1875.] tJiOtf [Stevenson. 



scai'cely less thick than on the Great Kanawha River, where it is nearly 

 nine hundred feet from the Conglomerate to the top of the Mahoning 

 Sandstone. The following partial section, beginning with the Mahoning 

 Sandstone, is said to have been obtained in a salt well bored on Buck- 

 hannon River: 



1. Rock „ 60ft. 



2. Coal 15 ft. 



3. Shale 33 ft. 



4. Sandstone 40 ft. 



5. Coal 4 ft. 



6. Rock : 160 ft. 



7. Coal 4 ft. 



8. Sandstone 40 ft. 



9. Coal 3 ft. 



10. Sandstone 120 ft. 



Total 478 ft. 



The boring clearly stopped far short of the base as it did not reach the 

 large and very persistent coal bed resting on the Conglomerate. As 

 nearly as can be determined, the thickness of the whole group is not far 

 from seven hundred feet. 



No. 1 of the section, the Mahoning Sandstone, is ordinarily separated 

 from the underlying coal by from six to ten feet of shale. It is a coarse 

 sandstone, with numerous lines of pebbles, arranged parallel to the 

 general plane of bedding. Some portions show extensive cross-bedding, 

 and occasionally the rock is a coarse conglomerate. It is of uneven 

 texture, and weathers into irregular cavities. Rude casts of vegetable 

 stems are of common occurrence, and a thin coal is sometimes found 

 about forty feet from the base. 



No. 2 is the Upper Freeport Coal. Its changes in Upshur, Randolph 

 and Barbour counties are very interesting. East from Buckhanuon, on 

 the Beverly road, it is first seen at the Sand Run crossing, in a deserted 

 opening. The shale above it is dark, fissile, and about seven feet thick. 

 Above this is the Mahoning Sandstone. The first satisfactory exposure 

 is on Roaring Ci-eek, at the foot of Rich Mouutain, where the coal is 

 worked and shows the following section : ^ 



Ft. In. 



1. Shale, drab, argillaceous 10 



2. Coal ; 4 



8. Shale, dark, argillaceous 2 4 



4. Coal 10 



5. Clay, carbonaceous i 1 



6. Coal 10 



7. Clay I 



8. Coal...: 9 



