Show ENDLESS ASSE el coal town of cafe VA N tile U S fuel coal T PP h awatha ufah by OTTO HERRES vice president and gen I 1 manager united states fuel company TAH Is fortunate tort in having U UTAH one of the largest bituminous coal fields in the world en ginders estimate million tons available within forty years and forty six billion tons of present value for mining after forty years total production has been about tons about one third comes from seams at least 16 feet thick only 1 of the nation nations s de posits worked are as thick utah s coals are notably tree free from imparl ties containing as a rule less than 7 ash and selo 5 to 7 sulphur palms and semitropical semi tropical legeta tion bordering a shallow inland sea millions of 0 years ago were burled buried dundei sediments and compressed into coal the outcrops were first mentioned by topographic en ginders in 1853 in 54 the utah legislature offered 1000 tor for the discovery of coal not less than 18 inches thick within 40 miles ot of salt lake city the search was fruitless however two welsh miners opened a coal bank at wales in sanpete county and shipped coke by ox team to salt lake in 1858 1859 commercial coal mining began with completion of the union pad paci fic railroad in 1869 in 1878 the rio grande western was built into the he carbon county field large scale smelting operations swelled consumption in 1900 to a million tons from 1914 to 1920 the state s output doubled reaching 6 tons in the latter year the coal horizon extending from the wasatch mountains into colo rado Is from to feet in alternating beds of sandstone and shale workable beds vary from 4 to 28 feet in thickness they differ greatly in dimensions and be come in places in tain ansta instances aces the coal has burn burned ed out tor for miles along the outcrop twenty utah companies ship by rail smaller properties at coal ville and elsewhere in eastern utah bring the total to 40 twelve mines averaging more than tons a year produce about three fourths ot of the state a output modern machinery plays an im part in 1935 88 ot of the coal mined was cut by machines and 30 loaded mechanically electric faitage la Is common and hoists and long surface tramways are often required workers are safeguarded by the use of water sprays prays and sprinkling of coal dust electric ric lighting rock dusting permissible explosives and krotec rive clothing steel tipples and preparation plants costing some times a quarter million dollars or more function Is in cleaning screen ing and shipp ng the coal many companies have built and maintain towns to house their employed emp loyes depress on drouth natural gas fuel oil hydroelectric competition and increased efficiency in coal burning had cut utah a coal pro in halt half by 1934 then an upturn was indicated output for 1926 1936 was about tons worth at the mines about 6 of this it Is estimated 4 was paid out in wages and salaries 1000 1 tor for equip ment supplies and power tor for taxes and for compensation and other ansur ance and the remainder tor for mis cel laneous expenses the industry as a whole has not shown a profit or paid dividends in recent years sixty two cents of 0 the coal dollar it Is computed goes tor for payrolls 15 cents to utah business con cerns tor for es and power 7 cents for taxes and royalties and the rest tor for insurance maintien ance replacements and interest miners under a union agreement work 35 hours a week underground at wages ranging from 5 78 79 to 7 60 50 lor for 7 hours the bulk ot of the coal sold Is slack used for indus trial purposes and domestic stokers markets are found in california idaho montana nevada oregon utah washington and to a lesser extent in nebraska kansas and alaska about halt half the tonnage Is sold outside the state and brings money into utah to 0 o apply on payrolls supplies freight and other local expenses coal mining and transportation Is s essentially a large volume low cost operation and it may be as fumed that when pacific coast consumption approaches that ot of the atlantic seaboard utah s ton nages and freight rates will ap proximate those on the east coast before fuel oil prices dropped coal was taken by most western rail roads and many ships on the west coast mi mines nes and smelters public utilities cement and beet sugar industries and packing plants are now large users known supplies of petroleum as measured in the life of a nation are extremely limited new wells are needed to maintain a 12 year supply ahead coal resources are sufficient tor for centuries low temperature carbonization of coal probably will supply the country with some petroleum sub statutes utes hydrogenation Hydrogen atlon of coal to gasoline has been successfully de on a commercial scale be cause utah coal Is particularly suitable for such processes its pos ties in this connection are most interesting the future with its development tor for processing coal may make that mineral by far ar the most important ot at the many ich rich resources of utah |