OAHABA COAL FIELD: HELENA BASIN. 55 
continuing along the railroad southeastward, after passing 
over ninety-two feet of measures mostly hard grey sand- 
stone, you arrive at the Quarry seam. This is a thin seam 
of one and a half to two feet. Passing over thirty-five feet 
of additional measures, you will arrive at the Smithshop 
seam, this is another thin seam of one and one-half feet. 
The Smithshop seam outcrops in the small ravine or valley 
immediately southeast of the old quarry; thence from the 
Smithshop seam southeast, passing over one hundred and 
seventy-three feet of sandstone, part of it coarse grained, 
part fine grained, with some massive and some laminated 
sandstone, you will arrive at the Thompson or Conglomer- 
ate seam. The average thickness in the Helena basin, of 
this seam is from three to five feet, though owing to its 
close proximity to the great boundary fault, its thickness 
varies from two and a half or three feet, up to ten or twelve 
feet. When the seam is in good condition in this basin, it 
contains from three to five feet of good coal from bottom to 
top; in places though it becomes interlarded with pockets 
or layers of what miners call “smut,” a black, shiny, soft 
material that looks very much like coal, and is difficult to 
keep out of coal on account of its close resemblance, and its 
not being always at the top of the seam, as the smut that is 
connected with the Montevallo seam generally is. 
The principal defects of the Conglomerate seam in this 
basin are its roof, (which in places is very treacherous,) its 
liability to layers of smut, and its irregularity in thickness. 
Four or five attempts to work this seam in this basin have 
been made in the past, but in every case have ended in 
abandoning it, chiefly on the account of the rvof and its ir- 
regular and defective condition. 
The springs in the outcrop of this seam near Buck Creek 
furnish three varieties of mineral water. On the south side 
of said creek are two strong chalybeate springs, and from 
its outcrop on the north side it furnishes a strong alum 
spring. These waters have been shipped away to some ex- 
tent, and several invalids have come here to Helena and 
stayed for the benefit to be derived from these waters. For 
some classes of bowel diseases they have been highly 
praised. The Conglomerate seam is the same as the 
