WHITE.] SHOKT MOUNTAIN SHAFTINGS WEST OF BIG FLATS. 851 



Pottsville formation west of Rattling- Gun Gap, my observations show 

 that the upper group of conglomerate plates which have been traced 

 the entire distance from Fishing Creek Gap nux}^ be followed, l)v the 

 exercise of proper caution, when the trees are bare, for at least 2 miles 

 west of Rattling- Run Gap. Westward from this point the amount of 

 the error of the omission of the entire Lykens g-roup of coals on the 

 State maps diminishes gradually. Yet in view of the lessening of the 

 dips from 73- to IT- ' opposite the J^g- Flats shaftings, it is obvious 

 that the supposed boundary of the lowest Lykens coal, which is rep- 

 resented at a distance of not over 800 feet from the shafts, is too far 

 north to include more than the upper 200 or 300 feet of the Pottsville 

 formation, even if we suppose the coal mined in the shafts to be the 

 Buck Mountain bed. than which, as is shown by the plants, it can hardly 

 be lower. Were the strata nearlv vertical, it is proba])le that Lykens 

 coals Nos. 2 and 3 would lie outside of the approximate boundary of 

 the lowest Lykens bed as the latter is mapped in the mine sheet. 

 That coals are present in both of the Lykens groups in this region is 

 evident from the shaftings along Stony Mountain and Short Mountain, 

 which will next be considered. 



SHORT MOUNTAIN SHAFTINGS WEST OF BIG FLATS. 



The disappearance of the Lower Coal Measures and the commence- 

 ment of the spooning out of the upper beds of the Pottsville formation 

 occur not far west of the Big Flats and the head of Watertank Run. 

 It is certain that, unless the folding is much closer than the apparent 

 dips indicate and the axis is not far to the north side of the crest, 

 the Pottsville alone remains at the Fort Lookout shafting, less than 

 li miles west of Big Flats. It should be remarked at this point that, 

 with the exception of the Bavard shaftings on the north side of Short 

 IMountain. no prospecting or exploitation of coal appears to have 

 })een made in this region since the earlier half of the present century. 

 In the following brief notes reference Avill be for the most part con- 

 fined to those old developments from which fossil plants have 1)een 

 obtained. The descriptive matter is derived from Taylor's report, the 

 source of most of the information repul)lished in the State reports. 



A. The first of the developments west of the Big- Flats are the Fort 

 Lookout shaftings (Station 27, PI. CLXXX), opened in 1S38. The 

 location of this operation is shown in mine sheet xxvi, Pt. Ill of the 

 Anthracite Atlas, and a cross section of the basin at this point is con- 

 tained on cross-section sheet xxi, Pt. VI of the sanu^ pul)lication. 

 The two shafts at this point are said to have reached a depth of 82^ 

 feet. The coal was found too poor for mining. On searching the dump 

 at the mouth of the shafts, a number of fossil plants were obtained, 



_^ . '. . » 



* See mine sheet No. xxvi. 



