324 Notice of the Anthracite Region in the 



with suitable enterprize, forms the best basis of public and private 

 prosperity. 



Remark. — It is a favorite idea among the inhabitants, that the val- 

 ley of Wyoming was anciently a lake. This is by no means improb- 

 able. Every cup-shaped cavity, great or small, on the earths sur- 

 face, may have been a lake, and its permanency would depend upon 

 the due supply of its waters and upon the firmness of its barriers. 

 See the " Outline" accompanying the American Edition of Bake- 

 well's Geology. 



APPENDIX, 



Exhibiting the succession of the strata in several mines. 



I would remark to the proprietors of mines in the valley, that the 

 following statements being made for illustration only, there has been 

 no attempt to enumerate all ihe mines, but only a few, by way of ex- 

 ample. Those that are omitted (among which are some important 

 ones,) are not neglected ; in many cases no minutes were preserved, 

 either because it was not convenient to take them, or because they 

 were thought to be unnecessary. I am indebted for these notes to 

 my companion, Mr. George Jones. 



J. Carbondale bed, owned by the Delaware and, Hudson Canal and 

 Rail Road Company. 



1. Soil. — 2. Dark earth, 3 ft.— 3. Loose slate, 5 ft. — 4. Broken 



coal, called here 2d quality, not considered fit for market, 2 ft. 



5. Good coal, called 1st quality, 6 ft. ") 



6. Coal of still superior quality, 1 ft. I 



7. Coal, 1st and 2d quality mtenningled, 3 It, y 



8. Coal, very good quality, 4 ft. 



9. Good coal with strata of slate intermixed, 6 ft. 

 10. Firm slate, with vegetable impressions and pyrites; thickness 



not known, 



The mining has been so far in the open air, but they are now beginning 

 to follow the bed without removing the superincumbent materials; pil- 

 lars of coal being left to support their weight. About three and a half 

 acres of the bed have been removed : the mining, (including also the re- 

 moval of the rubbish above and intermixed,) costs the company 

 about 75 cents per ton. They nov/ offer their coal at Kingston, on 

 the Hudson, at $Q per ton ; the cost of transportation thence to New 

 York, is 50 cents per ton. The quantity sent off to market averages 

 250 tons per day, during eight or nine months. A sketch of the rail- 

 way may be seen on the annexed map. 



20 ft. 

 wrought 



for 

 market. 



