NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 169 



cast and northwest, and whose area includes about seventeen hun- 

 dred and eightj-seven acres, divided into unequal parts, both by 

 the Hughes River and by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The 

 north angle of the property' is distant about half a mile from the 

 station of Cornwallis on the above railroad. 



The lands themselves resemble in general character thousands 

 of square miles of territory both in West Virginia and Penns^dva- 

 nia, which are situated in the coal measures. They ma}' be de- 

 scribed as very thick deposits of sandstone and shale through 

 whose almost horizontal strata the numerous small streams have 

 cut precipitous ravines to a depth of three hundred and fifty or 

 four hundred feet. The soil, which is what is known in that part 

 of the counti'y as "white sand soil," is generally light and poor, 

 and, except in the alluvial bottoms, unsuited to the production of 

 fine cereal crops. 



These hills and plateaus are covered with forest vegetation of 

 difl!"erent kinds, the most abundant representatives of which are 

 white, red, and black oak, chestnut oak, poplar, beech, hickory 

 and ash, white and yellow pine. Locust is almost imknown on 

 the tract near Harrisville, though frequently met with in the 

 northern part of the count}'. The greatest value of the land is 

 for its production of white oak and poplar, especially the former, 

 which is cut into railroad ties and barrel staves. 



Both the Harrisville and the Tyler County tracts are situated 

 upon the so-called coal measures of West Virginia, and the former 

 of these is about ten to fifteen miles east of the town of Petro- 

 leum. So far as the mineral resources of this property (the Har- 

 risville tract) are concerned, the excitement which a few years ago 

 was allayed after an enormous expenditure of money in futile 

 efforts to procure oil in the district embracing Ellenboro', Harris- 

 ville, and Cornwallis, furnishes us with the means of making a 

 very fair estimate of them. Nothing but oil, coal, iron ore, or 

 clay is to be anticipated, and the very numerous bore-holes sunk 

 to procure the first of these presents us with seven hundred and 

 fift}' feet of measures, in no horizon of which is there a workable 

 bed of coal. The formation, with its plates of sandstone and shale, 

 is almost horizontal, and rolls gently east and west with a dip of 

 2 or less; and though different sections of these hills varied the 

 order of recurrence of their sandstone, flags, and shale, the posi- 

 tion of the onl}' coal seam found was constant, and near the beds 

 of the streams. The coal bed was opened along a small run enter- 

 ing the south corner of the Harrisville tract in several places. In 

 order to ascertain the true position of this deposit with reference 

 to the rocks on the property- which lie about one-quarter of a mile 

 northwest of the largest opening, a line was run connecting to- 

 gether the south corner of the tract, the bore-hole, and this open- 

 ing. This line was onl}' a rough approximation to the truth, the 

 distances being obtained by pacing, and the altitudes by the eye, 

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