SUIJGKONS' KEPORTS PENNSYLVANIA TENTH DISTRICT. 313 



The number of men examined i)h.vsic-all.v in this district is as follows: 



Drafted men 3 q^q 



Enrolled men 2 .'U)0 



Recruits and substitutes . 3 (J0() 



Total number of men examined 9 550 



The Tenth District of Pennsylvania is composed of the counties of Schuylkill and Lebanon, an<l 

 contains a population of about one liundrtMl and thirty thousand inhabitants. 



SehuylUill County is a midhind (bounty, and is about forty five miles long froui east to west 

 and about twenty-five broad, and contains an area of seven hundred and fifty square miles. It is 

 traversed by a ])ortion of the Alleghany range. Its lowest elevation above tide water, at Port 

 Clinton, is (bur hundred feet; its highest, on the top of Broad Mountain, is sixteen hundred and 

 thirty-three feet. It is well watered, with a drainage toward each of the cardinal points. 



There are two distinct topographical and geological features in this county. The most pi-om- 

 iueut is the coal-area, which, with its mountains and valleys, covers about one quarter of it. The 

 soil of this district is composed of dark-blue shales, bluish-gray argillaceous sandstones, conglom- 

 erates, and seams of anthracite coal. The above shales contain ferruginous bands, and some 

 others are highly carbonaceous, and thus impregnate the springs of water flowing from them. The 

 surface is naturally barren aiul rough, therefore cultivated to a very limited extent. All of the 

 coal-area lies north of Sharp Mountain, and comprises about one-half of this part of the county. 



The other marked feature is the area composed of red-shale valleys, well watered by streams; 

 drawing principally north and west, to the waters of the Susquehanna. The soil of these valleys 

 is composed of red shale, soft argillaceous red sandstone, occasional beds of sandstone, and a thin 

 calcareous belt. It is susceptible of a high state of cultivation, and generally yields abundant 

 crops to the efforts of our industrious neighbors, principally Germans, wJio bring the fruits of their 

 labors to supply the mining population. 



The southern portion of Schuylkill County, bounded on the north by the Second Mountain 

 and on the south by the Kittatinny or Blue Mountain, is peculiarly an agricultural district, diver- 

 sified with hills and streams, having all an easterly and westerly direction ; the main drainage of 

 the Schuylkill in the center, the Lehigh on tiie east, and the Swatara on the west. The soil along 

 the northern limit of this valley is a red shale, lower in the series and older thau that forming the 

 valleys near the coal-basins. It is composed of red shales and argillaceous red sandstones, 

 also brown, gray, greenish, and buff-colored sandstones, and the whole is a more brownish-red for- 

 mation than the one above mentioned. There are no minerals, as a general thing, in this formation, 

 to impregnate the springs; there are, however, some traces of iron, and a very thin trace of copper. 

 The next formation occupying in order beneath the above is the olive-slate forujatiou, covering a 

 very considerable portion of the whole valley, ranging from east to west, and extending on the 

 Schuylkill, from a point north of Schuylkill Eaven, south to near Port Clinton. It consists chiefly 

 of alternating strata of dark gray, greenish, and olive-colored slates, and soft, gr.iy argillaceous 

 sandstones; the lower beds are nearly black and somewhat calcareous slate. The whole stratum 

 is more or less calcareous, and abounds in fossils; an impure layer of this limestone extends from 

 Pine Grove to Schuylkill Haven, and thence east Ihrough the county, not, however, in a continuous 

 visible stratum. 



This stratum, the description of which can be applied as a general one to our southern valley, 

 as it embraces three-quarters of its area, forms a thin soil, not usually jircductive, unless carefully 

 tilled and well sui)plie(l with lime. The water is apt to be hard, containing some siliceous uuitters, 

 sidphate of iron, and alumina, and sometimes carbcmate of lime. 



The southern border of the valley, ranging along the north foot of the Kittatinny or Blue 

 Mountain, although composed of several strata, I shall view as forming one band, the northern 

 edge of which is a, yellowish-white sandstone, forming a ridge, which is not cultivated nor inhab- 

 ited. Immediately under is a thin and obscure stratum of limestone, then occurs a broader belt, 

 resting on the north slope of the Kittatinny, about one mile in width, and composed of a uniformly 

 red and slightly calcareous shale, and more or less argillaceous red sandstone ; its broadest limit is 

 Kt • 



