Valley of the Lackawanna and of Wyoming. 3 1 1 



of those of the neighboring mountains on the same side of the river, 

 but they soon resume the general arrangement, to which this fact does 

 not form an exception, but proves only that the river did not there 

 find its way through the lowest part of the curve of the trough, but 

 obtained a passage a little west of it. On the declivity of the eastern 

 barrier of mountains there is, however, a place where the strata, for 

 a short distance, dip in a direction contrary to that of the general ar- 

 rangement, and there may be other exceptions which I did not observe. 



It is scarcely necessary to insist on various other irregularities of 

 the strata, in particular situations ; these irregularities have appar- 

 ently arisen from convulsions, and exhibit strange contortions, not 

 affecting the general order of the stratification, vi^hich is, on the whole 

 very constant. The preceding statements are essential to the just 

 comprehension of the position of the strata of coal, which He between 

 the strata of rocks, and follow all their changes of form, and position 

 with almost exact regularity. — This is seen particularly in the great 

 excavations, such as some of those in Plymouth and Wilkesbarre, 

 where roofs of almost perfect regularity correspond to floors equally 

 uniform, and in one of these mines, the cavity extends thirty five 

 rods into the mountain. The coal lies in beds, and not, as is com- 

 monly said in veins : veins cross and intersect the strata, at all degrees 

 of obliquity ; beds he between or parallel with them, whether they 

 are flat or incHned, and I have never seen the coal intersecting the 

 strata, but always parallel with them. The coal beds of this valley 

 are of every thickness, from a foot to twenty seven feet ; none are 

 much regarded by the proprietors, that are not as much as three or 

 four feet in thickness ; few are wrought that are less than six ; a 

 great number are found from six to twelve ; a considerable num- 

 ber from twelve to twenty and several mines are from twenty to twen- 

 ty five or more. I speak of course of solid coal, without reference 

 to the rocks. 



The lateral extent of the beds is immense. They break out in the 

 precipices and hills, and upon the banks of the Susquehanna, and 

 Lackawanna ; they form, in some places, the pavement of these riv- 

 ers, and they appear in the sides and channels of almost every stream 

 from the mountains; th'ey blacken the soil in numerous places ; in 

 the Lackawanna valley many wells are sunk in the coal — several, in 

 the valley of Wyoming, and even in the borough of Wilkesbarre. 



There is no reason to doubt, that, excepting the agency of violent 

 causes and the slow operation of time, in removing portions of the 



