1882. 161 Trans, N. YV. Ac. Scz. 
below the Keé/y, and varies in thickness from 6 feet 11 inches to 8 feet 
5 inches. Its top bench is splint, about one foot thick, which gives ex- 
cellent support to the roof. The rest of the bed yields an admirable 
coal, somewhat softer than the Pittsburgh, but harder than the Con- 
nellsville, so that it will bear shipping very well. A section of this 
bed yielded Mr. MCCREATH: Volatile combustible matter, 35.920 ; 
Sulphur, 0.594: Ash, 1.515. This is an excellent cofzug coal, and its 
coke should contain not more than three or four per cent. of ash with 
a half per cent. of sulphur, Its excellence will be seen by comparison 
with Connellsville coke, which contains 9 to 13 per cent. of ash, or New 
River coke, with 6 to 7 per cent., or Oxmoor coke, with 5 to 6 per cent. 
Some of the lower beds in the section are workable, but in view of the 
larger beds. they are unimportant. 
As this area lies beyond the faulted region, the dip is gentle. The 
forks of Powell River are long and flow in deep gorges, so that an 
enormous area can be worked without resort to artificial drainage. It 
is estimated that from 50,000 to 70,000 acres can be reached in this way 
at the head-quarters of Powell River, and that an area half as large is 
equally available on the North Fork of that stream. 
This series is persistent in Russell and Buchanan Counties, where 
beds apparently answering to the Lower Splznt, Kelly, and Imboden, 
have been discovered ; but the character of the coal has not been tried. 
The Quzunimont Group of Virginia and West Virginia is equivalent 
to the Seral or Pottsville Conglomerate of Pennsylvania. It is un- 
important in Lee and Wise Counties, attains its maximum import- 
ance before New River is reached, and thence gradually decreases, 
until in Randolph County, of West Virginia, it again becomes un- 
important. The series is 1000 feet thick on Powell River, where it 
has six coal beds, all very thin and without value except to supply 
domestic fuel. A section of about 600 feet of the lower part of the 
group was obtained on the Laurel Fork of Bluestone Creek, at the 
eastern end of Tazewell County. This shows 9 coal beds, varying 
in thickness from 6 inches to 11 feet. This area can be reached 
without much difficulty, from the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, 
or by a route following New River from the Norfolk and Western 
Railroad to the mouth of East River, and thence up the latter stream to 
its head, where, by crossing a narrow summit, the Laurel Fork is 
reached. A road is in course of construction along the latter route. 
Two of the coal deds merit especial attention. The /Ve/son bed shows 
from 5 to 9 feet of coal, the thickness being greatest on Laurel Fork, but 
less and less as one goes thence toward New River. The Coal Branch 
bed, 60 to 70 feet higher in the series, is from 5 to 8 feet thick, the latter 
ona branch of Laurel Fork. The quality of both these beds appears to 
