GEOLOGY 



Pre-historic Man. — Examples of flint arrowheads, scrapers, polished stone axes, and the various 

 other implements used by Palxolithic and Neolithic man have been found very generally distributed, 

 more especially on the moorlands bordering on Yorkshire, wrhere they occur under the peat. A fine 

 series of these, collected by Dr. Colley Marsh, Mr. Parker, and others, is to be seen in the Rochdale 

 Museum, and many collections are in private hands. 



The abundance and wridespread character of these implements point to Lancashire having been 

 wrell populated by Early Man, whilst the finding of the bones and teeth of the red deer, ancient 

 British ox, and other animals shows that the fauna was of a more varied nature than is now the 

 case.i 



ECONOMIC GEOLOGY 



Useful Minerals. — The opening pages of this paper made mention of the many and great 

 industries carried on in Lancashire, and dependent more or less upon the character of the geology. 



It now remains for us to consider what the mineral wealth consists of, and to what extent it is 

 utilised. 



Coal. — The chief source of mineral wealth is of course coal, which is mined over the whole 

 of the coalfields. The thin seams of the Lower Coal Measures have been to a large degree worked 

 out, the only seam of any importance remaining to be exploited being the Gannister, and that 

 portion of it more especially which is united to the overlying Bullion seam to form the Mountain 

 Four-Feet. This latter seam lies around the fringe and beneath the whole of the Burnley Coal- 

 field, and has been comparatively little worked. The coal is bituminous, and not so good as in the 

 Gannister proper, but as the seam is of greater thickness than the latter, and may improve when 

 followed deeper, it is extremely likely that it will be increasingly used in the future. All the seams 

 of the Lower Coal Measures have been, and are now, where mining in them is still carried on, 

 worked solely for local consumption, the many factories and industries and the homes of the people 

 supplying a constant and near market. 



The main source of the coal supply is the Middle Coal Measures, the seams of which are 

 thicker and contain much better coal than is found in the Lower Series. 



The potential yield of the Lancashire Coalfield has been estimated by Professor Hull ^ and 

 others on several occasions, and lastly by a Royal Commission on Coal Supplies.' The investiga- 

 tions of the latter, based upon the evidence supplied by mine managers, engineers, and geologists, 

 lead to the conclusion that most coal seams of a thickness of twelve inches and upwards can be 

 safely, and in all probability profitably worked down to a depth of 4,000 feet. The finding of the 

 Royal Commission can be best expressed in tabulate form as follows : — 



Tons of Coal remaining unworked in Seams of Coal which are ; 



1 Morton, Geology of the Country around Liverpool, ed. 2 (1891). 



2 Hull, Mem. Geol. Survey, ' Gaol, of the Burnley Coalfield, Coal Fields of Great Britain,' ed. 4 (1891). 

 Our Coal Resources at the Close of the Nineteenth Century (1897). 



3 Final Report of the Royal Commission on Coal Supplies, Parti. General Report, 1905. Published by His 

 Majesty's Stationery Office. 



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