Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, January 22, 1922, Page 42

PAGE : The Poposia Coal Mining Company | Views tries which have made wonderful development during the past few years and which are yet only in their infancy, nre the coal plants of the Po- posia Coa} Company, loc&ted on the brow of the mountain at Hrdson, ten miles northeast of Lander. ‘There are two of these mine open- ings, Poposia No. 1 and Poposia No. 2, No. 1 having been in operation for ten years and No. 2. commenced the mining of coal only three years ago. Notwithstanding that there are two up-to-date mining plants there with all modern equipment, the surface of the coal has only been scratched and the amount already taken is ‘trifling com- pared with what remains to be mined. There is such a great quantity of coal within reach of the mines now in opera- tion that no effort has been made to ascertain how many miles the seams run, The height of the coal seams has been tested and found to be from eight to seventeen feet, and in width these seams run out over the mountains like an endless underground sea—a quan- tity so great that it staggers the mind at computation. And there are no mines, east or west, with more modern equipment for bringing this rich coal to the surface. . There are agreeable surprises for the old-time coal operator from the east who expects to find ancient appliances here in the mountains for the mining of this coal. Each of the plants of the Poposia Coal Company has the n achin- ery to handle the product in ti}. most economical way and nothing is fucking to give the plant the greatest possible efficiency. A 17-foot vein of coai would be thought unbelievable by bituminous coal operators in the east, so there is an assurance that coal mining will pro- gress just as long as there is a market for the product. The big Poposia plants are located at the top of the mountain where the seams can be easily reached. The two mining villages where the homes of the men working in these plants are located dre\hidden away trom the main arteries A tries Wyoming’s greatest indus- prosident; and H. G. Bizzell, cashier. LANDER STATE BANK Lander, Wyo. The Lander State bank is one of the older banking: institutions of western Wyoming. Tt has a capital of $100,000, and was reorganized and enlarged about three years ago when its growing business demanded such enlargement. the bank was moved into its new quarters at the corner of Main and Third streets, where 4g continued the careful, conservative banking business thst has been conducted for many years. ‘Tho officers of the bank are. Frank P. Arnold, president; Thomas Dunne, vice The three above named gentlemen wita H. 0. Barber and W, Francis Smith, M. D., constitute the board of dirctors, Phe eR ee THE CASPER DAILY TRIBUNE AND WYOMING WEEKLY REVIEW Wyoming’s Greatest Coal Mining Industry LANDER, WYOMING | of travel, the state highway and the Chicago & Northwestern railway, but the company has a connecting railway with the Northwestern at Hudson and all the coal mined, except what is used for local consumption, is shipped over that line. The operation of these two mines has resulted in the building of two mining villages of happy, content- ed employes who are living in the hills and enjoying health and prosperity. The mines also furnish the chief indus- try of Hudson and Lander. Poposia, the village at No. 1 mine, consists of a hundred finely built houses, ali more comfortable than those of the usual mining village. There is a store and postoffice for the accommodation of the residents and a fine school for. the education of the children. The com- pany operates three stores, one at each of the mines and one at Hudson, At the mouth of the mines which slope down into the mountain, coal is found at a distance of a few feet. In Shortly after its reorganization POPOSIA COAL COMPANY’S MINE NO. 1. places there are croppings of coal pro- truding through the surface. Modern mining cars of two tons ca- peciy. are used in bringing the coal to e surface and they are handled! in gangs of ten. The mines give employ- ment to about 500 men and have a ca- pacity of 4,000 tons of coal daily. Both plants are electrically operated, pores being generated at two power ouses at No, 1 plant and one big mod- ern boiler plant at No. 2 mine. A mod- ern rope haulage system is used and within, in bringing the coal from the headings to the rope full sized horses are used. The coal coming from these mines is passed over three screens, the different sizes being separated by this operation for the uses for which they are best fitted. The larger lumps find their way into car-loading machines where in only a few moments a railroad car, of mod- ern capacity is filled and a railroad trainload of coal] for shipment is made up each day. The coal of these miries comes clean. There is little or no rock, slate or for- eign substance. During the ten years’ operation of No. 1 mine scarcely a wag- on load of waste is noticeable. .Slack is hardly noticeable and the lignite coal from these minies is the finest that comes out of western ground. The rapidity with which a railroad car is filled is little short of wonderful, two machines operated by two men each filling a trainload of cars daily. These loading machines are almost hu- man in their operation and-it is a fas- cinating sight to see them placing the coal properly in an ordinary boxcar. The No. 2 mine has resulted in the building of a village of several hundred population. The homes there have many conveniences making it an at- tractive place for coal miners to live. There is an abundant supply of pure mountain water and the houses are built along each side of several streets, wide and clean. Dunne is the name of the Postofiice. 3 ‘These two operations of the Poposia Coal Mining Company are the only ones within severa] hundred miles and com- petitive shipments are_possible to points as far east as the state of Iowa. Vir- tually all the-coal used on the Chicago & Northwestern railway, east of Iowa, comes from these mines, and all the coal for. local consumption in towns within a wide radius is mined there, Here is an industry that will prove an entering wedge for the opening of the great Wyoming ‘coal fields. for some day Wyoming coal will take its proper place in the industrial world. The Poposia Coal Company is a Wyoming corporation with a capital of $1,250,000. Its originator, president and moving spirit is H. O. Barber, of Lander, who has surrounded himself INDUSTRIAL EDITION. of Two Mines and Villages of the Poposia Coal Company, Whose Mines Are at Hudson and Offices at Lander, Wyo. Business Places at Lander, “Where Rails End and Trails Begin.” . Beautiful Capital of Fremont County Bids for Place in the World of Industry with assistants well versed: in the coal mining industry, all of them capable and farseeing. P. J. O’Connor is sec- retary and treasurer of the corporation. Guy Robertson is general manager of the two plants. It was ten years ago that Mr. Barber took hold of this coal mining proposi- tion during a time when that industry in Wyoming was not as promising as it is today. There was a question as to whether or not coal could be mined profitably because it was hidden away in the mountaius. ‘The difficulty seemed to be to find a way of mining the coal so it could be marketed profitably. There was no certainty at that time about this. Mr. Barber has demon- strated that he was capable of solving the problem. Under what were ad- verse circumstances when he took hold of the proposition he has made a won- derful success of the enterprise, which is now one of the greatest industrial ac- complishments in the state. Among the men whose names will go down to posterity when the industrial history of the state of Wyoming is writ- ten the name of H. O. Barber will stand well up towards the top. He has brought into the industrial channels of Wyoming many thousands of dollars from other states, and being a man of large affairs and capable, of handling great business projects, when he set his hand to the Poposia Coal Company’s de- velopment he kept his face ahead and his eyes well into the future, as a re- sult of which he has gone forward rap- idly, improving his own condition and at the same time being a great bene- factor to Wyoming. It hag taken years of hard labor, but:the works he planted are bringing forth rich fruit. H. O. Barber is interested in many Wyoming business propositions. It was through his activity that Casper has one of the most modern business blocks in the west—the Midwest building. *He has numerous other business interests in Fremont and Natrona counties, at Thermopolis and in other Wyoming towns and cities. He is one of the em- pire builders of the west, laying the foundation today for institutions that biker oe: startle the world for their DINING ROOM NOBLE HOTEL THE NOBLE HOTEL Lander, Wyo. a tins Yow towns ‘f