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CARBONIFEROUS DISTRICT OF PICTOU. 329 



occasionally submerged under brackish water, perhaps by the partial 

 rupture of the great conglomerate bank to which we have already 

 referred. 



Useful Minercds of the Piduu District. 



Coal is the most important of these ; and Pictou was long the 

 principal producer of this valuable mineral in British America, having 

 only recently been outstripped by the Coal-field of Cape Breton. 

 Upwards of 237,000 tons were raised in 1866. The greater part of 

 the Pictou coal is shipped to the United States, and is used in iron- 

 foundries and gas-works, and for the production of steam. The 

 principal mines are those worked by the General Mining Association 

 and the Acadia Company, though several other collieries are being 

 put into working condition, I may shortly notice the principal coal 

 areas in succession. 



(1.) General Mining Association (Fig- 135 — 1). 



The coal hitherto exported by this Company has been obtained 

 principally from the "main seam" (see p. 319), and chiefly from its 

 upper twelve feet, though in recent years the lower part of this seam, 

 and also the " deep seam," have been worked. The pits originally 

 worked were on the low ground immediately west of the East River, 

 where an engine-pit was sunk to the depth of about 400 feet. In the 

 progress of these works, however, it was found that the coal deterio- 

 rated very much in quality in its extension to the eastward ; and this 

 circumstance, in connexion with a serious " crush " in the mine, deter- 

 mined the proprietors to make new openings to the westward, named 

 the Dalhousie pits, as well as others toward the dip. These are the 

 present working pits. In the Dalhousie pits the whole thickness of 

 the main seam and also the deep seam are worked. In 1866, the 

 Foster pit, 450 feet deep, was sunk near the Dalhousie pits, and a new 

 shaft is being made in advance of the old eastern workings, and will 

 be of considerably greater depth. An interesting historical sketch of 

 these mines, with a notice of their present state, is given by Mr 

 Rutherford, Inspector of Mines, in his Report for 1866, from which I 

 quote the following : — 



" The extraordinary thickness of the beds of coal in these collieries 

 has given them a Avell-deserved celebrity ; the number as well as the 

 size of the seams in this coal-field being perhaps unparalleled. Having 

 been in operation many years, a large extent of coal has been mined. 

 Only two seams have, however, been sunk to and worked, viz., the 

 main seam and the deep seam, — the latter lying 25 fathoms below the 



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