86 GEOLOGY OF THE EARRAGANSETT BASIN. 



Rh 7 er, where, if the determinations of the structure as set forth in this 

 report are correct, the equivalents of the Portsmouth coal beds should be 

 found. The known facts go to show that in this part of the field the rocks 

 are not much disturbed, and that these coal beds are in the place where it 

 is supposed they should occur. Should these suppositions be verified, 

 there may be an area of 20 or more square miles in which the conditions 

 are favorable for mining operations. In connection with this part of the 

 field, it is necessary to set forth the facts concerning a boring made in the 

 town of Seekonk about twenty-five years ago. This gave a section of 

 the rocks Avhich at its base appeared to indicate the occurrence of a bed 

 of fairly good anthracite at a depth of about 700 feet below the surface of 

 the ground. There can be no doubt as to the fact that the boring was 

 made. Abundant samples of the core were examined by the writer about 

 five years after the work was done. They were then in the possession of 

 the man on whose land the boring was made. They showed the rocks to 

 be of the general character of those which overlie the Portsmouth beds, and 

 also that the beds are not very much disturbed, the dip averaging not more 

 than 20°, probably to the eastward. An analysis of the coal showed it to 

 have the general character of the Rhode Island deposits, being extremely 

 anthracitic. Mr. Emmons, in the paper above referred to, states that, while 

 the boring down to the level of the coal is the result of an honest inquiry, 

 the coal is a fiction, the portion of the core showing the coal having been 

 made on the ground by operating the drill several times through a large 

 lump of coal brought by the disappointed explorer to the man who was 

 managing the apparatus, ostensibly to find whether the instrument would 

 cut a clean core in material of that degree of hardness. On review of all 

 the facts, it appears worth while to reopen this drill hole, which was carefully 

 plugged at the time the work was abandoned, and, with a reamer, to test 

 the bottom of the opening, in order to ascertain the truth. If coal is not 

 found, it will still be well to continue the drill work already done, down- 

 ward as far as it may be conveniently possible to do so, for the reason 

 that not far below the base of the present opening we may expect to pene- 

 trate the portion of the section where the beds of the Portsmouth district 

 belong. If the section could be carried to the depth of say 3,000 feet, the 

 information would be of great value as related to the possibility of finding 

 workable coal in the northern portion of the basin. 



