96 Mr. Pierce on the Cutskill Mountains. 



Hudson. This seam which has been recently explored, is 

 eight inches wide on the surface, and is observed for some 

 distance on the face of the ledge. The coal is stratified, 

 and inclines with the rock at an angle of near fifteen degrees. 

 Narrow strata of argillaceous slate, imbedded in the gray 

 wack ledges, form the roof and floor of the coal bed. This 

 slate contains alum, and cubic crystals ofsulphuretof iron, and 

 sometimes presents a dark surface glistening with carburet 

 of iron. 



The coal bed, in exploring, widened to twenty-two inches j 

 but diminishing in the interior to a narrow seam and the ad- 

 jacent rock being of difficult fracture, the pursuit has been 

 abandoned for the present. Another vein of coal is located 

 in a higher ledge of the same mountain, and coal has been 

 noticed to the south west in this range for three miles. 

 The coal of the Catskill mountain appears of a good quality 

 for upper strata. It is light, shining, and burns with a mod- 

 erate flame proceeding from bitumen or sulphur. 



If beds of coal of this description could be found five feet 

 in thickness they might be penetrated without breaking the 

 rock, and would be valuable. Vegetable impressions and 

 narrow seams of coal have been found in gray wacke slate, in 

 the Catskill range bordering the river Schoharie. 



Flames, from spontaneous combustions, generated in beds 

 of coal or sulphuret of iron have been seen issuing from the 

 ledges of the Catskill mountains by the neighbouring inhab- 

 itants. Combustions of this character often occur in the 

 coal districts of Europe and America. 



Adjacent to, and forming a threatening canopy over the 

 entrance of the coal excavation in the mountain near Wood- 

 stock, is a rock of several hundred tons weight. It is sepa- 

 rated from the ledge and balanced on a narrow base of de- 

 caying alum slate by an opposite projection of equal weight. 

 From progressive decay this base is lessening, and the rock 

 will before long be precipitated down the steep side of the 

 mountain. The ledges in this neighbourhood are fast de- 

 composing in many places, from the quantity of alum and 

 sulphuret of iron they contain. 



The eastern side of the Catskill mountains south of the 

 Kauterskill clove is steep, but thickly clothed with wood ; 

 near this clove at a considerable elevation is noticed an im- 

 mense circular basin resembhng a volcanic crater. A basin 



