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 v^^a- 
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 v^^hich 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 tliirty-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. 
Dd2 
