CAHABA COAL FIELD: DAILEY CREEK BASIN. 109 
synclinal east of Berea Church ; most of the southeast side 
of the basin is flat or nearly flat. 
The first mining done in this basin was during the war 
between the States, by refugees from Mississippi and else- 
where. They were Brooks and Gainer, mining close to 
where Gurnee now is. Rogers; Carter; Gholson & Co.; 
Herndon, and Thompson. They hauled their coal in wagons 
to the nearest point on the Selma, Rome and Dalton Rail- 
road. The coal was used by the Confederate Government 
at the arsenal at Selma. ‘The seams worked by them were 
the Clark seam, the Gholson seam and the Thompson seam. 
These three seams were all they mined in this basin ; their 
method of mining was by “drift,” and horse power slopes ; 
none of them used steam power in any shape. The dis- 
tance from their mines to the railroad was by the wagon 
road about twelve miles, and with a team of four mules and 
wagon, they hauled a ton per day to the railroad per each 
team ; this was counted a day’s hauling. 
None of them advanced their mine workings very far 
from the outcrop, their principal work being hauling the 
coal and keeping their long wagon roads in hauling con- 
dition. 
All of these mines stopped when the war ended; the 
refugees then, with one or two exceptions, went back to 
their former homes. Since that time the mines have been 
abandoned and grown up with briars, till about January, 
1889. From this date railroads have been built, connecting 
this region with Montevallo and Selma, Blocton, Bessemer 
and Birmingham, and with Helena, Montgomery and the 
Gulf, and, by means of the steam colliers now running from 
Pensacola, with Havana and all the coal markets in the 
Gulf of Mexico. 
The contrast between the appliances and methods of min- 
ing used in the basin twenty-five years ago, and those used 
at present, is very great. 
Since January, 1889, the Excelsior Coal Company have 
sunk two large slopes on the Gholson seam; one of them, 
No. 1, or Gurnee Slope, is now down eight hundred feet ; 
these slopes, if continued on in the direction they are now 
being driven, will penetrate an immense region of flat, or 
