264  CONTRIBUTIONS    TO    ECONOMIC    GEOLOGY,  1905. 
hills  about  Louisa  and  south  of  Cassville  and  measures  16  to  29  inches  in  the  cuts  recently 
made  along  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Railway  north  of  the  former  town.  Its  variability 
and  small  thickness  in  this  region  preclude  the  probability  of  its  commercial  exploitation  in 
the  near  future.  Coals  No.  7  and  No.  8  are  not  workable  as  a  rule  in  the  valley  of  Big 
Sandy  River,  while  coal  No.  9,  a  relatively  unimportant  coal  in  most  of  the  Kenova  field] 
reaches  its  greatest  development  in  this  region.  It  has  been  opened  along  the  river  from 
the  mouth  of  Horseford  Creek  north  to  Zelda  station  on  the  Kentucky  side,  and  from  the 
mouth  of  Tabor  Creek  to  a  point  opposite  Zelda  on  the  West  Virginia  side.  It  averages  in 
the  neighborhood  of  3  feet,  though  it  attains  a  thickness  of  40  inches  in  places,  as  at  the 
bank  of  Alvin  Stewart,  opposite  Zelda  station.  At  Mr.  Frank  Yates's  bank,  a  mile  south- 
west of  Catalpa,  4  feet  of  coal  were  measured,  but  this  is  above  the  average  for  this  seam. 
At  Fallsburg  and  Yates ville  this  coal  is  of  workable  thickness  for  local  consumption,  aver- 
aging between  25  and  30  inches.  A  section  just  outside  of  the  former  village  measured  30 
inches  of  coal,  with  a  bony  parting  of  8  inches  near  the  top. 
From  Zelda  to  the  region  about  the  mouth  of  the  river  the  Conemaugh  ("Upper  Barren") 
formation  stretches  back  into  the  country  on  both  sides.  From  Buchanan  to  the  mouth  of 
Campbell  Run  the  beds  are  very  nearly  flat,  but  northward  from  this  point  there  is  a  gradual 
rise,  well  shown  on  the  West  Virginia  side  by  the  massive  sandstones  at  the  base  of  the, 
Conemaugh  formation.  The  succession  of  coals  from  No.  9  downward  are  also  well  exposed 
and  some  of  them  have  been  opened  on  Chadwick,  Peterman,  and  Catletts  creeks. 
Near  the  center  of  the  basin,  at  the  top  of  the  hills  east  of  Lett  post-office,  W\  Va.,  is  the 
Pittsburg  coal.  This,  stratigraphically  considered,  is  the  highest  important  coal  in  the: 
region,  and  it  marks  the  base  of  the  Monongahela  formation.  According  to  Dr.  I.  C.  White, a 
this  is  the  extreme  southwestern  limit  of  this  coal  bed.  It  has  not  more  than  100  feet  of 
covering  at  any  point,  its  roof  being  shale,  capped  by  20  feet  of  massive  Pittsburg  sandstone. 
On  Mr.  James  Adkins's  property  it  measures  37  inches  in  thickness,  occasionally  reaching 
as  high  as  48  and  even  54  inches,  according  to  Mr.  Adkins.  It  has  also  been  opened  by 
Mr.  Abraham  Thacker.  Its  small  area  hinders  its  exploitation  except  for  the  local  country 
trade. 
LOUISVILLE    AND    LEXINGTON    RAILROAD    DISTRICT. 
In  the  Louisville  and  Lexington  Railroad  district  will  be  included  that  area  whose  natural 
outlet  is  over  this  division  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Railway.  In  this  district  will  also 
be  included  the  city  of  Ashland.  From  the  latter  point  to  Mount  Savage,  Carter  County, 
the  workable  coals  are  confined  to  an  interval  not  exceeding  80  feet  above  the  " Ferriferous" 
limestone,  or  "red  limestone"  ore.  Lower  and  higher  coals  occur  in  this  area,  but  they  are 
too  thin  to  be  of  importance,  with  the  possible  exception  of  coal  No.  3,  opened  in  the  bed 
of  Little  Hood  Creek,  about  a  mile  west  of  Ashland.  From  Mount  Savage  westward  the 
rapid  rise  brings  up  beds  as  far  down  in  the  Pottsville  as  the  Sharon  conglomerate. 
The  first  coal  above  the  "Ferriferous"  limestone,  for  this  reason  known  as  the  "limestone 
coal,"  is  generally  developed  in  Boyd  County,  especially  in  the  hills  about  Ashland.  Here 
it  occurs  embedded  in  massive  sandstones  about  40  feet  above  the  limestone,  as  is  also  the 
case  on  the  Ohio  side  at  Coalgrovc.  It  furnishes  much  of  the  fuel  used  in  the  city,  and  is 
utilized  by  the  various  brick  plants  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  town.  At  Winslow  it  has 
been  extensively  developed,  and  was  mined  and  coked  by  the  Ashland  Iron  and  Mining 
Company  up  to  the  time  of  destruction  of  their  washer.  At  the  present  time  they  are 
working  but  one  mine,  No.  8,  and  this  not  to  its  full  capacity,  shipping  only  150  tons 
per  day  to  the  works  in  Ashland.  This  coal  has  been  worked  as  far  south  as  Princess 
and  it  is  of  workable  thickness  in  the  country  to  the  east  as  far  as  East  Fork  of  the  Little 
Sandy.  It  has  been  opened  near  Mavity  post-office  about  25  feet  above  drainage,  but  it 
dips  to  the  south  and  southeast  and  soon  disappears  below  water  level.  It  does  not  reappear 
until  the  rise  of  the  beds  on  the  southeast  border  of  the  basin  brings  it  to  light  near  Louisa. 
Where  developed  most  extensively,  as  in  the  region  about  Ashland,  the  coal  appears  in 
a  Rept.  West  Virginia  Geol.  Survey,  vol.  2,  1903,  p. 
191 
