WARRIOR    COAL    RARIN,    ALABAMA.  215 
in  this  part  of  tne  Warrior  basin  and  is  the  standard  coking  and  steam  coal  of  the  Birming- 
ham district.  Its  chemical  composition  is  shown  by  analyses  Nos.  1  to  10  in  the  table  on 
page  221. 
Nickel  Plate  seam. — The  Nickel  Plate  of  this  region  is  the  same  as  the  American  seam 
of  McCalley's  report. a  Nickel  Plate  is  the  name  universally  used  by  the  miners  of  the 
region  and  for  that  reason  is  adopted  here.  It  is  known  to  be  a  workable  seam  in  a  large 
part  of  the  territory  between  its  northwestern  outcrop  and  a  line  roughly  drawn  from 
Jugtown  to  Adamsville.  The  Nickel  Plate  is  35  to  40  feet  below  the  Pratt  seam.  The 
interval  between  them  is  usually  filled  by  sandstone,  which  in  most  of  the  region  closely 
overlies  the  lower  seam.  So  far  as  known,  the  Nickel  Plate  seam  is  greatly  broken  by 
partings,  and  probably  it  is  of  little  value  along  its  southeastern  outcrop.  The  seam,  where 
workable,  is  uniformly  about  32  inches  thick  and  is  generally  divided  into  two  nearly  equal 
benches  by  a  2-inch  parting  in  the  middle,  as  shown  by  the  following  section: 
Average  of  nine  measurements  of  the  Nickel  Plate  seam. 
Indies. 
Coal 18i 
Parting if 
Coal : 12? 
32| 
The  upper  bench  is  the  purer  coal,  the  lower  bench  carrying  a  larger  proportion  of  ash 
and  sulphur,  as  shown  in  analyses  Nos.  11  to  14,  on  page  221. 
MARY    LEE    GROUP. 
This  group  consists  of  the  Newcastle,  Mary  Lee,  Blue  Creek,  Jagger,  and  Ream  seams. 
Wuh  the  probable  exception  of  the  Ream  seam,  these  are  all  workable  to  a. greater  or  less 
extent  in  the  quadrangle. 
Newcastle  seam. — The  Newcastle  seam  appears  to  be  of  minable  dimensions  only  at  New- 
castle, where  it  exhibits  the  following  average  section: 
Average  of  two  measurements  of  Newcastle  si  dm  at  Newcastle. 
Inches. 
Coal 10 
Parting 1J 
Coal 9£ 
Parting 2\ 
Coal :\\ 
Parting :\\ 
Coal  (with  parting  0  to  2  inches) 25 
S5i 
The  seam  as  exhibited  in  this  section  is  certainly  known  only  over  a  small  area  \v<  st  of 
Newcastle.  A  seam  of  similar  character  occurring  at  about  the  same  horizon  is  known  to 
the  northeast  and  north  of  Newcastle  as  far  as  Morris.  This  may  be  either  Newcastle 
or  Mary  Lee,  or  a  seam  formed  by  the  union  of  both.  It  is  regarded  here  as  the  Mary 
Lee,  since,  there  appears  to  be  one  seam  of  the  group  wanting  in  the  region.  Southwest  of 
Morris  the  Newcastle  seam  is  thin,  so  far  as  known,  and  from  5  to  40  feet  above  the  Mary 
Lee  seam. 
Mary  Lee  seam. — The  Mary  Lee  seam  is  of  great  importances  since  on  account  of  its 
extent,  thickness,  and  composition  it  is  destined  to  become  the  main  source  of  supply  of 
coking  coal  in  the  region  when  the  Pratt  seam  is  exhausted.  It  is  best  known  al  Little- 
ton and  Sayre,  on  its  northwestern  outcrop,  and  at  Lewishurg  and  Sayreton,  on  its  south- 
eastern outcrop.  The  seam  can  be  identified  with  certainty  from  Sayre  to  Crooked  Orei  k. 
From  the  vicinity  of  Morris  around  the  northeastern  outcrop  to  Newcastle  there  is  doubl 
«Op.  eit. 
