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Show CONSERVE UTAH MIISJS PLEA Peterson Seeks to Prevent Wrecking of Abandoned Aban-doned Tunnels. Urges That Coal Far Back in the Hills Be Kept i Accessible. Millions of tons of coal -underlying C(ah will be tied up, or the cost of mining will bo rendered commercially prohibitive unless something la done In tho near future fu-ture to provide for maintenance of rights of way to reach these beds through i Beams of coal now being mined. This J la the situation as reported to the state board of equalization yesterday by Professor Pro-fessor "William I'cterson, geologist for the board, who has been in charge of an extensive ex-tensive survey of the Utah coal lands. I'rofcsaor Peterson has already taken the subject up with Dr. George Otis Smith, director of the United States geological geo-logical survey, to seo if he has any sug-j sug-j gestions to offer In view of the fact that the value of extensive areas of government govern-ment coal lands Is being very seriously threatened. The state board has decided de-cided lo recommend suitable legislation j to cover the subjt-ct, so far as lands in the Htai; privately ownei are concerned. Utah ban no coal -producing mine operated op-erated through a shaft. The b.g fields m Carbon county are operated through i drift drives, the coal outcropping on itie j laces oi high cliffy. The coal beds nearest the outcropping I naturally are firt mined. Whtm the ) miner la ready to abandon a drive, the last thing he does is to attempt to save I as much coal as possible by knocking down the "pillars" of coal that had been left to support the min roof. "When the pil'.ar.s are "pulled," the roof caves in, rendering the nnne unworkable at least without considerable ttxpense. j If this practice is allowed io continue the re.-Lilt will be that eventually all the coal near the outcropping. will be mined and tho coal further back in the drifts will be verv diiticult to reaon. it is -said. ! The o.al beds behind the wrecked I drifts could be reached, of course, either by a s'.iaft from the surface of the ground or by cutting a tunnel through the rock I underlvifig the coal bed that ban already t been mined. White shaft mining in other iptates is profitable, it would not Ih; so I In Utah because of tho depth to which the shaft would have to be sunk through the hill, and thfi difficulty of getting a j railroad up to the shaft mouth. iRock Tunr.el Costly. Co;t of building a ro. k tur.nel two or three miles' to a coal bed, oi course, would also be practically prohibitive. For this reason Proiessor I eter.von thinks that a rieht of way siiomd bo otr. in the coal lands near the outcrop, ho that Uie miners can gel to the coal farther in He is of the opinion that provision should be made for a haulage tunnel, for an air passage at least H'O feet away to provide for ventilation, and for iO-Toot 'pillars" on each Mde. T.'.us a strip of the coal seam MO feet wide lit least would have to be reserved, if I rofesor Peterson's plan is to be carried out and thp interior coal made perpeluady aad-au!e. aad-au!e. ,. . Coal is alreadv, being hauled in 1 tab four miles through underground workings and sold at K a ton at the mine mouth. T;,e slate bo:ird or equalisation t.as i reached the conclusion tnat rt.al can be , hauled ui'derground s;-; nides and mined I at a profit. This would mean tnat the 5of-foot r's'.i; of way would h.ivo to e.-i e.-i lend at Wni five or sl mils into the in-i in-i t-nor of the hills from the outcropp'ngs. On land that has not alieady been ! pnd uv tiie government, reservations of such ri'iri'.ts of way are .Jil possible. Over j lands to which title has passed into private pri-vate hands the state legislature is said to 1 have control, and the y.at board of 1 cq':i;U.atlon will present the matter at the next passion. It Is pointed out t'.iat some !rm of re-Imbursenu'iil re-Imbursenu'iil would ha'-e to be provided t..r the mine that was a-ked to receive pueh a ril.t of way when it couid readily mine. t.:e coal. Letter Quoted. Professor Peterson hay :'r:s expressed idn views on l ho inn Uer In hi letter to Director Smith of the I'niied states goo-lo goo-lo k i .-a I iiu r v c y a J f o Hows: "Deifr Sir 1 rave been v!Ui a party in the eoal fields of Utah since the betiin-ninrr betiin-ninrr r,f 1 :i v i if t h 1 o: r for t J,H niirtioso of gaining detailed knowledge concerning the available eoal on each bgal subdivl -nl on of coal la nd owmd. We have re-surveyed re-surveyed tiie entire coh 1 crop ilirongh Carbon county and a pn rt of Kinrry, making careful cross sections at every point available, and wc are now computing comput-ing the i on n age tha t miht be obtained from each for t y -acre im.-t to a d 1st a nee of n t least lour miles from tho outcrop. out-crop. "This work ras been made necessary by a bill pasted In the legislature In which provides that all noniti-talllferous lands in tho statn of Utah shall be taxed at their actual vnlu but after inakim; a tonnage compulation there are still a number of things which have a direct bearing on the valuation of the land. "You are probably familiar wtt'i the conditions con-ditions in Utah, that tho coal outcrop, especially in ( 'arbon count y. h on I he face of a precipitous cliff. Ther are manv places where the coal outcrop is several hundred left above the lovyl of the valley and the eonl usually has more than a i thousnnd feet of cover. The c(,al seams lie nearly flat, t hn dip being from zero to about 10 d'-gref-n. i "In th purcliaslng or r-.pproprlatini: of' con! lands tlie purdl ls'ons containinij ihe outcrop linn have been lii--' frelecied. There : Hre several Instances where one coinpauv owns as much us t wo or three mihs of tluoul'TOp line. They are working the coat out clean T!h!n tiie area or their holdings. Ownership Diversified. "The coal lands back of the now op,-.rut !ng mines are often owned hy differ,. nt companies or by different Individuals, and tho coal from the bark hinds should ' normally nor-mally be taken out through the lands along tlie outcrop, hut no pruvlsjon (s made for a hnulage way to the lands back of the outcrop. 'If ihe1 present opevrting companies completely work out their holdings, pulling pull-ing pillars and iiMowing the root' to cavo the only method of mining th, jljr'" ther back will be by the const ruction of rock tunnels under the floors of ihe mines now operating. The shaft method of mining min-ing on the back lands would be practically practi-cally Impossible in the economic production produc-tion of coal. "This leads np to the point about which T should like to nvoivo somo suggestion: from y on. is It not pons! bio to make so rnc provision In the sale of government coal lands, located, as they n re, a long t he Hook cliffs In Utah, whereby the owners of lands containing the crop of coal would be compelled to lnalnt aln and leave a haulage road for the coal further buck, with proper reimbursement or allowance made for coal lost na a result of tin: niain-tenanco niain-tenanco of ruch haulage road? La rye Area Affected. "This doe r ol affect one umy but l-H Of the hind io the -i r .-.i from two to tour miles bin l from the outcrop Is i' I't'ected hy this quest ion. 'I' lie la rue r portion of it at present is government land. In the data collected tiiis summer (hero not a Mingle mine In which ihe length L.f haul Is considered i;i any way Hip ll.n tt,,;;- Victor l t;,0 p,.,l,.tlon of ulthou.h ,, Vi,,Ivr.)..i,r..r ..Un.-H ha uiiuvi-mnnd linul at ,..s,.m ls than lour i-, , iU-.. 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