306 



ANTHRACITE COAL-FIELDS. 



be traced parallel to the Kittatinny, nearly the whole 

 way from the Susquehanna to the Lehigh, more than 

 60 miles. Near the middle of this line, which is 

 chiefly along a valley embraced by the Sharp and 

 Broad Mountains, about 65 seams have been count- 

 ed, one half of which, at least, are productive, and 

 those wrought will average five feet in thickness ; 

 while many are much thicker, some having a thick- 

 ness of 24 feet. These seams, cropping to the sur- 

 face under a mean dip of about 30 degrees, thus 

 present a front of 200 or 300 feet of coal above the 

 level of the valleys, from which they are entered 

 by drifts or levels carried in from the ends of these 

 ridges. Near the northeast end of this coal-field 

 the seams are greatly reduced in number ; but one 

 of them, that known as the Summit Mine of the Le- 

 high Company, measures in thickness nearly 60 feet 

 of solid coal. 



We have not space to enter upon a description 

 of all the coal-fields of this magnificent state. We 

 may, however, briefly notice that which lies north- 

 west of the Broad Mountain. Here are immense 

 beds of coal, lying nearly horizontal, and with a 

 thickness throughout of between 20 and 30 feet. 

 The extreme northeastern coal-field of this region, 

 or that lying along the valley of the north branch 

 of the Susquehanna River, from 10 miles below 

 Wilkesbarre to Carbondale on the Lackawanna, 

 occurs under sufficiently simple features to enable 

 us to estimate, with some degree of precision, the 

 probable amount of the coal in it. This field is 

 about 40 miles in length, with an average width of 

 more than two miles, and the coal ranges in at least 

 six seams continuously throughout the whole of 

 this valley. Computing the solid matter accessible 

 in only the two thickest of these, one of which is 24 

 feet, and the other six feet thick, and making due 

 allowance for loss and waste in mining, we find that 

 the coal-field in question can be made to furnish at 



