MINERAL RESOURCES
The extent of the iron deposits of the state must be largely a matter of estimate, but taking a consensus of the examinations made by territorial and state geologists, the reports indicate at least 2,000,000,000 tons. In the matter of oil now in the infancy of its development in Wyoming the number and area of newly discovered fields is constantly increasing and a most wonderful era of production and industrial development has begun. The extent of the oil fields, their production and their geological occurrence will be given in a paper expressly prepared for this history by Albert B. Bartlett who as geologist and mining engineer has had a practical experience of over eighteen years' study of Wyoming's mineral structures, in the field, a portion of that time being connected with the United States Geological Surveys, and at other times with the State Engineering department as Deputy State Engineer. Mr. Bartlett has also contributed the data referring to the geology of Wyoming oil. coal and iron, which follow the geology of the state.
Governor Frank L. Houx has also contributed a timely and excellent article, entitled "Wyoming, the New Oil State," which we are pleased to present as a part of this history.
Geology is the science which investigates the history of the earth. To properly consider the geology of Wyoming it will be necessary to briefly discuss the geology of the earth and compare conditions in Wyoming.
Scientists are agreed that the earth began its separate existence as a globe of fused or vaporous material, in which the various substances arranged themselves somewhat in the order of their density. The specific gravity of the earth as a whole exceeds 5, while that of the rocks on the surface ranges from 2.5 to 3. which shows that the interior of the earth is much denser than its outer surface. It has been learned that the interior of the earth is in a molten condition, and its shape, that of an oblate spheroid flattened at the poles, is that which would be assumed by a rotating liquid or a plastic body.
On the molten mass an outer crust was formed by the slow cooling of the surface. How often this crust was broken up and remelted and formed again, we have no means of knowing, but eventually a solid, permanent crust was established and thickened by additions from below. When the crust became sufficiently cool to permit the condensation of water, oceans and streams were formed, the processes of erosion began, and animal and vegetable life appeared.
Archaean–To the rocks formed during the period before the erosional processes began, the original rocks of the earth's crust, the name Archaean has been given. The Archaean is composed of completely crystalline rocks of various types confusedly mixed together, massive rocks, such as granite and basic eruptives. and foliated rocks, like gneissoid granite, gneiss, and various schists. are intermingled in the most intricate way. In Wyoming the Archaean is exposed in most of the principal mountain ranges, these being mainly giant folds in the earth's crust, from which the rocks deposited later have been removed by erosion, showing the Archaean granites beneath.
Algonkian–The name Algonkian has been given to the great series of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks which lie between the basal Archaean complex and the oldest Palaeozoic strata. The Algonkian rocks seem to represent the first series of deposits made under water and the first chapters in the history of life. Fossils have been found in the less changed sediments, but they are too few to tell much of the life of the times. It is believed, however, that both animal and vegetable life had their beginnings in this period. The Algonkian rocks are especially notable in the Black Hills region in Northeastern Wyoming, and also in the Hartville region where immense deposits of high grade iron ore occur. The most important gold bearing deposits in the state near Atlantic City and South Pass also belong to the Algonkian.
Metallic Minerals–Practically all of the precious and base metals of the state are found in the rocks of the pre-Cambrian complex, which is exposed over an area of approximately 10,000 square miles, or one tenth of the area of the state. The principal exposures are the Laramie Range, extending from Casper Mountain east and south to the Colorado line, containing gold, copper, lead, zinc, titanium, iron, asbestos, graphites, mica, chromium. The Medicine Bow Range, a mountainous area of nearly two thousand square miles, lying west of Laramie and south of Rawlins is rich in minerals, having produced platinum, gold, silver, copper, in large quantities, in addition to other metals. The Fremont or Wind River Range is the largest exposure of pre-Cambrian rocks in the state, covering about two thousand four hundred square miles near the center of the western half of the state. It is also the highest and most inaccessible mountainous area, some of its peaks rising more than fourteen thousand feet above sea level. The southeastern end of this exposure is the Atlantic City-South Pass District, the most important gold bearing area in Wyoming. Other metallic minerals undoubtedly occur in this great area, and ofTer an attractive field for the prospector. The Big Horn Mountains covering probably one thousand square miles south of Sheridan, also contain extensive deposits of gold and copper bearing minerals.
The occurrence of metallic minerals is limited to the pre-Cambrian rocks, but practically every exposure of these rocks has associated with it metalliferous veins or other deposits, copper and gold being the most common. The attention of prospectors is therefore invited to these rocks.
Palaeozoic–The strata following the Algonkian are fossiliferous. and are divided into three main groups, the Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic Eras. The Palaeozoic is composed of conglomerates, sandstones, shales, and limestones, attaining great thickness, though relatively less in Wyoming than in the eastern part of the United States. The rocks are in a majority of cases of marine origin. The first subdivision of organic and geographical development of the Palaeozoic is the Cambrian, containing the first known and recognizable fossils, those of the simplest marine fauna, no plant remains having been identified.
Cambrian–In Wyoming the Cambrian is entirely missing in the southern half of the state, and not of great importance in the northern half, its main outcrops being in the Big Horn Mountains, and west of Big Horn Basin, attaining a thickness of seven hundred to nine hundred feet at the latter location. The rocks are mainly a red, basal conglomerate resting unconformably upon the Algonkian, also shale, limestone, and red sandstones. In the northeastern corner of the state, the Cambrian is very thin. So far as is known, the Cambrian contains no economic minerals.
Ordovician–The next succeeding subdivision of the Palaeozoic is the Ordovician, which has a geographical distribution similar to the Cambrian, upon which it lies. Its greatest thickness, in the vicinfty of Big Horn Basin, is only about three hundred feet, the rocks being siliceous, grey limestone, very hard and massive, not known to contain any valuable minerals.
Silurian & Devonian–During the Silurian and Devonian Periods the entire area of Wyoming remained above water level, consequently there are no representatives of these rock systems, and sufficient time elapsed to allow the land surface to be reduced almost to a peneplain, upon which the Carboniferous sediments were laid down, almost conformably.
Carboniferous–The name Carboniferous was given to the next system of rocks because of the importance of the coal seams present in it in other parts of the world, though in Wyoming it contains no coal as the Carboniferous sediments were laid down in the deep sea and in salt lakes, resulting in massive limestones of great thickness in the Lower Carboniferous, and red sandstones, shales, and occasional gypsum deposits in the Upper. The thickness of the Carboniferous is about one thousand feet in the southeastern part of the state, about two thousand in the northeastern, increasing to approximately five thousand feet in the western part. In the southwestern part the lower member is a quartzitic sandstone over one thousand feet thick, overlain by more than seven hundred feet of sandy limestone.
Economically the Carboniferous is important as it contains immense deposits of pure limestone which occur in thick beds in the lower part of the system, which furnish excellent quarries wherever they outcrop under favorable conditions. The principal limestone quarries are at Hartville, while others are being worked at Laramie and Rawlins, and in the Big Horn Basin, the stone being used by the sugar refineries. Copper also occurs in the Carboniferous in the Hartville Uplift, also in the southwestern part of the state, among other localities, and warrants further prospecting. The Embar sandstone, in the Upper Carboniferous, is an important oil sand near Lander in the central part of the state, and north of Powder River Station. Some geologists assign this to the Permian subdivision.
Permian–The Permian is the latest subdivision of the Palaeozoic Era. It is of little importance in Wyoming, there being a thickness of only 80 to 100 feet in the Hartville and Black Hills regions, the rocks being thin, bedded, sandy limestones, sandstones, and thin red shales.
Mesozoic–The Mesozoic Era is distinguished by marked changes in plant and animal life, many new insects having appeared, fishes became modernized, birds and mammals made their first appearance, but the most characteristic feature was the reptiles, which attained an extraordinary state of development, being the dominant form of life. The Mesozoic Era comprises three periods, the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous.
Triassic–The Triassic of Wyoming is of fresh water origin, in some localities resting upon pre-Cambrian crystalline rocks, but in general upon Permian or Carboniferous beds usually in apparent conformity. The rocks consist of bright, red sandstones and red, sandy shales, being well known as the Chugwater Red Beds, their thickness in the northeastern part of the state and the Hartville region being about 500 feet, in the Big Horn Basin, central part of the state, and southeastern part being about one thousand feet increasing to two thousand feet in the southwestern part.
An important characteristic of the red beds is gypsum, which occurs in beds of considerable thickness in many localities. Several plaster mills are located at Laramie where gypsum is mined. It is also mined near Sheridan. Thick gypsum beds of pure variety occur near Cody and will undoubtedly be mined when railroad facilities become available. Gypsum can be found in the red beds almost anywhere they outcrop. Fossils however are exceedingly rare.
Jurassic–The Jurassic in Wyoming was laid down in a great inland sea and thins out toward the east, the formations being buff sandstones at the base, above which are variegated shales and clays with occasional sandstones and limestones.
In the southeast part of the state its thickness is only 150 feet increasing to 350 feet in the northeast part, to 1,100 feet in the Big Horn Basin, and attaining its greatest thickness of 3,800 in the southwest. The name Twin Creek has been applied to the formation in the southwestern part of the state, and Sundance over the remainder of Wyoming.
Cretaceous–The Cretaceous is of great importance in Wyoming, as it contains most of the oil and gas bearing strata, and workable coal beds, and is displayed on a vast scale. .At the end of Jurassic time Wyoming was a broad flat plain which slowly subsided causing the Cretaceous seas to invade gradually resulting in the deposition of the Lower Cretaceous in practical parallelism with the older formations. The formations first laid down were the Beckwith and Bear River formations in the southwestern part of the state, and the Morrison. Dakota, and Fuson over the rest of the state. The sediments deposited in the Cretaceous sea were mainlv derived from a great land mass on the west, as the deposition is much heavier in the western part of the state. The Beckwith formation consists of yellow shales and sandstones with occasional conglomerate beds, and attains a thickness of 5,500 feet. The Bear River is composed of dark shales and thin bedded sandstones, and is about 5,000 feet thick in places. The Lower Cretaceous over the remainder of the state is only 300 to 600 feet thick, the lowest member being the Morrison composed of purplish and greenish grey shales with interbedded sandstone; resting on this is the lakota, massive buff sandstones, with local coal beds in the northeastern part of the state, followed by the Fuson composed of thin shales and sandstones.
The Dakota is the basal member of the Upper Cretaceous, and is of very uniform character over nearly the entire state. It is a coarse conglomeratic sandstone, the formation being from 50 to 300 feet thick, in places there are two sandstone beds separated by shale. The name Cloverly is also applied to it in the Big Horn Basin, where it is of great importance as the carrier of large quantities of oil and gas.
Colorado Group–Upon the Dakota rests a great thickness of shale, with beds of sandstone, the lower part being of the Colorado group of marine origin, and the upper, the Montana, of fresh water origin, with coal beds and a greater proportion of sandstones. The Colorado contains near its base the Mowry shale member, with an intermittent sandstone often productive of oil and gas. also a bed of bentonite. The principal shale beds, however, are the Benton in the eastern and central part of the state, and the Frontier in the west and south, containing the famous Frontier or Wall Creek sands which are the most important oil producing formations in this part of the United States. The Frontier sandstones are greater in number and thickness in the western part of the state where there are eleven beds, thinning out toward the east, seven at Pilot Butte near Lander, three in the vicinity of Casper, and only one as far east as Lusk, while in the Newcastle district, there is no sandstone member in this part of the Colorado group distinguishable. The Upper member of the Colorado, is the Niobrara. The Colorado varies greatly in thickness in dififerent parts of the state, approximately fifteen hundred feet thick in the southeast, central and northwestern parts, two thousand feet in the northeast, and possibly ten thousand in the southwest.
Montana Group–The Montana group is composed of interbedded shales and sandstones of great extent and thickness, containing many veins of coal. The thickness of this group varies from about two thousand feet in the northeastern part of the state to six thousand feet in other parts.
Fully half the area of Wyoming has the Cretaceous outcropping on the surface or covered by other formations, and as it is the great source of oil, gas, and coal, it can be readily understood why this state boasts of such great resources in these minerals.
Mountain Building–Though laid down over the entire state, the Cretaceous has been removed from nearly half the area by erosion, as the end of Cretaceous time was accompanied by tremendous mountain building. All of the main mountain ranges of the state and probably most of the minor folds were made at this time and remain today the most important topographic features. These folds were so great that in most cases the pre-Cambrian crystalline rocks have now been exposed where the overlying rocks have been eroded away.
Cenozoic–This brings us to the Cenozoic Era. which by gradual steps leads to the present order of things. The rocks of the Cenozoic are loose and uncompacted and are locally restricted in their range. While rich in animal fossils, they are not important for economic minerals, and space does not permit of great consideration of them. During Cenozoic time great lava flows occurred from the region of Yellowstone Park and covered about one-twelfth of the state with several thousand feet of andesite tuffs and lavas, which are of no importance in a mineral way. The Cenozoic sediments are characterized by red and drab clays forming bad lands, also terraces of gravel and conglomerate, and chalky sandstones. These overlie the Cretaceous in the great synclinal troughs between the mountain ranges usually unconformably with the Cretaceous.
In addition to domes, other structural conditions which merit investigation in Wyoming are structural terraces, faults with sufficient throw to seal the ends of the sandstone beds against impervious shales, inclined lenticular bodies of sandstone in shales, inclined sandstones sealed in by unconformities with more recent formations, and inclined sandstones outcropping at the surface but containing an asphaltic oil which upon evaporation leaves asphalt in the rock, which clogs the pores and prevents the escape of the remaining oil.
The Lower Cretaceous contains nearly all of the productive oil formations, including the Dakota, Frontier, and Shannon series, the oil being a green paraffine oil of very high grade. Below the Dakota the oil is black, of an asphalt base, occurring in the Sundance. Chugwater, and Embar. Many of these formations contain gas pools under proper geological conditions. Practically the entire area of the state has been examined for oil, and it is estimated that the number of structures which have oil possibilities is not less than one hundred to one hundred and fifty. In a majority of cases the geological conditions are easy of interpretation, hence it is possible to direct drilling operations with intelligence and with greater possibilities of success than in other states. With about five hundred producing wells, the number of important dry holes is comparatively small, probably fifty.
Wyoming first became mentioned in petroleum history in 1894, when the Shannon field, now a part of Salt Creek, contributed 2,369 barrels production, hauled to Casper, in trail wagons, and treated for its lubrication content, used largely by railroads. With slight variations the production increased to 8,960 barrels in 1903. and 11.542 barrels in 1904. There was a decrease then until 1908, when the total was 17,775 barrels. In 1910 the production was 115,430 barrels; in 1911, 186,695; in 1912 it had reached 1,527,306 barrels: in 1913. 2,406,522; in 1914. 3,500,373; in 1915. 4,245,525; in 1916, 6,234,137 barrels; while the estimate for 1917 is 9,000,000 barrels.
The present year promises to be one of extensive development, and if the 700,000 acres of land which have been withdrawn by the government, which is reckoned to be some of the best land in the state, is released this year, and it now seems almost certain it will, the development of the state will far exceed expectations. There are sixteen producing fields now, of which the eleven most important have a daily production as follows:
| Field | Run | Shut In |
|---|---|---|
| Salt Creek | 11,000 | 9,000 |
| Grass Creek | 5,000 | 1,000 |
| Elk Basin | 5,500 | ..... |
| Big Muddy | 4,500 | ..... |
| Lander | 800 | 400 |
| Park County | 600 | ..... |
| Lost Soldier | ..... | 2,000 |
| Pilot Butte | ..... | 500 |
| Thornton, etc | .... | 150 |
| Thermopolis | ..... | 150 |
| Totals | 27.400 | 13.300 |
It will be noted that the fields are not confined to any part of the state, but occur in all parts, with the central area and Big Horn Basin being most favored. There are thousands of square miles of possible territory so covered with shales that the structure formations are difficult and in many places impossible to read. Such formations as those which produced the Glen Pool in Oklahoma could exist in a hundred places without surface indications. Even in the producing fields deeper drilling may have unusual results. Salt Creek has punctured only three of the Wall Creek sands. A well 3,500 feet deep on top of the Salt Creek structure would be a fascinating speculation.
There are ten pipe lines already constructed, aggregating over three hundred and fifty miles of line. In addition to these about one hundred miles of additional line is proposed, some of which will probably be constructed during the present summer. Four large refineries, two at Casper and two at Greybull, one small refinery at Cowley and a carbon plant near that place, are now in operation. Several small refineries are now anticipated, and some are actually being built.
In addition to the well fields mentioned an important source of oil for the future will be the oil shales which occur at or near the surface over several thousand square miles in the southwestern part of the state in the Tertiary strata. These shales contain two to twenty barrels of oil per ton, in addition to valuable ammonium sales. The extraction of oil from shale is being done profitably in other states and countries, and will surely be undertaken in Wyoming soon, as it offers an unlimited field for the investor.
Most of the coal occurs in the Cretaceous, in the fresh water deposits in the upper part of this series, and also in the Tertiary, the former being bituminous, the latter lignite. Coal also occurs in the Lower Cretaceous at some points, notably at Cambrai in the northeastern part of the state, where a deposit of some thirty million tons occur in the lower part of the Dakota, this being the only coking coal in the state.
Approximately thirty-five per cent of the area of the state, or about thirty-five thousand square miles, is underlain by coal veins, varying from three to eighty feet in thickness, most of them ranging between four and twelve feet thick. The geology of coal is generally well understood. It was formed from vegetation which accumulated in great thickness in fresh water, and occasionally salt marshes, and was later covered by sedimentary formations of sufficient thickness to compress it into the form of coal. It is estimated that one foot of coal represents fourteen feet of solid vegetation, from which one can attempt to imagine the luxuriance of the growth, and the time involved in the growth of sufficient vegetation to result in a workable coal bed.
The coal beds occur in nearly all parts of the state not occupied by mountain ranges, and their location has been worked out by the United States Geological Survey. Under former land laws it was possible to secure title to coal land at a cost of ten dollars to twenty dollars per acre. Some years age, however, when the so-called movement of Conservation of Resources swept the country, the coal land to which the Government still retained title was classified at prices ranging up to five hundred dollars per acre. This had the effect of at once stopping the opening of new mines, as prospective operators could not pay for the land in addition to the necessary plant of machinery required for proper development. That this policy was a grave mistake is apparent from the present coal shortage in time of war. Congress now has a leasing bill under consideration.
The deposit at Sunrise is the only one from which shipments are being made, this camp having been producing about two thousand tons a day for a number of years. The ore is a very pure hematite known as a Bessemer ore, running about sixty-two per cent to sixty-six per cent metallic iron, and from one per cent to two per cent silica, being free from phosphorous and sulphur. Geologically it occurs mainly in the schist and also in the dolomite and along the contact of the two, in the Algonkian rocks; evidence, demonstrating that mineralization took place before the deposition of the Guernsey formation, is abundant. The ore occurs in long lenses of variable size, some of them five hundred feet or more in thickness and extending for considerable distances. An area of several square miles is underlain by this ore body, but the full extent of it is not known because of the overlying sediments, but it is certain that many million tons of ore are available.
The geological occurrence of the ore at Seminoe and Rawlins is similar to that at Sunrise, the former probably being nearly equal in size and quality of ore. Some ore has been shipped from Rawlins. The Seminoe deposit has been handicapped by its distance from the railroad.
The Iron Mountain deposit is very unique, the ore being a titaniferous magnetite of great purity, assaying about eighty-two per cent oxide of iron and about seventeen per cent titanic acid. The ore appears as a lens outcropping for about two miles on the surface, with a width of one hundred to two hundred feet. It occurs in basic granites of the archean series, probably having been formed by magnetic segregation while these rocks were in a molten condition. Smaller lenses of the same ore occur in other places in the vicinity.
While various attempts have been made to utilize this iron, it is doubtful if they have been prosecuted with sufficient effort, as it is the writer's opinion that this is capable of making one of the most valuable sources of hard steel in the world. Owing to the high content of titanic acid the ore smelts at such a high temperature that in ordinary blast furnace practice it freezes in the furnace. Necessity, however, will soon stimulate further endeavor as the pig iron obtained from previous experiments is said to be harder than ordinary tool steel, and there is no doubt that this ore can be smelted with other ore for the purpose of producing a titanium steel of very superior merit. The deposit is located only nine miles from the Colorado and Southern Railroad at Iron Mountain station.
In 1863, oil was collected in a spring near the crossing of Poison Spider and sold to emigrants for axle grease.
In 1868, quite a large amount of oil was taken from the Carter Wells and $5,000 worth was sold to the Union Pacific Road for lubricating purposes.
George B. Graff of Omaha in 1880 sunk a number of shafts from six to forty feet deep and got a flow of two barrels a day from one of them. Later in 1885 he drilled three wells three hundred, five hundred and eight hundred feet respectively and reported a total yield of two hundred barrels a day. These were in Fremont County. Then came the Murphy Wells.
M. P. Shannon began drilling in the Salt Creek field in 1889 and put down a well 1,030 feet, from which he got four barrels a day. He organized the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Company in 1895, put down some more wells and erected a small refinery. Later, some California parties came into the field, followed by the Franco-Wyoming and the "Dutch Company." The Midwest entered the field in 1910 and consolidated with the Franco-Petroleum Company with a capitalization of $20,000,000, which marked the beginning of the big oil boom.
Wyoming's estimated oil resources are amazing in magnitude. It is believed that 10,000,000 acres of the state's area reasonably may be regarded as oil-bearing. In a rece'ntly completed appraisement of the state's natural resources the value of the oil resources (undeveloped value) was placed at $10,000,000,000. The appraisement listed the petroleum resources as second only to the state's coal resources, which were estimated to be worth (undeveloped value) $80,000,000,000.
The development of Wyoming's oil resources during the last five years, and especially during, the last two years, has been so rapid and applied to so many localities that an accurate survey of it is impossible. The state unfortunately has no immigration or other department charged with the duty of and clothed with authority to compile statistics relative to the oil industry and comprehensive and reliable official figures, therefore, are not available. Press reports of activities and developments, in the astonishingly numerous and widely scattered oil fields of state are bewildering. Many persons intelligently have endeavored to keep themselves comprehensively and accurately informed regarding Wyoming oil field developments but the undertaking, in view of the existing conditions, is an impossible one. No person, no Government department, no organization at this time possesses accurate information regarding all the activities in all the oil fields and supposed oil fields of Wyoming, or regarding the eflfects economic and otherwise of these activities.
Illustrative of the rapidity with which development of the state's oil resources is extending, as well as of the difficulty of keeping informed regarding developments, is the fact that at this time there are in Wyoming about one hundred and eighty separate localities (fields and domes) in which oil has been found, where drilling for oil is in progress or where arrangements for drilling have progressed sufficiently to guarantee that drilling will be done this year. These localities are scattered through twenty counties and over an area of ninety thousand square miles.
The State of Wyoming, by virtue of the fact that its land holdings within the state are second in extent only to those of the Federal Government, has in the oil industry an interest more direct and intimate than that merely naturally existing in any economic development beneficial to the individual propensity of a considerable proportion of the population. When Wyoming was admitted to statehood the Federal Government made to the new commonwealth grants of land totaling more than 4,000,000 acres. The minor acreage units comprising these grants were so selected as to give the commonwealth land holdings in every township within its boundaries. The result is that there is not an oil field in Wyoming within the limits of which the State of Wyoming is not a landowner. State lands known to be oil-bearing, or believed to be oil-bearing, are not sold outright, but are leased to prospectors and operators on a royalty basis. The State of Wyoming now is receiving from oil royalties an income of more than $300,000 a year. This income is increasing rapidly and eventually, it appears certain to eventuate, will amount to many millions of dollars annually. Therefore, not merely those persons and corporations which own Wyoming oil land or oil stocks, but every taxpayer within the state, every person who is a beneficiary of the government of the state, has a direct personal interest in the development of the oil resources.
Wyoming's population last year increased about ten per cent, or almost twenty thousand. One-half of this increase, possibly more, reasonably may be credited to the petroleum industry. The value of the products of the state's industries increased during 1917 more than $75,000,000. Thirty per cent of this increase may be credited to the oil industry. Public attention in other states during the last year has been drawn to Wyoming as never before. Advertisement of the state's petroleum resources and of the opportunities for profit to be found in development of these resources chiefly was responsible for this fact. The petroleum industry during the present and the next several years will be the cause of impressive increases in the state's population, wealth and industrial output. The petroleum resources are of such magnitude that logically they may become the basis for commercial and industrial activity more important from the viewpoint of financial return than all other commercial and industrial enterprises within the state.
The development of Wyoming's oil resources has raised several problems for the state government which will receive attention during the next session of the Legislature. Legislation is needed to safeguard these resources against waste and the ruin which is the result of ignorance or carelessness during development. A statute for which there is acute necessity is one making compulsory the sealing of overlying water carrying strata, to prevent water from these strata escaping through borings into oil bearing strata and driving the oil from the latter strata. So-called "blue sky" legislation also is a requirement of the situation arising from development of the oil resources, this being essential if investors are to be protected from fake promoters and worthless stock flotations. An oil field is fertile for the "wildcat" stock operator and the map of Wyoming is freckled with oil fields.
Between December 1, 1917, and April 1, 1918, a period of three months, the state's royalty increased from $25,000 monthly to $43,500, the increase being $18,500 monthly, or seventy-four per cent. This increase was due in part to the bringing in of new wells and in part to increase in the market value of the crude oil.
Eventually, the State Land Commissioner forecasts, the state will receive annually royalty oil worth many millions of dollars. Development of state-owned lands is in progress in every oil field in Wyoming and the state's land holdings are so generally scattered that it is improbable that any new field will be discovered which does not include state-owned areas.
During the six-months period from September 30, 1917, to April 1, 1918, the income of the state land office was approximately $600,000, the bulk of this income being derived from the sale of royalty oil and from lease fees paid in by oil prospectors and oil operators. The income for the six months was nearly $200,000 greater than that of the corresponding period of 1916-17.
The refineries now operating are the two at Casper and Greybull owned by the Midwest Refining Company, two at the same points owned by the Standard Oil Company, of Indiana, and one owned by the Northwestern Oil Refining Company at Cowley. The Midwest Refinery at Casper will have a capacity of 35,000 barrels a day in 1918, and represents an investment of $25,000,000. This is one of the largest in the country. Its refinery at Greybull will have a capacity of 12,000 barrels a day and represents an investment of $2,500,000. The Standard has $2,000,000 invested in its plant at Casper and $1,500,000 at Greybull.
| Crude oil produced, all fields (barrels) | 10,950,000 |
| Value at well | $14,203,700 |
| Gasoline marketed (gallons) | 150,000,000 |
| Value of gasoline at average retail price (25¢) | $37,500,000 |
| Kerosene and other refined oils marketed (gallons) | 55,000,000 |
| Value of kerosene at average retail price (15¢) | $8,250,000 |
| Estimated value other products, fuel oil. etc. | $3,000,000 |
| Number of completed producing wells, estimated | 475 |
| Wells drilling, estimated | 550 |
| Number of proven fields in state | 23 |
While prices in Wyoming have not ranged as high as in Pennsylvania and Oklahoma, the analyses, as made by federal chemists, prove that the value of Wyoming crude oil to that of the best eastern oil, is as nine is to ten. Monopoly of refining and distributing facilities have up to 1918 been able to hold the price ratio down to about one to two. As the annual production is increased the Wyoming prices will, of course, come to a parity with those of the mid-continent fields.
Coal was found in the state by the early explorers, but the earliest mining of coal as a commercial product began during the years 1867-8 and 9, as the Union Pacific extended its tracks through Southern Wyoming. Coal mines were opened at Carbon, Rock Springs and Almy as the road reached those points. Mr. Blair located coal on Bitter Creek and worked the vein before the railroad reached Rock Springs and became one of the leading pioneers of the coal mining industry in Wyoming.
At Carbon, coal mines were opened in 1868 and a prosperous town built up. Seven mines were opened there between 1868 and 1900 when the mines gave out.
Rock Springs Mine No. 1 was opened in 1868 by the Union Pacific and became the most famous of the coal mines of the west. This mine was in operation nearly forty years and is said to have been the largest mine in the world operating through one opening. Other mines have been opened at Rock Springs and vicinity as the demands of the railroad and market supply required.
In 1890 the Union Pacific Coal Company opened valuable coal mines at Hanna and it has now become one of the great coal camps of the west. Four good mines are in operation there and another is being opened.
In the early '90s independent operators began to open mines along the Union Pacific. P. J. Quealy and associates opened what is known as the Central Coal and Coke Company No. 2 mine, and Mark Hopkins opened a mine at Sweetwater, then known as Hopkinsville. Both of these properties were acquired by the Sweetwater Coal and Mining Company, controlled by G. W. McGeath and were afterwards turned over to the Central Coal and Coke Company, now operating the properties.
Individual operators have also opened new mines in the Rock Springs field. Good properties have been opened at Reliance and Superior, and some old mines have been reopened and well equipped, furnishing a large production.
About 1897, Mr. P. J. Quealy, disposing of his Rock Springs interests, associated with M. S. Kemmerer of Pennsylvania and commenced to open and develop mines at Frontier, and laid out the present town of Kemmerer.
Mr. Quealy has increased his organization and development until he is now operating five mines in this locality, with an output of several thousand tons per day. He also has taken over part of the holdings of the old Adaville company and is operating a mine at Elkol, which is also quite a large producer. Kemmerer, through Mr. Quealy's efforts has developed into one of the most progressive, energetic towns in the West and is the county seat of Lincoln County as well as district headquarters for the Oregon Short Line railroad.
The Cumberland mines located about sixteen'miles south of Kemmerer were opened in 1900. Two mines No. 1 and 2 were developed and the production at one time approached five thousand tons per day.
There are several other mines being operated in the vicinity of Kemmerer which may now be considered one of the coal centers of the Rocky Mountain region.
Rock Springs and its outlying camps is now producing from fifteen to eighteen thousand tons per day or over six million tons annually, being about two-thirds of the state's entire production.
In 1894 Salt Lake parties started operations near the present town of Diamondville and soon after sold their interests to the Anaconda Copper Company of Montana, and most of the product goes to that state. They also operate mines at Oakley and Glencoe, having an aggregate annual production of over six hundred thousand tons.
In 1893 the first commercial coal of Sheridan County was mined at Dietz some fifty thousand tons being mined the first year. The Monarch Mine in this field produced in the year ending September 30. 1917, coal amounting to 378,993 tons. This is the largest producer in the northern field and the Cambria mines are second with a production for 1917 of 351.771 tons. The Monarch is said to have the thickest bed of bituminous coal mined in the United States it being thirty-four feet thick.
The Acme Coal Mines on Goose Creek were opened in 1911. The Acme Company control fifteen hundred acres of coal territory and have established an up-to-date mining equipment with a capacity of two thousand tons daily. They are operating on an eighteen foot vein. The coal production of the Acme, for the year 1917, was 319,637 tons.
The Kooi Mine in the Sheridan district is rapidly becoming one of the big producers of that field. Last year it shipped over 250,000 tons.
Carneyville is another coal camp in the Sheridan district. In the Sheridan field six separate veins have been worked having a total thickness of ninety feet.
The Cambria coal fields, near Newcastle in Weston County were among the earliest developed in Northern Wyoming. The mines were opened in 1888 by Kilpatrick Brothers, who operated two mines, the Jumbo and the Antelope. Finding that they had a good coking coal they equipped the plant with twenty-five coke ovens in 1892, securing a market for the coke in the smelters of the Black Hills mining district. The production of the Cambria mines in 1917 was 351,771 tons.
In Hot Springs County, the first coal mined was by the Owl Creek Coal Company at Gebo, in 1907. A few tons only were mined and shipped that year, but the production has been constantly increasing until now over two hundred coal miners are employed in supplying the demand for the coal which is of excellent quality.
Along the line of the northwestern railroad in the central part of the state coal mining has been carried on at different points, first at Shawnee and afterwards at Glenrock, Inez, Muddy and Hudson. Shawnee has been abandoned, and at the present time Hudson is the principal producer on the line, its output in 1917 being 204,227 tons.
The development of the Wyoming coal industry may be seen by the following tables giving the production in 1869, being the first report issued by the state, and the production in 1917 the last report made.
| Field | Tonnage |
|---|---|
| Carbon | 30,428 |
| Rock Springs | 16,903 |
| Point of Rocks | 5,426 |
| Almy | 4,439 |
| Other mines | 990 |
| Total | 58,186 |
| Name of Company | Tons mined |
|---|---|
| Acme Coal Co. Mine No. 3 | 319,637 |
| Amalgamated Development Co | 90,270 |
| Bear River Coal Co | 70,964 |
| Big Horn Collieries Co | 241,467 |
| Blazon Coal Co | 19,171 |
| Black Diamond Coal Co | 548 |
| Cambria Fuel Co | 351,771 |
| Carney Coal Co | 339,265 |
| Central Coal & Coke Co | 324,707 |
| Cox Coal Mine | 310 |
| Consumers Coal Co | 20 |
| Diamond Coal Co., Oakley | 247,980 |
| Diamond Coal Co., Diamondville | 174,938 |
| Diamond Coal Co., Glencoe | 196.337 |
| Gunn-Quealy Coal Co | 117,172 |
| Kooi Mine No. 1 | 253,370 |
| Kemmerer Coal Co | 683,475 |
| Lincoln-Kemmerer Coal Co | 36,639 |
| Lion Coal Co | 231,207 |
| Lezeart Mine | 333 |
| Monarch Coal Mining Co | 378,993 |
| Nebraska Coal Co | 1,462 |
| Owl Creek Coal Co | 259,905 |
| Park Coal Co | 15,793 |
| Poposia Coal Co | 204,227 |
| Pine Bluffs Mine Co | 460 |
| Paragon Coal Co | 660 |
| Quealy Coal Co | 211,868 |
| Roberts Coal Co | 500 |
| Rock Springs Mines | 825,751 |
| Reliance Mines | 484,097 |
| Sheridan Coal Co | 250,025 |
| Storm King Coal Mine | 3,000 |
| Superior Coal Co | 15,246 |
| Superior R. S. Mines | 758,953 |
| Union Pacific Coal Co., Hanna Mine | 835,856 |
| Union Pacific Coal Co., Cumberland Mine | 378,436 |
| Wyoming Coal Co | 131.851 |
| Total | 8,456,664 |
For several years the Rawlins ores were shipped to Denver. The deposit has not been developed for large operations and its extent cannot be determined with any accuracy, but it can be traced for miles and undoubtedly is very large. Estimates are from two hundred million to three hundred million tons.
The company owns from seventy-five to eighty mines, including the Town of Sunrise. The amount of ore in sight is estimated at two hundred and fifty million tons in the eight or ten claims that have been prospected and worked. A conservative estimate for all the ground would be at least five hundred million tons, making it probably the largest body of iron ever known within such limited area.
In October, 1887, Mr. I. S. Bartlett. the editor of this history, and Hon. W. F. Hamilton, of Douglas, located and filed on ten claims as iron properties. These were the first exclusive iron claims located in the district. Mr. Bartlett, who was then living near Hartville, made a study of the district and its iron resources and wrote an account of the same in the Cheyenne newspapers. In the spring of 1889 he received a letter from Mayor Chamberlin of Denver, enclosing a check for $50 and asking him to come to Denver and give the Chamber of Commerce further information regarding the Hartville iron deposits. He accepted the invitation and a special meeting of the chamber was called in the daytime to listen to his report. The meeting was largely attended and a committee appointed to report the next morning at another special meeting what action Denver should take in establishing iron and steel works based on a supply of Hartville ores. They reported that such an industry would add 50,000 to Denver's population and give at least one hundred million dollars increase to the city's wealth.
The outcome is a long story, but the publication of Hartville's iron riches went far and wide over the country, and there soon came a rush of locaters and investors to the camp.
Mr. Bartlett soon after made a contract to supply the Grant Smelting Works of Denver with 10,000 tons of ore for fluxing purposes, and thus was the first man to establish the iron mining industry in the district. The ore had to be hauled fifteen miles by wagon to the railroad at Wendover.
About this time Mr. C. A. Guernsey, agent of a Chicago syndicate, began to buy up iron claims, finally securing the Sunrise group, which was later leased by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company and afterwards purchased by the company.
The Hartville iron belt extends from Guernsey north to the head of Whalen Canyon, about ten miles, and will vary from three to four miles in width, covering an area of about thirty-five square miles. The potential amount of ore in this area is almost beyond calculation.
Large deposits of chromic iron are found in Deer Creek Canyon, fifteen miles southwest of Glenrock, in Converse County. Limonite is found in considerable quantities on the Little Popo .Agie in Fremont County, and at Jelm Mountain in Albany County. Hematite ores are found in Crook, Johnson. Fremont, Bighorn, Albany and Sheridan counties, and their prevalence is so common as to excite very little attention in the out-of-the-way places where they are discovered. An extensive body of manganese is being mined on the southwest side of Laramie Peak, the ore being hauled to Medicine Bow Station on the Union Pacific Railroad, for shipment.
The state not only has the tremendous ore bodies mentioned, but in close connection therewith all the factors necessary for unlimited iron and steel operations, such as oil, coal, electro-hydro power, limestone, abundant water supply and transportation facilities. All these elements existing in such enormous quantities, comparatively undeveloped, must eventually be utilized to supply the pressing and ever-increasing industrial needs of the world, which are even now straining the resources of the old states and foreign nations.
Comparing Pennsylvania, our greatest industrial state, with Wyoming, we have an instructive object lesson. Pennsylvania has less than half the area of Wyoming. It has less than one-eighth the coal, iron and oil area of Wyoming. In fact, this state's native resources are incomparable with any other state, and that these resources will be developed in the near future is as certain as the run rises and sets.
The states of the mountain West will naturally be the arena of our future national expansion in population and industry, and nature has so richly endowed Wyoming that it is destined to be the greatest of them all.
A Government report on the Downey lakes, nine miles south of Laramie City, says:
"The deposit on one lake covers an area of about one hundred acres, being a solid bed of crystallized sulphate of sodium about nine feet thick. The deposit is supplied from the bottom by springs whose waters hold the salts in solution, and they are rapidly crystallized. When the solid material is removed, the rising water fills the excavation and crystallizes in a few days. Hence the deposit is practically inexhaustible, as it contains 50,000,000 cubic feet of chemically pure crystals of sulphate of soda, ready to be utilized."
This description will apply generally to all the soda lakes, although they may vary in chemical composition, as, for instance, the Rock Creek lakes contain a large percentage of sulphate of magnesium or epsom salt. Others contain carbonate and bicarbonate of soda in varying percentage.
Near Laramie are the Union Pacific, the Morgan and the Downey lakes. North of the Platte River, near Independence Rock, are the Gill lakes.
The Rock Creek lakes, twenty-six in number, have an area of about twelve hundred acres and are located in a basin ten miles from Rock Creek Station.
An analysis of the Gill lakes soda shows:
| Sodium sulphate | 74.50 |
| Magnesium sulphate | 2.52 |
| Sodium chloride | .54 |
| Water | 1.61 |
| Undetermined | .83 |
| 100.00 |
All these immense deposits of natural soda can be used commercially and industrially, as caustic soda, salt cake, soda ash, concentrated lye, etc. They are especially available for the manufacture of glass, as good white glass sand and limestone are found :n nearby formations
Mr. F. B. Weeks of the geological bureau, who made the examination and report on this deposit, estimated that it contained from ten to twenty billion tons. This is interesting as pointing to a great industry in the near future, when these enormous deposits will be needed and utilized as a fertilizer. Indeed, the industry is already being developed and during the past season thousands of tons have been shipped from this county to California and other states, Sage and Sublet being the present shipping points.
A force of men have been put at work on the properties and they will be developed as rapidly as possible.
Millions in gold have been taken from Wyoming placers in territorial days, and in recent years large copper deposits have been discovered and worked.
The fact that this state is sparsely populated and is offering fortunes in the sheep and cattle business, and great financial prizes to investors in oil and coal enterprises, accounts for the fact that scientific m'ning has been greatly neglected for the last ten years. A sheepman, for instance, who is making from fifty to one hundred per cent annually on his investment, would not accept a gold prospect as a gift, or undertake a mining venture requiring expert knowledge and management, no matter how rich or promising the veins or deposits. Also, when the first lode claims were worked the cost of mining, transportation and ore reduction was so great that many rich mines could not be worked profitably, and after struggling through these adverse circumstances, the claimants turned their attention to other opportunities that oiifered them sure and quick returns.
The time is now most opportune to develop the great metallic resources of our mountains. Modern mining with labor-saving machinery, cheaper scientific methods of reduct on. new and improved transportation facilities, have given mining investments a security and permanency they never had before.
At the present time, therefore, Wyoming offers rare inducements to the prospector, miner and investor, especially in gold and copper.
"Gold in the Sweetwater district was first discovered in 1842 by a Georgian who came out with the American Fur Company for his health. Thirteen years after, a party of forty men arrived, who found gold everywhere in the river as well as tributary streams. The river was turned from its channels and the old bed worked with good success."
In 1860, a band of gold hunters worked on Strawberry Gulch, and the remains of their old sluices, rockers and toms may still be seen. South Pass, however, became the scene of the most extensive placer mining in the state. The first miners there, in 1861, were driven away by the Indians. In 1866 parties came in from Virginia City and organized a mining district. In 1869 there were 2,000 people in the camp and South Pass became the second largest town in the territory. Before that time the Carisa and other mining lodes were discovered and worked. There were three stamp mills in operation and five more mills on the way and under construction. Up to 1870 Professor Knight estimates that over five million dollars in gold had been taken out.
The next most extensive placer mining was on Douglas Creek and its tributaries, espec'ally Moore's Gulch, where the claims were so rich that miners were willing to stay and fight Indians.
In the northern part of the state many gold seekers came in from Montana and Dakota and found rich placers along the tributaries of Powder River, where the famous Lost Cabin placers were found.
All these placer fields are evidences of gold veins in the adjacent mountains, as they are formed from the disintegration and erosion of such veins, but little exploration in the high ranges to locate the gold mines could be done because they were so far away from railroad transportation and working facilities.
The leading copper districts of the state are Grand Encampment in the Sierra Madre Mountains, the New Rambler district in the Snowy range, the Hartville district in the Black Hills of Wyoming and in the Sunlight and Kirwin districts of the Shoshone range in the northeastern part of the state. At Tie Siding, Albany County, native copper has been found in large quantities, but no deep mining has yet been done there. Copper mining began at Hartville in 1881 and has been carried on there and at other camps in the district continuously. Last year the district produced over one million dollars' worth of copper.
The scene of the greatest development in copper mining has been in the Grand Encampment district, which had produced about two million dollars when numerous subsidiary companies were organized, as wheels within wheels, and a wild stock jobbing speculation began with capitalizations of twenty million dollars to thirty million dollars, so that the affairs of the various companies became so involved and complicated that they were thrown into court and all operations suspended.
The Ferris-Haggerty mine, discovered in 1898 and purchased by the North America Copper Company, was the basis of the extensive operations that ensued in the building of large reduction works at Grand Encampment and an aerial tramway over the mountains sixteen miles from the mine to the works, and the construction of subsidiary plants, as well as the equipment of the mines and houses for employees, etc.
The Doane Rambler, the Portland and various other mines contributed to the ore supplies handled at the smelting works.
The great extent and value of the Ferris-Haggerty group is well established and undisputed, and when the present litigation is over, that section will become one of the great copper producing districts of the country. The ores consist of yellow copper pyrites, brown oxides and blue carbonates.
Another noted copper mine is the New Rambler, in Albany County, discovered in 1900. This mine has produced about one million pounds of the richest copper ores known, containing a small percentage of platinum. The ore is a covellite, a beautiful blue sulphide, with brilliant crystallizations. The company has a small matte smelter in connection with its mining plant.
Silver Crown, twenty-five miles northwest of Cheyenne, has been the scene of copper mining at different periods during the past forty years, and several large deposits have been penetrated there by the Fairview, Ferguson, Louise and other mines, and few districts in the state have better prospects for future development in copper production. At this camp there are also several low-grade gold and copper deposits of great magnitude.
Allanite. Albany County, near Albany Station. Occurs near line between sections 3 and 10, township 14, range 78 west, in pegmatite.
Anglesite (lead sulphate). Carbon County, at Ferris, with galena, cerusite and quartz.
Argentite (silver sulphide). Laramie County, with other ores, Laramie Peak.
Asbestos (chiefly chrysotile). Albany County, Laramie range. Carbon County, in Seminoe Mountains. Converse County, occurs ten miles south of Glenrock. Crook County, Black Hills. Natrona County, mined on Casper Mountain, eight miles south of Casper, and on Smith Creek, twenty miles southeast of Casper; fair quality; associated with serpentine; two mills erected in 1910; small production. Atlantic district, Fremont County, operations pending.
Asphalt. Fremont County, occurs four miles northeast of Fort Washakie at a depth of 1,500 feet in wells drilled for oil, and in nearly all of the oil districts as maltha or brea. Bighorn County, west slope of Big Horn Mountains in sections 28, 29, 32, 33, township 52 north, range 89 west.
Azurite (blue carbonate of copper). Albany County, Rambler, and Blanche mines at Holmes, Grand Encampment district. Carbon County. Occurs but not mined in Seminoe district. Crook County, Warren's Peak. Johnson County, Big Horn Mountains. Platte and Goshen counties, in Hartville Uplift in many prospects; mined in Copper Belt mines.
Barite (heavy spar). Albany County, Medicine Bow Mountains; not mined. Crook County, Black Hills. Park County, at Kirwin.
Bentonite (medicinal or paper clay). Occurs in Albany, Bighorn, Carbon. Converse, Crook, Fremont, Hot Springs, Johnson, Natrona, Park, Sheridan and Weston counties; used for weighing paper, as an adulterant, for hoof packing, and in the manufacture of antiphlogistine. Albany County, extensive deposits well developed on Rock Creek in eastern part of county; deposits also occur respectively at eight and twenty miles southwest of Laramie; has been shipped from Rock Creek and Laramie Basin. Bighorn County, thick deposits in northern part of Big Horn Basin, near Hartman and the Alontana boundary. Weston County, near Newcastle; has been shipped from Clay Spur and Newcastle. In Hot Springs County it occurs in beds three feet thick.
Bismuth. See Bismuthinite and Bismutite.
Bismuthinite. Albany County, occurs near Cummings City; not mined.
Bismutite. Albany County, has been mined on Jelm Mountain.
Bornite (purple copper ore). Carbon County, mined at Encampment district. Platte County, formerly mined about Hartville.
Brown iron ore (limonite). Albany County, occurs at Jelm mines. Converse County, near Douglas. Fremont County, on Little Pope Agie Creek; not mined.
Cassiterite. Crook County. Stream tin has been found sparingly at various times in the gulches around Nigger Hill, S. D., on state line.
Cement material (Portland). .Albany County, fifteen feet of pure marl in Niobrara formation, eight miles southwest of Laramie. Laramie County, Niobrara and Minnekahta limestones and Graneros shale member of the Benton, near Cheyenne. Weston County, near Newcastle. Not used.
Cerargyrite (horn silver). Crook County, Black Buttes mines, Warren's Peak. Fremont County, associated with other ores in Wind River Mountain mines.
Cerium metals. See AUanite and Monazite.
Cerusite (carbonate of lead). Albany County, in schists and diorite at Ester-brook; has been mined and shipped. Carbon County, with galena and quartz at Ferris. Crook County, Black Butte mines, hard and soft carbonates; argentiferous : has been mined.
Chalcocite (copper glance). Albany County, in gneiss and schist at Jelm; gold and silver values; Doane-Rambler and other mines. Carbon County, important ore of Encampment district. Platte and Goshen counties, important ore in Hartville Uplift; carries gold and silver at some mines.
Chalcopyrite (copper pyrites). Albany County, in granite and schist at Jelm mines; gold values. Carbon County, important ore of Encampment district; Seminoe Mountains. Fremont County, South Pass City, with other ores. Laramie County, with iron ores in quartz at Ulcahoma mine, near Hecia; carries gold and silver. Park County, at Kirwin. Platte and Goshen counties, important ore of Hartville Uplift.
Chromite (chromic iron ore). Large deposits in the southern part of the state. Converse County, mined at Deer Creek Canyon, fifteen miles southwest of Glenrock. Natrona County, similar deposit occurs on Casper Mountain.
Chromium. See Chromite.
Chrysocolla (copper silicate). Platte and Goshen counties, Hartville iron range. Mined at Green Hope, Silver Cliff and Copper Belt mines.
Chrysotile. See Asbestos.
Clay (brick). Abundant throughout the state. Brick made in the following localities; Albany County, Laramie; Bighorn County, Basin, Cody, Park and Worland; Carbon County, Encampment; Converse County, Douglas; Crook County, Gillette; Fremont County, Lander and Thermopolis; Natrona County, Casper; Platte County, Wheatland; Sheridan County, Sheridan;. Sweetwater County. Green River; Laramie County, Cheyenne. Also in other counties.
Clay (medicinal or paper). See Bentonite.
Coal. Estimated tonnage of coal in the ground second largest in the United States; about fifty per cent of the area of the state is underlain by coal-bearing formations.
Coal (bituminous). Laramie Basin–Albany County, mined for local use at Rock, Dutton and Mill creeks.
Coal (bituminous and sub-bitummous ). Green River Field—Carbon, Fremont, Sweetwater and Uinta counties: contains 4,800 square miles of available coal and 20,000 square miles of coal deeply buried. Carbon County, bituminous coal mined at Hanna and Rawlins. Sweetwater County, Rock Springs. Uinta County, Cumberland, Diamondville, Kemmerer and Spring Valley. Henry's Fork Field–Uinta County, coal widely distributed: little developed.
Coal (bituminous coking). Cambria Field—Weston County, large mine at Cambria; about twelve square miles of workable coal; has been coked.
Coal (sub-bituminous). Big Horn Basin–Bighorn and Park counties, mines near Basin, Cody, Crosby. Gebo, Meeteetse and Thermopolis. Powder River Field–Largest in the state; lies between Black Hills and Big Horn Mountains; extends from Montana line south to North Platte River; Upper Cretaceous and Eocene; beds have a maximum thickness of forty-five feet; 11,000 square miles underlain by workable beds. Mines in Converse County at Glenrock, Big Muddy, Inez Station and Lost Spring; Johnson County, Buffalo; Sheridan County, Carney, Dietz, Monarch and Sheridan. Small quantity for local use taken at many places. Wind River Basin–Fremont and Natrona counties. Mined in Popo Agie Valley, eight miles northeast of Lander and near Hudson; eight feet.
Cobalt. Albany County, with gold-copper ores in Medicine Bow mines at Holmes. Laramie County, with copper ores in Silver Crown district.
Copper (native). Albany County, in granite at Rambler mine, Grand Encampment district. Fremont County, Copper Mountain district. Platte and Goshen counties, Hartville Uplift; mined in Iron Belt mines. Tie Siding, Albany County.
Copper Minerals. Copper is the predominant metal produced in the following districts: Albany County, Douglas Creek, Horse Creek, Jelm Mountains and Laramie Peak; Carbon County, Encampment, French Creek, Rankin and Semi-noe; Converse County, Warbonnet; Fremont County, Copper Mountain, De Pass and Owl Creek; Goshen County, Rawhide Buttes; Johnson County, Bull Camp ; Laramie County, Hecla ; Natrona County, Casper Mountain ; Park County, Kirwin, Sunl-ght; Uinta County, Cockscomb. See also Azurite, Bornite, Chal-cocite, Chalcopyrite, Chrysocol'a, Covellite, Cuprite. Malachite, Melaconite, Ten-nantite and Tenorite.
Corundum (emery). Fremont County, Wind River range : not mined.
Covellite. Albany County, mined at Rambler mine at Holmes, Grand Encampment district. Platte and Goshen counties, Hartville Uplift.
Cuprite (red copper oxide). Albany County, Rambler mine at Holmes, Grand Encampment district. Bighorn County, prospects in Bull Creek, Walker Prairie, in Big Horn Mountains. Crook County, associated with hard carbonate ores at Black Buttes and Inyankara Peak; has been mined. Platte and Goshen counties, mined in Hartville Uplift; prospects in Whalen Canyon, Muskrat Canyon and Rawhide buttes.
Epsomite (Epsom salt, magnesium sulphate). Long, needle-shaped crystals in soda lakes in Albany. Carbon and Natrona counties. Brooklyn Lake, area ninety acres, covered with nearly pure deposit, near Wilcox Station, Albany County.
Flagstone. Common in same localities as marble. Limestone and sandstones. Has been quarried for local use.
Galena (argentiferous). Albany County, mined for gold and silver in gneiss and schist at Jelm. Carbon County, at Ferris in fissure veins with quartz, cerusite. anglesite. Crook County, has been mined at Black Buttes. Park County. Kirwin. Albany County. Esterbrook.
Gas. See Natural Gas.
Gold (lode). Produced in following districts, in most cases predominant metal: Albany County, Centennial, Holmes, and Jelm Mountains; Crook County, Bear Lodge and Black Buttes; Fremont County, Atlantic, Owl Creek and South Pass; Goshen County, Rawhide Buttes; Laramie County, Hecla; Lincoln County, Horse Creek, eighty-five miles north of Kemmerer, near Merna. See also Cylvanite.
Gold (placer). Albany County, Douglas Creek and Keystone; Bighorn County, Shoshone River and Bald Mountain; Carbon County, on the South French Creek; Crook County, Sand Creek and Nigger Hill; Fremont County, Atlantic and Lewiston; South Pass City, hydraulicking. In 1912-13 was dredged on Wind River, seven miles west of Riverton and eight miles northeast of Riverton, near Noble. Johnson County, in Kelley Creek, near Buffalo, and in Big Horn Mountains; Park County, Shoshone River and Clark Fort at Crandall; Sweetwater County, Green River; Uinta County, in sands of Snake River, mined intermittently, and on Snake Creek.
Granite. Abundant in Big Horn Mountains, Hartville Cplift, Laramie range and Medicine Bow range; production small.
Graphite (plumbago). Fremont County, near Miners' Delight; Goshen County, Haystack Hills; Platte County, near Ironton(has been mined); Platte County, Halleck Canon.
Grindstone. Carbon County, quarried near Rawlins; small production.
Gypsum. Albany County, rock gypsum is mined at Red Butte, and used by one mill for making plaster; gypsite, or earthy gypsum, is dug near Laramie and used by two mills for makng plaster. Has been mined west of Sheridan; occurs abundantly in Bighorn, Carbon, Converse, Crook, Fremont, Johnson, Laramie, Natrona, Sweetwater, Uinta and Weston counties.
Halite (common salt). In soda lakes in Albany, Carbon and Natrona counties. Salt springs numerous in several counties. Crook County, at Cambria, salt was made by evaporating water of Salt Creek.
Hematite (red iron ore). Carbon County, extensive deposit north of Rawlins was mixed with flux; also on south side of the Seminoe Mountains, thirty-five miles north of Rawlins, and at Jelm mines. Platte and Goshen counties, chief ore of Hartville iron range; mined at Sunrise, Lone Jack and Good Fortune mines.
Ilmenite (titanic iron ore). Laramie County, Iron Mountain; immense dike not mined.
Iron. Iron is the chief metal produced in Laramie County, at Iron Mountain, and in Platte County, at Hartville. Chromic iron ore is produced in Converse County, in Deer Creek district. See also Brown iron ore, Chromite, Hematite, Limenite, Magnetite, Mineral paint, Pyrite and Pyrrhotite.
Kaolin. Carbon County, occurs near the soda lake, pure and in quantity.
Lead. See Anglesite, Cerusite and Galena.
Limestone. Albany County, three miles northeast of Laramie, used for lime in beet sugar refining. Limestones of Carboniferous and Jurassic ages in many counties afford an abundance of good lime suitable for plaster; some of these limestones are hydraulic.
Limestone (building). Quarried: .Albany County, at Laramie: Carbon County, Rawlins; Fremont County, Thermopolis; Laramie County, Horse Creek; Platte County, Hartville and near Guernsey; Sheridan County, Sheridan; Sweetwater County, Green River.
Limestone (flux). Quarried: Carbon County, at Rawlins; Platte County, Guernsey; Bartlett Quarries, at Hartville.
Linionite (brown hematite). See Brown iron ore.
Magnetite (magnetic iron ore). Albany County, in diorite near Foxpark. Carbon County, with hematite, near Rawlins.
Malachite (green carbonate of copper). Albany County, abundant in Rambler mine, and found in Blanche mine at Holmes, Grand Encampment district. Carbon and Crook counties, prospects at Bull Camp and Walker Prairie, in Big Horn Mountains, with other ores. Park County, Kirwin, as vein mineral. Platte and Goshen counties, important ore of Hartville Uplift; mined at Green Hope, Silver Clifif, Lone Jack and Copper Belt mines.
Manganese ore. Albany County, west side of Laramie Peak.
Marble. Albany County, west flank of Laramie range; east flank Medicine Bow range; 1OO-foot ledge of good quality, Copper Lake Station. Converse County, Douglas, red, good quality. Crook County, west flank Black Hills. Fremont County, Rattlesnake Mountains. Johnson County, Big Horn Mountains. Platte County, Hartville, east bank Laramie range, abundant in the Carboniferous ; pure white marble occurs twenty miles west of Wheatland.
Marl. Albany County, fifteen feet pure marl, eight miles southwest of Laramie.
Melaconite (black oxide of copper). Albany County, quantity in Rambler mine. Holmes. Platte County, Michigan mine.
Mica (muscovite). Albany County, in Medicine Bow range. Converse County, occurs in sizable plates at Glenrock. Fremont County, sixty miles west of Lander. Goshen County, in Haystack Mountains near Hartville. Platte County, near fronton.
Mineral paint. Carbon County, made from soft iron ore at Rawlins. Suitable material at Hartville and other iron localities.
Mirabilite (sodium sulphate, glauber salt). In soda lakes in Albany, Carbon and Natrona counties; has been mined in Albany County near Laramie and in Natrona County, Sweetwater Valley.
Molybdenite. Park County, in Bryan mine at Kirwin. Strong mine, Albany.
Monazite. Carbon County, in black sands in Bald Mountain district. Sheridan County, reported from Big Horn Mountains.
Natron (carbonate of soda). Sweetwater County. Green River; borings in the Wasatch sandstone (Eocene?) at depth of 125 and 700 feet yield an almost concentrated solution of sodium carbonate utilized for the manufacture of caustic soda. Common in the soda lakes of Albany, Carbon, Natrona and Sweetwater counties; not marketed.
Natural gas. Bighorn County. Big Horn Basin gas field; gas from anticlines at western base of Big Horn Mountains : used commercially at Basin, Byron. Lovell and Greybull. Converse County, small field near Douglas. Hot Springs County, considerable quantities, as yet not utilized, in Grass Creek oil field. Occurs in central Park County, near Cody, and in southern Park County, in Buffalo Basin.
Nickel ore. Converse County, in pyrrhotite, Esterbrook district. Laramie County, in ores of Ulcahoma mine, and associated with copper ores, Little London mine, near Hecla.
Niter. Sweetwater County, soda niter in Leucite Hills.
Oil. See Petroleum.
Oil shale. See Shale.
Ozokerite (mineral wax). Fremont County, occurs twenty miles southeast of Lander. Sweetwater and Uinta counties, near Colorado line, in Tertiary and Cretaceous; shipped east for use in manufacture of ointments and insulating material.
Palladium. Albany County, in copper ores with platinum in Rambler mine at Holmes.
Petrified wood. Common in badlands in many parts of the state.
Petroleum. Productive areas of considerable importance in Bighorn County, near Basin, Byron and Greybull. About fifteen wells drilled on Torchlight Dome, three miles east of Basin; ten wells on a small anticline directly north of this dome ; and about thirty-five wells on the Greybull Dome, at the mouth of Grey-bull River. Petroleum, paraffin base, in Fremont County, north and east of Lander, near Riverton, Saddlerock; in Hot Springs County, along Grass Creek, five miles northwest of Ilo; and in Natrona County, at Salt Creek, north of Casper. Hot Springs County, in Grass Creek anticline, twenty or more wells drilled ; nearly all found oil. Petroleum occurs in small quantities in Bighorn County, near Bonanza; in Converse County, near Douglas: in Crook County, near Moorcroft; in Johnson County, along Powder River; in Lincoln County, near Labarge; in Weston County, near Newcastle; and in Uinta County, near Spring Valley. The total production of the state in 1913 was 2,406.522 barrels, valued at $1,187,232; in 1914 it was 3,560,375 barrels, valued at $1,679,192.
Phosphate rock. Fremont County, extends fifty miles northwest and southeast from Lander and occurs along northern boundary. Hot Springs County, underlies area near Thermopolis and along southern boundary. Lincoln County, mined and shipped at Cokeville; large area 140 miles long; beds ten feet thick.
Platinum. Albany County, in copper ores of the Rambler mine, at Holmes. Lincoln County, in concentrates from Snake River placers. See also Sperrylite.
Potash. Sweetwater County, large quantity in wyomingite and other rocks of Leucite Hills No method known for making it commercially available. See also Niter.
Pumice. Albany County, beds four to six feet thick near Sportsman's Lake.
Pyrite (iron pyrites). Albany County, with copper ores. Encampment district, in Jelm and Ulcahoma mines; mined for gold and silver content. Sweetwater and other counties, with gold and quartz veins; little worked.
Pyrrhotite. Albany and Converse counties, underlying iron oxides at Cooney Hill and with copper ores in prospects in North Laramie district.
Road metal. See Asphalt, Granite, Limestone, Marble and Sandstone.
Salt. Uinta County, mined at Auburn. Salt produced from brine south of Star Valley on Salt Creek. See also Halite.
Sand (building). Dug in small quantity for local use at many places.
Sand (glass). Albany County, from soft sandstone of Casper formation. Has been quarried three miles east of Laramie.
Sandstone. Albany County, quarried at Laramie, small quantity. Bighorn County, Cody : Carbon County, Rawlins : Crook County, Aladdin ; Fremont County, Lander and Thermopolis; Laramie County, Iron Mountain and Underwood; Sheridan County, Arno, Dietz and Absarokee Park; Uinta County, Cumberland, Evanston, Oakley, Frontier and Glencoe; and at many other towns and villages.
Shale. Albany County, used for making brick at Laramie.
Shale (oil). Green River formation (Eocene), in southwestern part of the state, on Green River and its tributaries; some shale rich in oil.
Silver (native). Platte County, Silver Clift mine in Hartville Uplift and in other copper mines. See also Argentitc, Cerargyrite and Sylvanite.
Sperrylite. Albany County, has been found at Rambler mine, Holmes.
Sphalerite. Platte County, mined with hematite in Hartville mines.
Sulphur. Hot Springs County, massive and in small crystals, in travertine near Thermopolis; mined and shipped. Park County, in local deposits on south side of Shoshone River; at lower end of Shoshone Canyon, and on west side of Sulphur Creek; occurs in the Sunlight Basin, fifty-two miles northwest of Cody; has been mined near Cody.
Sylvanite. Crook County, occurs in Bear Lodge Mountains.
Tennantite. Platte County, has been mined north of Guernsey in Copper Bottom prospect, southeast quarter section 23, township 29 north, range 65 west.
Tenorite. Albany County, quantity at Rambler mine. Holmes.
Thorium. See Monazite.
Tin. See Cassiterite.
Titanium. See Ilmenite.
Travertine. Hot Springs County, near Thermopolis, on Big Horn River (abundant), and in Yellowstone National Park in the northwestern part of the state.
Trona (sodium carbonate). Sweetwater County, number of wells at Green-water ; produce good soda; shipped.
Tufa. See Travertine.
Tungsten. See Wolframite.
Wolframite. Albany County, small stringer in copper mine near Holmes.
Wood, silicified. Abundant in Yellowstone National Park.
Wyomingite. Sweetwater County, in Leucite Hills, abundant. Future source of potash when method for making it commercially available is discovered.
Yttrium. See Allanite.
Zinc. See Sphalerite.