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by means of a rail-road. A mountain, which runs parallel with 
that containing the mines, and which is yet covered with trees, 
is also said to contain great quantities of coal, but has not yet 
been worked. 
After this fatiguing excursion, as I had seen most of the mines, 
1 left Pottsville on the 5th of June, and rode forty miles to 
Mauch Chunk at the junction of a creek of this name with the 
Lehigh. After passing Orwigsburg we turned to the left towards 
* M‘Keansburg, through a woody valley not well settled, and this 
only near Pine creek. M‘Keansburg is a small place, and lies 
on an eminence, which affords a prospect of a romantic valley, 
through which Little Schuylkill flows. M‘Keansburg adjoins on 
one side a wood swarming with locusts, which made so much 
noise that they might be heard at a great distance. These locusts 
are seldom seen, and their present appearance is ascribed to the 
uncommonly dry spring. I walked among the trees, and found 
under the stones several crystallizations; I found among others, 
a stone perfectly resembling a petrified bird’s head with the beak. 
Many vegetable petrifactions, such as fern and leaves of the 
kalmia, are found in the slate between the veins of coal. I was 
told that the impression of a whole collection of snakes was 
found in a cavity in the slate, and that the impressions of the 
heads, particularly, were very distinct. 
After leaving M‘Keansburg we passed valleys and mountains, 
and reached, in this manner, the narrow and romantic valley of 
the Lehigh, by a very steep road. Lehighton, which lies at a 
junction of Mahoning creek and the Lehigh, consists of but few 
houses, and is supported in a miserable manner; because the 
land is too hilly and rough for cultivation, and the industrious 
village of Mauch Chunk, which is but three miles distant, with¬ 
draws from it all support. The country, however rough and un¬ 
productive as it may be for those who wish to live here, wmuld 
afford a particular enjoyment to a botanist, and a lover of his 
science, by its rich and blooming vegetable productions. 
It began to grow dark when we reached Lehighton, I never¬ 
theless continued on the road; this grew narrow, was partly cut 
out of the rock, and closely approached the right shore of the Le¬ 
high as far as Mauch Chunk, which we reached after dark, and 
in a storm. I took lodging in the only inn, which, however, is 
very good and respectable, and kept by a quaker, Mr. Atherton. 
The place has only existed four years, and owes its origin to the 
neighbouring mines, which, with all the surrounding country, 
belongs to the Lehigh Coal Company; a company which possesses 
a large capital, has existed longer than its rival in Pottsville, and 
conducts its operations more systematically. One of the most 
