220 



THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. 









Coal (coarse) 

 Shale 

 Coal . 

 Slaty band 

 Coal . 



,, (coarse) 

 Shale 

 Coal . 

 Slaty band 

 Coal . 



12 9 



This bed contains no less than ten feet eight inches of coal, and is 

 consequently the thickest yet observed in this section. It may be com- 

 pared with Coal-group 29 of the coast section. In the adjoining area, 

 the St George, the amount of coal appears to diminish to seven feet 

 eight inches, while the clay partings increase. This fact shows how 

 hopeless it is to attempt to identify coal-seams, even a few miles 

 distant, by their minute structure. It seems, however, not unlikely 

 that all the beds above referred to, as worked on the Hebert and 

 Maccan Rivers, belong to the lower series of workable seams at the 

 Joggins coast, and that the exact equivalent of the main seam has 

 not yet been discovered. Still I would not venture to be at all positive 

 as to this ; but merely throw it out as a suggestion to explorers, who 

 might perhaps discover the outcrop of the main seam to the south- 

 ward of the mines now worked. 



The quantity of coal extracted in 1866 from the new mines above 

 mentioned was 9374 tons, making, with that from the Joggins mines, 

 17,852 tons. 



About twenty miles south-east of the Joggins shore, at a place 

 called Springhill, Coal measui'es appear with a dip to the north, 

 indicating, with their position not many miles from the base of the 

 Cobequid Hills, that they belong to the southern side of the Cumber- 

 land trough. I have had no opportunity of examining the coal-seams 

 of this place, but one of them is variously stated at eight and twelve 

 feet in thickness, and the coal is of good quality. The Springhill 

 bed is at too great distance from navigable water to permit it to be 

 mined at present for exportation. It forms part of the reserve stores 

 of coal, waiting for their full development till railways extend across 

 the country, or till domestic manufactures demand supplies of mineral 

 fuel within the province. The present inland demand might, however, 



