COAL-FIELDS OF VIRGINIA. 317 



Monongahela, to Pittsburg, and far beyond to the 

 northeast in Pennsylvania. In some places in this 

 field the seams are from ten to twelve feet thick. 

 There is also a valuable coal-field on the Head wa- 

 ters of the north branch of the Potomac. A simple 

 enumeration of the strata here exposed will furnish 

 an illustration of the resources of this corner of the 

 state, well calculated to inspire astonishment and 

 exultation. Upon a stratum of valuable iron ore, 

 not less than fifteen feet in thickness, there rests a 

 bed of sandstone, upon which reposes a coal-seam 

 three feet thick ; above this another bed of sand- 

 stone, then a two feet vein of coal; next sand- 

 stone, then another coal-seam of four feet ; again a 

 stratum of sandstone, and over it a seven feet vein 

 of coal; over this a heavy bed of iron ore, and, 

 crowning the series, an enormous coal-seam of from 

 fifteen to twenty feet in thickness. Thus we have 

 five tiers of coal-seams, with an aggregate of from 

 thirty to thirty-five feet. There are also coal- 

 seams, associated with salt-springs, on the Little 

 Kanawha^ and springs of petroleum or rockoil oc- 

 cur in the same tract. On the Great Kanawha is 

 a very rich and extensive coal-field ; on the Coal, 

 Ganley, and other rivers in this portion of the West, 

 the beds of this mineral are frequently brought to 

 view ; and, in fact, no better general description can 

 be presented of its extent, than that it is almost 

 continuous with the vast beds of sandstone which 

 spread in nearly horizontal planes over nearly the 

 whole of this broad region. * The coals of Virginia 

 contain from twenty-seven to thirty-eight per cent, 

 of bituminous matter, and from seventy-five to 

 eighty-nine per cent, of pure charcoal or carbon. 

 It is a remarkable fact, that nearly all the coal-beds 

 in this country, like those of England, are associ- 

 ated with iron ore, as if on purpose for its reduc- 

 tion. With respect to the mineral treasures of 

 * Professor W. B. Rogers's Geological Reconnoisance. 



