Pacific area, whereas the Edmonton coals are confined to
the central part of the basin that extends northward almost
to Lesser Slave Lake. Coal seams of the Edmonton forma-
tion outcrop around the still younger Paskapoo formation
that occupies the central position in the basin. Edmonton
is the principal mining centre of this great coalfield. North-
ward, coal has been found in many places in rocks of both
Cretaceous and Tertiary ages.

The exploitation of coal depends on transportation and,
although coal mining started around Edmonton in 1896,
the fields in the Foothills to the west were not opened up
until the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was built west of
Edmonton in 1910 to 1912. Deposits of Lower Cretaceous
bituminous coals have been or are now being mined at
Pocahontas, Bralé, Mountain Park, Cadomin, and Luscar,
and high volatile bituminous coals of Upper Cretaceous
age have been or are being mined at Coalspur, Mercoal,
Lovett, Sterco, Coal Valley, and Foothills. Total coal
production from this area for 1942 was 2,285,000 tons,

as compared to the Alberta total for that year of 7;750,000
tons.

Extensive deposits of high-grade bituminous coal of
Lower Cretaceous age are widely distributed through the
northern and northeastern parts of British Columbia.
‘They embrace the deposits of the Groundhog Coal Basin
at the headwaters of the Skeena and Stikine Rivers, numerous
small coal basins lying within the Skeena River drainage
basin, including those of Bulkley River, and the important
deposits of the Peace River district which form the north-
westerly extension of those of the Foothills Belt of Alberta.
These deposits are largely undeveloped, and the geological
data available on most of the fields are too meagre to permit
reliable estimates of their coal reserves to be. made. Coal
mining operations in the Bulkley River drainage basin are
confined to two small collieries in the Telkwa coalfield near
Telkwa, a town on the Canadian National Railways line,
130 miles due east of Prince Rupert and 10 miles southeast
of Smithers. One of these, the Bulkley Valley Colliery,
is located on Goat Creek, 7 miles from Telkwa, and the
other, the Telcoal Company Colliery, is located on Mud
Creek, 5 miles from Telkwa. The coal seams mined at
each of these collieries average about 11 feet in thickness;
the coal is relatively clean and low in sulphur content, and
is of High Volatile “A” Bituminous and Medium Bituminous
ranks. The samples from the Telkwa coalfield show a

wide range in chemical analyses, the average of 17 samples
being as follows:

eae | | Volatile} Fixed | | | Fuel
Sample |Moisture) Ash Wie | Gaile pl B.T.U. | Ratio
| | |
RSet. 3-5 | 8-9 29-0 58-6 1-0 | 13,200 2-0
De Se yneO- 351 4330-0515 —60rt7 1-0 | 13,680} 2-0
t |
*R—sample as received. D—dry basis.

3681—3}

The basin has an area 0° about 7 square miles and
contains five seams, three of which are more than 3 feet in
thickness, giving an aggregate thickness of workable coal
of 20 feet. The basin contains an estimated reserve of
mineable coal of 60,000,000 short tons. The numerous
other small basins in the vicinity of Bulkley River have an
estimated reserve of 55,000,000 short tons, and that of the
Groundhog area is placed at 496,000,000 short tons. Owing
to the adverse climatic, topographical, and geological factors,
only a fraction of these reserves should be considered as
recoverable coal.

The coal deposits of the Peace River district are among \
the most important undeveloped coal reserves in British
Columbia. They are known to occur widely distributed
Over an area of several thousand square miles extending
from Peace River Canyon northerly across Graham River,
Halfway River, and Sikanni Chief River to the headwaters
of Prophet River, a distance 0° over 100 miles, and from
Carbon River, a tributary of the Peace lying 25 miles to the
west of Peace River Canyon, southeasterly across the
headwaters of Pine River for a distance of about 60 miles.
Coal has also been discovered and is being mined on Hasler
Creek, a tributary of Pine River, lying to the east of this
belt and about 65 miles west of Dawson Creek, the terminus
of the Alaska Highway.

A recent compilation of the mineable coal reserves of
the Peace River district, made for the Royal Commission
on Coal, places them at 1,040,480,000 short tons, the largest
part of which is in the Peace River Canyon coalfield
and its northerly extension. The Peace River Canyon
coal deposit was one of the earliest discovered in Western
Canada, being mentioned by Alexander Mackenzie in
his report of his explorations in 1793. The coal seams,
about 15 in number, vary in thickness from 1 to 8 feet;
five of which are of excellent quality and of sufficient thick-
ness to be mined. The coal seams outcrop on both sides
of the Peace River Canyon from itsehead to a point 2%
miles below the mouth of Johnson Creek, or for a total
distance along Peace River of nearly 12 miles. Mining
in the Peace River Canyon area is confined to three small
collieries, one located in the Canyon at Grant Flats, where
the Gething mine is located, another on the east side of
Butler Ridge near the east end of the Canyon, where the
King Gething mine is located, and the third at the northwest
end of the Canyon on the west side of Butler Ridge, where
the Packwood mine is located. The production from these
mines is relatively small, and is disposed of at Fort St.
John or sent to the various stations along the Alaska
Highway. The other small coal mine in the district is
located on Hasler Creek, a tributary of Pine River, at a
point 8 miles from its junction and about 60 miles west of
Dawson Creek. In 1946, this mine had a production of
about 7,000 tons, all of which found a ready market in

Dawson Creek or was purchased by the Northern Alberta
Railways.

ESE eS ee