38 The Coal Mines of the United States of North America. 



and the limestones thickening as it were at their expense. It 

 is therefore clear that the ancient land was to the east ; the 

 deep sea with its banks of corals and shells to the west ; and 

 from the identity of fossil plants and the relative position of 

 the anthracite, it must be of the same age as the bituminous. 

 We find the coal most bituminous where it remains level and 

 unbroken, and that it becomes progressively debituminized 

 towards the more bent and distorted rocks. 



The diagram exhibits the veins of coal by a geological 

 section across the Sharp Mountain at Lorberry Creek. It is 

 an end vein of the Pan ther's Head on the west side of 

 the gap. 



For further particulars consult A Report to the Legislature 

 of Pennsylvania, containing a description of the Swatara 

 Mining District, illustrated by Diagrams, with a very large 

 map. 61 pp., Harrisburg, 18o9. 



4. The Susquehannah district embraces the western ter- 

 minus of the southern coal-field, branching out into two divisions 

 towards the Susquehannah — the southern, or Stony Creek 

 coal region, and the Lyken^s Valle}^. The basin is thirty-two 

 miles long by four and a half in breadth. The primitive posi- 

 tion of the vein of coal of this region is generally unchanged, 

 as a consequence rendering their investigation and develop- 

 ment much more easy, and less liable to the occurrence of 

 those " faults" and " breaks" which have proved so disastrous 

 to capital and discouraging to labour in other regions. The 

 thickness of the beds of coal in this region is estimated at 

 twenty-nine feet, yielding at least 60,000 tons to. the acre. 

 Over half a million tons of coal are sent annually hence to 

 market. 



The coal-lands are generally owned by 'corporations or 

 wealthy individuals, and are leased to operators, who pay a 

 certain fixed sum for every ton mined. The coal is consigned 

 to commission-merchants, by whom it is sold by the cargo, 

 generally upon contracts made early in the season. 



The coal is procured by driving drifts into the mountain 

 ends, or by sinking sloping shafts and putting engines upon 

 the veins. When the first level of a slope is sunk down, the 

 coal is mined with comparative facility and little expense. 

 This level will last from four to six years if the veins and the 

 run upon it be fair, but at the end of that time a new level 

 must be sunk, and the slope must be doubled in depth ; in 

 fact, a new mine must be created 350 feet below the surface, 

 and when " faults" are met, bankruptcy often ensues. Indeed, 

 few have over successfully overcome the third level of a 

 slope. 



From statistics of coal mined in the United States during 



