Show washington COALS the coals of washington while limited to six or seven somewhat scattered areas in the western half of the state chiefly along the eastern border of puget sound have a wide range in character from anthracite th to lignite are found in the southwestern part of the state in cowlitz and lewis counties in lewis county as the measures approach the mountains the align lignite to grades upward into coal of and bituminous quality the areas along puget sound contain and bituminous coals some of the latter possessing fair coking quality and in the northwestern part of the state on the slopes of mount baker in whatcom county anthracite has been reported some natural coke has been observed the coking coals of washington are the only ones of that grade on the pacific coast they are found in the wilke wilkeson son carb carbonado district in pierce county in the north puget sound field in skagit and whatcom counties and in the northern part of the roslyn field in kittitas Kit titas county but at present coke is made only from the wilke wilkeson son carbonado carb coal this coal is somewhat high in ash and is usually washed before coking the smelter at tacoma takes most of the coke the coal mining industry of washington has suffered considerably during the last few years from the competition of fuel oil from california the former principal consumers of washington coal the puget sound steamers and the railroads having adopted petroleum for fuel even the railroads that have their own coal mines immediately on their lines are using oil for locomotives particularly through the forested areas where the cha character racer of that fuel gives protection against fire the cleanliness of the liquid fuel and its greater economy in labor give it a decided derided advantage over coal as a steam fuel on the sound steamers the consumption of california oil for fuel in 1912 was approximately barrels equivalent to about five times the total production of coal in the pacific coast states it is estimated that the consumption of fuel oil in markets tributary to the coal mines of washington displaced about tons of coal the railroads alone used barrels of oil equivalent to tons of coal or more than a third of the coal production of the state in 1912 the production of coal in washington reached its maximum in 1910 when the output amounted to short tons according to E W parker of the united states geological survey who compiled the figures in cooperation with the washington state geological survey it decreased to 3 tons in 1911 and to tons in 1912 the value fell off considerably less in proportion from to |