The Alaska Daily Empire

BERING RIVER COAL FAILS IN TESTS BY NAVY

Mechanically Unsuited for Steaming Requirements—Development to Cease.

That the Bering River coal used in the recent steaming tests made by battleships of the Pacific Fleet failed utterly to come up to the mechanical standards of the Navy, is the information just received here from unofficial but reliable sources. Efforts to either deny or confirmation from official sources were not successful.

W. E. Dunkle, mining engineer connected with the Kennecott interests, which were deeply interested in the coal development operations of the Bering River Coal Company, who was here Monday en route to the Westward, brought the word of the results of the tests. As far as can be learned no official report has been made by the Navy. Mr. Dunkle said that the coal showed a favorable chemical analysis, carrying over 14,000 b.t.u., but that it proved to be ill adapted for naval fuel purposes as its fineness made it next to impossible to feed under the boilers. Several mechanical faults occurred. The coal would not cake properly and when a layer was spread over a bed of live coals it blanketed the fire. Shaking resulted in the coal going through the grates before it was consumed. The net results of the tests, he said, were to prove the coal unfit for naval fuel purposes insofar as present methods of steaming are concerned.

Shipped 660 Tons

The tests were being watched very closely by everyone interested in coal development in the Bering River field. Last July 950 tons were mined by the company from its workings and from that amount 660 tons were washed out, sacked and hauled to Canoe Landing by auto truck. From there it was taken to the coast and loaded aboard a navy collier which also loaded several thousand tons of Matanuska coal at Anchorage. This 660 tons was used in the tests last fall.

Just what were the results from the tests of the Matanuska coal was not disclosed by Mr. Dunkle, but it is understood to have been more favorable.

Will Close Mine

Since the coal was mined for the tests, the company has not continued its development, awaiting returns before incurring any additional expenditures. It is now stated that it will discontinue its development for an indefinite period. The claims, aggregating approximately 2,500 acres, are held under a lease from the Department of Interior.

Rentals this year would amount to more than $2,800.

It is understood that the company will turn all of the ground back to the government except 160 acres, which covers its plant, unless an arrangement can be made for suspension of rentals.

Large Sum Expended

The Bering River Coal Company has expended in development work in the field between $400,000 and $500,000 and has paid to the government in excess of $50,000 in rentals under its lease. It has more than one mile of underground workings, tunnels, drifts, and shafts. It constructed a four-mile tramway over which it hauled its materials and supplies. Its workings are on the foothills of the mountain range which crosses the field. The formation is faulted considerably and the coal badly broken and crushed. It is this condition that made it mechanically unfit for naval steaming purposes, according to the report received here. The company was unsuccessful in its efforts to uncover unbroken coal veins and so far as is known none have been found at any point in the field.