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Show Hydro- Carbons Their Possibilities H iyHEN one thinks of coal the mind naturally reverts to Pennsyl- H s van'a and its wonderful coal areas. Since the opening" up of H those tremendous deposits the United States has been steadily draw- H , ing- from that region its fuel supply. Now it is left for Utah the Hl 1 idlest state in the Union in natural resources to come to the front H and expose coal fields of greater extent than the state of Pennsylvania H ever dreamed of. The following- statement, based upon geological in- H formation, is intended to convey a fair idea of the marvelous deposits H of coal which lie in Utah. There has already been discovered in vari- M ous sections of Utah sufficient coal to supply the known needs of the H United States, as based upon the consumption figures of this country M for 1915, for 500 years and still not exhaust the known deposits. M Geologically speaking, the Utah deposits are unlike those of M Pennsylvania. The eastern coal beds occur in the carboniferous m stratum of the earth's crust while in Utah they occur in the upper cre- B taceous formation. Another peculiarity is in the thickness of the M beds. In the east they are generally of uniform thickness while here M in Utah they seem to have been deposited in swales or hollows of the M earth's surface during the period of formation thereby making the H beds unusually thick in the center and thinning out toward the edges. H This gives the idea of basin formation but geologists claim that it is H not true basin formation. H For steam and power purposes, Utah coal is the superior of all H coal found in the western part of this country, in that it has Higher H b. t. units and lower ash content than the coal produced in the sur- H rounding states. It is also heavier in bulk. H The names of three men are irre- . H vocably associated wtih the develop- H ment of the Utah fields. They are H Messrs. H. G. Williams, whose resl- H denco is in Los Angeles and who is H connected with the Utah Fuel Com- H pany in a consulting capacity; W. G. H Sharp of Boston, the president of the H United States Fuel Company; and the H late Robert Forrester, who was the H chief geologist for the Utah Fuol H Company before his demise. These H men for years have been, and two of H them still are, mainsprings in the de- H velopment of Utah's fuel resources. H Among the larger companies oper- H ating in the Utah fields may be men- H tioned the Utah Fuel Company with M main offices in Salt Lake City. This H company is the heaviest producer of M coal and coke within the state. The M first operations by this company were Hj begun in 1879 at the mine at Winter H Quarters, which mine and camp Is M still in operation and will be for H years to come. This company also M has great mines at Castle Gate, Clear- B creek and Sunnyside. At the latter H. place the mine is producing a su- H perior type of cooking coal and the B entire output of this camp is made M into coke. The company is now op- H erating 726 coke ovens and is about M to build G4 more in addition. These H coking ovens are located at the sta- m- tion of Sunnyside on h main line of M the Denver & Rio Grande railroad K The Un'ted States Fuel Company is B operating three of the state's largo tt mines at Black Hawk, Mohrland and p, Hiawatha. The Standard Coal Com- m pany has one of the great mines in Spring Canyon near Helper on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. The H'j Independent Coal and Coke Company H operates a large camp at Kenll worth. I1 or less degree. Even anthracite coal has been found in Salt Lake county, the principal county of the state in point of wealth and population, but these deposits so far have not proven of sufficient extent to warrant the expense ex-pense necessary for the proper development. de-velopment. Figures go to show that it is necessary to expend in the neighborhood neigh-borhood of $1,500,000 in equipment for the proper opening of a coal mine. The earliest figures avilable on the production of coal and coke in Utah gives the first production in 1870 and the amount of coal mined that year was less than 6,000 tons. This production pro-duction has been increased until in 1915 3,083,676 tons were mined, valued val-ued at $5,111,411. Coke was not manufactured until in 1891, when the production totaled 7,940 tons; while in 1915 there were 378,775 tons produced, pro-duced, valued at $1,704,811 at the ovens. In comparison with the consumption con-sumption of coal, these figures are not impressive; but the development until very recently has kept pace with the market in Utah and the surrounding surround-ing territory. At the present time, those best informed in-formed on the subject state that the dition is relieved the mines will bo compelled to operate at a capacity entirely en-tirely dependent upon the number of cars furnished by the railroads. This condition also entails a hardship hard-ship on the miners themselves, as they cannot work full time the year around. However, working conditions and the pay for the workmen are on a higher scale than in any other coal producing region in the world. The Utah coal seams or beds vary in thickness but generally range from six to thirty feet in thickness, some even going to forty feet. Another article in this issue touches touch-es on the discovery in large quantities of the rare mineral alunlte from which a thriving industry in now being be-ing rapidly developed in the manufacture manufac-ture of potash. Utah also has the credit of bringing to light another new mineral in the hydro-carbon family fam-ily Gilsonite, named for the dlscov- ' ery named Gilson. Vast deposits of this mineral have been discovered in the Uintah Basin. These deposits have been valued at the stupendous sum of $7,000,000,000. The mineral is used largely in the manufacture of rubber, and the thousands of tons now an- "SSS, ,rflBHHSI-??r vaPIIPL kft-. lilSvhv c There are many other smaller companies com-panies operating, but the above named cover the bulk of the activity in this industry in Utah. The area within the state in which coal has Ibeen found is not .confined to any particular locality; in fact the mineral Jias 'been uncovered uncov-ered in a majority of the counties of the state to a greater ASTLE GATE-UTAH'S GREAT COAL CENTE. market for Utah coal is practically unlimited. But it is impossible for the mines to produce greater quantities until the transportation problem has been solved. The railroads are unable un-able to furnish a sufficient number of cars to keep the mines) at full production. produc-tion. The shortage of freight cars throughout the nation is responsible for this condition, and until that con- R nually being mined are marketed entirely en-tirely in the east. Such statements as this are made advisedly, for the reason that the west is now being so rapidly developed that there is hardly any telling what a day will bring forth in the way of new discoveries. Gilsonite occurs in true gash veins and is mined in a manner similar to (Continued on Page 26.) H HYDRO-CARBONS H (Continued from Page 20.) H that resorted to In coal mining. A H small percentage of the mineral is IbbbI niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii puverized in the mining process and this dust is highly explosive so much so that it is impossible to throw a handful of the dust through a blaze without all of it igniting. About four years ago in one of the mines near the eastern state line, a miner went down into the mine and struck a match to light his pipe. Immediately there was an explosion from which the mine took fire. Every effort was made to smother the fire by closing the mine at every known entrance. Streams of water were forced into the burning furnace but all to no avail, and the Inst reports are that the mine is still burning fiercely. Another member of the hydro-carbon family found in great quantities in the Uintah Basin is Elaterite, a mineral min-eral very extensively -used in the manufacture of roofing material. There are several comparatively large mines in the southwestern portion of the Basin where this mineral is being be-ing mined and shipped to the big roofing roof-ing manufacturers in the east. There is still another of the hydrocarbons hydro-carbons found in this same general region, the mining of which has recently re-cently been begun on a fairly extensive exten-sive scale. That is ozokerite or mineral min-eral wax, Prior to the war the only known, deposit of this valuable mineral min-eral was a deposit in Austria Hungary underlying a plot of ground about 250 acres in extent. The mineral is used extensively in the engraving trade. In Utah a deposit of the mineral has been discovered and is now being IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll worked near the Denver & Rio Grande railroad near Helper, Utah, that is one mile wide and twelve miles long. Before the war the engraving trade paid 18 cents per pound for the product prod-uct but now the price is in excess of one dollar a pound and very difficult to obtain. Utah is the richest state in the Union in undeveloped mineral resources. re-sources. It is literally true that every mineral known to mineralogy is found . within the boundaries of this great state. |
