M'^^GEE — NOTES ON THE GliIOLOGY OF MACON CO., MO. 335 



thickness in the tract studied ; nor is it known to have been 

 worked. Its field corresponds roughly with that of the Bevier 

 coal save that it has been further reduced by erosion ; and its 

 periphery accordingly fidls from a few yards to a mile within the 

 margin of the latter. It may perhaps be economically mined in 

 a small way by open workings ; but its extraction would proba- 

 bly be found improfitable under existing conditions. 



As shown by the detailed sections represented in Fig. 4, the 

 Bevier coal ranges in thickness from an average of 4 feet 5 inches 

 at Bevier to nearly 5 feet on Claybank creek, and about 55 feet 

 at the Mayfield working ; and these measurements probably 

 represent fairly the thickness of the seam over the field lying 

 between East Fork and Middle Fork. 'The seam appears to 

 attenuate, however, both northward and eastward ; at the Ex- 

 cello working it is only about 4 feet thick, and farther north- 

 ward on the "grand divide" its thickness is probably still less. 

 The area occupied by the Bevier coal is represented roughly 

 and in part hypothetically upon the accompanying map, Fig. i. 

 West of East Fork this cartography is approximately correct ; 

 but east of that river its representation involves inferences as 

 to altitudes, dip of strata, and the depth of the drift, which 

 are liable to considerable error. Moreover, so rapidly does 

 the seam attenuate northeastward that it is doubtful whether 

 it will ever be found workable far east of the East Fork. It is 

 questionable, too, whether it can be profitably worked much 

 farther northward than Bevier. Over the entire Bevier -McGee 

 College field the quality of the coal appears to be fully up to the 

 standard already established for the well known Bevier coal of 

 the markets; the height of the seam above the main drainage 

 lines is such as to insure dr}' or easily drained workings ; and its 

 thickness appears to be maintained. On the whole, this may be 

 regarded as one of the finest coal fields in the trans-Mississippi 

 basin. 



The I i-inch coal seam has been opened at different points 

 along the East Fork and in the vicinity of Macon, but it is not 

 now worked, and probably cannot be with profit under existing 

 conditions. 



So far as personally observed on East Fork, the Carbon 

 coal is of quite uniform thickness, ranging from 17 to 18 inches ; 



