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Show Coal From the Arctic. A few years ngo, tho Idea of getting coat from Spltzbergen, one of tho most desolato Islands of the Arctic ocean, was a topic for romancers of tho Sunday Sun-day supplement type. Now it is a fact of considerable moment in many of tho world's markets. A single company, financed chiefly by American capital, mined nearly 40,000 tons of coal from Spltzbergen last year. Tho deposit of fuel In the far North Is said to be Blngularly easy to work. It comes In a single seam about four feet thick, stretching along tho const for 30 miles. Tho surrounding rock is so solid that' timbering Is not needed. Tho temperature temper-ature Is always below tho freezing point In tho present workings, which does away with tho need of pumps. In fact the only real difficulty Ib that of getting men and motion pictures havo gone far to solvo that problem. Yet for every ton of coal In Spltzbergen thcro nro ten In Alaska of at least equal quality, closer to a hungry market. mar-ket. Tho arctic zono won't niako a real dent in tlio fuel market till our big northwest territory gets In action. |