LIGNITE DEPOSITS OF MORTON COUNTY. FRANK A. WILDER. Topographic conditions in this county greatly favor a study of the lignite. The Missouri and Cannon Ball rivers bound it on the east and south, while the' Heart river crosses it near the center from east to west. Sections through a considerable thickness of Laramie clays, therefore, are abundant. The older drift which covers most of the country conceals the underlying formations but slightly. The county is crossed near its northern boundary by the Northern Pacific railroad, and a fair opportunity is offered for shipping the lignite in which the county abounds to portions of the state less favored in this respect. The Mine of the Consolidated Coal Company at New Salem. This is the largest mine in the county, and an extensive producer of good coal. Although opened up only in the spring of 1901, its output for the year, from July 1, 1901, to July 1, 1902, was 10,000 tons. During the present winter the output will be double that of last year. The mine is situated on a hillside, one mile from the town of New Salem. The entry runs into the hill, following the coal. A uniform double entry and room and pillar system of mining is being developed. The seam mined is six feet thick, including a two-inch clay seam, all of which is removed, the stiff clay above forming a substantial roof. No water has as yet been encountered, and if it develops as mining progresses, conditions for drain Fig. 10.-Section Showing Lignite Seams at Elbowoods, on the Indian Reservation. age are favorable. The lignite shows a slight dip toward the southeast. The quality of coal from this mine renders it popular for use in stoves, while the mine of the same company at Lehigh, in Stark county, supplies their patrons with steam coal. The men receive sixty cents a ton for pick work in rooms, and $2.50 a yard for running entries. Practically all of the mining is done as piece work. Analysis of the lignite from this seam shows: Other Lignite Banks About New Salem.-Three miles east of Sims and about an equal distance south of New Salem, in Township 138, Range 85, Sections 4 and 5, considerable quantities of lignite are won by stripping. At the first bank visited only the upper part of a seam said to be seven feet thick was visible. A little farther on a second bank was found which showed six feet of good lignite. This seam is about eighty feet below the average upland level. In Township 139, Range 85, Section 32, just south of the banks mentioned above, a large bank of good lignite, five feet thick, is operated, the annual output amounting to two or three thousand tons. The coal is won by removing from fifteen to twenty feet of overlying clay. In Sections 34 and 35 of the same township a seam six feet thick, apparently the same as that exposed in the banks just described, is mined for local use. The seam at the New Salem mine appears to be somewhat higher than the lignite in any of these openings, but the observations made were not complete enough to decide whether it represents an independent seam. In Township 138, Range 85, Section 8, a twelve-foot seam of lignite is reported by Mr. W. H. Mann. Six feet of lignite occur in Township 139, Range 85, Section 31, on the land owned by Baron E. Von Stoltefoot. Just east of Sedalia, on the Northern Pacific railroad, in Township 139, Range 84, Section 29, five feet of lignite is exposed, while in Section 4 of the same township the same seam, or, at least, lignite of the same thick |