Vast deposits of lignite coal,
which is destined to play a most
important part in the development
of the gold and other mineral re
sources of the Interior of Alaska,
and especially of the Nenana dis
trict, occur at short intervals
throughout the region to the east
of the Nenana river, in the Nenana
coal field, in great abundance.
Some idea of the extent of the de
posits in the Nenana fields may be
formed from the statement made
recently by Mr. John A. Davis, su
perintendent of the bureau of
mines, which was to the effect that
a careful estimate, made along sci
entific lines, disclosed the fact that
one square mile of territory in the
Nenana coal fields contained fifty
five million tons of lignite coal.
Chemical tests made of this coal
showed that one ton of it con
tained 5,000 cubic feet of gas, 15
pounds of ammonium sulphate, and
50 pounds of tars and oils.
Lignite coal also occurs in the
region west of the Nenana river,
in the Kantishna country, as far
westward as the Bearpaw river.
No coal outcropping in the Kan
tishna region, however, discloses
the presence of lignite coal in the
abundance in which it is found in
the Nenana field.
The vast beds of coal occurring
in the Nenana field, on Lignite and
Healy creeks, are generally dissect
ed by deep valleys with bare walls,
and outcroppings occur everywhere
in this region, disclosing veins of
varying thickness, ranging all the
way from about five to nearly one
hundred feet or more.
Clearly defined veins of coal,
visible from a great distance, occur
on the high sandstone hills forming
the east bank of the Nenana river,
a few miles south of the Nenana
Crossing at 43-Mile.
Miners and prospectors in the
region of the coal fields and ad
jacent terrain have been using
lignite coal for many years past,
both for domestic and mining pur
poses, with a degree of success con
sidered impossible of achievement
with wood as fuel. Men of great
experience in mining ally that lig
nite is the ideal fuel for thawing
purposes.
The early completion of the gov
ernment railroad from the coal
fields to Xenana and Fairbanks,
with possibly branch lines later to
the Kantishna and other mineralized
districts, thus making available a
cheap and most efficient fuel in
practically unlimited quantities for
mining and other purposes, will
make possible mining operations on
a scale hitherto considered impos
sible owing to the high cost of fuel,
and bring prosperity to the In
terior.
Indications pointing to the fact
that coal in quantities sufficient to
warrant the mining of it on a large
scale, may be encountered nearer
Xenana than in the known fields
in the Lignite country, fifty miles
south of Xenana. were first made
apparent in a report submitted to
the Alaskan Engineering Commis
sion by Resident Engineer George
B. Richardson, embodied in his
progress report for the month of
April, 1918. Mr. Richardson’s re
port, in part, read as follows:
“In taking out cuts at stations
18078 and 18095 (Bailey’s loca
tion ), outcroppings of coal have
been discovered. At 18078 there
is showing at present a stratum
20 feet long and 5 feet thick, lying
in a sandstone formation. This
formation looks to be on the edge
of a genuine coal bed. The coal
showing is a fairly new lignite,
but promises to get better after
getting away from the surface. The
Tein at 18095 is pessibly an out
cropping of the same bed. but
heavy snow and glacier action ren
] der it difficult, at present, to make
a thorough investigation.”
The cuts referred to by Mr. Rich
lardson were on a section of the
right-of-way under his supervision
and graded, under contract, by W.
J. Lynn -and George Gotto. The
outcroppings appeared on the face
of the cuts and appeared to ex
tend deep into the ground below
the level of the roadbed.
The coal outcroppings were ex
amined by several practical mining
men and small quantities were
taken from the surface strata and
; burned in the stoves around the
camp near 35-Mile with fair suc
cess.
Early in May, 1918, W. J. Lynn
went down about thirty feet with
a shaft, on the roadbed close to
the outcroppings shown on the cut
bank. At the 25-foot level he
struck a vein of lignite about five
I feet thick, but the quality of the
coal did not seem to be very good,
the percentage of moisture being
very high. When a depth of thirty
feet had been reached the water
came in. forcing an abandonment
of operations.
A tunnel was next driven under
the roadbed, well above the level of
the water in the N'enana river, and
a vein of coal was again encoun
tered. This also proved to be very
young lignite, but appeared to be
suitable for domestic fuel. A quan
tity of this was taken out and used
to fire the boiler of a piledriver
operating near the mine, with fair
ly satisfactory results. In fact, the
reports made on the use of this
coal for working the piledriver in
dicated that it was slightly better
than wood, which had been previ
ously used.
Going deeper with the tunnel.
Lynn encountered a better grade of
lignite, with perhaps a slightly less
er percentage of moisture, and by
way of encouraging the develop
ment of a coal mine in this region,
the Alaskan Engineering Commis
i sion entered into a contract with
Lynn on September 20. 1918, for the
supplv of 2,000 tons of coal for
use in the power plant at N'enana.
and on the locomotives. On Sep
tember 15th. 1918. a small shipment
j of coal was received in Xenana
from the Lynn mine, for testing
purposes, and on completion of the
railroad up to the mine, the first
, carload of approximately 25 tons
of coal was received, on November
14', 1918.
rrom this time on, shipments of
coal continued to arrive in town
and the boilers at the power plant
used this fuel almost exclusively.
Being very young coal, almost peat,
and containing a large percentage
of moisture, its use at the power
plant was not so satisfactory as
was expected, but, at that, it was
superior to wood in many ways.
The fuel was also tried on the
locomotives with varying success.
A large quantity of coal was
supplied by Lynn and used by the
Commission, but with the extension
of the railroad to the Burns mine,
near Lignite, where a better grade
of coal was available, the Lynn
mine was temporarily closed down.
On Lignite Creek.
The first coal used by the Alas
kan Engineering Commission came
from a mine on Lignite creek, about
a mile and a half from the mouth
of the creek, on its left limit. A
contract was let to Neal Van Hou
ten and Leonard White for the sup
ply of a quantity of coal. These
men first prospected the country
.adjacent to the headwaters of
Moose creek, but failed to find any
coal there. They then established
a camp on Lignite creek and com
menced work on the face of an
outcropping seam on the bank of
the creek. This seam is about
forty feet in thickness. The coal
1 obtained was of a (rood quality and
jwas largely used to fire the boiler
1 of the piledriver engaged in driv
ing for the railroad bridge across
the Nenana river south of Nenana.
! The coal had to be hauled by
I teams on the river ice from Lignite
j creek to the Crossing, a distance
iof about ten miles. There was no
(possible way of transporting coal
! during the summer months, and all
that was mined here was hauled to
43-Mile and stored there,
i The coal mined by Van Houten
and White was of a very good
quality and its use by the Commis
sion was very satisfactory in every
way; but owing to transportation
'difficulties, operations were suspend
j ed and the mine closed down imme
diately preceding the breakup of
11918.
The Bunn Mine.
As early as 1916, Andrew An
derson, a licensed mine examiner,
and R. E. Burns became associated,
with the object of mining in the
Nenana coal fields. Some explora
tion work was done during the fol
j lowing two years, and in the spring
of 1918 a camp was established in
the neighborhood of the Nenana
Crossing, at 43-Mile, and prospect
ing over an area from 35-Mile to
the Nenana canyon was begun.
John Bernard, a civil engineer, be
came associated with Anderson and
Burns, and the present mine,
known as the Bums mine, is the
result of the efforts put forth by
this trio.
This property very recently passed
into the hands of the Healy River
Coal corporation, a new company
organized for the purpose of taking
over the mine and developing it on
a scale sufficient to supply the fuel
requirements not only of the Alas
kan Engineering commission, but
also those of Nenana and adjacent
mining districts. The corporation is
amply supplied with capital and the
principal stockholders are men who
have long been identified writh the
development of Central Alaska,
each having a record oi acmev e
ment. August Peterson and Thom
as McKinnon, president and vice
presidtnt, respectively, of the cor
poration, are the t wo largest min
ing operators in the Interior coun
try, the hugest consumers of fuel
and the largest employers of labor.
George Markus, secretary, while en
gaged in mining to some extent, has
chiefly followed mercantile pursuits,
having been connected for many
years with the Northern Commercial
company at Dawson and Fairbanks,
at the latter place as manager of
the company’s hardware and ma
chinery department. Before coming
North, he had the distinction of
erecting the first flour mil! in the
city of Seattle, thus laying the foun
dation of what is now one of that
city’s greatest industries.
The personnel of the company is
such that confidence in their ability
to supply fuel for the needs of the
Interior is a foregone conclusion.
They have sufficient capital to
meet any demands, plenty of push
and enterprise to keep things mov
ing, and the executive ability neces
sary to insure the success of the
undertaking, which will have an im
portant bearing on the future de
velopment of Interior Alaska’s re
sources.
It is the plan of the company to
continue to mine coal at the present
level to meet the immediate de
mands of the Alaskan Engineering
commission for fuel. And at the
same time a working shaft will be
sunk near by. to tap the veins at a
lower level. Machinery sufficient to
handle a large output in an economi
cal manner will be installed and
permanent buildings erected for the
accommodation of a considerable
number of employes. Coal will be
placed on the market as soon as
the pressing requirements of the
Alaskan Engineering commission for
fuel have been supplied, and it is
expected that within a short time
regular shipments will be made over
the new Ciovemment railroad to the
: Fairbanks district, where coal is
very much in demand.
The property now being devel
': oped is located about one-half mile
; below the mouth of Lignite creek
and approximately one thousand
I feet off the main line of the gov
ernment railroad. Three large
seams are being developed, only one
of which has been worked to date.
Railroad Help*.
The difficulties and expense of
! travel and the transportation of
HF
General Outfitting
Groceries
House Furnishings
Hardware
Crockery and Glassware
Clothing
Cigars and Tobacco
M
Wholesale and Retail
Northern Commercial Co.
Si
m
supplies to that vicinity can be
thoroughly appeciated only by those
who are trying to mine in locali
ties where all supplies must be
transported by means of dog teams
or pack animals. It was only a
short time ago when it required
two days and a half to get to
points that are now reached in a
few hours by train, on the govern
ment railroad.
Without this pioneer work, the
primary object for which the rail
road is being built, the securing of
supplies of coal for Interior Alas
ka, would still be a matter of the
future. The construction of a rail
road up Lignite creek into the
' heart of the c-oal field' i' stlli a
very indefinite undertaking, and one
that would take at least another
year or more to accomplish.
Coal Burns Well.
A good grade of lignite is pro
duced from the Burn' mine, which,
when burned in properly construct
ed fireboxes, is almost as efficient
in heating units as bituminous coal.
Remarkable results in efficiency
! by the use of lignite coal are being
j obtained in the lignite-producing
region? of the United States and
: Canada, the quality of the coal
obtained in these regions being ex
actly of the same grade as that
i found in the Nenana coal fiehls.
Nenana Mining District
Has Promising Future
(Continued from Pape One.l
I
gings being now very easily accom
plished.
Totitlanika Basin.
A low divide separates the head- •
waters of Moose creek and its trib
utaries from Rex. Eva. and Elsie
creeks, which flow into California
creek, one of the principal tribu
taries of the Totatlanika, a large
stream about sixty miles long, the
upper half of which lies within the
foothill belt, and the lower half
within the Tanana valley lowlands.
As on other streams in the dis
trict, placer claims have been lo
cated and worked along Eva creek
and the other streams in the To
tatlanika basin, but, owing prin
cipally to transportation difficulties,
no work on anything like a com
prehensive scale has been under- j
taken. The work done demonstrates
the fact that placer gold exists,
and also discloses indications of
lode mineralization in the schist
bedrock, in heavy pieces of float
which contain some flour gold in
a free state, and native bismuth
and other sulphides in considerable
quantity.
' In the summer of 1914, John
Montan and associates made the
discovery of a ledge of quartz, fol
lowing up a float found in the
creek below, this is known as the
Liberty Bell lode claim. The ledge
js about seventy-five feet wide from
wall to wall, carrying values in gold
and bismuth. A sample of the
quartz, on being assayed, showed
the contents to be 5 per cent bis
muth and from $2.50 to $400 to
the ton in gold. The ledge is
located on the right limit of Eva
creek.
About half a mile above Mon
tan's claim, on the left limit of
Eva creek, Ed Quinn and Neil
McCall located and staked two
claims, known as the Wildcat group
lode claims. The discovery and
location was made in the summer
of 1916, and the ledge, which is
said to be about 140 feet wide and
traceable for a distance of about a
quarter of a mile, carries a large
body of chaleopyrite, commonly
known to mining men as ".peacock
ore,” a native sulphide of copper
and iron. Neil McCall stated that
an assay of a sample from this
ledge showed its contents to be
per cent copper, 16 ounces in
silver and $4.50 in gold per ton.
The assay was made in one of the
Seattle assay offices.
At the extreme head of Eva
creek, near the divide, Quinn and
McCall, in the summer of 1917,
discovered and staked a depoait of
cuprite, also a deposit of carbonate
of bismuth ore. Cuprite, or native
cuprous oxide, is the richest of tn.
copper ores. The extent of these ^
deposits has not yet been ascer
tained. but indications point to the
fact that a vast body of the ores
exists. Samples sent to Seattle v>
be assayed showed that the car
bonate of bismuth ore contained
10 per cent of bismuth. 26 ounce' *
of silver, $20 in gold. and 25 per
cent of lead per ton. The assay
j report on the cuprite is not availa
! ble.
Mr. McCall is very optimistic rel
ative to the outlook, and predicts
that a large amount of tonnage of
the ores from these two mines will
be created for the railroad.
1 he many miners and prospectors
; in that region expect that the mat
ter of giving them a road approxi
mately ten miles in length, to con
j nect with the railroad at the Cross
; ing or some other favorable point,
■will be taken in hand soon, ami
jthat the road will be built in t:m»
,to permit of the hauling of the
lores and supplies.
T rantportt t ion.
| Transportation, which always ha
j been the big problem of the North'
I land, has in the past seriously re
jtarded the development of the min '
jc-ral resources of the Xenana di*
l trict, just as it has done that jf
the many other districts in Alaska.
In the winter season, fairly good
trails lead to the Moose creek. To
i tatlanika, Lignite, and Healy creek
regions. Wagon roads built later
by the Alaskan Engineering Com
mission were availed of by pros
pectors and miners, and until the
railroad had been built to Lignite,
dog teams with their very limited 4
haulage capacity had to be used for
.freighting in such supplies as the
miners needed. This made possible
, only the hauling of bare necessi
ties, and. as a consequence, pros
iPecting and mining on a large sys
tematic scale was discouraged.
At the present time, supplies foj^
j the Moose creek miners are hauled1
l on the railroad to where that stream
crosses the road, and a short haul f
of only a fete miles is necessary to
(Continued on Page Three)