1 882. 1*>^ Trans. N. Y. Ac. Set. 



below the Kelly, and varies in thickness from 6 feet ii inches to 8 feet 

 5 inches. Its top bench is splint, about one foot thick, which gives ex- 

 cellent support to the roof. The rest of th'i bed yields an admirable 

 coal, somewhat softer than the Pittsburgh, but harder than the Con- 

 nellsville, so that it will bear shipping very well. A section of this 

 bed yielded Mr. McCreath : Volatile combustible matter, 35.920 ; 

 Sulphur, 0.594; Ash, 1.515. This is an excellent rtf/C'/;z^ ^^^j/, and its 

 coke should contain not more than three or four per cent, of ash with 

 a half per cent, of sulphur. Its excellence w^ill be seen by comparison 

 with Connellsville coke, which contains 9 to 13 per cent, of ash, or New 

 River coke, with 6 to 7 per ceni., or Oxmoorcoke, with 5 to 6 per cent. 

 Some of the lower beds in the section are workable, but in view of the 

 larger beds, they are unimportant. 



As this area lies beyond the faulted region, the dip is gentle. The 

 forks of Powell River are long and flow in deep gorges, so that an 

 enormous area can be worked without resort to artificial drainage. It 

 is estimated that from 50,000 to 70,000 acres can be reached in this way 

 at the head-quarters of Powell River, and that an area half as large is 

 equally available on the North Fork of that stream. 



This series is persistent in Russell and Buchanan Counties, where 

 beds apparently answering to the Lower Splint, Kelly, and Imboden, 

 have been discovered ; but the character of the coal has not been tried. 



The Quiiinimont Group of Virginia and West Virginia is equivalent 

 to the Serai or Pottsville Conglomerate of Pennsylvania. It is un- 

 important in Lee and Wise Counties, attains its maximum import- 

 ance before New River is reached, and thence gradually decreases, 

 until in Randolph County, of West Virginia, it again becomes un- 

 important. The series is 1000 feet thick on Powell River, where it 

 has SIX coal beds, all very thin and without value except to supply 

 domestic fuel. A section of about 600 feet of, the lower part of the 

 group was obtained on the Laurel P"ork of Bluestone Creek, at the 

 eastern end of Tazewell County. This shows 9 coal beds, varying 

 in thickness from 6 inches to 11 feet. This area can be reached 

 without much difficulty, from the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, 

 or by a route following New River from the Norfolk and Western 

 Railroad to the mouth of East River, and thence up the latter stream to 

 its head, where, by crossing a narrow sum.mit, the Laurel Fork is 

 reached. A road is in course of construction along the latter route. 

 Two of the coal beds merit especial attention. The Nelson bed shows 

 from 5 to 9 fe--t of coal, the thickness being greatest on Laurel Fork, but 

 less and less as one goes thence toward New River. The Coal Branch 

 bed, 60 to 70 feet higher in the series, is from 5 to 8 feet thick, the latter 

 on a branch of Laurel Fork. The quality of both these beds appears to 



