CAHABA COAL FIELD: OAHABA BASIN. 65 
grey sandstone; above this you will find the Coke Oven 
seam, and forty-four feet above it the Shute seam, but I do 
not consider that there is a sufficient area of the two last 
mentioned seams in this basin to justify preparations for 
extensive working. 
On the northwest side of the Cahaba basin, the rate of 
dip is very regular, varying from about 15° to 20°; on the 
southeast side of the basin the rate of dip is much more 
steep, being mostly from 25° up to 75°. 
The Gould seam and the Wadsworth seam are the two 
principal working seams in this basin, both making a first- 
class coke ; the coke from the Gould seam used to be con- 
sidered by the foundry men of the State as the best coke 
that they could get. 
The South Birmingham Coal and Iron Company are 
working the Wadsworth in this basin at Sydenton, by 
means of a slope driven down southeastwards from the 
northwest outcrop. 
The above mentioned slope, if continued on to the lowest 
part of this basin, will drain an immense area of the Wads- 
worth seam. This basin has the great advantage of having 
the Louisville and Nashville Company’s main line (S. and 
N. A. BR. BR.) running through the middle of it. 
An analysis of the coke recently made from the Wads- 
worth mine, in the South Birmingham Coal and Iron Com- 
pany’s slope at Sydenton, in this basin, gave. the following 
results : 
Analysis of Coke made from the Wadsworth Seam by Alfred 
Brainerd, of Birmingham, Alabama. 
Moisturesjuntadresien oe csiitegeaaes aed neu dolce i's's 0 100 
Volatile: : onichisig pes4h ek ounewenne Bekag ets tageenles sees 2.050 
Fixed Carbonewcceseccescsances 22 ede0aecai suararaes 90.183 
Bul philtscscespanes yeecicen oes teaaneg Manawne eaeae .. 0.617 
ABD visas ioe staat in tae ak Ml oaememat ate eam aches 7.050 
100.000 
Condition: Good color, ash brick red, specific gravity 
1.763. 
This is a first rate coke, and one of the best in the South- 
ern States. 
