84 Notice of a Geological Model. 



o-old medal, in 1830, was the first which had been exhibited in 

 that excellent institution. A recommendation to adopt the more 

 frequent application of the system, has been occasionally urged 

 by prominent geological authorities. Since the date referred to 

 two most elaborately executed models, on a very large scale, have 

 been exhibited in London ; the one represents the field and battle 

 of Waterloo, the other depicts the beautiful lake scenery of the 

 north of England ; both of them the result of vast labor and sin- 

 gular perseverance. Those models which, in Germany and some 

 other mineral countries, represent the internal economy of the 

 mines and mining operations, belong to a class extremely useful, 

 but different to that which has given rise to the present memoir. 



We come now to the consideration of the model before us. In 

 point of mineral value, of geological peculiarities, of statistical 

 intricacy, and of highly picturesque features, the district here 

 represented in miniature, yet with sufficient faithfulness as re- 

 gards characteristic distinctness, has perhaps no equal, within a 

 similar area, in America. Its approximation to the tide waters of 

 the Atlantic coast, moreover, confers upon it a commercial val- 

 ue, in connection with the sources of industry and of remunera- 

 tion for labor, manifestly within its limits. We are justified in. 

 adverting to these circumstances, because the useful results, and 

 the beneficial application of science in economic geology, form 

 legitimate objects of associations like that which I have the honor 

 of addressing. 



The area here illustrated comprehends seven hundred and 

 twenty square miles ; being in length forty five miles, and in 

 width sixteen miles. It extends in breadth from four miles 

 above Harrisburg, northward, to Millersburg on the Susquehanna, 

 at the junction of the Wiconisco railroad. In length it reaches 

 from the western extremity of the Cove mountain, on the west 

 side of the Susquehanna to within eight miles of Pottsville. It 

 comprises the two forks into which the Schuylkill coal-field sep- 

 arates, opposite to Pinegrove, in the Swatara region. The north- 

 ern fork or branch extends to the Wiconisco Coal Company's 

 mines at Bear Gap, and the southern branch stretches towards 

 the Susquehanna in a southwest direction, to within about a mile 

 of that river. The coal formation along several miles of the 

 western portion of this lower fork, is reduced to a narrow ridge, 

 which can scarcely be expected to contain coal to any valuable 



