INTRODUCTION.  H 
A  party  under  the  direction  of  George  B.  Richardson  made  a  survey 
of  the  so-called  anthracite  field  of  Iron  County,  and  then  extended  its 
work  to  the  east  as  far  as  the  season  would  permit.  The  territory 
examined  is  represented  by  area  No.  20  on  PL  I.  According  to  Mr. 
Richardson's  report,  this  region  is  rugged  and  not  easily  accessible, 
but  as  it  is  near  the  San  Pedro,  Los  Angeles  and  Salt  Lake  Railroad, 
it  seems  possible  that  it  may  be  extensively  developed  in  the  near 
future,  and  coal  from  this  field  may  be  taken  to  the  Southwest, 
where  there  is  a  great  and  growing  demand  for  fuel. 
Oregon. — The  coal  fields  of  Oregon  are  neither  extensive  nor  prom- 
ising. Many  occurrences  of  coal  have  been  noted,  but  either  the 
beds  are  too  thin  for  practical  mining  or  the  coal  is  too  impure  for 
commercial  use.  J.  S.  Diller  examined  a  small  coal  field  in  Rogue 
River  valley,  east  of  Medford  and  Ashland,  as  shown  by  No.  21,  PL  I, 
but  it  can  not  be  regarded  as  a  promising  source  of  fuel.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  a  small  field  above  Heppner,  in  Morrow  County,  as 
described  by  W.  C.  Mendenhall  in  this  bulletin. 
EASTERN    FIELDS. 
The  present  volume  does  not  contain  the  results  of  geologic  work  in 
the  eastern  coal  fields,  as  provision  has  been  made  for  the  publication 
of  these  results  elsewhere.  Work  of  this  character  was  in  progress 
in  two  States  only  in  1907,  namely,  Illinois  and  Pennsylvania. 
Illinois. — Work  on  the  coal  fields  of  Illinois  was  carried  on  jointly 
by  the  State  and  Federal  surveys,  with  the  understanding  that  each 
organization  should  have  access  to  the  results  obtained  by  the  field 
parties  of  the  other.  Under  this  arrangement  certain  areas  have 
been  studied  and  mapped.  Reports  of  this  work  will  appear  in  the 
Yearbook  of  the  State  Survey,  and  consequently  are  omitted  from 
this  bulletin. 
Pennsylvania. — In  1907  considerable  new  work  was  done  in  the 
bituminous  coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania  under  the  direction  of  George 
H.  Ashley.  This  work  was  done  by  the  Federal  Survey,  in  coopera- 
tion with  the  State  organization.  The  close  detailed  work  in  this 
State  is  of  the  utmost  economic  importance,  but  as  brief  accounts 
are  to  appear  in  a  progress  publication  by  the  State,  they  will  be 
omitted  here. 
Virginia. — No  regular  geologic  work  was  done  in  Virginia,  but  a 
brief  examination  of  the  Black  Mountain  coal  field  was  made  by 
Cassius  A.  Fisher.  This  work  was  not  done  with  sufficienl  can1  to 
enable  the  section  to  be  tied  to  the  top  of  the  Lee  conglomerate,  which 
is  the  key  rock  of  the  region,  but.the  section  seemed  to  be  of  sufficienl 
importance  to  warrant  publication. 
