1897.] DRAKE — THE GEOLOGY OF IXDIAX TERRITORY. 417 



two to twenty-four inches thick where it was examined, and has 

 three to four shale partings, which are froQi a quarter to half an 

 inch thick. Gray clay shale overlies the coal. The Mayberry coal 

 bed was seen next at a place three miles northwest of Oologah, 

 where it is two feet thick and rather uniform throughout. It is 

 mined rather extensively by stripping for shipping to distant mar- 

 kets as well as for local demands. This same bed outcrops along 

 Little Verdigris or Caney river at Mustgroves crossing, where it is 

 about one and a half feet thick, according to report. 



These local developments show that the best coals of the Chero- 

 kee and Creek Nations are only about two feet thick, but that they 

 extend through the entire length of the Nations. 



Coal Analyses. — At each locality where coals were collected for 

 analyses, samples were selected to represent the average coal of that 

 particular place ; but as no guide save the appearance of the coal 

 could be used in sampling, the analyses will necessarily not show 

 the quality of the coal as well as may be desired. They will, how- 

 ever, show fairly well the characteristics of the coals and their 

 adaptability to various uses.. In the table of coal analyses the coal 

 beds are placed in the same relative position that they occupy in 

 the field, so that the Mayberry coals are first or at the top, the 

 McAlester coals in the centre, and the Grady coals at the bottom. 

 In each group the analyses begin with coals in the west and north- 

 west part of the field and proceed eastward and southeastward. 

 The groups thus proceed from higher to lower coals ; the analyses 

 of each group, and the groups also to some extent, run from a 

 region of less to a region of greater folding and crushing. This 

 arrangement clearly shows the decrease in the bituminous nature of 

 the coals toward the region of greater dynamic movements. The 

 coals are practically all bituminous, only that from near the mouth 

 of James fork of Poteau river and that from near Milton being 

 semi-bituminous. All the coals show a probability of coking, and 

 a considerable quantity of slack coal from mines at Alderson and 

 Krebs is now being coked. Most of the coals, however, are too 

 high in sulphur to produce good coke for metallurgical uses. Some 

 of the coals are objectionably high in sulphur, water, or ash, but 

 as a whole they compare favorably with good coals from other 

 fields. 



Coal Oil. — During the summer of 1896, several wells were sunk, 

 two hundred to three hundred feet deep, along Spencer creek val- 



