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Old 12-29-2009, 11:59 PM
 
2 posts, read 5,872 times
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the owners of the coal bowl are investment group from texas. It is not the same company once owned by the chapmans. It will open in January 2010
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Old 12-31-2009, 12:43 AM
 
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Default Sad about the shooting

Just wanted to say that I was sure sorry to hear about the shooting that recently took place in Colstrip. When I was there I was a teacher so I knew Spenser Benson. He was such a nice young man. I didn't know any of the others involved but my heart goes out to all of the families and friends there.
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Old 01-02-2010, 01:38 PM
 
3 posts, read 8,647 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GEORGIAINMT View Post
I lived in Colstrip for a year. I was a teacher there. I'm sorry to say that no one made me feel welcome. I was a single woman in a town with either families or singles who spend most of their time in the bars. It was very depressing for me. I was invited to one staff-wide social picnic, but other than that I felt like an outsider. So I went to Billings almost every weekend for something to do. Colstrip was cliqick for sure. I was happy when the school year ended and I was able to move back to the Billings are. I'm in Laurel now and love it. The community is awesome!!!!
I see you lived in Colstrip for a time. I am in dire need of finding some lump coal to heat my home. My kids and I live away from town. I don't know who to contact to find out if it is possible to buy coal in Colstrip. Would you happen to know who to contact or how I go about finding out.
The company I was buying it from no longer carries lump coal. They only carry stoker coal of which I can't use. Any information you could offer would be deeply appreciated. "Its getting cold around here." *smile*

Thank you,
kittenkkat
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Old 01-02-2010, 04:21 PM
 
Location: Brendansport, Sagitta IV
8,084 posts, read 15,099,681 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kittenkkat View Post
I see you lived in Colstrip for a time. I am in dire need of finding some lump coal to heat my home. My kids and I live away from town. I don't know who to contact to find out if it is possible to buy coal in Colstrip. Would you happen to know who to contact or how I go about finding out.
The company I was buying it from no longer carries lump coal. They only carry stoker coal of which I can't use. Any information you could offer would be deeply appreciated. "Its getting cold around here." *smile*
Where are you at? Who were you buying it from?

I used to burn lump coal for heat, when I lived near Bozeman. I usually bought it from the feed mill at the east end of downtown Bozeman (somewhere around the corner of Main and Black, I forget by now). When they didn't have any, I'd get it from a guy in Billings who sold scrap coal out of his back yard. When neither of them had it.... I'd drive down to Sheridan and dig my own.

The coal from Colstrip is low-end lignite and very poor for home heating -- lot of waste rock, hard to get started, low heat value -- probably works fine in an industrial furnace but not in a small cast-iron stove. The good stuff that burns hot and clean comes from near Sheridan, Wyoming.

If you go to the mine you can pick up the spill from the side of the road at no charge, at least that's what I did when the suppliers in Bozeman and Billings didn't have any, or only had that crappy lignite. There was always plenty on the side of the road, I had no trouble filling up my truck -- main problem is you better bring a hammer and chisel to break it down into the size you want, cuz some of the roadside chunks were the size of small boulders.

I don't recall exactly where the road to the mine is, but surely Elkhunter or someone in the Wyoming forum can tell you.
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Old 01-02-2010, 05:25 PM
 
Location: Spots Wyoming
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There are two coal mines. Decker and Spring Creek. From Colstrip you can come South on 39 to Lame Deer. West on 212 to Busby and then South on Decker Hwy. (I think they call it 314). The mines are located approximately 40 miles South of Busby.

Or, you can take I-94 to Custer, 47 south to Hardin, I-90 down to Sheridan. Just before you get to Sheridan there is an exit that says Decker Road. Then the mines are about 19 miles North of that exit.

There are trucks that load and hault from Decker coal and I was told they haul to Colstrip for home heating. Not sure who they are or where they actually took it.
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Old 01-02-2010, 05:37 PM
 
Location: Brendansport, Sagitta IV
8,084 posts, read 15,099,681 times
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Originally Posted by ElkHunter View Post
Or, you can take I-94 to Custer, 47 south to Hardin, I-90 down to Sheridan. Just before you get to Sheridan there is an exit that says Decker Road. Then the mines are about 19 miles North of that exit.
That's it -- as I recall it was then flamingly obvious where to go because there was coal all over beside the road. I didn't have to go very far to fill my truck!

Coal is dirty nasty stuff to heat with, but it sure makes good quality HEAT, that feels WARMER than other stuff at the same temperature.
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Old 01-02-2010, 05:40 PM
 
Location: Brendansport, Sagitta IV
8,084 posts, read 15,099,681 times
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BTW how much is coal going for nowadays? I vaguely recall paying something like $20/ton, back in the 1974-1984 timeframe, when I was burning the stuff. A ton lasted me about a month, keeping the trailer nice and toasty.

<goes looking> Seems midwestern prices are $75 to $120 per ton depending on the source and lump size, for good quality bituminous. Don't see a price for lignite (the Wyoming coal is still technically lignite as I recall, but at the high end of that grade). Anthracite is about $300/ton and mostly imported from China; I'll bet that makes the horseshoers scream...
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Old 01-02-2010, 06:27 PM
 
Location: Spots Wyoming
18,700 posts, read 41,936,036 times
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Stoker was about $70 a ton that last I heard, but that's been awhile. Lump has always been free or a case of beer to somebody that worked there.

Neighbor just went out the 29th and loaded his pickup heaped with lump coal. It was free.
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Old 01-02-2010, 07:15 PM
 
Location: Brendansport, Sagitta IV
8,084 posts, read 15,099,681 times
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Heh... well, the real cost of stoker, and lump coal at the end retailer, is the cost to break it up and drag it down the road... so that it's still "free as in beer" at the mine (or alongside the road) seems reasonable enough to me

What kind of stove does your neighbour have? In the trailer I had a miniature cookstove, the main drawback of which was the hard-to-clean smoke path (under the oven and around the back). Waste-of-air buddy of my former b!#&% landlady from hell stole it, tho, when I'd set it outside to do some cleanup. (After that I used space heaters, and since the electricity was on her nickel, served her right.)
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Old 01-02-2010, 07:26 PM
 
Location: Spots Wyoming
18,700 posts, read 41,936,036 times
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Not sure what kind it is, but it is shaped like a cook stove. But he's a forced air system and it's ducted to all the rooms. Don't need to use the forced air system He doesn't until just before bedtime and then kicks it on. Nice system. I'll have to check to see what the make is. He's used it for 15 years.
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