140 J. J. STEVENSON CARBONIFEROUS OF APPALACHIAN BASIN 



90 feet below the Mason and 65 feet above the flint. The Stockton is 

 concealed here, but at Coalburg the coals are all shown and the interval 

 from Mason to Stockton is 186 feet. The "Block" is mined at a number 

 of places farther up the river at 41 to 75 feet above the flint, but no 

 higher bed is exposed until near the Fayette County line, where, at lock 

 number 3, a bed supposed to be the Mason is at 206 feet above the flint, 

 40 feet more than at Coalburg and 76 feet more than at Porters run, near 

 Charleston. Whether this be the Mason or not can not be determined, 

 intermediate measurements being wanting. 



At Coalburg the Mason is accompanied by its plant bed. The coal is 

 insignificant near the eastern outcrop, but it becomes 17 feet thick, part- 

 ings included, near Coalburg, whence northwestward it decreases so as to 

 become insignificant as it approaches Charleston, though, as already seen, 

 it becomes economically important along Elk river, northeast from that 

 city. The "Block" is a valuable bed on the upper Kanawha, yielding an 

 excellent open-burning coal coming out in blocks. The thickness of this 

 part of the bed near the Fayette border is from 5 to 6 feet; down the 

 river, however, the thickness decreases, and at Coalburg it is 2 to 3 feet, 

 but retaining its "blocky" feature; thence it quickly diminishes, and 

 near Charleston it is only a few inches and is often wanting, cut out by 

 the sandstone. A thin coal bed occurs at some places just above the 

 flint, but it appears to be absent at Charleston. The flint varies from 

 5 to 10 feet; changes from tough typical flint to silicious shale and 

 usually is fossiliferous, as is also the shale associated wtih it. The in- 

 terval to the Stockton-Brookville coal bed is from nothing to 18 feet. 

 This bed is so irregular that it is of uncertain value economically. One 

 of its partings thickens at times so as tp separate the divisions into two 

 distinct beds, and the parts are known as the Stockton and Lewiston. 

 At times one or the other of the divisions is wanting. The coal varies 

 from splint to cannel, but usually one finds some layers of soft coal. 



The Charleston sandstone of Mr Campbell includes the great mass of 

 sandstones succeeding the flint along the Kanawha and its tributaries. 

 It is the "series of coarse sandy or conglomeratic beds which separates 

 the Kanawha formation from the red and green shales and green sand- 

 stones of the formation next above." The Kanawha formation has the 

 flint as its upper boundary ; the formation above the Charleston sand- 

 stone is termed Braxton by Mr Campbell. The sandstone, made up of 

 beds of coarse material separated by shales and coal beds, is about 300 

 feet thick at Charleston, but farther south on Coal river, in Boone 

 county, it is about 400. At a little way northwest from Charleston it is 



