82 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



sandstone, the latter highly fossil iferous, narrow lianfls of blue clay slate, beds of clay and 

 sandy sLak'S, tliiu seams of iron ore, and isolated patches of limestone. Above the slates are 

 found thin seams of very rich hematite, many stoues of -which I have found that will assay 

 up to 60 per cent, in metallic iron ; but the prevailing ore is the carbonate of iron found in 

 the kidney or nodular form, in uneven segregated beds in a strong ferruginous sandstone. 

 At Davis's creek, about midway bctweeu Coal and Kanawha rivers, arc two scams of coal, 

 one of cannel, two of iron, and two of limestone, all within three hundred feet above water 

 level. The general contour ot the country presents a series of narrow mountain ridges and 

 ravines, vaiyiug from 3U0 to 500 feet in height ; in these, and all above the water levels, are 

 five workable seams of coal, one a very rich bituminous, somewhat friable, two of compact 

 splint, and two of caunel, the latter being the uppermost of the series. The bituminous, or 

 square-jointed seam, is 3 feet 6 inches thick, of rich quality. One splint seam, called the 

 'twin seam,' is divided into two parts by a parting of argillaceous sandstone Id inches thick; 

 the entire stratification, or bed, is from 12 to 15 feet ; it gives 7 feet of working coal. In some 

 places both these beds are merged into one, where the coal is found from 5 to 6 feet thick. 

 The next splint seam is 4 feet, and in working gives about three feet of merchantable coal. 

 The upper cannel seam is 4 feet, and contains about 2 feet 6 inches of pure cannel; it is of a 

 slaty, or partially laminated structure; it is not very good for domestic fuel, but excellent for 

 gas and oil-making purposes, as also for steamboat uses, as it burns entirely away in 

 flame. The second cannel seam varies in thickness from four to six feet, and gives 

 from two to four feet of fine cannel ; it is not always found uniform in character, but 

 where perfect it is a hard coal, conchoidal in fracture, very dense, black and clean, burns 

 with a bright white flame, is very rich in oil, makes an excellent domestic fuel, particularly 

 that part of it called the 'birdseye cannel.' When this coal is used no other light in the 

 room is needed, as candles or oil lamps look dim in the glare gioen off in its combustion. 

 This seam is, however, a very unreliable one; in some estates it is found changed entirely, 

 or nearly so, into bituminous coal ; in others half cannel and half bituminous. It appears 

 best, or more regular, when imbedded in shales or laminated argillaceous sandstone, and is 

 much easier wrought. In some mines it is between two hard rocks, without any vein of clay 

 or shale for a ' bearing in,' which makes it difficult to mine; in this case it is excessively 

 hard, and breaks before the pick like a piece of black flint ; but the coal is very fine, and sells 

 at a high price. I believe it is undergoing a state of transition, and eventually would bear 

 the same relation to common cannel as anthracite does to splint coal. If we take an average 

 yield of the cannel seams, we may compute them safely at 4,000 tons to the acre; but iu 

 some places they are giving over l>,000 tons, in others less than 3,000. The bituminous coal 

 will average lf),000 tons to the acre over about two-thirds of the surface base of the moun- 

 tain lands. Caunel coal is now selling on the Ohio at $4 50 per ton, and the best bituminous 

 at $2 50 per ton. The mining cost may be put down at .$1 50 per ton, average; but that 

 would be materially reduced if the mining companies could be persuaded to adopt modern 

 improvements iu the mode of working the mines. The time, however, has not arrived when 

 such can be done, although we are in great hopes another year will not pass without some 

 example being set, which when once done etficiently, others will speedily follow. Coal and 

 cannel selling at the above prices, a good estate, properly wrought, will realize $58, GOO per 

 acre, one half nearly being profit." 



This description w^as prepared several years ago for the Mining Journal in 

 London. The cannel coal is now worth $12 in Ohio, and the bituminous from 

 $5 to S7. The cost of mining is also largely increased. 



INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 



The State of Virginia has undertaken many enterprises, and expended much 

 money, obtained by general taxation, for the construction of roads and the im- 

 provement of rivers ; but that portion of the State now constituting West Vir- 

 ginia has shared little in those benefits. Her interests have been ignored, her 

 mineral treasures left inaccessible, her farm products isolated from market. 

 Some State improvements in this quarter were, at times, feebly essayed, to 

 silence the ri.-^ing murmui-s of popular discontent, and partially completed or 

 wholly abandoned at the caprice of the State oligarchy. 



The neighborhood roads, in a sparsely-settled and hilly country, cannot, of 

 cotirse, be in a high state of improvement; yet much labor has been expended 

 upon them, and many of them are in favorable seasons quite passable thorough- 

 fares, and some are in excellent condition. Since the existence of the new 

 State organization, a thorough and strmgent law has been enacted relative to 



