake, by Falkenau & Hanks, in April, 1868; and No. 
 2 has been furnished me by the President of the Seattle 
 Coal and Transportation Company, and was made by 
 Mr. H. G. Hanks, in May, 1875. They are as follows: 
 
 No. 
 
 Water. 
 
 Combustible 
 bituminous 
 substances. 
 
 Fixed 
 Carbon. 
 
 Ash. 
 
 Sulphur. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1 
 
 11.66 
 
 35.49 
 
 45.98 
 
 6.44 
 
 0.43 
 
 100.00 
 
 2 
 
 6.70 
 
 38.32 
 
 47.99 
 
 6.49 
 
 
 99.50 
 
 Believing, however, that the results of careful work- 
 ing experiments upon a large scale, with reference to 
 the relative practical values of the various coals which 
 come to this market for steam purposes, would possess 
 no little general interest and value, I have endeavored 
 to gather as much reliable information of this kind as 
 
M ISC EL LA NEO US. 141 
 
 it was possible for me to obtain. In this direction I 
 Lave not succeeded so well as I could wish. But I pre- 
 sent the best information which I have, not because it 
 is satisfactory, for it is not, but because it is all which 
 I have been able to obtain, and because I believe that 
 such as it is, and being reliable so far as it goes, it will 
 not be without interest. 
 
 The most comprehensive information which I have 
 upon this subject is embodied in the following table 
 furnished me by the courtesy of Mr. Charles Elliot, 
 the City Superintendent of the Spring Yalley Water 
 Works, and giving the results of a series of experiments 
 made at the pumping works of the Spring Yalley Water 
 Company, under his supervision at various times, ex- 
 tending over a period of between seven and eight years. 
 
 In this table, the first column shows the kind of coal 
 employed. The second column shows the date, i. e., 
 tlie month and year, and in a few cases the day of the 
 month of the experiment. The third column shows the 
 duration of the experiment in all cases where such du- 
 ration was noted; where it was not noted, the duration 
 was in most cases a single day. The fourth column 
 shows the "duty" performed; i. e., the number of foot- 
 pounds of useful mechanical effect produced by each 
 hundred pounds of coal; or, in other words, as stated at 
 the head of the column, the number of pounds of water 
 raised one foot high by the combustion of each hundred 
 pounds of coal: 
 
142 
 
 COAL MINES. 
 
 KIND OF COAL. 
 
 Date of 
 Experiment. 
 
 Duration of 
 Experiment. 
 
 " Duty. ''i.e., 
 No. of Ibs. 
 raised 1 foot 
 Ligh by each 
 ll)0 fos. of 
 coal. 
 
 Mt. Diablo (Eureka) Screenings. 
 Nanaimo Coal (V. I.) 
 
 June, 
 July, 
 Feb. 
 Feb. 
 May, 
 June, 
 August, 
 !Sept. 
 Sept. 
 Nov. 
 'Dec. 
 Jan. 
 May, 
 June, 
 June, 
 June, . 
 Nov. 
 Dec. 
 Dec. 
 April, 
 June, 
 July, 
 Feb. 
 June, 
 Dec. 
 
 1869 
 1869 
 1870 
 1870 
 1870 
 1870 
 1870 
 1870 
 1870 
 1870 
 1870 
 1871 
 1872 
 1873 
 1873 
 1873 
 1873 
 1873 
 1873 
 1874 
 1874 
 1874 
 ]875 
 1876 
 1876 
 
 
 23,678,000 
 32.317,600 
 24.850,450 
 :{7,6iiO,000 
 41 ',032,000 
 3o,350,000 
 37.036.184 
 25.588,636 
 2C..:::53,557 
 Id. 657, 500 
 25,754,400 
 28,102,173 
 23,000,000 
 2'J, 018,600 
 :;s, 215,700 
 2<). (>;iO, 000 
 :5(i,(i60.000 
 40,880,000 
 37,25-2,000 
 34,300,000 
 38, 000,000 
 38,889,200 
 38,681,250 
 25.120,000 
 36,596,000 
 
 
 Mt Diablo (Pittsbur^ 
 
 
 Anthracite (Philadelphia) 
 
 Sydney Coal (Australia) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mt. Diablo (Union) Screenings. 
 
 ( 4 11 <i I 4 
 
 Anthracite . .... 
 
 1 week 
 24 hours 
 24 hours 
 23 hours 
 
 1 month 
 24 hours 
 1 day 
 
 30 days 
 7 days 
 7 days 
 1 week 
 234 hours 
 
 Mt. Diablo (Black Diamond) . . . 
 " " (Union) Screenings. 
 " " Screenings. 
 Bellingham Bay, Screenings. . . . 
 Sydney Coal (Australia) 
 Seattle Coal 
 
 Svdnev Coal (Australia) 
 WelslTCoal. 
 
 < 
 
 ti 
 
 Sydney Coal (Australia) 
 
 < < 
 
 Mt. Diablo (Black Diamond) . . . 
 \Velsh Coal 
 
 
 It is needless to remark upon one fact Avhich all well- 
 informed engineers will promptly recognize on looking 
 over the above table, viz., that the pumping engines of 
 the Spring Valley Water Company are very far from 
 being up to the standard of the best pumping engines 
 of the present day, so long as they yield less than forty- 
 one million foot-pounds of useful effect for each hun- 
 dred pounds of good anthracite coal. 
 
 But there is valuable information in the above table; 
 and the experiments which it shows are, in spite of some 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 143 
 
 rather wide variations, none the less valuable because 
 of the internal evidence which they bear of being a 
 true record of the best results actually obtained under 
 the existing circumstances. 
 
 It will be seen that the "duty" of the same kind of 
 coal varied largely at different times and in different ex- 
 periments; that of the Sidney coal ranging from thirty- 
 six millions three hundred and fifty thousand to forty 
 millions and thirty-two thousand, and that of the 
 Mt. Diablo from twenty-three millions to twenty-eight 
 millions one hundred and two thousand one hun- 
 dred and seventy-three foot-pounds. It is safe to 
 assume in general that the shorter the duration of the 
 experiment and the fewer the number of experiments 
 with any given kind of coal, the less reliable will be the 
 results respecting that coal. But the variations in this 
 table are such as cannot be satisfactorily accounted for 
 by differences in the duration of the experiments only. 
 For instance, of two experiments with Sydney coal, 
 each of which extended over one month's time, one gave 
 a duty of thirty-six millions six hundred and sixty 
 thousand, and the 'other a duty of thirty-eight million 
 foot-pounds. It is therefore evident, either that the 
 actual quality of the same denomination of coal varied 
 considerably in the different experiments, or else, as in 
 the light of the two consecutive experiments of Decem- 
 ber first and second, 1873, with Welsh coal, seems not 
 improbable, that there was some irregularity in the 
 performance of the engines themselves, which was due 
 to causes that are not explained by the table. 
 
 If, now, without regard to the duration of the separate 
 experiments which is stated in only twelve out of the 
 
144 COAL MINES. 
 
 twenty-five experiments given in the table, we take for 
 each coal the sum of the duties, as given in the table 
 for all the experiments with that particular kind of coal, 
 and dividing this sum by the number of experiments, 
 thus obtain a mean value for the duty of each of the 
 different kinds of coal; if, then, we compare these mean 
 values with each other, assuming for purposes of com- 
 parison that the value of the Mt. Diablo coal is unit}", 
 and stating the values of the others in unity and deci- 
 mals, we obtain the following relative values for the 
 various coals included in the above table : 
 
 Mt. Diablo Coal (Screenings) 1.000 
 
 Seattle Coal 1.171 
 
 Sydney Coal 1.502 
 
 AVelsh Coal 1.472 
 
 Bellingham Bay Coal (Screenings) 1.148 
 
 Nanaimo Coal 1.277 
 
 Anthracite 1.546 
 
 In this statement of the relative values of the differ- 
 ent coals, the figures which relate to the Mt. Diablo and 
 the Sydney are evidently the most reliable, as the ex- 
 periments with these two varieties were the most numer- 
 ous, there having been eight experiments with each. 
 Next in order of reliability comes the Welsh coal with 
 four experiments, then the anthracite with two, and 
 finally the Seattle, the Bellingham Bay and the Nanaimo 
 with only one experiment each. 
 
 In addition to the preceding, Mr. Elliot has also fur- 
 nished the following results of some very recent trials 
 between the Seattle (W. T.) and the Wellington (Van- 
 couver's Island) coals at the same works. These ex- 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 145 
 
 peritnents consist of five clays' run with eadli of the two 
 coals. The results could not be determined in foot- 
 pounds, for the reason that the pumps were working 
 under somewhat variable conditions of pressure-head, 
 etc. For the same reason, the results of a comparison 
 between any two single days' works only would not be 
 very reliable. But the comparison of the means for 
 the whole five days gives probably a very fair result. 
 The experiments were as follows: 
 
 First, with "Wellington coal, at $6 . 50 per ton : 
 
 11 hours run, cost $5 . 25 
 
 12 " " " 5.80 
 
 14 " " " 6.38 
 
 11 " " 4. Si- 
 ll " " " 5.80 
 
 Second, with Seattle coal, at $6.50 per ton: 
 
 14 hours run, cost $8 . 00 
 
 13} " " " 7.40 
 
 14 " " " 8.12 
 
 13 " " " '.. 7.45 
 
 13J " " " 7.45 
 
 It appears from this that with the Wellington coal 
 the pumps ran fifty-nine hours, at a total cost of twenty- 
 seven dollars and seventy-four cents, or an average cost 
 of 47 .017 cents per hour for coal, while with the Seattle 
 coal they ran sixty-eight hours, at a total cost of thirty- 
 eight dollars and forty-two cents, or an average of 56 . 500 
 cents per hour. 
 
 This shows a relative difference in value between 
 these two coals of about twenty per cent, in favor of 
 10 
 
146 COAL MINES. 
 
 the Wellington over that of the geattle coal. Or, if the 
 Mt. Diablo coal be considered as unity, the Seattle 
 being 1.171, then the Wellington will be 1.407. 
 
 The following experiments made under the steam- 
 boilers at the foundry of W. T. Garratt, in July, 1876, 
 by Mr. H. M. McCartney, for the Seattle Coal and 
 Transportation Company, have been kindly furnished 
 me: 
 
M IXC ELL A NEO US. 
 
 147 
 
 O 
 
 (J 
 
 P 
 O 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 PH 
 ^ 
 
 O 
 O 
 
 O 
 
 3 
 
 * 
 
 |S*3 
 
 is 
 
 GO O 
 
 10 05 
 
 CO CT 
 
 <M t~ Ci 
 
 CO -* 
 
 T* O 
 
 co co 
 
 s 
 
 II i 
 
 1^32 
 I ^ fr & 
 
 M cS 
 
 r ? 
 
 t <-| D 
 
 3 02 - 
 
 a - g 
 
 o 'o ^ 
 
 2 -^ 
 
 POO 
 
 a, fl 3 
 
 r3 a, Pf 
 
 ** 'tt a> 
 
 a) q 
 
 P 5 53 
 
 8 S 8 
 
 1 
 
 >.. 
 
 CP 
 
 al 
 
148 COAL MINES. 
 
 From these experiments, the Nanaimo coal would 
 appear to be rather better than the Wellington, and if 
 we still suppose the Mfc. Diablo to be unity and the 
 Seattle to be 1.171, we shall now find the Nanaimo to 
 be 1.335, and the Wellington 1.295. 
 
 A comparative trial was made in December, 1874, as 
 I am informed by the President of the Seattle Coal and 
 Transportation Company, on one of the largest ferry 
 boats in the Bay of San Francisco, between Seattle and 
 Mt. Diablo coal, with the following result : The boat 
 first ran fourteen days with Mt. Diablo coal, of which 
 it consumed in that time three hundred and seven thou- 
 sand and three hundred and eighty pounds. She then 
 ran fourteen days with Seattle coal, doing the same 
 work as before, with a consumption of two hundred and 
 sixty-one thousand two hundred and eleven pounds. 
 According to this test, the value of the Seattle coal, 
 that of the Mt. Diablo coal being unity, is 1.177, a 
 result which agrees very closely with that obtained for 
 these two coals from the experiments of Mr. Elliot. 
 
 The foregoing are all the definite results of compara- 
 tive experiments of this kind upon any considerable 
 practical working scale which I have been able to obtain. 
 
 It is Avell known that with certain coals, the Central 
 Pacific Railroad Company has made such experiments 
 with care, and upon an extended scale, for its own ben- 
 efit, upon its locomotives as well as upon its steamboats. 
 But I regret to say, that upon applying to the company 
 for the definite results of these experiments, with the 
 permission to make them public, I met with a polite 
 but positive refusal, upon the ground that, as this com- 
 pany is the largest single purchaser of coal upon this 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 149 
 
 coast, they did not deem it right for them to place upon 
 record any tests or experiments from which, perhaps, u 
 standard might be established to the detriment of some 
 and the benefit of others who are dealers in coal. 
 
 I confess that I am not able myself to understand the 
 full force of this objection, well knowing, as I do, the fact 
 that all the heavier dealers in coal in San Francisco 
 already know the relative values of the different coals 
 for steam, with a sufficiently close approximation to the 
 truth to guide their action in the matter of prices, or of 
 anything else relating to the market, as fully and as 
 surely as any mere publication of the exact figures 
 could do it. 
 
 But, though I could obtain no definite information 
 from the railroad company itself, I may state that I have 
 good reason to believe that some of their recent experi- 
 ments with Seattle coal on locomotives have shown a 
 difference, as between it and the Mt. Diablo, of over 
 thirty per cent, in favor of the Seattle coal. How reli- 
 able these experiments may be, of course I do no!; 
 know; but if reliable tests have furnished this result, 
 then. from the results already given of the tests at the 
 Spring Valley Water Works and on the ferry boat, 
 it would seem to follow, either that the Seattle coal 
 compares more favorably with Mt. Diablo for loco- 
 motive use than it does for use under stationary boilers 
 and on steamboats, or else that there has been within 
 the last two years a very marked improvement in the 
 quality of the coal furnished to this market from the 
 Seattle mines. It is claimed by the owners of the 
 mines that the latter is the fact; and it is worth noticing 
 that the two analyses above given, the one by Mr. Hanks 
 
150 
 
 CO A L MINES. 
 
 in 1875, and the other by Falkenau and Hanks in 1868, 
 seem to add probability to this claim, as the later anal- 
 ysis shows only 6.70 per cent, of water against 11.66 
 per cent, in the earlier one. 
 
 If, now, we collect in tabular form the results of all 
 the above experiments, we shall have the following table 
 of relative values of different coals for steam, the value 
 of the Mt. Diablo coal being assumed as unity: 
 
 RELATIVE VALUES OF DIFFERENT COALS FOR STEAM. 
 
 'Kiud of Coal. 
 
 Value. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Mt. Diablo 
 
 1.000 
 1.171 
 1.502 
 1.472 
 1.148 
 1.277 
 1.546 
 1.407 
 1.335 
 1.295 
 1.177 
 1.330 
 
 Exper 
 
 Exper 
 
 Exper 
 Proba 
 
 iments a 
 
 ments & 
 
 ment 01 
 
 ole resul 
 
 t Spring 
 
 t Garratt 
 
 i Ferry B 
 
 ts of tests 
 
 Valley Water Works. 
 
 s Foundry. 
 
 oat. 
 , onC.P.R. R. 
 
 Seattle.. 
 
 Sydney 
 
 Welsh 
 
 Bellingham Bay. 
 Nanaimo 
 
 Anthracite 
 Wellington 
 Nauaimo 
 
 Wellington 
 Seattle 
 
 Seattle 
 
 
 The cause of the difference between the results ob- 
 tained at the Water Works and those at Garratt's Foun- 
 dry for ihe relative values of the Seattle, Nanaimo, and 
 Wellington coals, I cannot explain, but merely give the 
 figures as I obtained them. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 To him who has carefully read the foregoing pages, 
 it will be apparent that the days of the old Mt. Diablo 
 mines are numbered. Even within the few months 
 which have elapsed since the preparation of this volume 
 was begun, the operations of these mines have been con- 
 siderably curtailed. At the time of the strike against a 
 reduction of wages there in October, 1876, the Pitts- 
 burg Company ceased operations upon the Clark bed 
 entirely, and withdrew the pump from their lowest level 
 on that bed. Since that time their mining has been con- 
 fined entirely to the "Little Vein," in the old Eureka 
 grcund, and to the Black Diamond bed. It is not un- 
 likely that they may hereafter resume their work upon 
 the Clark bed for a sufficient length of time to enable 
 them to extract the coal which yet remains above their 
 present lowest level. But it is not probable that they 
 will ever sink their works any deeper upon this bed. 
 
 At about the first of December, 1876, the Union mine 
 was finally closed, its pumps and machinery taken out, 
 and the working of the mine entirely abandoned. It is 
 not probable that the Union Company will ever resume 
 work. 
 
 Of the old companies, therefore, there now remain 
 actually at work only the Pittsburg and the Black Dia- 
 mond companies. The mines of the Black Diamond 
 
152 COAL MINES. 
 
 Company are in much better condition, generally, than 
 that of the Pittsburg, and will undoubtedly hold out 
 considerably longer, a fact which is largely due to the 
 sound management of their able mining superintendent, 
 Mr. Morgan Morgans. But, in the face of their neces- 
 sarily heavy and constantly increasing costs of mining, 
 they too must, ere many years, succumb to the better 
 quality, and eventually the lower costs of production 
 and transportation of the coals of Washington Territory 
 and British Columbia. 
 
 Whether the hitherto un worked eastern portion of the 
 Mt. Diablo coal field can, under existing circumstances, 
 be worked at a profit, remains to be seen. But outside 
 of this, there is no other coal field yet known in Cali- 
 fornia which gives reasonable promise of being able to 
 compete, to any considerable extent, with the northern 
 mines. 
 
 Neither is it probable that the mines of Coos Bay 
 (the only ones yet worked in Oregon), will be able many 
 years longer to continue work at a profit in the face of 
 the Washington Territory coals. For though the dis- 
 tance from San Francisco to Coos Bay is only about 
 one-half as great as it is to Puget Sound, yet the shal- 
 low and often unsafe character of the bar at Coos Bay, 
 the small size of the vessels which can go there at all, 
 and the uncertainties which oftentimes attend the move- 
 ments of even these small vessels, are such that the 
 rates of freight from Coos Bay have generally ranged 
 as high, and have often been actually higher than they 
 were from Seattle; while it is more than probable that 
 a company which owned and ran its own suitable steam 
 colliers could transport coal from Seattle to San Fran- 
 
CONCLUSION. . 153 
 
 cisco at a considerably lower. cost per ton than they 
 could do from Coos Bay. Moreover, the cost of min- 
 ing at Coos Bay .is greater than it is at Seattle; while at 
 the same time the quality of the Coos Bay coal, for do- 
 mestic purposes as well as for steam, is decidedly infe- 
 rior to that of the more northern coals. 
 
 It is unquestionably to the mines of Washington 
 Territory and of British Columbia, that this Pacific 
 Coast must look hereafter, both for its chief domestic 
 and its nearest and most reliable foreign supplies of 
 that indispensable necessity of all civilized communi- 
 ties a good article of coal. 
 
 OF THE ' 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 BERKELEY 
 
 Return to desk from which borrowed. 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
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34036