FIG. 14.-Virginia and West Virginia Coal-fields. from 5 to 10 feet of slate and sandstone between. The beds pitch at angles varying from 20° to 60° or 70°, but the average pitch may be assumed to be 25° to 35°. The "strike" or course of the measures is about N. 12° to 15° E. Although this coal has been known and used since 1700, it is still almost untouched, only about 500 acres of the 120,960 in the field having been exhausted. "These 500 acres are principally divided into about six localities—namely, the mines about Carbon Hill, National, Midlothian and vicinity, and Clover Hill, upon the line of the eastern outcrop, at the extreme northern and southern points, and about in the middle of the border-line of 28 miles in extent; also for about 10 or 12 miles upon the extreme northern point of the western outcrop, in the vicinity of Dover, and the mines south of James River; in all, say 38 to 40 miles of outcrop, the circumferential line of the basin being about 75 miles." The coal of this basin yields about 9000 feet of gas, of 14 candle-power, per ton. Three varieties are found, often in close connection-viz.,, glance coal, a deep-black, glassy, very brittle coal, having the ance of hardened pitch; lamellar coal, a brownish-black substance of a dull resinous lustre and comparatively tough; and fibrous coal, a mineral charcoal occurring in thin layers between the other two.

The same coal, but of an inferior character, being much contaminated with iron pyrites, occurs near Farmville, where several seams from 1 to 6 feet thick have been partly explored. It has also been found in the field extending from Danville into North Carolina.

The Richmond basin, although so slow in development, lies so close to tide-water, and contains so large a quantity of excellent coal, that it must become an important mining-field in the near future. (See Tables XIII., XIV.)

The Acquia deposits extend from Mount Vernon to the Massaponax, 40 miles, their greatest width at Potomac Creek or at the Massaponax River, about 8 miles comprising in all a superficial area of 174 square miles. The Farmville deposits contain the two isolated basins upon the north and south side of the Appomattox at Farmville, in Cumberland and Prince Edward counties, known as the Farmville coal-basin; length about 13 miles, and average width 2 miles. Their area is computed to be about 20'5 square miles.

The Potomac deposits form the most northern part of this (western) division. Commencing in the State of Maryland, they extend from the north side of the Potomac above the falls, through the counties of Fairfax, Loudoun, and Fauquier, to Robertson's River in Culpeper. Their length is 74 miles, and greatest width 14 miles, making the entire area of country covered by this formation about 651 square miles.

The Barboursville field is a small area in Orange 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.

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, narrow 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.

tion are sandstones and shales of various grades and The principal rocks in the Virginia Mesozoic formacolors; 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, coal of the beds is mostly bituminous in character, texture, and solidity in rapidly-changing strata. The caking readily, and is excellent for gas-making. It consists of thick laminae of bright jet, highly resinous, often alternating with thinner dull-black lamina. Its specific gravity, according to Profs. O. P. Hubbard and 1246; and it weighs 2075 pounds to the cubic yard. B. Silliman, is 1292, according to Prof. Johnson, 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. sub-metallic lustre, conchoidal fracture, and closely reThe Mesozoic anthracite is hard, of iron-black color, sembles the true anthracite, especially in the Dan River deposits.

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. ation of the Cumberland coal-field of Maryland. At The First coal-field is the Potomac basin, a continuPiedmont, Mineral co., the Pittsburg seam is worked 14 feet thick, having a 14-inch slate parting 4 feet from the floor. The entire thickness of coal is mined, but as volatile matter, it is unfit for gas-making. It is, howit is here semi-bituminous, having lost a portion of its 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 The coal is coked. The Kingwood coal is worked 4 thick, but only the lower 4 feet is first-quality coal. 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 74 feet thick (5 feet worked).

Gas coals are mined in Marion, Taylor, Ritchie, and Preston counties, on the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The beds are from 6 to 11 feet thick. The Clarksburg region contains very rich beds, from 10 to 12 feet thick. They analyze as follows: Clarksburg bed. 56.74

Volatile matter.......
Fixed carbon..
Ash.....

41.66

1.60 100'00

Cannel. 49.21 45'43 5.36 100'00

the south-east, and then gradually rise to Gauley Moun tain. A band of black or bluish-black siliceous rock is 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

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 tained. This coal makes an excellent coke, showing a better analysis than the famed Connellsville_coke of Western Pennsylvania. At Quinnimont the seam worked is 3 feet thick, and is 1000 feet above the river, being brought down a long plane to the cokeovens. 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:

1881. Gain, 1881. 25,183

201 2

16

420

61 to 91 22

3 to 4

31

New River and other steam Coke......

263,517

36,374

51

211

Total movements..............606,444

71

310

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.

The Kanawha coal-region proper lies on the Kanawha River, below the junction of the New and Gauley rivers, and along its branches, Coal River, Pocotalico, Elk, and Greenbrier creeks, where the beds are exposed. The strata rise gently from the mouth of the Elk to the falls of the Kanawha. Above this point the strata dip to

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.