OCR Text |
Show APPENDIX NN. 1301 Acoording to Mr. James, there are nine good workable veins of coal in the vieinity of Trinidad, all of which have the same general direction. The coal is mined with the ordinary pick, and carried out in a hand- car running on a tramway. A tunnel about 5 feet wide, and not high enough to allow a man to walk uprightly, has been driven in the mountain to work the coal. This tunnel is about 150 feet long. The coal is sold for $ 1.50 per tou at the mine. Coke is made and sold for $ 6 per ton at the mine. The coke is transported in ox- teams to Denver, where it is sold for $ 19 per ton. At the » time of my visit ( Juue, 1875) but three miners were working at the mine. This mineral property is said to be owned by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Company. The vein of coal outcropping on the Purgatoire River. 4 miles west of Trinidad, is about 4 feet thick, and underlaid by shaly sandstone destitute of fossils. The coal is some 25 feet above the level of the river. The strata dip gently to the west at this point. But little work has been done at this locality. There are a few abandoned openings of coal. Limonite outcrops on the Santa Fe* road within 3 miles of Trinidad, but none of the iron- ores in this vicinity have been worked yet. Labor is cheap and abundant. A writer in the New York Sun states thut there are 1,000 square miles of coal in the neighborhood of Triuidad, and now, ( 1876,) since the Deuver and Rio Grande Railroad is completed as far as this town, there appears to he no reason why Eastern and Central Colorado cannot be supplied with coal from Trinidad. As regards the age of this ooal I am in doubt. It is either Tertiary or Cretaceous, but which of these I am unable to say. Fossil leaves are abundant in the sandstone a few miles from Trinidad, but I have already stated that these leaves are not reliable. No invertebrate fossils were fonud within less than 30 miles from Trinidad. But as the foot- hills on the eastern side of the Spanish Range belong to the Cretaceous age, according to my observations, it is » possible that the foot- hills containing the Triuidad coal belong to the same period. However, I am not justified in expressing an opinion on this question. THE COAL OF THE MAXWELL LAND- GRANT. What I have written in the succeeding pages about the coal of the Maxwell gran*-. has been translated from the pamphlet of Messrs. De Groot and Leembruggen, published in the Dutch language, at the Hague, in 1874. My imperfect knowledge of this foreign tongue has been a constant drawback to me. Still it is believed that some interesting faots will be found in the translation. It is my opinion that this coal belongs to the Cretaceous age, reasoning from the fact that I have referred the foot- hills in which this coal formation occurs to the same age. I have been unable to find any expression of opinion on the geological age of the coal in the above- mentioned work. 1 will now quote the principal part of the description of the coal formation given by Messrs. De Groot and Leembruggen: " The coal formation extends from the Cimarron River northward to the northern boundaries of the grant in the Territory of Colorado. On the west the boundaries of this formation run half a mile east of Ute Creek, along the Pofiil Park, Van Bremmer Park, Francisco Pass, and Francisco Park, to the northern limits of the grant. On the east the coal formation is bounded by mesas and by the • plains'/ which are covered with Quaternary deposits as far as the Cimarron River. On this easterja part of the grant the strata of the coal- formation, and the coal- beds occurring therein, lie horizontally, while those beds in the western part which rest ou metamorphic rook have a moderate dip of at most 10° to 15c with the horizon. This coal- field appears to have undergone a gentle and slow upheaval. * *• « * * • * " In the western part of the grant the ridges of hills have a moderate height, the range of mountains is circular, and the valleys, which are likewise circular, pass on both sides gradually into the hills. Faults of minor importance have occurred here. Wht n one enters the valleys from the eastward a large quarry is presented to the eye, wherein the component beds of the coal- formation are exposed in nearly vertical walls. In this locality the valleys are wider, and the dislocations in the strata have been the greatest. Undoubtedly the coal- formation* extends under the plains on the east, but within the grant it does not come to the surface, it being covered with alluvium. " In the southeastern part of the grant, granite and gneiss rocks have been upheaved, which have partly overlaid the westerly edge of the coal- form at ion, and exerted a favorable innueuoe on the coal occurring therein, but the rocks have also broken through a part of this coal- formation, and overlaid a region 4 or 5 miles broad. In this area the rocks have undergone considerable change, which has resulted in the formation of qnartzite*, hard shales, clay schist, and sandstone. a These metamorphic rocks occur along the western end of the coal- formation, while more westerly the granite and gneiss rocks are found, which were the cause of the metamorphisra. We can never say with certainty how far the coal- formation extends outside the limit of the grant, but it is certain that it extends east from the Spanish Peaks, aud that coal has been worked within from 2 to 4 miles of Trinidad, in the vicinity of boundaries of the |