ANTHRACITE COAL-FIELDS. 305 



cite, fitting it thus for every possible adaptation in 

 the arts or as a fuel, and then turn our attention to 

 the geological and topographical structure of the re- 

 gions, affording a ready access to their most seclu- 

 ded districts, we behold such a prodigality of happy 

 circumstances as may well inspire exultation. It is 

 estimated that the anthracite coal conveyed to mar- 

 ket from our mines in the course of the last year 

 (1837) has nearly amounted to 900,000 tons ; yet 

 this large quantity sinks into insignificance when 

 we look at what the coal trade even in the next 10 

 years is destined to become. If we turn to the 

 southern anthracite basin, the present seat of the 

 most extensive mining operations in the state, we 

 behold a mass of coal measuring nearly 60 miles in 

 length and two in average breadth, having in the mid- 

 dle an aggregate thickness of good and available 

 coal exceeding probably 100 feet ! When we con- 

 sider that from this basin and its branches above 

 730,000 tons have been sent to market in the course 

 of the past year from six districts only, and when we 

 reflect that nearly all this coal has been taken from 

 the strata above the v^ater-level, below wiiich hun- 

 dreds, nay, thousands of feet of coal, following the 

 dip of the same, lie still untouched, we are made 

 aware of the enormous amount of undeveloped re- 

 sources in this coal region alone." 



The anthracite coal-fields of Pennsylvania lie 

 chiefly to the northeast of the Susquehanna River. 

 If we trace a parallelogram, one line following the 

 Kittatinny or Blue Mountain from the Water Gap 

 of the river Lehigh to the Susquehanna ; another 

 from that mountain up that last river to its north 

 branch ; and a third along the north branch and its 

 tributary the Lackawanna, until we reach a point 

 almost due north of the point we started from, we 

 shall then enclose nearly all the genuine anthracite 

 seams hitherto discovered in Pennsylvania. 



The most southeastern range of coal-seams may 



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