CARBONIFEROUS DISTRICT 01 PICTOU. .'531 



oolliery has been continued over sine', with some modifications in the 

 size of the pillars. The bords arc driven 18 feet wide, and the pillars 

 arc made from 8 to 18 yards thick, with holdings at irregular intervals. 

 No regular pillar working has been attempted in this seam. 



"The 'dec]) scam' is worked at the I )alhonsie pits only. Its average 

 thickness is 15' •>". It is worked the entire height of the scam, and ( 

 .hi the same principle as the main scam; the bonis and pillars being 

 t >( a similar size. The workings are altogether on the west side of 

 the pits; and the main level in that direction has been driven 1600 

 yards. It is about 250 yards from the crop. The workings extend 

 over an area of GO acres, the whole of which is standing in pillars, Q 

 with the exception of a few near the face, a partial working of which 

 has recently been begun. 



" An extension of the works at these mines is in progress. During 

 the year a new shaft has been sunk to the main seam near the face of 

 the west workings. This shaft is 450 feet deep to the top of the seam, 

 and is intended to be used for drawing coal. A steam-engine for 

 hoisting has been erected, and a railway between the pit and the main 

 line in part constructed. Another shaft has also been begun to the 

 dip of the ' Crushed Mines ' pits, and is now upwards of 300 feet 

 deep. An additional shaft for ventilation has been put down near o 

 the crop of the deep seam, and a slope is being driven in the main 

 Beam, to be connected with the pit above referred to. The working 

 powers of this already extensive colliery will, on the completion of 

 these works, be much increased." 



The following detailed section, taken from a continuous specimen 

 of the main seam, extracted for the New York Industrial Exhibition 

 by Mr Poole, late manager of the mine, will enable the reader to 

 understand the available amount of good coal which the main seam 

 contains, as well as the structure of the bed. As this section has, since 

 the publication of my first edition, been copied without acknowledgment, 

 and in terms leading to the inference that it was drawn up in New 

 York, I may state that it was prepared by myself from a careful 

 inspection of the specimen, to which I was kindly invited by Mr Poole, 

 while it lay on the ground after having been extracted from the mine. 



1. Roof shale : vegetable fragments and attached Spir- Ft. in. 



orb is (in specimen) . . . . . .03 



2. Coal, with shaly bands . . . . . G£ 



3. Coal, laminated ; layers of mineral charcoal and bright 



coal; band of ironstone balls in bottom . .20 



Carry forward, 2 9^- 



