THE LOWER COAL MEASURES. 281 
The coal is nowhere mined by and for itself in any large way in 
this district. A few small banks are opened in it, but almost all the 
coal that the seam produces in the county is directly associated with 
the mining of the blackband ore. In thickness it seldom exceeds 2 
feet. In quality it is always poor, chiefly from the abundant dissemi- 
nation of scales of pyrites through all the joints of the coal. When the 
ore is mined, the coal is also taken. It is used to calcine the ore, and 
the farmers remove all surplus, which is sold at a nominal price. 
There is, however, a singular duplication of the main seam at many 
points in this and in adjoining counties, and the supernumerary bed 
occasionally affords a fair chance for a winter coal bank. From 1 to 
15 feet below the blackband coal, another seam, ranging from 1 to 4 feet 
in thickness, is often found. In quality it is never the best, but it is 
generally less impure than the regular seam. It is known to exist in 
Auburn, Jefferson and Salem townships, and its presence in other town- 
ships is fairly inferable. 
The best showing of the two seams in the last-named township is in 
the northeast corner, on the farm of Paoli Bremer. Here also the in- 
_ terval between the two seams is reduced to its smallest proportions, viz., 
to a clay and shale parting of 6 or 8 inches only, the two seams aggre- 
gating 6 feet in thickness. The coal has been worked in past years to 
some extent, but its quality discourages operations in it at present. 
On the Yackell ore hill, in the same township, the lower coal is 10 
feet below the regular seam, and its quality is somewhat better here 
than at Bremer’s. The seam is 4 feet thick, and a drift entry to the 
coal is kept open. 
In Jefferson township the double seam is shown in most of the ore 
hills, but it has no importance or value. It lies from 10 to 15 feet be- » 
low the blackband coal. 
In Auburn township the double seam is shown in two of the ore 
hills, viz., the Shaw and the Cattcott hills. It ranges from 3 to 4 feet 
in thickness, and is about 15 feet below the regular seam. 
This duplication of coal seams is an interesting phenomenon, which 
deserves more careful investigation than the Survey has been able to 
give to it. Hxamples have already been given of cases of this sort, in 
connection with the Clarion coal in Columbiana county, as well as with 
the Upper Freeport coal in the present instance. The same line of 
facts is to be reported for this horizon in Guernsey county and for the 
