SEVEN-YEAR ARE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 August 1940, Page 7

SEVEN-YEAR ARE

DESTRUCTION OF COAL BEDS. BATTLE AGAINST FLAMES. Ten huge fires, some of which have been burning for more than 20 years underground in the rich coal seams of the Little Thunder Basin, in Wyoming, have consumed millions of tons of coal and generate so much heat that at times the earth surrounding them becomes molten.

For seven years, says the B.U.P. correspondent, the U.S. Department of the Interior has been fighting these fires. Twelve have been extinguished, seven have been checked, but ten major fires remain. More men, drawn from the Civilian Conservation Corps, are now being enrolledl in what is hoped will be the final battle against the flames.

The fires have been burning in the sub-bituminous coal deposits which lie just below the surface of the earth. The cause of the fires, which have destroyed acres of rich coal beds, has never been definitely determined. Workers engaged in fighting the fires say it is the hardest and hottest work on earth.

Power shovels, tractors and other implements are brought into the battle and are used to dig out masses of the burning coal, which is then covered with closely packed earth. Sometimes the flames leap 100 feet out of the ground when the fires are disturbed.

Government investigators say that the fires are an irreplacable drain on the country’s natural resources. One fire which burned for seven years consumed 66,000 tons of coal contained in five and a half acres. Many of the fires have been burning for 20 years. The Little Thunder Basin is described by geologists as probably the largest potential coal producing region in the United States. It contains some coal beds 100 feet thick, and it is estimated that a single 1,000-acre bed is capable of producing approximately 200,000,000 tons of coal —enough to meet the country's entire needs for six months.

Scientists have estimated that a single acre could furnish 180,000 tons of coal from which 50,000 barrels of oil and 90,000 tons of charcoal could be obtained.