The lowest seam is two hundred and twenty feet below prairie level, and thirty feet above the water of the river.

Lignite outcrops also along two creeks in this vicinity. In Township 147, Range 84, Section 24, in a coulee forty-five feet below the upland level a lignite seam was visited, said to be eleven feet thick, though but seven feet could be seen at the time, the lower portion of the seam being covered with recent wash. As now exposed, the lignite is covered directly by glacial drift, though Laramie clays will doubtless appear above it as the stripping is carried farther back into the bank. A twelve-inch clay seam occurs in the middle of the lignite. A small spring flows from its base. This seam is illustrated in Plate XVI.

As reported by Mr. Geo. R. Robinson, of Coal Harbor, eight and one-half feet of lignite at a depth of 108 feet were passed through in digging a well on Township 146, Range 83, Section 6; while on the same section, and starting from practically the same upland level a well reaching a depth of 126 feet encountered no lignite. While the lignite beds often diminish in thickness rapidly, it does not seem probable that a seam of this size would thin out so quickly. In the report given of the occurrence the glacial drift and Laramie clays were not distinguished; and the phenomenon may be explained by pre-glacial erosion. In Township 147, Range 83, Section 30, seven feet of lignite are reported as occurring in a well sixty-eight feet below the surface.

Lignite About Fort Stevenson. For many years lignite was mined on the old Fort Stevenson reservation for use at the fort and the Indian school formerly located there. The exact location of the mine was in Township 148, Range 85, Section 35, Southwest one-half. A seam said to be fourteen feet thick was mined by stripping. When seen last summer, the lower part of the excavation had filled in and only the upper two feet of lignite were visible. This mine is situated back of the broad low terrace of the Missouri river, and about thirty feet above it. Higher up in the bluffs other lignite seams occasionally outcrop, the best exposures seen occurring half a mile east of the Fort Stevenson mine. The section here given was:

The seam worked at the Fort Stevenson mine may be found twenty or thirty feet below the lowest number of this series.

Springs of considerable size issue from the lignite at the Fort Stevenson mine. Conditions for drainage, however, are good, the seam lying considerably above the river flat.

Lignite About Coal Lake.-There are large quantities of lignite exposed along Coal Lake, formerly known as Buffalo Lake, and the creek that drains it. Exposures are common in Townships 145 and 146, Ranges 80 and 81. Turtle Creek was followed north from Washburn and along its banks a number of exposures were seen. The seams generally reached a thickness of five feet. Throughout the valley the lignite is accompanied by springs, some of them of considerable size. In Township 145, Range 80, Section 29, a seam more than six feet thick was seen, the lower four feet apparently of good quality, while the top was soft. Considerable lignite is obtained from this point by stripping, the output last year being about a thousand tons. The outcrop is about seventy-five feet below the upland level. In Township 146, Range 81, Section 13, on the east side of Coal Lake, a new bank has been opened, showing three or four feet of coal. One-half mile farther down the coulee on which this seam occurs is the "Little Coal Lake" mine. .Though no coal could be seen where the bank was visited a large amount of work had evidently been done during the preceding winter. The amount of stripping now necessary is twenty-five feet, and further development can best be carried on by drifting.

The amount of lignite exposed at the Coal Lake mine, in Township 146, Range 82, Sections 22, 23, when visited in September, 1902, was nine feet. The lower portion of the seam was plainly concealed by wash from the slope, and the reported thickness of fifteen feet doubtless exists. The upper two feet are very soft but the lower coal seems good. The seam is probably the same as that shown in the "Little Coal Lake" bank. It is exposed along Buffalo Creek for half a mile.

The Satterlund Mine Near Washburn.-This mine, situated six miles northwest of Washburn, has for a number of years supplied a considerable portion of the fuel used in that town. The lignite obtained from it is esteemed very highly on account of its excellent quality. It is situated on a coulee which leads to the Missouri river, the lignite occurring well down on the slope. Directly over the coal is twenty feet of sand, locally hardened

to sandstone. The seam is ten feet thick, the lower eight feet excellent in quality, while the upper portion is soft and left for roof. The coal is obtained by drifting into the side of the coulee, the entry at present extending back two hundred feet. While there is some water in the mine, the amount is not sufficient to lessen the value of the property from a mining standpoint. Analysis of this lignite shows:

During the present winter the mine is being operated in a small way on a royalty.

Lignite in the Vicinity of Harvey.-Harvey is situated a few miles east of the divide which separates the tributaries of the Mouse from the Sheyenne and the James that flow to the southeast. In this position the town lies to the east of the known workable seams. Harvey and the other prosperous towns along the Soo in Wells County are just near enough to valuable lignite seams on the north and west to realize the value of such seams to the community that is fortunate enough to possess them. With a view to finding lignite near Harvey, if any exists, considerable prospecting has been done, and a responsible party who had a contract for part of the work reports that prospect holes were sunk both above and below Harvey on the Sheyenne river as far as the Pony Gulch mine. The result of this enterprise showed that a seam only a few inches in thickness underlies the banks of the river at a depth of forty feet. Careful search has been made for signs of lignite in other parts of the county. Mr. Sykes, who has lived at Sykeston for twenty years, reports that he has not discovered lignite in any of the wells dug between Sykeston and Boden; and furthermore, that the supply of lignite for the village had for years previous to the opening of the Washburn mines been hauled from the Pony Gulch mine, some thirty miles away.

Inasmuch as Wells County contains the sources of three streams-the Sheyenne, the James and the Pipestem-all of which rise at about the 1,600 level and flow eastward through a region where the drift is often thin, opportunities for lignite