Anthracite. 



277 



the operations. This prevented as much system in the works as 

 was necessary, and also the introduction of proper and economical 

 machinery. And he says, that " amongst the many losses, which 

 contributed to work their ruin, that was not the least, of allowing, or 

 permitting the workman to have from half a pint to a pint of spiritu- 

 ous liquors during the working hours. We neither allow nor per- 

 mit any thing of the sort, nor is it allowed or permitted in any min- 

 ing establishment in Europe. Instead of benefiting a man, it actu- 

 ally incapacitates him : and exclusive of the immoral effects on the 

 passions of the workmen, I consider it a loss to the owners of at 

 least one sixth the whole manual labor." 



The second cause of failure, he says, lay in sending the coal from the 

 mines in an improper state ; that is, unsorted, and in too large lumps. 

 He says that the R. Island coal does not break easily when ignited, 

 like the Lehigh coal, and that this fact and the amount of impurities 

 which it contained, injured its reputation in the market. He thinks 

 that if mixed in equal quantity with the Pennsylvania or bituminous 

 coal, it answers best for fuel : and he says he has abundant evidence, 

 that one ton of the R. Island coal, mixed with a ton of that from 

 Pennsylvania, are equal to two tons of the anthracite from the latter 

 state. 



These facts, coming as they do from a practical and intelligent man, 

 I thought deserving of a place in this Report: for they render it prob- 

 able to my mind, that the Rhode Island coal may be again wrought 

 ere many years. At present the prejudice against it in market is so 

 strong, that the owners have been obliged to abandon its exploration. 



I have already mentioned that beds of anthracite, a few inches 

 thick, occur in the south part of Newport in graywacke slate. In 

 the war of the Revolution, the British troops, after consuming nearly 

 all the wood upon the island, endeavored to find coal at this place ; 

 and the marks of their exploration still remain. 



On the map I have represented a bed of coal as existing near the 

 east line of Cumberland, another in the north part of Middleborough, 

 a third in West Bridgwater, and a fourth in Wrentham, I could not 

 learn that much of this mineral had been obtained at these places. 

 The search for coal in Weymouth, mentioned in a note to the first 

 part of my Report, first edition, has not I believe been successful. 



An exploration is now going on in the south part of Wrentham, 

 principally by boring. In one place they have penetrated 180 feet 



