IRON ORE, LIMESTONE, AND COAL. F 2 . 109 



sandstones will be as unsuccessful in the future as it has 

 been in the past, and dissuade those who consult them 

 from undertaking what must prove a fruitless task. 



Above the olive-green shale and sandstone just men- 

 tioned, come red shales and sandstones of vast thickness. 

 These form the red ground between Half-Falls mountain 

 and Duncan's island, and outside the Cove along Sherman's 

 Creek and Fishing Creek valleys. In this formation, Cats- 

 kill No. IX, several thin seams of vegetable matter resem- 

 bling coal have been seen, but nothing, so far as I know 

 in Perry county, that has looked promising enough to tempt 

 much investigation. 



Over the Catskill formation No. IX, lies the Pocono forma- 

 tion No. X, the great sandstones of Cove, Buffalo, and 

 Berry's mountains. Here the indications of coming coal 

 are stronger. Seams of mineral fuel occur at various levels 

 through their mass. In all these mountains serious attempts 

 have been made at different times, mostly, I believe, by per- 

 sons not acquainted loith the district, or with its geology, to 

 open coal mines. Opposite Newport, in the mountain gap, 

 traces of such workings may be seen. At Mt. Patrick, too, 

 a gangway has been driven for a long distance in a coal 

 seam, from which a considerable quantity has been taken 

 out.* The same is true of various places on the Cove 

 mountain. But every one of these undertakings has been 

 abandoned. The inference is — they were not profitable. 



Over the great sandstone No. X lie the red shales of the 

 two coves, in which no coal is found. 



We have now gone through the whole series of Perry 

 county rocks from the lowest to the highest, and only in 

 one of them, the No. X sandstone, have we found any evi- 

 dence of the presence of coal that deserves a moment's con- 

 sideration. But outside of the county, in Dauphin county, 

 the red shales dip under the great conglomerate which sup- 

 ports the genuine coal measures of Pennsylvania. 



A little consideration of the facts above presented will 

 show any thoughtful reader the nature of the evidence on 



♦See Page Plate VI II, Fig. 2. 



