COAL BEDS OF ANTHRACITE FIELDS 47 



Passing into the western Middle field, one finds the Pottsville coal beds 

 present and important at the western extremity of the Shamokin or 

 northern basins, where three beds have been at 130, 288, and 419 feet 

 below the Buck Mountain, with thicknesses of 5, 11, and 10 feet respect- 

 ively. Farther east, at New Franklin, the succession is 



Feet. Inches 



Buck Mountain coal bed 



Interval 200 



Coal bed III 5 to 10 



Interval from Buck Mountain 320 



Coal bed II 6 to 8 



Interval from Buck Mountain 470 



Coal bed I 10 



Interval from Buck Mountain 570 



Coal bedO 5 8 



The total thickness of Pottsville in this field is between 700 and 800 

 feet ; so that the coal bed is to be regarded as certainly in the Lower 

 Pottsville, and possibly coal bed I should be placed there also. Near 

 Shamokin, number II is 343 feet, and a new bed, IV, appears at 81 feet. 

 The beds III and II are reported at many places in the central portions 

 of the Shamokin, and occasionally the}^ become of workable thickness. 

 Near mount Carmel, in the eastern portion of the basin, a boring shows 

 coals at approximately 38, 58, 219, 293, 674, and 708 feet, and the lowest 

 is known as Lykens number 5, which is a not improbable reference. It 

 is of workable thickness and is very near the bottom of the formation. 

 Elsewhere, however, the coals appear to be almost wholly in the Upper 

 Pottsville, those at Natalie being at 220 and 260 ; Potts tunnel, 240 and 

 325 ; those at Belmore colliery 146 and 232 feet below the Buck Moun- 

 tain. 



In the western portion of the Mahanoy basin, beds were found near 

 Ashland at 240 and 325 feet. Farther east, between Shenandoah and 

 Mahanoy City, traces of coal were found at 233 and 340 feet and a bed 

 3 feet 8 inches thick at 500 feet, while at the eastern end of the basin 3 

 feet of coal was found at 420 feet, with no other in the section. Evi- 

 dently the coals of both divisions are represented in this southern basin. 



In the eastern Middle the thickness of the Pottsville varies from 440 

 feet in the most southerly basin to 165 in the most northerly. Ap- 

 parently the whole of the Lower Pottsville is wanting, and for the most 

 part even the lower coals of the upper division seem to be absent. The 

 records of borings are numerous, but the occurrence of the coal beds is 

 irregular, as though petty areas alone received deposits, while the vary- 

 ing intervals suggest great irregularity in subsidence. 



