64 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. vi. 



Above tlie section given, no details for a column of strata can 

 be procured, no record having been preserved of the numerous 

 pits in the overlying measures. The remains from these pits, 

 however, will enable me to state that at this colliery the seam is 

 overlaid with a great mass of barren measures, consisting of black 

 and brown carbonaceous and argillaceous shales, with occasional 

 bands of dark arenaceous shale, and at least two thin bands of 

 thinly laminated sandstones of a general white colour, with black 

 partings, as in the sandstones described in the Foster pit section. 

 Under the seam there is a yellowish-drab Stig^iiaria underclay of 

 at least four feet in thickness. The measures are then concealed 

 for forty -two feet, at which point a heavy bedded sandstone ap- 

 pears, of a light brownish-drab colour, containing, where exposed 

 in a quarry near the Acadia slope, large Stigniaria roots well 

 preserved, as well as occasional stems of Lepidodendron. 



At this colliery the seam has been proved to be without fault, 

 by the main level, which now extends about 500 yards south and 

 400 yards north, the exact direction across the area being N. 41° 

 W., (or N. 18° W. magnetic) corresponding to the dip of the 

 seam, N. 49° E. (or N. 72° E. magnetic), which varies only in 

 inclination, being 19° at the surface and about 23° at the lowest 

 level. The under-ground workings are on the counter-balance 

 system, and are remarkably regular and well laid out. Counter- 

 balances are driven 15 feet wide and 100 yards apart, throughout 

 the workings. An air course 8 feet wide is also driven up at 10 

 yards to the left of each counterbalance. Working bords are 15 

 feet in width, with 15 feet of pillar, 75 feet of barrier being left 

 above the main level. 



Machinery. 



The platforms at the head of the slope are roofed in. They 

 extend from the mouth of the slope to the banks, and also to the 

 shutes over the railway track. At this mine the fine slack is not 

 sold, being carefully screened out, the rest of the coal being- 

 divided into two sizes, round and chesnut. The drawing engines 

 were built in New York, and are fair specimens of the best type 

 of American engines, being compact and easily handled, with 

 none of the slightness of design usually observable in American 

 machinery. They are horizontal high-pressure connected engines, 

 16 by 48 inch cylinders, working by a 24-inch pinion into a 16- 

 feet spur-wheel on a 14-feet drum. The engine house is of brick 



