county, on the south side of the Rapidan, of an elliptical shape, about 9 miles long, 2 miles wide, with an area of 14 square miles. Nos. West Virginia Section [W. B. Rogers (abridged)]. 1 to 5. Shales and sandstones.. 7. Sandstone and shale......... ore....... The James River deposits contain several occurrences of the formation about Warminster, on both sides of . the James River, extending into Nelson, Buckingham, and Fluvanna counties. They consist of isolated, nar- 9 to 13. Sandstones, shales, limestone, iron row patches stretching for about 18 miles, from the south-west corner of Fluvanna county, about the Hardware River, with a width of about 5 miles, to a distance of about 1 mile below Warminster, on the James. The area is about 40 to 45 square miles. The Danville deposits extend from Falling River, in Campbell county, across the Staunton River, through Pittsylvania county, to the north side of the Dan River, just above Danville, having an area of 260 to 272 square miles. The Dan River deposits have an area of about 14 miles. The principal rocks in the Virginia Mesozoic formation are sandstones and shales of various grades and colors; occasionally conglomerates and limestones, fireclays and igneous rocks, are met with. In some places the igneous rocks have penetrated the series of sedimentary rocks, which display a great variety of color, texture, and solidity in rapidly-changing strata. The coal of the beds is mostly bituminous in character, caking readily, and is excellent for gas-making. It consists of thick laminæ of bright jet, highly resinous, often alternating with thinner dull-black laminæ. Its specific gravity, according to Profs. O. P. Hubbard and B. Silliman, is 1292, according to Prof. Johnson, 1246; and it weighs 2075 pounds to the cubic yard. It contains from 30 to 38 5 per cent. of volatile matter, 59 to 66 per cent. of fixed carbon, an average of 5'58 per cent. of ash, and 0'6 to 17 per cent. of sulphur. The Mesozoic anthracite is hard, of iron-black color, sub-metallic lustre, conchoidal fracture, and closely resembles the true anthracite, especially in the Dan River deposits. 14. Coal C.......... 16. Coal D, friable...... 18. Coal E, thin.... 19. Shale........ 20. Mahoning sandstone.. Total............ Barren Measures. 21-29. Shale, sandstone, limestone......... 35-38. Shales, conglomerates, sandstones, 39. Coal G............. Upper Coal Group. 42. Coal H (Pittsburg)............... 54-65. Shales, sandstones, and limestones 67, 68. Shales and sandstones.. Total.......... Feet. 11 to 21 30 1 17 to 67 40 3 to 4 1 5 to 6 "70 293 144 The New River and Kanawha coal-fields, the most important fields in the State, contain a better quality of coal of several kinds, and a large quantity. They are well developed naturally by the deep cañon-like channel of the New or Kanawha River, exposing the beds at different elevations in the sides of its rocky boundaries. WEST VIRGINIA.-In proportion to its size, no State surpasses this in the variety of coals and area of coalmeasures. Out of fifty-four counties, but six are destitute of coal. In many, however, the coal is deeply buried. The Kanawha coal-region proper lies on the Kanawha The First coal-field is the Potomac basin, a continu- River, below the junction of the New and Gauley rivers, ation of the Cumberland coal-field of Maryland. At and along its branches, Coal River, Pocotalico, Elk, and Piedmont, Mineral co., the Pittsburg seam is worked Greenbrier creeks, where the beds are exposed. The 14 feet thick, having a 14-inch slate parting 4 feet from strata rise gently from the mouth of the Elk to the falls the floor. The entire thickness of coal is mined, but as of the Kanawha. Above this point the strata dip to it is here semi-bituminous, having lost a portion of its the south-east, and then gradually rise to Gauley Mounvolatile matter, it is unfit for gas-making. It is, how-tain. A band of black or bluish-black siliceous rock is ever, a good steam coal. The next is the Preston county basin. The Upper Freeport bed is worked here. At the Austin mine the coal-seam is 8 to 9 feet thick, but only the lower 4 feet is first-quality coal. The coal is coked. The Kingwood coal is worked 4 feet thick. The Monongahela basin has five beds of coal-the Lower Freeport, 4 feet; Pittsburg, 10 feet (9 feet clear coal); Redstone, 5 feet; Sewickley, 6 feet; Waynesburg, 5 to 6 feet. The Pittsburg bed is the only one worked to any extent. In this basin it makes valuable gas coal, but is high in sulphur. The coke is hard and tough. Near Clarksburg, Harrison co., the Pittsburg bed is found 9 feet thick. Near Wheeling, Ohio co., the same bed is from 5 to 7 feet thick (5 feet worked). seen several hundred feet above the river, and marks the boundary between the Lower and Upper coalmeasures. Its thickness is in some places 6 feet. Farther up the Gauley River it is found forming the tops of the hills. Thirty miles north from Charleston the coal-seams below the black rock are exposed. Two broad undulations return the strata above the river. Four beds of coal are above water-level. At a dis tance of 60 feet above the river is a 6-foot bed, affording the best coal; 45 feet higher is a 1-foot 6-inch bed; 200 feet higher, a 4-foot bed; and 150 feet higher, a 4-foot bed; 266 feet above this occurs the black flinty shale. Some of these coals are good gas coals, others hard splint and cannel. The New River coal-field lies in Fayette and Raleigh counties, bordering for forty miles the New River from Quinnimont to Kanawha Falls. This region contains the bituminous and semi-bituminous steam and coking coal. The mountains rise abruptly to a height of 800 to 1200 feet. The coal outcrops on the river, showing two workable beds with over 3 feet of coal. Farther back from the river, in the high hills, are seen three more beds. The measures have a dip of 75 to 100 feet to the mile. The coal is soft and easily mined, ventilation and drainage being readily ob Gas made per gross ton, 12,839 cubic feet, 16 candle- tained. This coal makes an excellent coke, showing a power; coke, 37 bushels, of 45 pounds. better analysis than the famed Connellsville coke of VOL. II. Western Pennsylvania. At Quinnimont the seam quarters of a mile long; but the mines are now exworked is 3 feet thick, and is 1000 feet above the hausted. Its analyses show 55 per cent. of volatile matriver, being brought down a long plane to the coke- ter, 42 per cent. of fixed carbon, and 3 per cent. of ash. ovens. The coal is a soft semi-bituminous, yielding 63 per cent. of coke. Sixteen miles down the New River, at Fire Creek, a higher seam is worked. The coal is less friable at Hawk's Nest. Thirty miles west of Quinnimont the Nuttall vein is worked at an elevation of 75 feet above the river, having fallen 1500 feet in thirty miles. At Ansted, 3 miles north-east of Hawk's Nest, a bed of the Lower coal-measures is worked, the thickness being 11 feet. This region is developed and brought into connection with markets by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. The shipments for 1880 and 1881 were as follows: The increase in the total movement was one of over 27 per cent.; that in movement of bituminous coal, exclusive of cannel, was also over 27 per cent.; the gain in coke movement was one of over 112 per cent. Nor do these quantities represent all the coke made along this road, for the coke output along the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad in 1881 may be put down as not far from 100,000 tons. Adding the cannel to the other gas coal, this shows that over 250,000 tons of gas-making coal were sent to market over the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad in 1881. But this does not represent the production of these coals on the Great Kanawha (nor does the return of "splint and block" represent the output of those kinds there), for a large proportion of the output of these coals in that region is sent down the rivers in barges. ATLANTIC OCEAN FIG. 15.-Map of North Carolina Coal-fields. NORTH CAROLINA.-The Dan River field, as already noted, extends into North Carolina. Its length is 40 miles, of which 32 miles are in North Carolina, and its breadth varies from 4 to 7 miles. It contains two beds of semi-anthracite coal, each 18 inches thick, separated by 1 foot of slate. They are of little importance. The Deep River coal-field is in the form of a trough 30 miles long by 3 wide, and runs south-west from Granville county. It contains five coal-beds, all differing in the character of their contents. The first is a 3-foot bed of highly-bituminous coal, having 328 per cent. of volatile matter, 638 per cent. of fixed carbon, and 4 per cent. of ash; the second, 1 foot thick, is semibituminous, and contains 23'6 per cent. of volatile matter, 72'6 per cent. of fixed carbon, and 4 per cent. of ash; the third, an anthracite, 3 feet thick, contains 6'6 per cent. of volatile matter, 838 per cent. of fixed carbon, and 9'6 per cent. of ash; the fourth and fifth are coal only in name, one being plumbaginous slate 2 feet thick, bearing only 10'4 per cent. of carbon to 78 per cent. of ash, and the other, a 4-foot bed of plumbago, containing 162 per cent. of carbon and 74 per cent. of ash. The bituminous coal of this field is valuable for smelt TABLE XV.—Analyses of West Virginia Coals and Coke-New ing and gas-making, and, like that of the Richmond Coals: Locality. Quinnimont Lump.. Fire Creek coal River Region. Moist ure. Fixed Vol. Matter. Ash. Sulphur. 0.76 79-26 18.65 1.11 0.23 field in Virginia, awaits only development to form an important addition to the wealth of the State. In some localities bituminous coal of lower quality, semi-bituminous, carbonite, semi-anthracite, and natural coke, are found. The "carbonite" Mr. Heinrich considers only a semi-bituminous coal, generally carrying a large amount of earthy impurities. It is of a dark iron-gray or grayish-black color, dull or semi-metallic lustre, compact and even very tough, but not hard to cut. It contains about 11 per cent. of volatile matter, 80 per cent. of fixed carbon, and from 9 to 20 per cent. of ash; also, considerable sulphuret of iron. Its hardness is 25, specific 7.53 0-92 gravity 1323. This mineral is often called natural coke, but the true natural coke is more porous, has a more metallic lustre, and bears a greater resemblance TABLE XVI.--Analyses from Prime's Report on the Centennial to artificial coke. It has been formed from bituminous Exhibit. Longdale (Sewell). Nuttallburg Hawk's Nest.. Ansted.......... Coke: coal by the heat of neighboring igneous rocks. OHIO. The coal-field of Ohio, which extends through more than 10,000 square miles of the State, is part of the great Allegheny field. It extends from Geauga county on the north to Lawrence county on the south, and from Jefferson county in the east to Holmes county in the west, its length being about 180 miles and its width about 80 miles. Its greatest development is along the Ohio River between Bellaire and Pomeroy, where the coal-bearing rocks are from 1400 to 1500 feet thick, and enclose thirteen workable beds of coal of an aggregate thickness of 40 to 45 feet. (See figs. 17, 18.) North and west from this line the strata rise towards the margin of the basin, and one after another of the coal-beds comes to the surface, till the lowest of the series crops out and marks the limit of the region. The thirteen workable beds found along the Ohio River are not all persistent. Only two of the series-No. 6, or the "Great Vein" of Perry county, where it reaches its greatest development, and No. 8, or the Pittsburg bed-are found of workable COAL. tom of these "swamps," and decreases gradually as it FIG. 16.-Map of Ohio Coal-field. dimensions over great areas. Bed No. 1, however, is TABLE XVII.-Analyses of Ohio Coals from Different Beds 1:40 1.70 34.30 59.50 VII. Carroll co.. 2.80 30-20 64.10 2.90 1.23 2:44 32.36 59.92 VIII. Harrison co.......... 5.28 2.62 The report of the census of 1880 gives the coal-sta- | series, the upper one corresponding to the Lower coaltistics of Ohio for the year ending May 31, 1880, as measures of Pennsylvania and Ohio. These upper follows: Tons of coal produced, 6,437,725; value, measures contain the best coal. The general dip of $8,281,979; number of large mines, 216; number of the measures is to the south-east. A great dislocation employés, 15,622; number of small mines, 383; num- divides the coal-field into two zones-one north-west of ber of employés, 1350. The number of men employed Pine Mountain, and the other south-east. The entire was 16,331, of whom 13,626 were miners; they re- thickness of the measures is between 2500 and 3000 ceived wages aggregating $5,100,547. There were em- feet. Twelve coal-beds are known to exist above the ployed 131 steam-engines, of 3835 horse-power and great conglomerate, and two or three are below it. The valued at $386,904. The amount employed as work- latter occur all along the western margin of the field, ing capital is returned as $1,177,328, the value of the being from 4 to 5 feet thick. Greenup county, on the plant at $3,258,581, and the value of the real estate at Ohio, has a good cannel coal. The sub-conglomerate $8,529,931, making a total capital invested and em- coals are similar to the same class of coals in West ployed in the industry of $12,965,840. On 2,630,108 Virginia on the Kanawha. tons $458,468 were paid as royalty. In the list of counties Perry stands first, with 913,974 short tons, followed by Trumbull with 722,265, Columbiana with 515,602, Belmont with 399,747, Meigs with 359,678, Stark with 347,820, Hocking with 331,170, Jefferson with 324,070, Athens with 310,750, and Tuscarawas with 255,495 The first bed above the conglomerate is equivalent to the Ohio Briar Hill coal. It varies in thickness from 15 inches to 5 feet. The coal is generally splint, or free-burning. Near the Ohio the coal is not as good as it is a few miles back from the river. The second bed covers a wider extent of territory, but is not very good. It is from 2 to 24 feet thick. The third bed (the Kittanning coal of Pennsylvania) varies from 24 to 6 feet in thickness on the Big Sandy River. The coal is usually bituminous, though with a streak of cannel. The fourth bed is less persistent than No. 3. The coal is cannel, with sections of bituminous. It is from 2 to 5 feet thick, but in some places is wanting. It is sold as the Hunnewell cannel. The fifth bed is from 38 to 40 inches thick. It is mined at the Buena Vista furnaces, and is of good quality. The sixth bed, Keys Creek or River Hill coal, is over 2 feet thick. The seventh bed is the Coalton coal, which is extensively worked. The coal is a splint and good for furnace use. It is from 3 to 6 feet in thickness. Coal No. 8 is mined at Coalton, where it is 4 feet thick, but is inferior in quality to No. 7. Nos. 9, 10, and 11 are found in Lawrence county. They are of little value. TABLE XIX.-Analyses of Kentucky Coals [from Owen's FIG. 19.-Map of Kentucky Coal-fields. EASTERN KENTUCKY.-Kentucky contains portions of two great coal-basins, the eastern part of the State being covered by the Appalachian basin, the western by the Illinois basin. The coal-field of the eastern portion extends westward from the State boundary on the east, and is limited on the west by an irregular line running north-east and south-west through the counties of Greenup, Carter, Morgan, Powell, Owsley, Jackson, Laurel, Pulaski, and Wayne. It includes fifteen counties and parts of five others, covering altogether 8983 square miles. The coal-measures are divided into two 8.50 36.30 57-30 2.90 1-15 1:41 3.56 35-00 52.34 9-02 2-59 0.60 66.30 28.30 4-80 1.32 3.20 32:30 53.00 11.50 1.20 3-27 33-77 54.51 8.91 1-56 7 Coalton (av. 12 anal.).. 5-19 32-04 55-59 6-71 1.68 WESTERN KENTUCKY.-The extension of the Illinois coal-field into Kentucky covers the extreme northwestern portion of the State, and includes ten counties, with parts of five others, having an area of 3888 square miles of coal-measures. The number of coal-beds in this region has been differently stated, an extensive fault and upheaval making it difficult to identify them. There are, in places, twelve beds, but the number varies with the locality. In the analyses below, the beds are lettered, starting from the top and going to the base of the measures. There are but four principal seams. Coal "A," commonly known as "No. 12," extends over a large area, but is not mined extensively, being near the surface and not in good working condition. Its thickness varies from 3 to 6 feet, and the character changes from a "firm, glossy, black, dense" coal to a "soft and rather fragile" coal. It cannot be used for furnaces in the raw state, but makes an excellent coke. Coal "B" is untrustworthy and full of slips It is more persistent than "A," but has a clay parting. A layer on the top of the bed is a rich gas coal. Coal "D""No. 9" of the geological survey-varies in general quality. It is usually hard and compact, with layers of fibrous coal. It has a uniformly large percentage of sulphur, occurring in the coal in bands, The thickness of the bed is 4 to 6 feet. It has a good roof and is worked extensively. |