THE CAMBRIA FUEL COMPANY.

THE CAMBRIA FUEL COMPANY.
At Cambria, Wyoming, on the western slope of the Black Hills, one of the most interesting coal deposits and mining plants in the United States is owned and operated by The Cambria Fuel Company. When the projected transcontinental line of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad from Lincoln. Nebraska, to a connection with the Northern Pacific Railroad at Billings, Montana, reached Alliance, Nebraska, further construction was suspended until the railway company felt assured of being able to obtain an ample supply of locomotive fuel in northwestern Wyoming, as the proposed extension could not be profitably operated with coal from Iowa and eastern mines. With a view to securing a contract for building the road, the well known firm of Kilpatrick Brothers & Collins of Beatrice, Nebraska, placed several prospecting parties in the field, during 1887 and 1888, which succeeded in discovering what are now known as the Cambria coal fields, and which were estimated by the most conservative experts to contain at least forty million tons of coal, particularly suitable for railroad locomotive service. The deposit is unique in containing the only bituminous coking coal so far discovered in the state of Wyoming. The vein varies in thickness from three to ten feet, averaging about five feet, and has a slope to the southwest of about three degrees; it is cut by a number of deep ravines, which expose the ,coal seam at several places. When the railroad company had, through its own experts, determined the quality and amount of the coal reserves to be satisfactory, contracts were made for extending the line westward from Alliance, and Kilpatrick Brothers & Collins undertook to open the mines, although operating at a great disadvantage on account of being located so far from railroad facilities, and experiencing great difficulties in developing a water supply sufficient for the needs of a large mining plant and the railroad locomotives. Necessary machinery for the initial installation was hauled with teams about one hundred and seventy miles from Alliance, but when the last rail was laid up the canyon from Newcastle, on December 4, 1889, the mines were prepared to furnish a regular supply of fuel. Since that time a steady production has been maintained. The tipple, power plant and loading arrangements are located in the main canyon in which the town is situated. Locomotives are used in bringing the coal to the tipple, where, after being dumped, it is crushed and screened by both revolving and shaking screens, then loaded by gravity into railroad cars. An interesting and very unusual feature in connection with this operation is the occurrence of small quantities of gold and silver in the coal, which has been found to contain values at times as high as two dollars per ton in the coal. There is a water well two thousand, three. hundred and forty-five feet deep, from which water is raised by an air pressure of eight hundred pounds per square inch to a distributing tank on the side of the canyon. from where the water flows by gravity to the reservoirs used for supplying Cambria, the town of Newcastle and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad about eight miles distant. Electricity also is furnished from this point for the town of Newcastle, Wyoming. Cambria has a population of about eleven hundred, is electric lighted and a considerable portion of the cottages and buildings are steam heated. The present owners, The Cambria Fuel Company, purchased the property and took possession January 1, 1910. The town of Cambria, also nearly seventeen thousand acres of land, as well as the mining operations, etc., are under the direct control of The Cambria Fuel Company.

At Cambria, Wyoming, on the western slope of the Black Hills, one of the most interesting coal deposits and mining plants in the United States is owned and operated by The Cambria Fuel Company.
When the projected transcontinental line of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad from Lincoln. Nebraska, to a connection with the Northern Pacific Railroad at Billings, Montana, reached Alliance, Nebraska, further construction was suspended until the railway company felt assured of being able to obtain an ample supply of locomotive fuel in northwestern Wyoming, as the proposed extension could not be profitably operated with coal from Iowa and eastern mines. With a view to securing a contract for building the road, the well known firm of Kilpatrick Brothers & Collins of Beatrice, Nebraska, placed several prospecting parties in the field, during 1887 and 1888, which succeeded in discovering what are now known as the Cambria coal fields, and which were estimated by the most conservative experts to contain at least forty million tons of coal, particularly suitable for railroad locomotive service.
The deposit is unique in containing the only bituminous coking coal so far discovered in the state of Wyoming. The vein varies in thickness from three to ten feet, averaging about five feet, and has a slope to the southwest of about three degrees; it is cut by a number of deep ravines, which expose the ,coal seam at several places.
When the railroad company had, through its own experts, determined the quality and amount of the coal reserves to be satisfactory, contracts were made for extending the line westward from Alliance, and Kilpatrick Brothers & Collins undertook to open the mines, although operating at a great disadvantage on account of being located so far from railroad facilities, and experiencing great difficulties in developing a water supply sufficient for the needs of a large mining plant and the railroad locomotives. Necessary machinery for the initial installation was hauled with teams about one hundred and seventy miles from Alliance, but when the last rail was laid up the canyon from Newcastle, on December 4, 1889, the mines were prepared to furnish a regular supply of fuel. Since that time a steady production has been maintained.
The tipple, power plant and loading arrangements are located in the main canyon in which the town is situated. Locomotives are used in bringing the coal to the tipple, where, after being dumped, it is crushed and screened by both revolving and shaking screens, then loaded by gravity into railroad cars.
An interesting and very unusual feature in connection with this operation is the occurrence of small quantities of gold and silver in the coal, which has been found to contain values at times as high as two dollars per ton in the coal.
There is a water well two thousand, three. hundred and forty-five feet deep, from which water is raised by an air pressure of eight hundred pounds per square inch to a distributing tank on the side of the canyon. from where the water flows by gravity to the reservoirs used for supplying Cambria, the town of Newcastle and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad about eight miles distant. Electricity also is furnished from this point for the town of Newcastle, Wyoming.
Cambria has a population of about eleven hundred, is electric lighted and a considerable portion of the cottages and buildings are steam heated. The present owners, The Cambria Fuel Company, purchased the property and took possession January 1, 1910. The town of Cambria, also nearly seventeen thousand acres of land, as well as the mining operations, etc., are under the direct control of The Cambria Fuel Company.