vein, I wish to say that your Graham Island. coal represents the largest body of mineral wealth as coal, the highest coking grade, the most accessible and easily mined, of any coal field with which I am acquainted. You have an absolute monopoly of all the north- ern markets. Prince Rupert is now a city of 7,500 people. The large Government grant by the Dominion to the Grand Trunk Pacific is conditioned upon the road being completed to Prince Rupert: from Winnipeg, and through trains must be running by October, 1910. The road will have about 50,000 people to serve between Fort George, the Buckley Valley and Prince Rupert. There is some lig- nite coal at Fort George, but the Grand Trunk engines will have to have bituminous coal without sulphur, for the mountain grade close to Prince Rupert. There should be a market of about 500 tons per day. The price of bituminous coal at Prince Rupert at the present time is $12.00 per ton. At Dutch Harbor, $18.00 per ton. At Cape Nome, $30.00 per ton; freight, $5.00. The wholesale rate at San Francisco (1908) was $11.00 per ton; freight from Nanaimo to San Francisco, $2.10 per ton. You have one great advantage. Our Nanaimo coal has 100 miles of pilotage on account of the islands. For several months also our coal ships have trouble with the fog. For six months in the year these slow coal boats average three days in getting in and out. Your island has no fog, and absolutely free ocean, and you have at least one day’s advantage all the year, and two and three days’ advantage in winter time, for a coal boat to San Francisco you have the less insurance rate, because you have no islands, and you have no pilotage expenses. I am absolutely certain your coal can be mined and loaded on steamer at the harbor for $1.00 per ton; the freight will not average more than $2.00 to San Francisco. Your coal should net you $7.00 per ton, One of the important things will be the coking proposition. Your coal will show practically no sulphur, and it will give 62 per cent. of fixed carbon, when we get down from the air and soil. For that reason your coal can stand 100 years in the air without slacking.” From the foregoing quotations of reports and analyses made by competent engineers, and geologists, and from the Government re- ports on hand, we have an accumulation of evidences proving most conclusively that the Graham Island coal field is one of the most important ones known west of the Mississippi River, both on account of the high grade of the coal, and also on account of the enormous quantity, excellent shipping facilities by water, and a mild and balmy climate, and the nearness to the markets. It would be very hard indeed to find more favorable conditions in any part of the country for an enterprise of this kind. = The distance from Prince Rupert to your mine at Massett Inlet is about 90 miles, and a good sized steamboat can make the trip forth and back in one day. As a whole, the proposition is one of immense possibilities, and will be a sure winner if the properties are developed and equipped to produce coal and coke on a com- mercial basis. Respectfully submitted, S. ANDREW HARTMAN. 17