88 GEOLOGY OF THE NARBAGANSETT BASIN. 



likely to be of very poor quality. The water-covered area is, as before 

 noted, difficult to explore. If, however, coal should eventually be found 

 beneath those arms of the sea, it could doubtless be mined with safety, 

 though with added cost, on account of the difficulties of access. 



Before any further costly effort to develop the coal deposits of this dis- 

 trict is made the coal from some one of the openings — that at Portsmouth, 

 for instance — should be subjected to systematic and thorough experiments 

 to determine its value in the wide range of arts to which this fuel may be 

 applied. These tests should include at least the arts of ore smelting and 

 the manufacture of water gas, brick, and pottery. Experiments, which on 

 theoretical grounds appear to be very promising, should be made in crush- 

 ing and washing the coal and in subsequently converting it into briquettes. 

 It may be found that in this form the material will prove serviceable as an 

 ordinary fuel. There can be little doubt that this inquiry should be under- 

 taken. As before noted, there is a very large amount of coal in this basin, 

 although there is no basis of reckoning the total quantity with any approach 

 to accuracy. There can be little doubt that it is to be estimated by the 

 hundred million tons. Even though, as has been assumed, this coal can not 

 compete in ordinary uses with that which is imported, the chance that it 

 may serve in many important arts affords full warrant for a careful study of 

 its quality and distribution. 



The inquiry above noted could be undertaken on a lesser scale, lim- 

 iting it to the Portsmouth field. As already stated, this is a typical area, 

 probably the best in the basin. Work there should first be directed to 

 ascertaining the extent, condition, and depth at which the coals occur 

 in the central portion of the trough in which they lie. If the results 

 obtained are satisfying, it will be easy to obtain from the existing openings 

 enough coal to make the trials which have been suggested. Supposing 

 these tests to show economic value, the old workings should be abandoned 

 and the beds approached by means of a vertical shaft, so placed as to enter 

 them as near as possible to the center of the basin. 



IRON ORES. 



The iron ores on the western border of the Narragansett Basin have 

 a certain amount of economic interest, in that, in case the coal is ever 

 developed, they may become of value for the purpose of mixing with the 



