98 HALIBDRTON — ON EXPLORATIONS IN PICTOU COAL FrELD. 



menced from a point near the centre of the Intercolonial com- 

 pany's property, known as the Campbell area — and not less than 

 sixty bore holes and trial pits wore sunk. A small overlying seam; 

 was discovered with a strike S. 12» W. It lay at a heavy angle, 

 indicating either that the measures turn there rapidly to the 

 west, or that theie are traces there of the series of downthrows 

 to the south-west, which the Acadia company found on the 

 Fraser area, as they approached the eastern boundaries of the 

 Carmichael and Campbell areas, our pit on the small seam being 

 in the line of disturbance which the direction of those down- 

 throws would take. From this point a series of bore holes and 

 trial pits were sunk to the Culton pit, over nearly three quarters 

 of a mile of country, and wherever the strata were reached, we 

 found the same metals, which consisted of shales. The surface 

 drift, which was very deep, contained particles of coal. The 

 search was unsuccessful, as the explorations were evidently in 

 the centre of the basin. 



The Albion mines shales are a distinguishing feature of the 

 Basin. Their enormous thickness is without a parallel, and as 

 they overlie the large seams, they are a sure indication that the 

 crops of the seams must be sought '• to the rise.' These shales 

 serve to identify the Campbell or Culton seams with ' the main 

 seam' of the Albion mines. To the south-west of the Culton 

 pit the measures were found to assume a north-westerly dip, 

 while near Oliver's mill, a mile farther west, the measures were 

 found to dip in the reverse way, showing that the coal basin 

 must sweep off in that direction and between the two points in 

 question. More than a mile to the south of the Campbell area 

 coal and fire-clays have been found by us, while the existence of 

 the light sandstones of the Pictou coal fields still farther south, 

 established the fact that the coal basin must turn in that direc- 

 tion. For two seasons this property has been explored by us, 

 and as we are the only persons by whom it has been examined, 

 the results of our explorations will have more weight than theo- 

 ries, however ingenious, by others who have never examined the 

 locality. The extension of the coal field in this direction is 

 most important, not only from the very superior quality of the 

 eoal, but also because it is found at so short a distance from the 



