A Report On Washington Territory Part 18

In my opinion, the Gilman coal seams combine all the advantages above mentioned, and if allowed ordinary rates of transportation, can always be mined at a profit. As long as the Newcastle seams could be worked above water-level the average cost per ton was $1.10, but they never had the same advantages there as at Gilman, and most of their mining has been downward. $1.00 per ton is certainly high enough for Gilman after the entries are driven in sufficiently for large operations. If Mr.

Whitworth succeeds in putting out the coal at $1.25 for the first six months, as he thinks he can, there need be no fear as to the future.

[Sidenote: Prices of coal.]

The selling price of coal on Puget Sound has ranged from $3.00 to $5.00 a long ton in former years, averaging $4.00--the price being the same for the product of all the different mines. Mr. Whitworth reports the price this winter at $6.50 a ton for all (including Newcastle), except Cedar River, which is $5.00. The distances from Puget Sound to Portland and to San Francisco, the princ.i.p.al markets, are: to San Francisco, between 800 and 900 miles by water; to Portland, 450 by water, and 150 by rail. There is now rail connection all the way to San Francisco. The average cost of sending coal to San Francisco, either from Puget Sound or Vancouver's Island, is $2.00. The usual price in San Francisco and Portland has been from $4.25 to $6.00 for coa.r.s.e, and from $2.75 to $3.75 for small. On the 1st of February, 1888, the cargo price in San Francisco was--for Coos Bay coal, $9.50; Seattle coal, $10; South Prairie, $10; Nanaimo (domestic), $10; Nanaimo (steam), $12; Lehigh, $18; c.u.mberland, $12.

These figures make it evident that a good margin of profit may be calculated on from the Gilman coal. Mr. Whitworth will not be able to get his bunkers up until he has his road in operation to the mines; but, with temporary chutes, he can load 100 tons a day from the time the road opens, say March 15th. In six weeks after beginning he expects to increase to 300 tons a day, and one month later he can make the output 600 tons a day. As the headings are driven in the product can be increased to almost any desired amount.

The Washington Mines, on Squak Creek, I did not see; and concerning the Raging River Mines I have no settled convictions. As to the c.o.king coal on Snoqualmie Mountain, we may expect important developments.

Undoubtedly the new road will promptly enter upon a large and increasing coal business.

IRON ORE.

[Sidenote: Handling the iron ores.]

[Sidenote: Furnace sites]

[Sidenote: Salal Prairie.]

[Sidenote: Charcoal cheaply produced.]

The question here respecting iron ores along this road is not as to their quant.i.ty, or quality, or as to their utilization, but only as to what road or roads will handle the business that will arise from this source. Naturally the bulk of it belongs to the Seattle, Lake Sh.o.r.e and Eastern Railway, and at one time there seemed to be no doubt that large iron-works would at once be established at Salal Prairie by the Moss Bay Company, of England; but the east sh.o.r.e of Lake Washington has finally been settled upon for the great plant of this wealthy company; which of itself will go far to establish the natural monopoly which the Lake Sh.o.r.e Railway seems to have of the ores on the west side of Cascade Mountains. And in regard to the magnetic ores generally, this road, from its location, would seem to be master of the situation. All the iron ore on the west side of the mountain is owned by men whose interests are identified with Seattle, and with this line of railroad. The best point for manufacture in itself considered, the best chance for fuel, the best line for transportation, the best point for trading and for shipment, are all on the line of the Seattle Railway. Good furnace sites may be found at many points, but Salal Prairie is a spot which seems to have been set apart by nature for a manufacturing town. It lies near the intersection of the valleys of the South Fork and Middle Fork branches of Snoqualmie River, is about six miles long and three miles wide, is flat, dry, salubrious, and well supplied with water. It has a natural outlet to the South, as well as to the east and west, is convenient to the iron ore and limestone of both the Middle and South Fork, and not far distant from the ores of Cle-ellum. It is less than ten miles from Snoqualmie c.o.king coal, and fifteen miles from the Green River coals.

And, what I think is a still better resource for fuel, it is in the midst of the great Snoqualmie forests, where saw-mills will soon be felling the timber, and providing an endless supply of slabs and refuse tree-tops, from which charcoal could be manufactured at very small expense.

It is well known that charcoal is the best of all fuels for making iron, because of its freedom from damaging impurities. Its expensiveness generally prevents its being much used now, but here the cost need not exceed five cents per bushel, and 100 to 120 bushels would suffice for a ton of iron. The only question concerning the charcoal made from fir timber is as to its ability to bear the burden in a tall stack. It is becoming common now to utilize the by-products of wood, formed during its conversion into charcoal, by a process which makes the charcoal stronger. But all difficulty on this point can be relieved by conforming the size of the furnace-stack to the strength of the charcoal. This is the only fuel which has ever been used on the Pacific coast for the smelting of iron ores. These enterprises have not been particularly successful thus far, rather because of the inferior quality of the ore, than from any defect in the fuel. The bog ore and the limonites which were used at Irondale, near the Canada line, and at Oswego on the Willamette, were generally low in iron and high in phosphorus, and the bog ores were soon exhausted.

[Sidenote: Quant.i.ty of charcoal to the ton of iron.]

At Irondale, near Port Townsend, recourse has been had to a refractory ore obtained on Texada Island, in Victoria Sound, on which a duty of seventy-five cents a ton has to be paid, and which requires a large amount of fuel for smelting it, perhaps as much as 150 bushels of charcoal. But Mr. H. T. Blanchard, who is interested in the Irondale Works, says in a late letter (November 29, 1887):

"It is perfectly safe to rate charcoal at six cents per bushel, and the quant.i.ty necessary to make a ton of pig-metal not to exceed 120 bushels, with a good chance of getting it down to ninety bushels per ton with fair ores."

[Sidenote: Bessemer ores commonly distant from fuel.]

The iron ores of the Cascade Mountains will be taken to some extent to mix with the inferior ores near the coast, but they will be chiefly worked into Bessemer-pig and steel rails. Steel-making ores are not common anywhere, and are widely separated from fuel, which makes them very costly in the States east of the Rocky Mountains. This well-known fact is alluded to by Mr. Sw.a.n.k, in his report on the Iron Trade of 1886, in the following words:

"It is also a fact worthy of notice, for which geologists may find a reason, that nowhere in this country are our best steel-making ores found in proximity to mineral fuel, either anthracite or bituminous, while in some parts of the Lake Superior region, even timber suitable for the manufacture of charcoal is almost wholly wanting."

[Sidenote: High cost of Lake Superior ores.]

The most important deposits of steel ores in the United States are on Lake Superior and in Missouri; but these ores are smelted chiefly by the Connellsville c.o.ke of Pennsylvania, which is 700 to 800 miles distant.

The Cranberry ores of North Carolina are some hundreds of miles from fuel. A late number of the _Iron Trade Review_ quotes the prices of ore at Cleveland, Ohio, the princ.i.p.al receiving point of Lake Superior ores, as follows:

Specular and Magnetic Bessemer, per ton $7.00 to $7.50 Bessemer Hemat.i.tes " 5.75 to 6.70

[Sidenote: Cost of producing ore in Pennsylvania.]

The same authority gives the cost of the ore and c.o.ke necessary for the production of a ton of iron in Mahoning Valley district, at $9.90 for the ore and $4.50 for the c.o.ke = $14.40. To this must be added about $4.25 for flux, labor, management, interest and repairs, making a total of $18.65 as the cost of producing one ton of pig-metal.

[Sidenote: Cost of Bessemer-pig in Snoqualmie Valley.]

Thus the superior advantages of the Snoqualmie Valley are readily seen.

Here are steel ores, two kinds of fuel, and the limestone in close proximity. Putting the fuel at more than I think it would cost; putting the cost of mining the ore at the maximum cost at Cranberry, N. C., and freight at double price, and we have as the cost of a ton of Bessemer-pig, as follows:

Ore $3 00 Fuel 6 00 Flux 50 Labor and management 2 00 Interest and repairs 1 50 ------ $13 00

[Sidenote: Large market for steel rails.]

This is lower than the present cost of producing Bessemer-pig anywhere in the United States, according to the best of my information; and at the same time the market is better. The demand for steel rails in the Rocky Mountain country and in the Pacific States is, and will be, large and permanent, while the demand in China and other foreign countries will constantly increase. And so will it be with machinery and tools of all kinds, agricultural, mining and manufacturing. This demand will be both domestic and foreign, and constantly enlarging. And it may be safely a.s.serted that no railroad exists, or can be built anywhere in the Pacific States, which will compare with the Seattle, Lake Sh.o.r.e and Eastern Railway in its control of the iron business.

THE OTHER MINERALS.

[Sidenote: Limestone.]

[Sidenote: Marble, granite, sandstones, slates.]

I have already said so much as to the convenience and excellence of the limestone beds a.s.sociated with the magnetic ores, that I will only allude to them here as const.i.tuting the great resource for furnace-flux, for building-stone, for lime, and for monumental and ornamental marble.

This will be an important item for transportation. The granite, also, will be wanted for building, and for paving blocks. There are, no doubt, quartzites, sandstones and slates which will be in request; some for the supply of silica needed for tempering fire-clay (which latter is reported to have been found on Cedar River in large quant.i.ty and of good quality); some for road metal; some for paving; some for building.

[Sidenote: Precious and base metals.]

In this group, however, the great resource is in the ores of the precious and base metals, which have been fully described under a former head. Too little is known of the silver and lead and gold ores of the Snoqualmie Valley to lay much stress upon them. The indications do not justify us in ranking them with the ores of the Columbia Valley.

The gold placer mining of the Yakima country makes no large show so far.

The silver, lead and copper ores, described by Mr. Burch, may develop largely, but as yet no calculations can be made as to their value in supplying tonnage. This field ranks with the Wenatchie, Chelan, and Methow regions, being undeveloped, and yet so full of promise as to deserve careful attention.

[Sidenote: Okinagane, Colville and Kootenai.]

The mines of the Okinagane and Colville regions promise large results.

All this mineral region, up to and including the Okinagane, lies fairly within the patronage ground of the Seattle Railway as it pursues its course to Spokane Falls. The Colville and Coeur d'Alene, to which may now be added the Kootenai, mining regions, const.i.tute a large area lying north and east of Spokane Falls, and offer themselves as possible routes for the Manitoba Railway, but chiefly as tempting fields for railroad enterprises. The city of Spokane Falls is deeply interested in bringing in the trade of these growing mines, and the Seattle Railway corporation may wisely consider the prizes here offered.

[Sidenote: Coeur d'Alene.]

[Sidenote: Transportation lines to the mining regions.]

Railroad building has begun in the Coeur d'Alene country. The Coeur d'Alene Railway and Navigation Company have constructed a narrow-gauge road from the Old Mission, near the junction of the north and south forks of the Coeur d'Alene River, a distance of about thirty-five miles. The tonnage is said to be much greater than this narrow-gauge can handle at present.

From the Old Mission, which is now the terminus of the narrow-gauge road, the ores are taken by steamboat and barges down the Coeur d'Alene River, and up the lake to Fort Coeur d'Alene, where connection is made with the Spokane Falls and Idaho Railroad, running from Fort Coeur d'Alene to Hauser Junction, on the main line of the Northern Pacific Railway. This arrangement enables the mines to send out and bring in their freight, but it is not satisfactory. There seems to be an opening for a line from Spokane Falls directly into that country. It would cost $20,000 a mile, by Mr. Mohr's calculation, and would be seventy-five miles long. If, however, it be true, as reported, that the Northern Pacific Railroad will make a cut-off from Missoula across the Coeur d'Alene Mountains, this field will be occupied; which, however, is not probable.

The Chewelah, Colville, Summit, Metalline and Kootenai mining districts could all be reached by a line from Spokane Falls by way of Colville and Little Dalles. And by running a spur from Colville to a point below Kettle Falls on the Columbia River, control could be gained, first, of the navigation between Mahkin Rapids and Kettle Falls, and also the long stretch of navigable river from the Little Dalles to Death Rapids in Canada, crossing the Canadian Pacific Railroad at Farwell. It is calculated that 750 miles of navigation would thus be opened by the addition of a piece of track twenty-five miles long, connecting the Kootenai River with Arrowhead Lake.

A new discovery of silver-lead ores, made on the Kootenai Outlet River, is making a great stir just now. The body of ore is said to be the largest yet discovered. We shall expect the Manitoba people to be looking into this development. There is also some talk of the mining region on both sides of Kettle River, near the Canada line. The Pend d'Oreille district is also promising. All this is suggested as food for thought and investigation.