344 Remarks on the Coal Formatioi\ of Pennsyhania\ 



is known as Wills, where the next ridge is designated the Great Al^ 

 leghany, which divides the waters that run into the Potomac from 

 those that feed the Father of Rivers ; and stretching across the state 

 to Virginia, it reassumes its former cognomen. 



When getting into the coach at Cumberland, the leaders were 

 standing on the celebrated Cumberland road — alike dreaded by trav- 

 ellers and legislators of tender consciences ; on which large sums of 

 the nation's treasure have been sunk by its injudicious construction ; 

 but much larger dissipated on the popularity course in the halls of 

 Congress, during a succession of " long heats and repeats.''^ We 

 crossed Shaver's mountain in the dark ; before day light we were 

 ascending the Great Savage, and had passed the coal bed on the 

 east side, from whence it is hauled ten miles to the Potomac at 

 Cumberland ; during the higher stages of water, it is sent down in 

 flats, and known as Cumberland coal, of which much has of late 

 been said. I observed its combustion for some hours in a grate in 

 the reading room of the inn at Hagerstown, and also in a smith's 

 forge. The fracture and general characters very much resemble 

 those of the coal from several localities on Janies' river in Virginia ; 

 it is equally fragile, and if large pieces are laid lightly on the grate, 

 it burns with more flame ; but the small coal cakes and stops the ven- 

 tilation. Its specific gravity appears rather to exceed that of the Vir- 

 ginia coal : an intelligent smith stated that it was a strong coal, but 

 contained considerable sulphur that often proved destructive to his 

 iron j and appeared grateful for the information that, I could assure 

 him on unquestionable authority, that a little salt sprinkled occasion- 

 ally on the fire when well ignited, would protect the metal from the 

 effects of sulphur. 



I was not able with a strong lens to detect any organic vegetable 

 remains or impressions. At Frostown, near the top of the Great 

 Savage, we found a good breakfast and cheerful fires of blazing coal, 

 which our host Mr. Frost informed me was taken from the west side 

 of the mountains, where the coal is of a much better quality than 

 from the bed on the east. In reply to a question as to " the position 

 of the strata, he said that when the coal is dug out, basins are form- 

 ed in the under stratum of rock, from which it becomes necessary of- 

 ten to drain the water, which is however no difficult job, as it only 

 requires a narrow trench to be cut through the slate, and perhaps a 

 few inches into soft sand-stone that forms the pavement, from which 

 is a fall some"hundreds offset. Having, in a former tour, crossed 



