CLEARFIELD    COAL    FIELD,   PENNSYLVANIA.  273 
The  "E,"  Upper  Freeport,  or  "cap"  seam,  as  it  is  locally  known,  is  in  this  basin  poorer 
in  quality  than  the  "D"  and  has  a  thickness  of  only  3  feet.  At  present  it  is  mined  only 
on  a  small  scale.     It  overlies  nearly  the  same  area  as  the  Moshannon  seam.     Below  the 
D"  seam,  coals  which  are  locally  workable  occur  at  four  different  horizons.  The  first  is 
over  100  feet  below,  showing  3  feet  in  places,  with  a  local  thickening  up  to  6  feet  or  over, 
due  to  the  presence  of  several  feet  of  cannel  coal.  The  "B"  coal  lies  about  165  feet  below 
the  "  D, "  and  shows  a  thickness  of  from  2\  to  6  feet.  As  a  rule  it  is  broken  up  with  partings 
and  tends  to  carry  a  larger  percentage  of  sulphur  and  ash  than  the  "D"  coal.  This  coal 
(often  shows  three  benches,  the  two  upper  ones  only  being  worked.  The  parting  is  usually 
ibone,  but  in  places  is  fire  clay  or  sandstone  with  a  thickness  of  from  a  few  inches  up  to  4 
Ifeet.  The  middle  bench  is  commonly  3  feet  or  more  thick,  and  below  it  is  a  parting  of  severa  I 
feet  of  hard,  knarly  clay,  then  a  bench  of  18  inches  of  coal.  There  is  generally  a  thin  rider 
lover  this  seam  within  20  feet.  About  220  feet  below  the  "D"  coal  is  the  "A"  or  "A"' 
seam.  While  thin  in  places,  this  seam  may  show  a  thickness  of  up  to  6  feet.  Over  part 
of  the  district  it  shows  two  fairly  regular  clay  bands,  but  generally  has  many  thin,  irregular 
streaks  of  dirt  and  is  very  sulphurous.  A  seam  30  or  40  feet  still  lower  shows  in  some 
of  the  drillings  and  in  outcrop  to  the  west.  This  may  prove  locally  workable,  though  it 
hardly  appears  so  with  the  present  data.  Over  a  large  share  of  this  district  the  coals  below 
the  "D"  are  below  drainage  and  therefore  will  present  large  areas  if  they  prove  to  maintain 
workable  thicknesses. 
Muddy  Run  district. — The  second  district  includes  the  coal  on  the  Muddy  Run  drainage 
above  Banian  Junction.  It  is  characterized  mainly  by  the  splitting  of  the  "  D  "  or  Moshan- 
non seam.  West  of  Houtzdale  this  coal  becomes  irregular  and  locally  wanting,  but  recovers 
a  little  farther  west,  only  to  split  into  two  benches,  which  may  be  as  much  as  55  feet  apart. 
The  lower  bench,  which  alone  is  mined,  at  present  averages  but  little  over  30  inches  thick, 
but  as  it  maintains  the  excellent  quality  of  the  coal  in  the  first  district  it  finds  a  ready 
market  and  can  be  worked  with  profit.  This  coal  appears  to  run  fairly  regularly  over  this 
whole  district.  The  upper  bench  and  "cap"  seam  are  both  thin — 2  feet  or  less.  As  the 
lower  bench  of  "D"  seam  is  near  drainage  in  this  district,  no  mining  has  yet  been  done 
on  the  underlying  seams  and  but  little  is  known  of  them.  Drillings  indicate  one  or  two 
!  beds  below  of  barely  workable  thickness  in  places,  though  locally  there  appears  to  be  no 
workable  coal  below  the  lower  bench  of  the  Moshannon. 
Wallaceton  district. — The  coals  flanking  the  anticlinal  arch  to  the  northeast  may  be  next 
considered.  These  districts  are  characterized  by  the  fact  that  the  lower  coals  outcrop  and 
are  workable,  while  the  "D"  coal  is  absent  or  of  minor  importance.  In  the  Wallaceton 
region  the  "D"  coal  is  absent,  but  the  "A"  and  "B"  coals  are  both  of  workable  thickness. 
The  "C"  and  "C  "  coals  occur  in  that  region  and  locally  reach  3  feet  or  more,  but  generally 
are  under  2  feet  in  thickness.  As  they  are  clean  coals,  they  may  be  of  value  in  the  future. 
The  "A"  and  "B"  coals  are  very  much  alike,  running  from  2  feet  6  inches  to  4  feet  in  thick- 
ness, each  in  two  benches  separated  by  a  clay  parting,  which  in  the  "B"  coal  ranges  from 
10  inches  down,  and  in  the  "A"  coal  from  22  inches  down. 
Madera-Irvona. — In  the  region  about  Madera  the  "D"  coal  occurs  near  the  tops  of  the 
hills,  but  has  been  largely  removed.  The  principal  coal  of  this  district  occurs  about  220 
feet  below  the  "D"  coal  and  is  designated  as  the  "A"  seam,  or,  since  there  is  a  small  coal 
still  below  it,  it  may  be  called  the  "A'  "  seam.  It  shows  a  thickness  of  up  to  4  or  5  feet  of 
minable  coal,  but  often  carries  a  large  amount  of  cannel-like  bone  near  the  top.  There  is 
usually  one  thin  parting  and  occasionally  two.  The  "B"  coal  of  the  Houtzdale  district 
has  been  worked  to  some  extent  south  of  Madera,  showing  about  3  feet  of  coal.  To  the 
west  of  Madera  the  anticline  plunges  toward  the  southwest,  becoming  low  enough  to  carry 
considerable  areas  of  the  "D"  coal  around  McCartney,  where  this  coal  is  locally  5  feet  or 
more  thick.  It  does  not  appear  to  maintain  this  thickness  over  any  considerable  area. 
Around  Irvona  and  Coalport  the  "D"  coal  is  unimportant,  probably  maintaining  its  split 
condition  from  the  northeast,  while  the  "B"  coal  has  a  thickness  of  up  to  6  feet  and  will 
run  from  3  feet  4  inches  of  nearly  clean  coal  to  5  feet.     It  shows  two  bony  partings,  the 
