THE BLOUNT MOUNTAIN COAL FIELD. 61 



slides from the top of the cut. Dip of strata here 5 deg. to 

 northwest. 



About half a mile to the northwest of the Gaither open- 

 ing, and on the northwest side of the same ridge, Mr. Gaither 

 had cut a coal seam 3 feet thick which lies 20 feet lower by 

 aneroid measure. 



It was supposed that both openings were iipon the same 

 seam of coal. There is much room to doubt the correctness 

 of this supposition; the dip of 5 degrees would, in half a mile, 

 carry the seam first opened, much more than 20 feet below 

 its level at the opening in section ten (10), and the associated 

 rocks at the second opening do not add anything to sustain 

 the claim of identity. It is probable that the second open- 

 ing here on the X. \\. J of 8. E. J of S. 4, T. 12, E. 3 East is 

 on a coal seam not yet named or identified which lies be- 

 tween this seam and the Bynum Seam, and which is num- 

 bered 26 in the General Section. 



The Games- Gaither Seam Xo. 25 has also been opened 

 and mined by James Smith on the bluff of the Locust Fork, 

 near the southeast corner of S. 2 in T. 12, R, 3 E. The coal 

 has a fine reputation, and there is a ready home market for 

 all that has yet been mined here. When visited, mining had 

 been for some time suspended and the drifts so blocked up 

 that measurements of the seam could not be made. The 

 seam is well known to carry good coal throughout, to be 

 solid, and upwards of three feet thick. 



By aneroid measurement it was found that the seam here 

 is 70 feet lower than at the Gaither opening in the northeast 

 corner of section 10, showing the downward flexure of the 

 measures towards the Locust Fork of the Warrior, hereto- 

 fore noticed. 



Northwest from the James Smith mine on the opposite, 

 or northwestern side of the same ridge, this seam was also 

 opened on the lands of Mr. Zacl. Paine, near the line be- 

 tween sections 2 and 3 of the same township. Coal same as 

 at the other openings. Seam between three and four feet 

 thick. 





