1881.] ^* * [Stevenson. 



as exposed, is very good, more or less prismatic, very soft and easily 

 mined. For tlie most part, it is clean, but thin streaks of pyrites occur in 

 the top 10", and minute scales of the same mineral appear occasionally in 

 the bottom 8". Above the coal and separated from it by but 2 or 3 inches 

 of shale is the hard gray Mahoning sandstone, which lies in thick beds 

 and forms an excellent roof The exposure of this rock does not give the 

 thickness. 



The sandstone is w^ell shown along the railroad between this place and 

 Tunnelton. Owing to the crookedness of the road, the bottom of the rock 

 is sometimes below, sometimes above the track, but rarely many feet in 

 either the one way or the other. Frequently, however, the coal is at track 

 level, and at Tunnelton it is far enough above that to be worked. It de- 

 scends toward the tunnel beyond the station, but in the tunnel rises again 

 so as to form the roof at the westerly end. Thence, however, the course of 

 the road follows the dip of the rocks, and the coal soon comes down to the 

 track -level, where it is mined and shows the following section : 



Coal 2' 8" 



Clay 0'2" 



Coal 2' 8" 



The exposure is incomplete at the top, but readies very nearly to the 

 bottom of the good coal. The slaty division below is said to be not far from 

 3 feet, in which case the full thickness of the bed is about 9 feet 6 inches. 

 The quality of the measured coal here is similar to that of the coal seen at 

 the Graham-Beall pit. Eight inches of the slaty coal were seen. It contains 

 some good splint, but for the most part appears to be worthless. The 

 roof at this pit is shale, which varies in thickness from 2 inches to 12 feet ; 

 but it is hard, and makes a very good roof. The Mahoning sandstone is 

 shown in the hill above this pit. 



Within one fourth of a mile from this opening, the railroad crosses a deep 

 gorge, in which the coal bed is exposed below the track with several feet of 

 shale between it and the Mahoning sandstone, which forms a blufi on each 

 side of the gorge. The thickness of the shale varies abruptly, and the limits 

 seem to be as given above. From this ravine, the coal rises until at Austin 

 station it is above the track, and at half a mile further it is mined and 

 coked by the Austin Mining Company. 



The outcrop of the bed is easily followed southward from the railroad, 

 and lies at but a little way eastward from the ridge-road leading from Tun- 

 nelton to the Northwestern turnpike. The coal is reached at that pike. 

 Few of the ravines thus far are deep enough to expose the coal, but that 

 through which Sandy creek runs aflFords good exposures, and the bed had 

 been opened at several places along that stream. 



Beyond the point where the ridge road reaches the pike, at say five miles 

 from Tunnelton, the ravines become deeper and exposures of the bed are 

 numerous. Pits were seen on several farms. In this direction, the bed 

 becomes thicker though it seems hardly to improve in quality. One open- 

 ing, seen on Mr. "Wolf's farm at about eight miles from Tunnelton, shows 11 



