an abundance of timber. Clatsop County has similar resources, though less accessible.
Coal was discovered in Oregon before Washington was separated from it, or about 1852. The first coal, and so far the only coal, mined in this State has been at Coos Bay. A vessel named the "Chauncey" in 1854 was loaded with a cargo taken from a drift in a claim a mile and a half from Coal Bank Slough, and carried in wagons to that place, where it was transferred to scows and taken to Empire City to be put aboard the vessel. After all this labor, the vessel and cargo were lost on the bar. Another cargo was soon afterwards shipped in the same manner, which reached San Francisco, where it brought forty dollars per ton, the freight on it being thirteen dollars.
The following year the Newport and Eastport mines were opened, and commenced shipment in 1856, since which time they have continued to furnish fuel to the California market. The shipments amount to about five thousand tons monthly. The mines opened, after the Newport and Eastport, were the Hardy, in 1871; the Utter, in 1874; the Henryville, the same year; and the Southport, in 1875. Recent reported discoveries of a superior hard coal in the mountains about Coos Bay are interesting capitalists.
Other coal-beds exist in different parts of Oregon, chiefly in the region of the Coast Range. The United States Geological Survey for 1887 gives the following analysis:
| Water. | Volatile matter. | Fixed Carbon. | Ash. | Coke. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coos Bay | 20.00 | 32.59 | 41.98 | 5.34 | |
| Astoria | 2.56 | 46.29 | 48.49 | 2.74 | Fair. |
| Blue Mountain | 1.08 | 24.40 | 34.71 | 39.81 | Very good. |
| Camas Mountain | 1.53 | 42.82 | 44.94 | 10.71 | Non-coking. |
