226 The Upper Coal Measures 



XX. — The Upper Coal Measures West of the Alleghany 



Mountains. 



Bt JNO. J. STEVENSON, PH.D. 

 Read December 16, 1872. 



While connected with the Geological Survey of Ohio, I 

 was employed in investigating the Upper Coals as displayed 

 in the First Geological District of the state. The relations 

 of the coal beds to each other, and the marked changes in 

 the intervening strata, seemed to be at variance with some 

 accepted opinions and induced me to make diligent compari- 

 son of the Ohio coals with those of Pennsylvania and West 

 Virginia. The results of this examination appear, to me, of 

 sufficient importance to warrant publication in advance of the 

 Ohio Report. This I am permitted to do by the courtesy of 

 Prof. Newberry, chief geologist of Ohio. 



The observations recorded in this paper cover only that 

 portion of the field north of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad 

 in West Virginia and Ohio. 



LIMITS OF THE UPPER COALS. 



The outcrop of the Pittsburg coal, the base of the Upper 

 Coal Measures, beginning at the Baltimore and Ohio rail- 

 road in West Virginia runs northward, rudely parallel 

 to Laurel Hill, through Marion and Monongalia counties, 

 W. Va., and Fayette and Westmoreland, Penn., thence 

 westwardly, through Westmoreland and Alleghany into Han- 

 cock, W. Va. Crossing the Ohio just above Steubenville 

 it passes through JeiFerson, Harrison and Belmont into 

 Guernsey where it reaches the Baltimore and Ohio railroad 

 at Salesville, thirty-seven miles west from the Ohio river. 

 That this is by no means the original extent is evident from 

 several facts. In Pennsylvania, the Frostburg and Broad 

 Top basins lying to the east of the main outcrop have been 



