THE BLOUNT MOUNTAIN COAL FIELD. 65 



Coal mining could be cheaply done here. Self draining tun- 

 nels could be driven into this seam on either side of the 

 ridge, at any desired point, thus avoiding the usual heavy 

 expense of pumping water and hoisting coal. 



The outcrop of this seam was traced from the Bynum 

 opening in section 17 toward the southwest. It shows very 

 plainly in places around the irregularities of the ridge to the 

 southeast ^ of section 18, where is found the southwestern 

 outcropping of the fourth conglomerate. About 10 feet above 

 this rock and little farther to the northeast is the outcrop of 

 the Bynum Coal Seam, its farthest southwestern margin. 

 From this point toward the northeast the ridge rises about 

 50 feet higher than the outcrop of this seam for a half mile, 

 thence for the like distance is a further rise 25 to 50 feet. 

 On the northwest side of this ridge the outcrop of this seam 

 is generally very plainly discernable, just above the upper 

 edge of the decomposed conglomerate. It is not marked by 

 any bold outcropping cap rock, as most coal seams are 

 marked. The cap rock of this is evidently soft friable 

 coarse sandrock, which only occasionally shows on the sur- 

 face at all, and never prominently. 



Towards the northeast corner of section 17 the ridge be- 

 comes very narrow, and it is cut by a gap in the southwest- 

 ern \ of section 9, called the Hayse Gap, in which the strata 

 is abraded down below the fourth conglomerate. No evi- 

 dence of this seain was found any farther to the northeast, 

 though in portions of this section (No. 9) the ridge again 

 rises higher and the large pebbles of the fourth conglomer- 

 ate are often seen in abundance, and not always on the 

 highest ground. Some parts of the northeast \ of this sec- 

 tion and of the northwest of section 10, and of the southwest 

 of section 3 of T. 12, E. 3 *E., are seemingly high enough to 

 contain remaining detached portions of this seam. When 

 searched for, the horizon of the underlying conglomerate 

 pebbles will be the best guide the prospector can follow in 

 seeking its location. 



