142 UNDEVELOPED COAL FIELDS OF NOVA SCOTIA GILPIN. 



Owing to the want of demand for coal and to the heavy sur- 

 face cover accompanied by the almost vertical position of the 

 seams, little progress has been made in tracing the seams inland 

 towards Hawkesbury. It is probable that they are sharply 

 folded at no great distance from the shore, and their nearest 

 outcrop at Little River represents their re-appearance on a 

 parallel folding. 



At Little River the measures are steeply inclined and present 

 the following section ascertained by the Eastern Development 



Company some years ago : 



Feet. Inches. 



Coal 3 



Strata 154 



Coal 4 



Strata 00 



Coal 3 



Strata 45 



Coal 5 



The upper beds were opened and a few hundred tons extracted. 

 The coal is compact and apparently of good quality. The upper 

 part of the section appears to agree with that of Sea Coal Bay. 

 The following analysis given by Sir William Dawson in a 

 report made by him many years ago, will show that the large 

 percentage of ash forms the principal drawback to the fuel : 



Volatile Matter 30.25 



Fixed Carbon 56.40 



Ash , 13.35 



100.00 



I am informed that the workings of the Eastern Development 

 Company a few years ago showed a decided improvement in the 

 quality of the coal away from the outcrop. Attempts made to 

 follow these seams have not proved successful, probably because 

 Tthey are here as at Sea Coal Bay folded in sharp curves, and the 

 surface is level and deeply covered with detritus. The construc- 

 tion of a railway from Hawkesbury to St. Peter's and Louisburg, 

 recently subsidised by the Provincial Government, across this 



