ashley.,]  COAL    TN    NICHOLAS    QUADRANGLE,    W.    VA.  427 
in  some  sections  it  gives  a  greater  thickness  or  is  quite  free  from 
any  partings,  as  a  rule  it  shows  a  thin  parting  of  bone  coal  thai  will 
greatly  interfere  with  its  commercial  value.  It  occurs  about  300  feet 
above  the  top  of  the  Nuttall  sandstone.  It  has  been  opened  upon  at 
a  large  number  of  points  a  short  distance  north  of  Gauley  River. 
From  100  to  130  feet  above  this  is  another  coal  which  may  represent 
the  Cedar  Grove  coal  of  the  Kanawha  River  area.  This  coal  is  more 
commonly  a  solid  coal  of  excellent  quality,  but  on  account  of  its 
variable  thickness  can  not  be  counted  upon  to  yield  workable  coal 
over  more  than  a  small  percentage  of  the  area.  Immediately  under 
the  black  flint  on  the  western  edge  of  the  quadrangle  is  the  coal  cor- 
related with  the  Stockton  coal,  which  in  one  or  two  places  shows  a 
large  thickness,  but  is  badly  split  up  with  partings.  It  seems  possible 
that  further  exploration  may  reveal  considerable  areas  of  workable 
coal  at  this  horizon  or  at  the  horizon  of  the  two  or  three  coals  imme- 
diately below. 
Charleston  sandstone. — The  most  important  coal  north  of  Gauley 
River  in  this  quadrangle  is  correlated  with  the  coal  that  occurs  in  the 
Charleston  sandstone  above  the  black  flint.  It  is  the  coal  which  has 
been  correlated  by  Mr.  I.  C.  White  as  the  Upper  Freeport  coal,  but  on 
paleo-botanic  grounds  appears  to  come  at  the  horizon  of  the  Kittan- 
ning  coals.  It  is  possible  that  it  will  be  found  to  correlate  with  the 
No.  5  Block  or  Cannelton  coal  of  Kanawha  River,  which  is  often  very 
thick  in  that  region.  From  its  position  in  the  Charleston  sand- 
stone it  is  limited  to  the  northern  part  of  the  quadrangle  and  unfor- 
tunately over  a  large  part  of  that  area  lies  too  near  the  tops  of  the 
hills  to  yield  as  large  areas  as  might  be  wished.  This  bed  shows 
almost  everywhere  at  least  4  feet  of  workable  coal,  and  in  some  sec- 
tions as  high  as  12  feet  of  coal  can  be  mined.  As  a  rule  the  bed  is 
split  with  partings,  so  that  in  most  places  part  of  it  will  not  be  mined. 
It  shows  total  thicknesses  of  up  to  nearly  19  feet.  The  best  single 
section  shows  a  thickness  of  13  feet,  including  two  6-inch  partings. 
This  coal  as  a  rule  lies  within  200  or  300  feet  of  the  tops  of  the  moun- 
tains across  almost  the  entire  northern  edge  of  the  field,  presenting 
its  largest  bodies  in  the  divide  between  Elk  and  Gauley  river?  and 
in  the  ridges  which  project  northward  and  northwestward  from  this 
divide.  This  coal  is  often  of  a  dull  gray  color  and  dry  and  splinty, 
and  in  some  cases  is  extremely  hard,  for  which  reason  it  lias  been 
thought  it  would  make  an  excellent  coal  for  exportation.  Asso- 
ciated with  this  coal,  both  above  and  below,  are  coals  which  give 
promise  of  being  locally  workable,  though  at  present  but  little 
exploration  has  been  made  upon  them,  and  it. is  probable  that  mining 
operations  for  some  time  will  be  concentrated  upon  the  bed  just 
described.     Of  these  coals,  one  about   tO  feet  below  the  principal  bed 
