of coal-measures, which are nearly horizontal, but have a general dip towards the north-west of about 20 feet in a mile, besides small local dips throwing them slightly away from the valleys on each side of the rivers or creeks, and therefore towards the interior of the hills, thus making each of the blocks before described a kind of coal basin, of which the slopes are exceedingly gentle, all of them being towards the centre of the block.

From the eastern flanks of the Alleghanies, where the carboniferous beds first overlie shales and grits of more ancient date. and metamorphic rocks, the prevalent rock is everywhere sandstone, which is generally compact and moderately hard, but contains some much softer and some very hard bands. With these sandstones are a few bands of rotten sandy shale with occasional false stratification, some more perfect and harder shales, some bands of black fire-clay, one of white pipe-clay, and numerous seams of coal. Masses or beds of peroxide of iron, often yellow and hydrous, cover the surface in some places to a thickness of several feet, and seem also to be occasionally bedded with other strata. Ironstone nodules are bedded occasionally near the coal. Calcareo-argillaceous bands, well adapted for hydraulic lime, exist at various points, and grey pyritous bands are also found. There is for the most part no surface-covering whatever to all these deposits beyond a thin coating of vegetable soil, derived from the decomposition of underlying rocks and an abundant growth of forest vegetation. In the river bottoms, however, there are rich alluvial lands, which are certainly of some depth, though probably not very great. Throughout the district there are no marks whatever of other disturbances than would result from the elevation of deposits already partly split asunder by crevices, produced by contraction during the first consolidation of the mass from a state of mud or soft sand. I nowhere saw in any part of the coal-field the smallest indication of faulted ground, or a single slip or trouble that could interfere with coal-working.

The whole district seems divisible into groups or subdivisions, each of which bears coal, though all are not equally valuable or productive. The lowest in geological position occupies the highest place geographically, and the strata forming it crop out on the flanks of the Alleghanies above the Falls. It includes several seams of good sound coal, amongst and below which

limestone occurs, purer and more distinctly bedded than is met with higher up in the series. It terminates upwards near the embouchure of Gauley River, and amongst its higher members are rocks containing common salt reposing on and covered by others capable of holding back water. It is in piercing by Artesian borings to this part of the series that the supplies of brine are obtained which have been already referred to, and which are worked in the valley near Charlestown. The thickness of this lower division I had no means of accurately ascertaining, but it is much more than 1000 feet.

The next series, commencing near the Falls and terminating a little below Charlestown, includes upwards of 800 feet of deposits, more nearly horizontal than those below, and containing not only a great thickness of workable coal, but many seams of excellent quality, capable of being very easily and cheaply worked. Bands of hydraulic limestone, some ochraceous bands, and others from which iron could probably be obtained with advantage, an exceedingly compact cherty or flinty bed, known locally as the flint vein, and a well-marked and readily decomposing pyritous band, are all found in this part of the measures, and may be regarded as characteristic of it.

I examined minutely a property situated within six miles of the Kanawha, and visited the same seams of coal at a spot where they are now partly opened on the right bank of the Creek, by the Paint Creek Company. One of the most important seams, and that selected for first operations by that company, was a bed of very fine hard bituminous coal, locally known as a splint coal,' measuring 9 feet 6 inches in total thickness, at the end of the present drift, which at the time of my visit was 19 feet in from the hill-side. The thickness of the rubbish on the hill-side was here seven feet at a height of about 240 feet from the Creek. The same seam has been cut at the same level on the opposite side of the Creek, and has been opened sufficiently to show that it may be worked there with facility.

This fine bed of coal, having only about five or six very thin partings of black shaly substance in its total thickness, traceable at various points on both sides of the stream to a considerable distance, and dipping at so exceedingly small an angle as to be in fact almost horizontal, offers everywhere the greatest possible

facilities for extraction. Its floor is a pale grit with vegetable markings, and its roof a black shale covered with a very hard band of grit, between which and the flint vein is about 100 feet of sandstone, generally compact and of considerable hardness. The intervening space is also partly occupied by three other seams of coal, the uppermost of which is one of the bands of cannel already alluded to, and is extensively worked at Stockton's mine, on the other side of the Kanawha at no great distance. Immediately over the flint vein is another band of coal which occasionally passes into cannel; and above this again are other seams, only one of which is distinctly known, as the debris on the hill-side effectually mask the outcrop, and it has not been thought worth while, as yet, to prove the existence of beds somewhat difficult of access. Below the thick seam are eight bands of coal distinctly marked, the seventh of which, commencing from the Creek, appears also to be a cannel; but too little is known by actual workings to justify any further statement, than that several of the coal seams are sufficiently thick to pay for working. The annexed cut (fig. 18) will give some idea of the way in which these beds occur. The black lines represent the coal, and the flint vein is shown below the second coal seam from the top. The thick seam is the sixth from the bottom.

Fig. 18.-Section of Kanawha Coal across one of the lateral valleys.

There is in all a total thickness of upwards of 63 feet of workable coal in fourteen seams actually proved on the hill-side in one of these valleys above the water-level, and other seams are known to exist both above and below. The seams are of variable thickness, and occasionally affected by intruding masses of shale and grit, and it will be safe to estimate the total thick

ness at not less than 50 feet. This estimate would give about 70,000 tons of coal to the acre; from which, if we deduct onethird for pillars, waste, slack, portions left in the mine, and other accidents, there would still appear to be upwards of 46,000 tons per acre actually obtainable. A very large and extended system of working may safely be ventured on in a case where the mineral property is so clearly developed and readily obtained as in that before us, and where the quantity of mineral in sight is so considerable.

The third or uppermost division of the coal-field, commencing below Charlestown, continues in a nearly horizontal position to the mouth of the Kanawha, and thence extends across that river into the State of Ohio. It is known to contain several seams of coal, a thin bed of inferior quality being worked about two miles from Point Pleasant, and other thicker and more valuable seams at Coalport. Much coal has been got from this place, but many of the old adits are destroyed, and the communication to the Ohio is thus interfered with. The coal from these beds is not of first-rate quality.

The workable seams of coal proved in the middle part of the series, and cut across by the Kanawha and its tributaries, are most of them of the ordinary bituminous kind, burning freely, with a moderate proportion of white ash, without sulphur, and well adapted either for steam or household purposes. There are also bands of cannel coal, now rather extensively worked at three points, one of them on Coal River, one on Elk River, and the third on the Kanawha, nearly opposite Armstrong's Creek. Some thousand tons of this coal have been taken to market, and there cannot be a doubt that it is of great value for the manufacture of gas. It would also fetch a high price for household purposes, and is even available for the riversteamers, where it is often desirable to get up the steam very rapidly, and where rapid combustion, however it may diminish the value of a fuel when estimated theoretically for heating purposes, is found to increase its market-price.

It will be observed that, in speaking of the coal, no notice has been taken of the depth at which particular beds may be looked for in different parts of the district. The fact is, that the large number of workable seams directly available above the water-level, renders it unnecessary to sink shafts at all.

A very long time must elapse before the cost of winning coal from day levels will be so far raised as to justify any other style of working.

It is not necessary to remark here at any length on the unusual facilities that will attend mining operations in this district compared with similar work in most countries, or to dwell upon its peculiar advantages. The latter are chiefly in consequence of the vicinity of a navigable stream, and the existence of a large number of workable seams, several of which could be operated on at once. The former arise from the absence of faults, the horizontality of the beds, the freedom of the coal from any troublesome liberation of dangerous gases, and the certainty that there can be no incidental expenses from incursions of water, owing to the position of the beds above the water-level. The expense of mining is thus more easily calculated and a smaller margin is required for extras than in ordinary cases, and the following may be safely submitted as an estimate of the charges of winning the coal and conveying it to market. The calculation is based on a somewhat high rate of wages, and advanced prices of some articles. It supposes that the near markets could be supplied by regularly constructed barges, towed by steam-tugs; and the distant depôts by flats, not brought back, but sold as timber. Ultimately no doubt the whole traffic would be by steam-tugs, but the other method is at present the more economical. I have estimated the cost of flats at a high rate.

Dead work and loss in mine, per ton of 28 bushels
Getting the coal and hauling it to day

Conveying to river and putting on board
Oil, lights, and sundry small charges

Net cost of coal on board

To this must be added, for all coal conveyed to a distance, the proportion of cost of boat and tolls on the Kanawha, say 40 cents per ton, and a charge for commission, depôts, wharfage, and storing, which may be taken at 10 cents. The total charge to be added for wages and further expenses of transport may be taken at 4 cents per ton for every 100 miles conveyed. This