1881.] -^^y [Stevenson. 



cut off in Kentucky by the Pine Mountain fault. The basin begins in Ten- 

 nessee, wliere it forms Prof. Safford's north-eastern division of tlie coal- 

 field, and occupies the high lands of Morgan, Anderson, Scott, Campbell 

 and Claiborne counties, north from the Emery river and east from a line 

 passing through Huntsville and Montgomery. Prof. Safford found there 

 2100 feet of measures, in which nine beds of coal were seen, varying from 

 one to six feet in thickness. These beds of the north-eastern district are, 

 in part at least, above those of the other districts of the Tennessee coal-field, 

 which belong not to the Coal Measures, as understood in other States, but 

 to the Quinnimont group of Fontaine, which is equivalent to the Serai Con- 

 glomerate of Rogers. 



No junction was made in the Wise county coal-field between the work 

 done by Prof. Lesley and that done by the writer ; a gap of five miles re- 

 mains yet to be filled. But there is no reason to doubt that, for the most 

 part, the beds described by Prof. Lesley belong to the Coal Measures, and 

 not to the Quinnimont group ; as, indeed. Prof. Lesley has suggested. His 

 hesitation with reference to their exact position arose in measure from the 

 coarseness of the Coal Measures sandstones, some of which are decidedly 

 conglomerate. 



The section observed on the headwaters of Powell river contains twenty- 

 one coal beds, seen, varying in thickness from three inches to almost fifteen 

 feet. No limestone was found in the section, aside from a few nodules, 

 and those are ferruginous. The prevailing rock is sandstone, and the 

 shales, a small part of the column, are almost invariably sandy. The sand- 

 stones vary from fine grained to conglomerate, with pebbles rarely larger 

 than a chestnut, and usually not larger than a pea. The thickness of the 

 lower or productive portion is about 920 feet. 



As the available coal occurs in what is equivalent to the Lower Produc- 

 tive Coal series of Pennsylvania, it might be supposed that valuable beds 

 should be looked for in the upper part of the section, where the Upper 

 Productive Coal series of Pennsylvania ought to be represented. It is not 

 likely that any such beds will be found. The coal beds of the upper group 

 lose their importance southwardly and southeastwardly, so that, for ex- 

 ample, the Pittsburgh heel, which in south-western Pennsylvania attains to 

 a thickness of from 9 to 12 feet, becomes thin and poor on the Kanawha river 

 of West Virginia. The diminution in thickness and deterioration in quality 

 is so regular along the line of nearly 200 miles, that there is every reason to 

 believe that it continues southward until the bed becomes utterly worthless. 



Some of the coal beds in this field are of decided excellence, showing 

 barely one half of one per cent, of sulphur, and from .75 of one per cent, to 

 less than 4 per cent, of ash. One large bed yields an excellent coking coal, 

 which will prove of immense advantage in the development of the iron 

 ores in south-west Virginia and north-west North Carolina. 



The Quinnimont Group or 8eral (Pottsville) Conglomerate. 

 This group was observed along Stone mountain from the Little Stone 

 gap to beyond Pennington's gap, and Mr. Moore describes it as making 



