314 



CUMBERLAND COAL. 



to be seen in almost every natural or artificial sec- 

 tion of the country ; while the iron ore and the lime- 

 stone occasionally occur, and often form regular 

 strata. There are in the Frostburgh region six or 

 eight accessible coal-beds, which vary in thickness 

 from one to twelve feet. The great bed averages 

 at least ten feet of excellent workable coal, and the 

 minor beds are from three to eight feet thick. These 

 beds are situated most favourably also for draining, 

 as the water runs down into the valleys from the 

 adits, and is thus carried off. They are also per- 

 fectly inexhaustible, and, being situated near the 

 Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, to be completed the 

 ensuing year, with which a railroad will communi- 

 cate directly from the mines, afford the most flatter- 

 ing prospects of wealth to the enterprising compa- 

 nies now engaged in working them. 



Character of the Cumberland Coal. — This is proba- 

 bly the most valuable coal, not only for manufac- 

 turing, but also for domestic purposes, hitherto dis- 

 covered in this country. Analyses by several dis- 

 tinguished chemists prove that it contains no sul- 

 phur, which is injurious in the manufacture of iron, 

 and that it presents, on the average, from 78 to 80 

 per cent, of carbon, with 15 to 20 per cent, of bitu- 

 minous and earthy matter, the latter being about five 

 per cent., with only a trace of iron. 



It has been found very difficult, and, indeed, im- 

 possible, to employ some coal for the smelting of 

 iron, as it imparts to it a degree of brittleness, as 

 well as injures its malleability ; but no such effects 

 attend the use of Cumberland coal. It is, accord- 

 ingly, a favourite fuel in the public armory at Har- 

 per's Ferry. It also affords an excellent coke, 

 which affords a very intense heat. But, even with- 

 out coking, the large amount of carbon which it 

 contains adapts it extremely well to the production 

 of an intense heat. ; while the bitumen, although in 

 small proportion compared with the common bitu- 



