Show = Cumberland Wyo theo MODEL COAL CA p Clean the-o st and Neatest 1 Coal fi tJ Mining > i Town in Country I CORRESPONDENCE TRIBUNE Cumberland Wyo Oct 9Vater Is not the only thins thai will cvontc an oasis in a waste so arid and barren that even a Scanty growth of sagebrush sage-brush and srensewood finds existence uinScult anC precarious Ones ideas of these habitable and fruitful spots in the desert nre so closely irsocintcl what a water supply that at first thouGht their existence without It seems impossible But in many of the barren sections of the intermounuun regions the most commonplace often the most forbidding l surface conceals a wealth even greater than that which springe from the t most fertile soil under the vlvifjing Influences of mple water and sunshine I Thin mineral wealth is widely distributed distrib-uted throughout the intmnnuniain region I re-gion and ts variety uhnout runs the gumu i of mineral productions It is not the purpose In this letter however to enter this broad field but to deal with II one item only projvie grimy coal one of the most common and niost important im-portant of minerals COAL BUILDS TOWNS ere It I not for its coal the busy little lit-tle town of Cumberland Wyo would not exist loll called it into being and coal is Its life blood Were its great coal seams to vanish in a day like a snowdrift before the warm winds and bright sunshine of summer the town would disappear almost as rapidly In a few wcclcs not a soul would remain I of the 1200 that now call that peacetul industrious orderly camp their home You will not find Cumberland on most of the maps foi the reason that the town Is newer than the mups Those however on which It Is correctly located lo-cated show it In Ulnta county Wyoming Wyo-ming about five miles west of the center cen-ter of a straight line drawn from Carter Car-ter on the Onion Pacific railroad to Kemmerer on the Oregon Short Line OPENING CUMBERLAND MINES In the summer of 1900 prospectors for the Union Pacific Coal company devoted de-voted much time to a careful examination examina-tion of that great coal seam in western Wyoming whose outcrop has been traced across the country In a direction I a little east of north from the vicinity I of Spring Valley for more than fifty miles The result of these investigations investiga-tions was that In December 1900 the actual work of opening the mines 1 now in operation at Cumberland was begun WAS BARREN SCENE The scene of operations was in a rolling somewhat broken sagebrush country of which the jackrabblt the coyote and the antelope were the chief Inhabitants There was not a tree and not a human habitation In any direction direc-tion as far as the eye could reach There was very little water and that little was so bad that it was sure death to the mule that persisted in the had habit of drinking it Even the sagebrush sage-brush grew In n halfhearted uncertain uncer-tain sort of way as if not quite sure that the meager results attained Justified Justi-fied the effort necessary to a bare existence exist-ence NOT A PROMISING SPOT It was not a very promising spot in which to build a town Its sole natural recommendation being a comparatively level piece of land conveniently located and of sufficient size for the town site This was laid out and platted and the opening of the mines and the construction construc-tion of the houses to be occupied by the men went forward together Such was the beginning of Cumberland Two mines were opened and are in operation They are on the same vein and about two miles apart No2 being almost directly north of Xo 1 The coal seam here slopes to the west the pitch being about twentyone or twentytwo degrees PECULIAR FORMATION One of the peculiarities of the coal formation Is that there are two seams separated by a parting of clay which Inmost In-most places In these mines Is but six Inches In thickness while other place have been found in which It reaches a I thickness of seven feet In mine No 1 at Cumberland the top coal seam Is i from seven to twelve feet thick and the lower from four to seven feet In miner mine-r No 2 the top seam averages about thirteen thir-teen feel and the lower runs from four to seven IIOW MINES ARE WORKED I Each mine Is worked with a slope which follows the coal vein from the outcrop In mine No 1 this slope Is r now down 2000 feet and In mine No 2 1800 feet The coal is mined by the pillar pil-lar and chute system In this system I car tracks are laid In the slope and entries but no car are taken Into the rooms Each room which fa worked is provided with an Iron chute Into which I the miner shovels the coal as he loosens e loos-ens it and It runs by gravity Into the i mine car on the track In the entry below I be-low When filled the cars arc taken to the slope tip which they are drawn In trains of eight cars each by a steel cable operated over an Immense drum I driven by powerful engines The mine cars hold an average of two and a halftone half-tone each trip thus bringing up twenty tons of coal EQUIPMENT OF COLLIERS The power equipment at No 1 consists o con-sists of three batteries of Babcock and WIlcox tubular hollers with an aggregate aggre-gate steam capacity of 1SOO horsepower At No 2 there are ten internal fire marine ma-rine boilers with an aggregate horse I power of IOOO The three steel smokestacks smoke-stacks at Ko 1 arc probably not Surpassed sur-passed In size In Wyoming Thwe monsters vomiting forth their dense volumes of blnck smoke arc each 118 feet high and six feet In diameter They I nro the chief nuninrks l of the region but to fully realize their Irrmonso Mzr on tniifrt vlrw 1 them at close range The magnificent engines and hoisting apparatus and in fact the entire mechanical I me-chanical l equipment of the mines Is thj latest and bett known No device to I mike more certain the safety of them the-m > n or to expedite the work has been I omitted from the equipment no matter what Its coat VENTILATION OF MINES t The mines arc ventilated by what Is f known as the five opening system In this system an air passage IP cut on each title of the m tin slope The op ration of the exhautt fan causes a current o outside air to Mow down I each of these air chutes ventilating j I each entry of the mIne independently I Under this rslnll1 the main slope Ir 1 I thoreUcalty neutral There Is practically practi-cally no gtu in either of the mines and with the peifeet ventilating system tin conditions under which the men work arc about IK favorable iia they could well In n coal mine About 300 men Including office and I bop iron are now fMiiployed at No 1 and 325 nt No 2 The output of coal f nt No 1 Is 11100 tone per diy and nl No 2 2000 tuna The payroll of the I wWV MI Union Pacailc Coal company at theo the-o mines for the month of September was SQ727GO Some additions to the force have ben made since and the October payroll will probably be slightly slight-ly larger I 1 i IS REALLY TWO CAMPS While Cumbeilnnd lo usually spoken of as one camp It In reality consists of I the two camps two miles apart Mine No 115 at the himlhcrri end of the sew oiUeonmilc branch officially known us the Wyoming western railroad but I which some wag once facetiously termed the High Dry awl Windy a name which bocaiie of Its descriptive accuracy accu-racy still clings to It Mine Tso 2 is two miles ui the brunch from Its southern south-ern end Thee headquarter offices shops and electric light plant of the company for both mines are all located at Xo 1 At No 2 there is practically nothing1 except the necessary mine buIUlnifrs and the homes nC the miners Tel because of the fact that there are more I miners employed in No 2 than in No 1 the number of people In each I camp is estimated to he about ths same The poBtolficc Is also al No 1 MODEL MINING CAMP In creating Cumberland the Union Pacific Coal couinuiy was kept constantly con-stantly in view liiu desire to make It the model mining cnmp of the country That they have succeeded in doing so ut least so far no one who is familiar with the coal mining towns of the I country and who has visited this neat and orderly village will ctony Il is 1 i I regularly laid out on an area of com I paratively smooth but gently sloping land somewhat removed from both the railroad and the mine The houses are I neat and substantial and every one is completed and painted All the land and every building in the town proper I belong to the coal company but that dreary monotony of dull red company paint docs not exist here the variety of styles in the construction of the houses and of colors used In painting them being be-ing l us great as If each house belonged to a different Individual nearly all the I yards are fenced and there Is a general air of neatness and cicanness seldom I seen In a mining town or In any town for lint matter The large company store building Is the most prominent feature of the town The manager of the store Is C E Ridenour a native of Lima 0 and the bookkeeper Horace Lecsque son of Agent Levesque at Rock Springs There Is a drug store confectionery store and saloon in the town and two or three stores and saloons out of town and just outside the limits of the land I owned by the company There Is a I town hall and two very handsome and csubstantlal school buildings one In each camp Five teachers are employed three at No1 and to at No 2 HARD PROBLEM TO SOLVE I In locating the town one of the problems > I prob-lems l to be solved was that of an ade quale supply of good water Up to this I time most of the water used has been hauled In on the railroad Now however how-ever a modern water system is approaching ap-proaching completion The water is plpecUfrom about five miles up Muddy I creek to a masonry and cement lined settling reservoir near the town with a capacity of 750000 gallons It comes to this reservoir by gravity and from there is pumped to another reservoir of 1000000 gallon capacity located on an i elevation between the two camps both I of which are supplied from it I by gravity I grav-ity This system will furnish an abundant abun-dant supply of good water and will be finished In about a month The plant Is being constructed by Corey Bros of Ogden to whom the contract was let by the Union Pacific Water company I ELECTRIC LIGHT SYSTEM I One of the features of the little town which ought to he thoroughly appreciated appre-ciated is nn excellent electric light system sys-tem the current for which as well as for lighting the mines Is furnished by two 200 horsepower alternating machines ma-chines The streets are well lighted by arcs while every house In both camps is supplied with incandescent lights The electric light plant like everything else In the mechanical line about the camp is of the best and most modern type I The headquarters and office building I of the company at No 1 Is a handsome i hand-some commodious and well arranged i j structure and the offices arc elegantly I fitted up Mr James Nocdhim formerly assistant assist-ant englneet at the Union Pacific mines at Rock Springs is superintendent superintend-ent of both mines here and has general gen-eral charge of all the companys Inter cats at this point lie is a capable young man whose good work IH I much appreciated by the company This latter lat-ter statement did not come from Mr X > lhain In fact lie didnt even tell mo that he was superintendent While he talks freely about everything else his modesty will not permit him to talk about himself CHILD OF OLDER TOWNS Cumberland being the newest of the Union Pacific coal camps is of course to some extent the child of the older mining towns and has drawn most of her people from them From Rock Springy came Superintendent Nee hu111 i Charles Outsen material clerk G F Potter foreman of the carpenter gang 1 I Cliff Tredale weight bosa 1 at No2 Gall heed son of Dr It Harvey Heed v 1th I tits pipe gang J 1 P l c2 UI lyli > weight boss it No J and many others E D Bcauvien outside foremnn came here from CoulvIUe Utah as did also J M Foddies mine foreman at No 1 M J Blake mine foreman at 2o 2 came here from the Kemmerer mines Cumberland has an abundance of coal which In quality either for steam or domestic purposes ranks with the best in the country Her mines are In their Infancy and capable of a development much beyond their present production I OCCUPIES FAVORED SPOT I There is no other coal town In the West so neat clean and orderly She occupies what seems a favored spol as Ito I-to cllmste I The snowfall is light there Is less wind than In most of southern and western Wyoming and above her bends that bluest of aides characteristic of the higher altitudes In the Intermoun taln region Her CC10 feet of elevation and the freedom from smoke due to her i Isolation give the air that purity transparency trans-parency and buoyancy found in this i country only In the Rocky mountain region and at elevations exceeding 5000 I feet Her people have these things to compensate them for that awful cling lag mud which fills their streets whenever when-ever it rains for a seventeenth century cen-tury postofilee service and mall facili lies that would have exasperated patient pa-tient Job W R DUVALL I |