OF WEST vmcrixiA. 



19 



SewicMy Coal In the neighborhood of its eastern outcrop, near Stewartstown, 

 this coal seems to have suffered so much from aboriginal erosion, during the deposi- 

 tion of the overlying stratum, as to have lost all economical value, rarely exceeding 

 one foot in thickness. At that point, one of the highest in the county, it is well ex- 

 posed ; but it does not sho w itself again, as far as observed, east of the Monongahela 

 Eiver. West of the river, we find it nearly six feet thick, on Mr. Boyer's property, 

 at the mouth of Scott's Run. At Mr. JSTewkirk's, one mile up the run, it is four feet 

 six inches. At Ira Ramsay's, one mile further, it is five feet, and a short distance 

 beyond, where it sinks under the run, is five feet eight inches. It has been opened 

 at many points along Scott's Run, and, at all these openings, it is divided near the 

 middle by a layer of cannel coal varying from two to six inches in thickness. The 

 lower portion is compact, and contains but little pyrites, while the up])er part is softer, 

 and appai'ently altogether free from pyrites. 



On Robinson's Run only one opening was observed — about three miles from the 

 river, a short distance above the school-house. There the bed is four feet six inches 

 thick, and has a thin clay parting near the middle. The cannel coal is about one foot 

 from the bottom, and is not so well marked as in the Scott's Run openings. The coal 

 is very free from pyrites, but is rather friable. At this opening the dip is southerly. 



At Laurel Point, on the road to Fairmount, the coal is six feet thick, and the can- 

 nel does not appear. 



In this coal the lamiufB of mineral charcoal, though thin, are at short distances apart. 

 Along the_planes of vertical cleavage it shows a neat, clean surface, brightly polished, 

 and none of the ligneous structure belonging to the Waynesburg bed. The fracture 

 is irregular. The coal is remarkably pure. Fifty bushels, which had lain on the 

 dump for a year, exposed to sun and rain, were still brilliant and comjjact, showing no 

 disposition to slack. On the fire it is almost open-burning, having a very slight 

 tendency to cake. The upper or softer portion on Scott's Run, is in great favor 

 among blacksmiths, owing to its purity, while coal from any part of the bed is highly 

 regarded for domestic purposes. It is undeniably a coal of singular excellence in 

 every respect. 



jRedstone Coal. This coal is seen at many points along the road leading from the 

 Ice's Ferry pike to Stewartstown. At the latter place it is well exposed on many 

 farms, and shows a thickness of about four feet at its outcrop. The Pittsburgh coal, 

 below, is so accessible there, and is so much thicker, that no openings have been made 

 in the Redstone bed, so far as I could ascertain. The coal along the road, referred to, 

 lies very near the hill-tops, so that the area is quite circumscribed and the cpiality 

 rather poor. 



