392 
CONTRIBUTIONS    TO   ECONOMIC    GEOLOGY,  1904.         [bull.  260. 
ville  mine  washed  and  tests  made  to  determine  its  coking  properties. 
It  is  reported  that  the  tests  were  successful,  giving  65  per  cent  of 
coke. 
Analyses  of  the  Witteville  coal. 
Mois- 
ture. 
Volatile 
combustible 
matter. 
Fixed 
carbon. 
Ash. 
Sulphur. 
Phos- 
phorus. 
0.48 
.54 
23.82 
26.39 
66.69 
66.64 
9.01 
5.24 
4.64 
1.16 
0.02 
A  coal  bed,  locally  known  as  the  Secor  coal,  occurs  in  the  struc- 
tural basin  south  of  South  McAlester  in  the  stratigraphic  position 
of  the  Witteville  bed.  It  has  been  prospected  and  mined  at  a 
number  of  places  and  is  at  present  operated  at  Perry  ville  switch, 
between  South  McAlester  and  Savanna.  Its  thickness  here  is  ap- 
proximately 3  feet,  but  it  does  not  contain  the  shaly  impurities 
found  in  the  mines  at  Witteville.  The  roof,  however,  in  the  two 
localities  consists  of  the  same  kind  of  fossiliferous  shale  and  the 
quality  of  the  coal  seems  to  be  essentially  the  same.  The  coal  in 
this  basin  is  well  situated  for  mining  and  crops  out  near  two  lines 
of  railway.  The  same  coal  bed  crops  out  in  an  anticlinal  fold  which 
bears  east  from  the  Missouri,  Kansas  and  Texas  Railroad  4  miles 
northeast  of  McAlester.  This  outcrop  has  been  traced  from  the 
railroad  northeastward  to  Canadian  River  in  the  vicinity  of  Gol- 
conda.  North  of  McAlester  the  coal  has  been  extensively  pros- 
pected and  reports  made  that  it  is  of  good  quality  and  about  4 
feet  thick.  East  of  Gaines  Creek,  in  the  vicinity  of  Massey,  and 
on  Jones  Creek  southwest  of  Featherstone,  the  coal  is  approximately 
3  feet  thick.  The  structure  of  the  bed  varies  slightly  from  place- 
to  place.  At  one  prospect  the  face  of  the  coal  reveals  two  thin 
partings  of  bony  shale  while  at  others  the  section  is  clear  of  shaly 
impurities.  The  physical  appearance  of  the  coal  indicates  that  it 
is  harder  and  that  the  percentage  of  sulphur  is  probably  less  than 
at  Witteville,  but  it  is  believed  that  the  amount  of  ash  is  greater. 
The  coal  is  being  mined  for  local  consumption  south  of  Feather- 
stone  and  south  of  Massey,  and  has  been  mined  in  former  times 
between  these  two  places. 
The  rocks  in  the  region  about  Massey  and  Featherstone  have 
been  thrown  into  flat,  low  folds  and  the  coal  is  well  situated  for 
exploitation.  North  and  east  of  Featherstone  the  same  coal  lias 
been  exposed  by  prospecting  and  mining  in  a  small  way,  but  contains 
near  the  middle  of  (lie  bed  a  shale  which  is  thick  enough  to  prevent 
its  successful  operation  on  a   commercial  scale.     A  coal  bed  occurs 
