189 
Considerable quantities of iron ore are found near Mauch 
Chunk, in a sandy state, and near the surface of the earth, which 
is melted in furnaces, erected for this purpose. But they have 
not yet succeeded in doing this by means of stone coal, and are 
obliged to use charcoal. This iron is used to make rail-roads, 
which lead to the most important coal-mine, nine miles distant. 
They will facilitate the transportation of the coal to the water 
in a very great degree, and make this at least three-fourths 
cheaper. Iron carts are to be used on this rail-road. Its ascent 
to the mine amounts to one foot in a hundred; the empty carts 
are to be drawn up by horses, each of which draws four at the 
rate of three miles an hour; when they are loaded, they are car¬ 
ried to the river by their own weight, and make the passage in 
less than an hour. When they reach a certain point not far from 
the river, they are sent down an inclined plane, at an angle of 
forty-five degrees, and by means of machinery yet to be attach¬ 
ed, they draw the empty carts by their weight up this plane. 
A very good turnpike, now leads to this important mine, nine 
miles from Mauch Chunk, along the romantic valley of the same 
name, which ascends but two feet in a hundred, so that we could 
trot the whole way. I went in company with Mr. White. The 
mountain is imperceptibly ascended, and it occasions surprise, 
when, after a ride of eight miles, the woods, which cover the 
mountains are left, to see Mauch Chunk creek, whose shore has 
apparently just been left, rushing deep below, and at the top of 
the mountain to find oneself in a coal-mine. It is a highly 
interesting sight, and alone worth a passage across the ocean. 
The coal does not here run in veins, but the whole mountain 
consists of a solid mass of coal, covered with a layer of clay at 
most a foot thick. The earth assumes a dark colour six inches 
below the surface; coal dust a foot and a half thick, is found at 
the depth of one foot, then comes the coal in small pieces, which 
are not used, but at a foot deeper the solid coal begins, which is 
broken off and sold. They have hitherto bored to the depth of 
sixty feet, and found nothing but the purest coal; they have 
however, dug but forty feet deep, and prefer working horizon¬ 
tally rather than perpendicularly. Except some veins of slate, 
which as solid rocks are not more than two feet thick, no hetero¬ 
geneous substances are found among the coal. This is entirely 
black, and only those parts which are more or less exposed to the 
weather, are iridescent. 
These mines, which are not subterraneous, occupy at present a 
space of nearly four acres. An iron wedge forced by a hammer 
is used to break the coal. The stratum of coal is partly horizon¬ 
tal and partly at an angle of forty-five degrees; it seems as if it 
