Bituminous Coal of Pennsylvania. 77 



" The Bituminous Coal Fields of FennsyhaniaJ^^ 



" Nature, in the disposition of her bounties^ seems to have bestow- 

 ed upon Pennsylvania, more than a due proportion of the treasures 

 of the mineral kingdom. Great and valuable as are her anthracite 

 deposits, and rich and abundant as are her mines of iron ore and oth- 

 er minerals, her bituminous coal region is still more extensive and in- 

 exhaustible. The great secondary deposit, extending as is gener- 

 ally believed, from the Hudson to the IMisslssippl, and to the Rocky 

 mountains, is in Pennsylvania limited by the Alleghany mountains, 

 which appear to form the barrier, or dividing line between the anthra- 

 cite and bituminous coal beds, or between the transition and secon- 

 dary formations. The union or junction of these formations is plain- 

 ly and distinctly marked in the end of the mountain, where the 

 west branch of the Susquehanna breaks through it, above Bald Eagle, 

 the latter resting against the former, and forming the basin in which 

 the bituminous coal, in regular and successive strata, is deposited. 

 This coal field is therefore confined to the west side of the Alleghany, 

 and is supposed to extend to the centre of the mountain. In the S. 

 E. corner of Somerset county, and in the western parts of Bedford 

 and Huntingdon counties, it would appear to extend to the S. E. of 

 what is there called the Alleghany, and occurs in great abundance on 

 Wills' creek, Jennings' creek, &c. emptying into the Potomac. 

 The chain of mountains called the Alleghany above Bedford, is very 

 wide ; and large mountains diverge from it, and althoucrh the moun- 

 tain ranging through Somerset and dividing the waters of Youo-hioo-a- 

 ny and Connemaugh, from those of the Potomac, maybe the largest, 

 it seems most probable that Wells or Evetts, or possibly Sideling 

 mountain, there forms the boundary of these deposits, and upon ex- 

 amination will be found to exhibit a continuation of the same char- 

 acteristic features between the secondary and transition formation.^' 



The bituminous coal beds, vary from one foot to twelve feet in 



I 



thickness, but rarely exceed six keU Tliey lie in nearly horizontal 

 strata, with about sufficient dip to free the mines from water — some 

 hills contain three aiicl four beds, with alternate layers of earth and 

 slate, and rest between a firm and smooth slate roof and floor. 

 Faults or troubles are seldom met with, and in this they differ from 

 the anthracite, and go far to confirm the opinion, that all this vast 

 extent of secondary rocks, was once the bottom of the great lake or 



sea, 



any 



