328 



Dr. C. T. Jackson gave a detailed account, with drawings 

 on the blackboard, of the Wilksbarre coal-field, its geolo- 

 gical formation, and the workings for raising the coal. He 

 stated, as a novel circumstance, that the mine is kept clear 

 from water, by a pump worked by a steam-engine, within 

 the mine itself. A chimney has been cut from the sur- 

 face of the earth sixty feet, perpendicularly, through the 

 layers of sandstone above the coal, beneath which a forty- 

 horse power engine is placed, which raises through a 

 slope all the water which runs to the lowest parts of 

 the mine. Abundant fuel, of course, is in the immediate 

 vicinity of the engine. 



In reference to the condition and formation of the known 

 coal strata. Prof. Rogers remarked in regard to their well 

 known plication, that they seem to have been thrown into 

 these folds by the compressing action of underlying strata, 

 upon their elevation into a basin-like form. That there are 

 underlying coal strata deeper than any that have been 

 worked, is certain, from the fact that these strata crop out 

 at a steep angle with the earth's surface ; they have never 

 been traced throughout, as there are so many workable 

 strata nearer the surface. Prof. Rogers thought, however, 

 that these deep strata would probably more than compen- 

 sate for the increased expense in getting to them in the 

 greater facility with which they could be worked, owing to 

 their freedom from folds and breaks. 



Dr. S. Kneeland, in behalf of a Committee of the Council, 

 to whom had been referred the subject of making some 



