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Show Miscellany Coal From the Arctic. A few years ago the idea of getting coal from Spitzbeigen, one of the most desolate islands of the Arctic ocean, was a topic for romancers of the Sunday -supplement type. ' Now il is u fact of considerable moment in many of the world's markets. A single company, financed chiefly by American capital, mined nearly 40.000 tons of coal from Spitsbergen last year. The deposit of fuel in the far north is said to be singularly singu-larly easy to work. It comes in a single seam about four feet thick, stretching along the coast for thirty mttes. The surrounding rock Is so solid that timbering tim-bering is not needed. The temperature Is always below the freezing point in the present workings, which does away with the need of pumps. In fact, the only real difficulty is that of getting men and motion pictures have gone far to solve the problem. Yet for every ton of coal in Spitsbergen there are ten in Alaska of at least equal quality, closer to a hungry market. The arctic zone won't make a real dent in the fuel market mar-ket till our big northwest territory gets in action. Chicago Journal. |