The Goal Mines of the United States of North America. 35 



coal, and could be as readily burned in grates. The coal 

 formations of this country, although the mineral differs in 

 character, are of the same geological era. The difference in 

 the amount of bitumen is caused by the greater disturbance 

 to which some portions of the coal-fields have been subjected. 



The hard coal is found on the slopes of the Alleghanies, 

 where, by the upheaval of heated mineral masses, the bitumen 

 has been expelled, and the coal converted into anthracite. The 

 bitumen in coal increases as the beds pass westward towards 

 the Mississippi, where, as well as on the Pacific shores, the 

 quantity of bitumen is equal to that in English sea-coal. 



There are three great anthracite coal-fields in Pennsyl- 

 vania, namely, the Southern, Middle, and Northern. 



I. The southern coal-field is divided into four mining 

 districts, the Lehigh, the Schuylkill, the Swatara, and the 

 Susquehannah. 



II. The middle coal-field is north of the southern, having 

 the Beaver meadow mines in the eastern extremity, and the 

 Shamokin and Mahony mines on the Susquehannah. 



The Shamokin mines, are worked horizontally by digging 

 into the mountain. This coal is called the " Peacock," on 

 account of the brilliant golden purple and green tints it pre- 

 sents to the eye, but it is not as durable as the coal from the 

 Pottsville and other mines, burning either to a white or red 

 ash. It ignites easily, and burns very brightly. 



III. The northern coal-field lies twenty-five to thirty miles 

 east of the Middle Basin, including the Wyoming and Lack- 

 awanna valleys, and finds its market in New York. 



The following remarks will be confined to a brief notice of 

 the southern coal-field. 



Canals and railroads have been constructed here with a 

 boldness of design and magnificence of enterprise that will 

 compare with any works of the kind in this or the old 

 world. 



This field is sixty-five miles in length, and averaging about 

 four miles in width, and enclosed or bounded by a continuous 

 mountain, which separates it by about ten miles from the 

 second coal-field, forming a longitudinal basin. This boun- 

 dary is called Broad Mountain on the north, and Sharp Moun- 

 tain on the south, and is penetrated by the rivers Schuylkill 

 and Swatara, which afford the inlets for the necessary canals 

 and railroads. 



1 . The nearest anthracite coal-field to tide-water is on the 

 Lehigh river. The Lehigh river, however, unlike the Schuyl- 

 kill and Swatara, does not penetrate the coal-field, and hence 

 the coal-mines could only be reached by ascending and 

 descending, through inclined plains and railways, Sharp 



