) 
Coal Mines of Virginia. 125 
thousands and thousands of acres of such land in these west- 
ern States and Territories, which, for prompt payment, may be 
purchased for one dollar and sixty-two and a half cents an 
acre. Qne objection to these lands is, the want of timber for 
fuel and other purposes; and another is, that they are un- 
healthy; but in many places there is an abundance of peat in 
the wet prairies, and cultivation will every year render them 
more and more healthy, Some of them have been cultivated 
for fifteen or twenty years past with grain, and are as fertile as 
they ever were. As M. Volney says, “They are the Flanders 
of America,” 
Yours, &e. C. Ae 
Art. Ill. Account of the Coal Mines in the vicinity of Rich- 
mond, Virginia, ; communicated to the Editor, in a Letter 
from Mr. Joun Grammer, Jun. 
PerenrspurGH, Va. Jan. 28, 1818. 
Dear Sir, 
N compliance with your request, that I would send you some 
account of the Virginia coal pits, I paid a visit to them, soon 
after my return, in company with Mr. R. W. Withers, and I 
Will now proceed to give you the account proposed. 
The pits, which we made the particular object of our visit, 
are situated in the county of Chesterfield, about fourteen miles 
distant, in a direction W.$. W. from Richmond, and three 
niles south of James’ river. ‘The country rises gradually from 
Richmond to the pits; and, from its sandy appearance, is evi- 
dently an alluvial deposit, although its substratum is the gran- 
ite mentioned by Mr. M’Clure, as extending through this State 
8.8. W. to N.N.E. The coal is found on the western 
°F Upper surface of the granite, coincident. with it, both in di- 
Fection and inclination; but whether they come immediately 
iD contact or not, has not. yet been ascertained. The bed 
of coal ‘is Supposed by the miners to be co-extensive with 
