1875.] OiJ [Stevenson. 



Pittsburg Coal. The eastern litnit of this bed aside from small out- 

 lying areas, is marked by a line begiuniog near Cheat lliyer, on the 

 Pennsylvania border, and extending west of south to Fairmont, and 

 crossiog the Tygarts' Valley River, a little above that ^own. Thence 

 irregularly to Pruntytown, where it turns east by south to Flemington. 

 From this point it follows a south-southeast course^ almost to Tygarts' 

 River, thence southward, crossing the Buckhannon River near the Up- 

 shur county line. There it again turns east by south, and so continues 

 almost to the middle fork of that river, when the course changes to 

 southwest, and so remains to the line between Upshur and Lewis coun- 

 ties. From this locality to where the bed crosses Pocatalico Creek near 

 the Great Kanawha River, I have not followed it. The extreme eastern 

 exposure occurs in Upshur county, about five miles east from Buckhan- 

 non, on the Staunton pike. 



The extreme western line of exposure begins at the Pennsylvania line, 

 nearly two miles west from Monongahela River, crosses that river about 

 a mile below Fairmont. It lies a little west from the West Fork River, 

 crossing Hari-ison county from Shinnston to Wolfe's Summit, on the 

 Northwestern Railroad. Thence it runs southwestward through Lewis 

 county, reaching Gilmer, near Troy, on the Staunton pike, and crossing 

 the Little Kanawha, just below Glenville. 



Owing to the abruptness of the Laurel Hill anticlinal, the area in 

 which this bed is available is very narrow at the north, hardly more than 

 SIX or seven miles wide. Southward the anticlinal becomes gentler and 

 this area rapidly increases in width until along the Staunton pike the 

 coal is available for a distancs of nearly forty miles. The bed attains its 

 greatest thickness toward the north, and diminishes toward the south 

 and southeast. 



In Monongalia county, this bed is double, except where overlaid by 

 sandstone. This characteristic prevails in Pennsylvania and Ohio, as 

 well as in the Ohio Panhandle of West Virginia. But southward from 

 Fairmont thisdivision is rarely marked by a distinct clay parting, though 

 the difference between the upper and lower benches sufficiently jjroves 

 that the bed is still double. Occasionally, however, as. at Shinnston and 

 near the tunnel east from Clarksburg a well-defiaed clay parting sepa- 

 rates the two branches. 



In Upsher county the openings are quite numerous in the vicinity of 

 Buckhannon, and the Pittsburg is the only source of supply for a large 

 aiea. The coal varies from three feet nine inches tofour feet, and is said 

 to be of very fair quality. Though the parting is exceedingly thin, the 

 upper and the lower benches are very distinct, the former being hard and 

 leaving a bulky red ash, the la' ter being soft and clean, yielding a white 

 ash. In the northern part of the county, very near the Barbour county 

 line, the coal is mined on the Westfall property,, where it shows 

 Coal, 32 in ; Parting, ^ in.; Coal, 84: in.; total, 5 ft. 6 in. 



Though very thin, the parting is persistent The upper bench is quite 



