June 20, 1873] — 7-J [Lesley. 



At the north fork of Licking River the upper member is one hundred 

 and fifty feet thick ; while the lower one is only eight feet thick and con- 

 tains a well-defined bed of iron ore and a twelve-inch coal-bed. 



In Estill county the upper member measures two hundred feet ; the 

 lower has also increased to fifty feet, its accompanying ore bed being 

 now workable ; and its coal bed measuring twenty-seven inches in thick- 

 ness. 



From this last-named point to the south end of the line at the Tennes- 

 see State line the peculiar character of this formation shows itself in a 

 marked manner ; its lower member increasing to an average thickness 

 of two hundred and tweuty-five feet and containing two workable and 

 three other thin beds of coal and three well-defined horizons of shale 

 containing iron ore ; its upper member nowhere exceeding eighty feet 

 in thickness. 



The point of sudden change lies geographically between the top of the 

 ridge dividing the Red and Kentucky Rivers and the valley of the Ken- 

 tucky River itself. 



The "lowest" coal bed holds its place throughout the belt ; the other 

 sub-conglomerate coals, mentioned above, coming in one by one above it ; 

 and in proportion to the constant thickening of the lower member of 

 the formation. 



Back from the greatly eroded and boldly-rising wall of the Conglomer- 

 ate, which always marks the western margin of the East Kentucky coal 

 field, lie, thinly spread over a plateau trenched by ravines, the lowest 

 layers of the Lower Coal Measures proper. 



2d. All the formations mentioned above dip to the southeast, making 

 the western side of a wide and shallow synclinal trough. 



3d. This great wave, having its axis in a direction X.jST.E. and S.S.W., 

 is itself crossed by undulations of no great height and depth, having 

 their axes W. N.W. and E.S.E. Gentle as those undulations were, they 

 were quite sufficient to determine the principal lines of drainage which 

 issue from the mountain country into the plain. 



4th. All the formations examined along the base line thicken, and also 

 rise above sea-level, going towards the southwest. 



5th. The lowest sub-conglomerate coal varies in thickness, but is per- 

 sistent throughout the whole extent of the belt surveyed, a distance of 

 about two hundred miles. 



6th. Different species of trees mark the outcrops of the different geo- 

 logical formations. The sugar-tree and other maples and the white oak 

 are characteristic of the base of the Devonian " Knobstone" series. 

 Beech and red cedar grow on the sub-carboniferous limestones. Pine, 

 hemlock, laurel and holly possess the conglomerate cliffs and peaks. 

 Chestnut and oak forests cover the shales and sandstones of the great 

 plateau bordered by the conglomerate bluffs. 



