West of the Alleghany Mountains. 241 



In Pease township, on Wheeling creek, the whole bed is 

 grecatly expanded. At one opening we find 



Coal^ 1 ft. 6 in. ; shale 8 in. ; coal, 10 to 18 in. ; clay, 8 

 in. ; coal, 5 ft. 2 in. to 6 ft. In one or two neighboring 

 openings the lower coal becomes seven feet. Here the coal 

 is of excellent quality for fuel, though containing too much 

 sulphur to be of value in the manufacture of iron or gas. 

 The intimate structure of the lower bed is shown here to be 



Coal, 2 ft. 5 in. ; parting, 1 in. ; coal, 3 in. ; parting, 1 

 in. ; coal, 3 ft. to 3 ft. 6 in. 



The upper pyrites bantl is seen persistently at from twelve 

 to fourteen inches from the top, and the clay partings are 

 full of pyrites. Nodules occur occasionally, but are small 

 and easily separated. Along the Ohio river the roof-coal 

 again becomes single, while the lower coal retains its thick- 

 ness. Two or three miles above Martinsville we find coal, 

 2 ft. ; clay, (3 iu. to 2 ft. ; coal, 4 ft. 9 in. to 6 ft. 



Here the roof-coal has not been mined. It is usually left 

 with the clay parting to make a firm roof. The clay is much 

 slickensided, rendering it liable to fall after removal of the 

 coal below. 



Crossing the river into West Virginia we find this coal ex- 

 tensively worked from Benwood opposite Belleair to twelve 

 miles north from Wheeling, as well as on both branches of 

 Wheeling creek. As might hardly be expected it shows 

 little variation in character and the following is a represen- 

 tative section : 



Coal, 1 ft. 3 in. to 1 ft. 8 in. ; clay, 1 ft. ; coal, 5 to 6 ft. 



Rarely a thin shale is found dividing the roof-coal. East- 

 ward the bed disappears about five miles from Wheeling, 

 and at the same distance southward it passes under the Bal- 

 timore and Ohio railroad, the dip being southeast. Follow- 

 ing the railroad we see the coal again at Fairmont, about 

 eighty miles S. S. E. from Wheeling, dij)ping sharply to the 

 northwest. Here it is single-bedded, about nine feet thick, 

 and roofed by a heavy felspathic sandstone which is coarse 



