THE BLOUNT MOUNTAIN COAL FIELD. 55 



gillaceous shale of varying thickness, according to the ele- 

 vation of the country, from 40 to 125 feet. 



These strata are easily eroded and have been much gul- 

 lied and excavated, and now present a surface of level plat- 

 eau flanked by steep-sided ravines and gorges, and long, dry 

 hollows and low ridges. 



Near the divide between the two basins there has been 

 less erosion, and the country is in the main an undulating 

 plain, only broken by the small streams which make the 

 headwaters of the two forks of the Warrior River. On this 

 high plateau there is no well marked top of the water shed, 

 but streams are found interlocked and flowing in opposite 

 or diverse directions into the Calvert Fork, the Blackburn 

 Fork and the Locust Fork of the Warrior River. 



On the northwestern side of the Field, near the top of the 

 divide in S. 26, T. 12, R, 2 East, near the Tait Gap, in 

 Straight Mountain, the surface becomes more elevated to- 

 wards the northeast, and a higher series of coal measures 

 exists. These upper measures increase in thickness and 

 elevation for two miles in a northeasterly direction, attain- 

 ing their maximum elevation in sections 17 and 19 of T. 12, 

 R. 3 E., but continuing to, and across, the Locust Fork of 

 the Warrior River. 



In this space it must also be noticed that the measures 

 decline or sink towards the basin of the Locust Fork, and 

 hence the upper measures have a greater thickness here 

 than is apparent from the elevation of the country. It has 

 not been found practicable to get an accurate measurement 

 of the amount of this decimation of the measures towards 

 the Locust Fork. Yet it is very perceptible on both sides 

 of the river. The depression appears to centre, or be the 

 greatest, at, or near, where the river passes out of this Coal 

 Field. This roll or depression may not much exceed a hun- 

 dred feet. It cannot be less than that and certainly cannot 

 exceed two hundred feet. 



But it is enough to put the lowest seam of the upper 

 measures below water level at its southeastern outcrop, its 



