Coal Mines of Virginia. 12$ 



thousands and thousands of acres of such land in these western 

 States and territories, which, for prompt payment, may be 

 purchased for one dollar and sixty-two and a half cents an 

 acre. One objection to these lands is, the want of timber for 

 fuel and other purposes ; and another is, that they are unheal- 

 thy : but in many places there is an abundance of peat in the 

 wet prairies, and cultivation will every year render them 

 more and more healthy. Some of them have been cultivated 

 for fifteen or twenty years past with grain, and are as fertile 

 as they ever were. As M. Volney says, " They are the 

 Flanders of America." ^ 



Yours, &c. C. A. 



Art. III. Account of the Coal Mines in the vicinity of 

 Richmond, Virginia, communicated to the editor in a let- 

 ter from Mr. John Grammer, Jun. 



Petersburgh, Firg. Jan. 28th, 1818. 

 Dear Sir, 



XN compliance with your request, that I would send you some 

 account of the Virginia coal pits, I paid a visit to them soon 

 after my return, in company with Mr. R. W. Withers, and I 

 will now proceed to give you the account proposed. 



The pits, which we made the particular object of our 

 visit, are situated in the county of Chesterfield, about 14 miles 

 distant, in a direction W. S. W. from Richmond, and 3 miles 

 south of James' River. The country rises gradually from 

 Richmond to the pits ; and, from its sandy appearance, is evi- 

 dently an alluvial deposit, although its substratum is the gra- 

 nite mentioned by Mr. M'Clure, as extending through this 

 state from S. S. W. to N. N. E. The coal is found on the 

 western or upper surface of the granite, coincident with it 

 both in direction and inclination ; but whether they come im- 

 mediately in contact or not, has not yet been ascertained. The 

 * bed' of coal is supposed by the irtiners to be cooxtf'n«ive wit'h 



