Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 102, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 May 1918 — Government Reserves Coal Fields in Alaska to Have a Certain Supply of Fuel [ARTICLE]

Government Reserves Coal Fields in Alaska to Have a Certain Supply of Fuel

Through the work of the genera, land office and the bureau of mines, government reservations have been designated in certain coal fields in Alaska. These reservations are intended to cover such ground as will provide coal for government use, protect the public from individuals attempting to monopolize coal lands or extort exorbitant prices for coal, and still offer equally good areas in the best-known parts of the fields for exploration bjl private enterprise. - Experts of the bureau of mines, having to do with this work, state that the leasing units were laid out in comparatively small blocks, which can be worked individually or combined into larger tracts up to the maximum acreage permitted by law. Attention was given to the amount of probable coal of workable thickness In each of these areas, the relationship of the area to possible transportation lines, the quality of the coal and the general conditions mining. The future of the Alaska coal fields, it is asserted, is still somewhat problematical. Along the entire coast the output will come in direct competition with California oil, the coal fields of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, and with hydroelectric power. Both the Bering river and the nuska fields contain high-grade, bituminous coal suitable for coking and for use in the'navy, and the Nenana field contains an excellent lignite, suitable for power or domestic uses, or as a powdered fuel in furnaces. Experiments have proved that coals from other states on the coast have not proved satisfactory for use by the -navy.