give a description of the leading mines on the Mo. Pacific and Gulf R. R. The Rich Hill Coal Mining Company operate the mines on the Mo. Pacific. R. M. McDowell, is general manager, T. Fleming, superintendent, J. T. Reavly, assistant superintendent. The following are their principal mines: Mine No. 1, worked by slope; the coal is drawn up the slope to the tipple with an engine. The pit boss is James Donelson. The number of men employed about fifty. The coal has been worked out of the rooms of this mine, the men are engaged in drawing the pillows, excepting a pocket or arm, passed by the former managers, laying southwest from entrance. The ventilation of this mine was good at the last inspection, Nov. 13. About the 1st of October I found considerable black damps and some white damps in parts of this mine, leading from the old workings, which was promptly shut off. This mine has a large furnace. Coal runs from six feet down to two;'located in sec. 36, township 39, range 32.

Mine No. 6, Birch & Brown contractors, owned by Rich Hill Coal Co. This mine is worked by shaft, is located in sec. 31, township 36, range 31, and employs about 175 men. Eight to nine mules are employed to haul the coal from the rooms to the bottom of the shaft. The pit boss is Louis T. Bradford. This mine is in a good condition relative to ventilation; about two rooms were short, and Mr. Bradford was using all reasonable efforts to remedy them. There are several places that the roof is exceedingly treacherous, being soap stone, or, as called by miners, white top. Generally speaking, all the mines of the Rich Hill diggings have a fine top of hard slate or shale. The cars of coal are hoisted by a steam engine up the shaft to the top landing, which is about twenty feet above the surface, where a track is laid on the floor corresponding with the track on the cage; the car is now run from the cage to the scales and stops long enough to be weighed by the weighman, thence rolled a few feet farther to the tipple and dumped on the screens, passing into the R. R. cars below. There are often two checkweighmen here, one employed by the company and one by the diggers. The diggers pay their man the average made by all the men in the mine a day or month.

Mine No. 5, operated by the Rich Hill Coal Co., is located on N. W. corner of section 36, township 39, range 32, pit boss, Thomas M. Brennen. Ten mules are used in this mine drawing coal. There are in the neighborhood of 150 men in this mine. The smoke has been hanging in a number of rooms on 3rd and 4th north entries too long for the comfort of the men, but the pit boss, Mr. Brennen, was making every reasonable effort to right it by bracing up and putting up doors. There is an exhaust pan at the mine capable of throwing out 40,000 cubic feet

of air every minute. This mine is worked by shaft, and, like No. 6, it has steps to go down and out.

All the mines in the county have sufficient escapes. The coal in all the Rich Hill neighborhood is found on an uneven floor, being thickest on the low places or swamps of the mine, grows gradually thinner as it extends up the sides of the swamps or troughs, and loses itself altogether or dips over into an adjoining basin and regains its lost height.

Mine No 10, of the Rich Hill Coal Co., is operated by shaft. Men are lowered and hoisted in this with machinery. The patent safety catches are on the cages; pit boss, E. Allison. This is a new mine, working 16 men. Coal about three feet thick and rather soft. Up to a few weeks ago the mine was regarded by the company as a failure, but in driving north lately the lead is improving and considerable good workable coal may yet be found. It is located in S. E. 1-4 sec 26, township 39, range 32. Ventilation is reasonable good. Men push the coal to the bottom of the shaft in lieu of mules.

Mine No. 12, of the Rich Hill Coal Co., is worked by drift and is located on S. E. 1-4 of sec. 25, township 39, range 32. The pit boss is Pete Pearson. No. of men employed, about 50. This mine will only last a short time, having but a few acres of coal to take out. The depth below the surface of all this company's mines will run from 5 to 90 feet,

Other men have contracted to take out coal, for the company as yet are working on a small scale, and the company themselves are working other mines in a small way.

Since my last report, mine No. 4 of this company has been worked out and abandoned, also the Frank Brown mine.

The company has a large amount of capital employed in mining here, but how much I am unable to say.

Their annual output of coal will approximate 480,000 tons. The output of the county will reach between 800,000 and 1,000,000.

There are many other things connected with mining and operating mines, together with the lay of the strata, that I would like to speak of, but this report I give is too long.

MULBERRY COAL.

Some valuable veins of coal have been opened and worked on a small scale this fall west of Mulberry creek and north of the Marias des Cygnes river, that in quality I have never seen surpassed in the west. The roofing, so far as I examined, was first-class. I regret that I had L. S.-10

not the time to make a thorough examination of these coal fields. The vein where I examined was a little over three feet, and can be worked without the use of powder.

The Keith & Perry Coal Company operate the mines on the Gulf railroad. George R. Sweeney is superintendent.

Mine No. 5 of the Keith & Perry Co., is located on southwest quarter section 35, township 39, range 32, is operated by shaft. One hundred and thirty colored men (negroes) and fifty-five white men work in this mine. Ten or twelve mules are used to draw the coal from the men to the hoisting shaft, some of which are sixteen hands high. An exhaust for runs with a steam engine is used for ventilating purposes. The coal in the swamps of this mine occasionally gets seven feet thick, thinning out gradually as it goes up the sides. There is a manway with steps for the men to go in and out. The coal is from five to sixty feet below the surface. The roof, like all Rich Hill coal, is a No. 1, being a hard, black slate. Here and there are patches of white top (soap stone), a treacherous roof; in places the bosses abandon the coal and work around it. Mr. McKey, the pit boss, frequently lets his mine come some short regarding vetilation, powder smoke hanging too long in some rooms. A new air shaft is being sunk which, when completed, will give better satisfaction to the inspector and the men.

Mine No. 4, Keith & Perry Coal Co., is located on the southeast quarter section 25, township 39, range 32; is worked by drift and stripping the covering off the coal. Number of men employed in and around this mine, seventy-five.

tons.

The coal output for the year of this company will reach 165,000

NUMBER OF MEN IN COUNTY.

I would judge there are in this county twelve hundred men mining and assisting one way and another in running the mines.

NAPHTHA, PETROLEUM, ROCK OIL, LUBRICATING OIL.

A Mr. Henderson in drilling for water on the northeast corner of section 28, township 42, range 33, some three months ago, at a depth of 225 feet, struck a vein of naptha rock from which one barrel of oil a day has been pumped. It is undoubtedly a genuine article of oil. In a conversation with the family at the well 1 concluded the oil rock in which the oil lays in cavities had not been penetrated far enough to test the capacity of the vein. I regard it as a great discovery and it will be an incentive to others to prospect thoroughly until the

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great veins that undoubtedly lay about this coal region will be tapped at the right place. The strata will, in all probability, not be very wide and wind like the bed of our most crooked river. The general opinion of geologists is, that this oil-bearing strata has been produced by the decomposition of both vegetable and animal matter; while coal is composed of vegetable matter alone. Coal oil has the addition of animal matter. According to the teachings of geology we must conclude that while the country now forming the Western States and Territories of North America bordering on the Pacific ocean, Canada and the Eastern States as far south as North Carolina, bordering on the Atlantic ocean, were, to a great extent, dry land, having been forced up and their mountain ranges formed by the pressure of the two great oceans mentioned, rendered possible by the thin crust of the globe; that for ages yet a beit extending north and south, including a large portion of the Mississippi valley, was a low, flat plain, interspersed with inland seas, swamps and jungles, on the borders of which grew a dense vegetation of ferns, calometes and conifers. Roaming through and around this growth swarmed reptiles of various species in great number and of immense size, and the waters swarmed with fish and amphibious reptiles,some of which were forty feet long. In the decay of this, in some way, it is conclusive petroleum was produced.

BOILER TESTS.

All boilers used to generate steam for the engines at the mines have been tested by hydrostatic pressure and warm water every six months and the papers filed in my office.

About five months ago I handed my resignation as mine inspector to the county court, from whom I had received my last appointment. They did not accept the same until the November term of court, to take effect the 1st of December, when they appointed Mr. John Whitehead, of Rich Hill, my successor. I have held the position ever since the Rich Hill mines opened up, prior to which time I had spent several years in mining and prospecting in Bates county. I have endeavored, to the best of my ability, to do justice to men and operators, duly considering the respective rights of both; how well I have succeeded I leave it to them to say. I feel considerably attached to the mining element of our county, and were it not that my private business demands more of my attention I would have staid with them a while longer. There are many good, noble men who dig coal for a living. M. L. WOLFE, Mine Inspector.