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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1887)
M THE WEST SHORE. be completed to Grsy'i harbor, and will be thb j Ight mile long from Shelton. When thi new roAl I completed, the town of Shelton will e xpand rapidly, and will become i place of con sblerable commercial importance. Tlic country round about ha farming valley ami prairies, hwidra extensive lofrjring Intercut. Tlie popu lation of Mason county in three times greater Uian it was a year ago, and U increasing stead ily. Taroma Stvi. Ham Cui'lee Coal axd Irox. ttecently, a number of gentlemen interested in the Montana (Vntral, the town of (ircat Falls and the great Manitoba road, visited the coal mines of Sand Coulee, near Great Falls, to investigate their value and extent. The party included Col. Hroadwater, Mcwr. Pari Gibson, Toole, Prat nolier, Vaughn, Fanning, Napier, Gen. Green and Major Konan. The visitors made a careful examination of the tunnels which have been constructed to mine the Sand Coulee coal. As they proceeded along those subterranean eham Ism, they observed, with admiration, the im mense masses of coal, in layers from six to fif teen ff t thick. In some places, there were lay ers, six to seven feet thick, of clear coal, with out any Intervening earth. The works, as yet, are on a moderate scale. There arc no vast cavern or almost interminable tunnels, such as are common in Pennsylvania, but enough progress has been made to supply the Groat Falls market, and to demonstrate what seems to be an inexhaustible supply of good coal, in a locality which can )w reached by railroad in alwut fift-on minutes from Great Falls. The ml and the coal deposit were examined close ly by Mr. Pratnoltcr, Mr. Fanning, and others who visited the field for the first time. The mines were found to yield coking, household, blacksmith and steam coal. The coking coal serve for tho manufacture of coke, which is of such absolute Importance in all smelting opera tion which require fuel that is entirely free from sulphur and other impurities. In Monta na, there will be large consumption for this coke, which will 1 produced in accordance with the most approved method. The house coal is well known in this city and locality, where it is now in steady demand, and serves for cooking urpoc a well a for general use. It make a very good fire. It is not stony nor sulphurous, and readily flare up. When It is picked, like Pennsylvania coal, it will be with out a single drawback for household use. The blacksmith ol which Sand Coulee produce is clean and bright and free from sulphur. fiand Coulee also yields, in abundance, coal which is adapted for the production of steam. This makes a clear, white ash, and does not clinker. There is no sulphur in it to form cakes with other substances on the bars. It produces a large volume of heat at a moderate cost, and is thus well calculated to provide the factories that will spring up here, and elsewhere in Mon tana, with cheap fuel, which will enable them to successfully compete w ith like establishment in the eastern and western states. The visitors were also greatly interested in the valuable vein of iron which lies underneath the coal vein. IVlow this iron deposit is limestone, so that in the Sand Coulee fields, all the element for the production of iron on economical baHis are at hand. The combination of coal, iron and lime stone is as remarkable as that in the southern states, where like materials exist in proximity to each other, resulting in the great prosperity of such favored places as Birmingham, Alaba ma. On the way, Mr. Gibson showed the vis itors the fine ledges of building stone which alxMind in the Sand Coulee district, yielding material of great beauty and durability. Men tion was also made of the lime kilns in the neighborhood, which are in operation. Qreat FalU Trihune. Camas Prairie, Idaho. The tender light of an afternoon sun bathed the landscape in mel low tins as we obtained our first view of Camas prairie, from the summit of the Cottonwood hill. The scene spread before us was one of entranc ing U-auty. At our feet lay the broad and beau tiful prairie, with its undulations and gently swelling slojK's, softened, by distance, into tho appearance of a great, tranquil, inland sea. Stretching away to the eastward, the dense greenness of its vegetation merges away into the dull gray of tho foothills, which, in it turn, vanishes into the blackness of the timber-clad mountains in the background. The eye, at first, rests with feelings of refreshment, upon the lux uriant hue of the vegetation with which the prairie is decked, until the very intensity of it verdure becomes painful, and we naturally turn, for relief, to the grand old mountain ranges, which fonn such an appropriate setting for this gem of the Pacific slope. Looking to the southward, the snow-capped peaks of the Salmon river mountains loom grandly up, their serrated summit rising, tier aUve tier, till they are themselves overtopped by the weird and fantastic forms of the Seven IVvils, whose majestic height, sharply pen ciled on the horizon, and clad In all the chaste