504 FAR?,IERS' REGISTER— GEOLOGY & MINERALOGY OF VIRGINIA. 



I hojie, after so liberal a course upon the part of 

 INIr. Carter — for lie has autlioriscd nie to make his 

 discovery known tiiroi!i:h the Fanners' Reiiister, 

 that all who arc disposed to make trial of tiie silk 

 culture, will call upon hiin for a supply of llie 

 Moras J/iilticaulis. 



Yours respectfully, 



.TOHX n. cocKK, Senr. 

 Bremo, Dec. 17, 1S33. 



GEOLOGY AND BlIX EllAI.OGY OF VinGIMA. 



Philadelphia, Sept 30th, 1S33. 



Tu his JExcellency John Floyd, 



Governor of Virginia. 



Siu, — Allhou;j,h I have not the honor of a per- 

 sonal acquaintance with you, I have no hesitation 

 in making- the prsent appeal to your patriotism and 

 w isdom, not doubtinii' but that I shall lind, in the 

 great and g;rowin>>- interest of the subject to the 

 country at large, and particularly to that portion 

 of the union over which you preside with so much 

 dignity and discretion, a sufficient apology for oc- 

 cupying so much of your valuable time, as will 

 enable you to give the present communication an 

 attentive perusal. 



I have recently returned from a geological ex- 

 cursion to Virginia. I entered the state near the 

 head waters of the Potomac, passed thence to 

 AVinchester, followed the course of that fine Val- 

 ley to the Natural Bridge; retracing my steps, ! 

 turned westwardly at Staunton, crossed the moun- 

 tain at Jennings' Gap, and visited the justly cele- 

 brated medicinal springs in that region ; return- 

 ing, I went from Staunton through ("harlottcsville 

 to Richmond, and down the James to its mouth. 

 When this tour is taken in connection with a for- 

 mer visit to V»" heeling, it will be conceded that I 

 have seen enough of the state to enable me to Ibrm 

 a rough estimate of its geological and mineralogi- 

 cal importance: and I do assure you sir, that al- 

 though my anticipations were far from being mea- 

 gre, I was astonisiicd at the vastuessand variety of 

 interesting objects in that department of natural 

 history, that were constantly developing them- 

 selves, inviting th.e mind of man to reflection, and 

 liis hand to industry, and displaying at every step 

 the wisdom and beneficence of the Great Creator. 



I determined upon rcspectiully suggesting to 

 your excellency, the expediency of a topographi- 

 cal, geological, mineraiogical, and orgetological 

 survey of Virginia. Should the enlightened rep- 

 resentatives of the freemen of your state concur 

 in tills opinion, it v.ill redound to the lionor of all 

 concerned, by the encouragement it v. ill give to 

 the study of the natural sciences — by the enhance- 

 ment in the value of land in the interior, thereby 

 enriciiing the state and its citizens, and giving a 

 very proper check to unnatural migrations to the 

 extreme west — by bringing to light and usefulness 

 innumeral)le valuable crude materials, — thereby 

 not only enlarging the field of manufactures and 

 the useful arts, but furnishing carrying for the ca- 

 nals and roads already constructed, and assisting 

 in new internal improvements in locations of equal 

 importance. That I may not appear to be too en- 

 thusiastic, pardon me fiir pointing out sovae of the 

 most obvious features in the geology of ".'irginia. 

 Whether we consider the comfort and convenience 

 of our species, or the industry and prosperity of a 

 state, there is no mineral production that can out- 



vie in importance w itli that of coal. In this coun- 

 try, where we have hitherto alwavs had a sujicra- 

 bundance of fuel, o\\ ing to the vast extent of our 

 natural forerts, the importance of a constant and 

 aliundant supply is not felt, and we are too apt to 

 neglect properly to appreciate its value; but it is 

 not so elsewhere — and a moment's reflection will 

 shew that it ought not to be so here. Without 

 fuel, of what use would be to us the metallic ores? 

 For instance iron, which is now moulted, drawn 

 and worked into thousands and tens of thousands 

 of useful instruments, from a knife, to tiie compli- 

 cated machinery of a steam engine, would forever 

 remain an indissoluble and useless mass of matter 

 without the aid of fuel. Even the steam engine 

 itself, that colossus of modern machinery, without 

 the assistance of fire would be inactive and impo- 

 tent. 



The Rev. Mr. Conybeaie, an eminent English 

 Geologist, speaking of the coal veins, (or coal 

 measures as they are there called) of his country, 

 thus expresses himself: 



" The manufacturing industrj" of this island, 

 colossal as is the fa!;ric which it has raised, rests 

 princi})aily upon no other base than our fortunate 

 position with regard to the rocks of this series. 

 Should our coal mines ever be exhausted, it \\ould 

 melt away at once ; and it need not be said that 

 the etVect produced upon jirivate and domestic com- 

 fort, would be eijually fatal with the diminution of 

 public wealtii. We should lose many of the ad- 

 vantages of our high civilization, and much of our 

 cullivated grounds must be again shaded with fo- 

 rests to-alibrd fuel to a remnant of our present po- 

 pulation. "^Fhat there is a progressive tendency to 

 a[)proach this limit is certain; l)ut ages may yet 

 pass before it is felt veiy sensibly : and when it 

 does approach, the increasing difficulty and ex- 

 jiense of working the mines of coal will operate 

 by successive and gradual checks against its con- 

 sumption, through a long period, so that the tran- 

 sition may not be very violent. Our manufactures 

 would first feel the shock — the excess of popula- 

 tion supported by them would cease to be called 

 into existence as liie demand for their labor ceas- 

 ed — the cultivation of poor lands would become 

 less profitable, and their conversion into forests 

 more so," 



Where is the State in this Fnion.' J might per- 

 haps safely ask, w here is the country in the world, 

 that can surpass Virginia iu the variety of posi- 

 tion and abundance of supply of this valuable com- 

 bustible? She possesses, not only in conmion with 

 her sister states, a liberal quantity of bituminous 

 coal in her Mestern and carbonaceous regions — 

 where, according to geological calculations, bitu- 

 minous coal might be reasonably expected to bo 

 found ; but in the eastern division of the state,, 

 within a few miles of the tidewater of a ma^jestic 

 stream which empties its ample waters into the 

 Atlantic Ocean — in a geological position where bi- 

 tuminous coal never would have been sought af- 

 ter, because bituminous coal could not there have 

 ever been expected to have been found, bitumi- 

 nous coal of a good quality, and apparently in 

 great abundance has been found ; — nature seem-» 

 ing, as it were, in this instance, to enable her fo 

 favor an otherwise highly favored land — to have 

 defied all her own rules, and baffied the skill of the 

 gravest geologist, by depositingbituminous coal up- 

 on the naked and barren bosom of the uncarbona- 



