THE BLOUNT MOUNTAIN COAL FIELD. 73 



the top of Chandler's Mountain, lying above and close to 

 the Lower Conglomerate or Millstone Grit rock. Its thickr 

 ness here was less than one foot, and it is probably a thin 

 seam all over this field. From the fact that it was not cut 

 or opened, it was not embraced in the General Section and 

 is only referred to now to show the persistency of the seam, 

 and as further evidence of the close relation in structure 

 which obtains in different parts of the Alabama Coal Fields. 



The quantity of available coal in this field is another of the 

 unsettled questions. It has been clearly shown in the Sec- 

 tion on Details and by the General Section of the field, that 

 there are eleven (11), possibly twelve (12), coal seams in this 

 field that are over three (3) feet thick. Ample thickness for 

 advantageous mining. The uncertainty as to whether there 

 are 11 or 12 of these arises from the uncertainty in the iden- 

 tification of the southeastern outcrops of the Waide and 

 Cowden seams. Now it would have been an easy matter to 

 estimate approximately the area of each of these coal seams, 

 and to calculate and aggregate their solid contents. Yet all 

 this would have served no practical purpose, and would 

 have been wholly hypothetical. 



It would have been based on the supposition that these 

 seams had been cut and measured where they were of aver- 

 age thickness, and that they all maintained that thickness 

 all over their respective areas. This would be highly im- 

 probable. No reliance could be placed even on the approx- 

 imate correctness of calculations based on such uncertain 

 data. They might greatly exceed or fall far below the actual 

 amount. It is sufficiently show T n in this report that there is 

 in this field ample coal for all mining purposes said for all 

 coming time. 



Much of this coal was discovered and exposed by the Ala- 

 bama Geological Survey, especially in the years 1891-92. It 

 was the general expression of the citizens of that section of 

 the country "that more coal had been developed in one sea- 

 son by the Geological Survey than had been done by all 



