Coal Mines in the vicinity of Richmond, Va. 7 



square, divided into four chambers by timbers, and from the 

 samples of metals sent, you will see that sandstone and slate, in 

 alternate layers, form the covering over the coal. The last shaft 

 was recommenced at the beginning of the present year, and is 

 now down three hundred and fifty feet, and it is expected coal 

 will be reached by the first of next June, at the depth of six hun- 

 dred feet. Tiie last year about three hundred thousand bushels 

 of coal were hoisted ; the present year about six hundred thou- 

 sand bushels will be raised, and the quantity would have been 

 enlarged had the demand justified the increase. Coal in the 

 working shaft was found, as before stated, at the depth of seven 

 hundred and twenty two and a half feet from the surface — the 

 coal in the shaft was thirty six feet thick, and the sink below 

 the coal is sixteen and a half feet deep, making the whole depth 

 of the shaft seven hundred and seventy five feet. I write now 

 from memory, and may not be critically correct as to a foot. In 

 the journal sent you of the metals,* the specimens and list com- 

 mence about two hundred and forty feet below the surface. 

 The upper metals in the samples kept, got mixed or deranged, 

 and were thrown away. Any discrepancy (if any) in the journal 

 of metals as kept, with the depth of the shaft as here given, 

 must have been produced by the difficulty of measuring the 

 thickness of the metals on the side of the shaft in sinking. The 

 coal lies at an angle of about thirty five degrees, dipping to the 

 west. The thickness of the coal varies, which is, I presume, 

 produced by the form of the rock upon which it is deposited 

 being uneven; in some places the coal rises to fully fifty feet 

 in thickness. The whole capital was expended in sinking as 

 above described; in procuring a large steam-engine, buildings, 

 mules and mule-power machines; railroads above and under 

 ground, besides some eighteen laborers, and a coal-yard and fix- 

 tures. The whole of the lands are supposed to contain coal. 

 The exploring drifts now in progress, extend north and south over 

 a quarter of a mile ; the coal on the west being the dip, and on the 

 east being the rise, seems to indicate great regularity, — a drift 

 now going on to the southwest on a slope, shows that the coal is 

 flattening off", it not dipping now more than one in ten feet, and 

 in quality is of the most promising character. It will be seen by 



* The miners' name for the rocks and other matters raised with the coal. — Eds. 



