A Report on Washington Territory

by William Henry Ruffner

The minimum of cost is reached when the seams are of good thickness and comparatively free from slate, and can be entered on the end by a level entry above water and be mined upward; to which may be added natural pitch enough in the seams for the coal to be self-loading; that is, to run by gravity from the upper gangways to the cars on the main entry. And to these conditions may be added a number of different parallel seams close together with their bluff ends all coming up to a line in the most convenient way for entry and delivery. It is rarely the case that such an assemblage of favorable conditions can be found, and where they exist the successful future of the property is absolutely assured.

Cost at Gilman Mines.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.

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 principal 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 coarse, 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; Cumberland, $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 coking 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.

Handling the iron ores.The question here respecting iron ores along this road is not as to their quantity, 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 Shore 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 shore 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 Shore 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.Furnace sites 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.Salal Prairie. 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 coking coal,Charcoal cheaply produced. 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.

Quantity 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 quantity 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."