BUCKMAN — SEARCH FOR COAL. 187 



now worked deeper and deeper, and will be as the price becomes higher. 

 The section (1) may serve to illustrate, (1,2,3) where mining would be 

 futile as being in beds below the coal ; (4,5) where mining is practicable, 

 and likely to pay on account of moderate depth ; (s) where the matter is 

 doubtful, as being beyond a present paying depth; and (r) where next 

 to impossible, the mineral being beyond our reach. 



The physical circumstances attendant upon a mine —such as whether 

 its beds are tolerably uniform or have been greatly sliattered by faults 

 or dislocations of any serious moment, whether liable to be " drowned 

 out" by water, in which case facilities for getting this fluid away must 

 be duly and carefully considered — these, and other matters of equal 

 moment, in every coal-mining adventure, must be properly weighed. 



All these pre-determinations, however, will be materially affected by 

 considerations of quality and quantity, points which can usually be 

 ascertained only by absolute experiment. At the same time, the geologist 

 should never conclude from a mere local examination, but regard with 

 the utmost care and circumspection all the circumstances connected with 

 the field of which the portion or locality under investigation forms a 

 part ; as, by strict local inquiry, added to carefully- drawn generalisa- 

 tions, we shall be able to perceive what exists at greater depths than 

 can be attained by the miners' tools. 



I now proceed to the details connected with a coal investigation in 

 America, as this course will tend to show that correct principles are 

 universally practical, being equally a sure guide in a coal investigation 

 3,000 miles distant, as in our own land. All the circumstances I 

 have been previously discussing were not only of use theoretically but 

 practically in my field-examination. It being a matter of importance 

 to some gentlemen in England to ascertain whether a large tract of land 

 in Western "Virginia, U.S., really possessed the amount of valuable coal 

 which had been stated, it fell to my lot to be dispatched to the 

 locality to report fully upon the subject. After my arrival on the great 

 American continent I made my way with dispatch to Pittsburg, which 

 not only lay in the direction of my labours, but was itself situated in a 

 large coal and iron mining district ; and indeed, from its mineral wealth, 

 that city has not inaptly obtained the name of the " Birmingham of 

 America." Here, having become satisfied that the whole geological 

 structure was that of the true coal period, I took my passage in the 

 steamer down the Ohio, a distance of nearly 400 miles, to Guyandotte, 



K 2 



