Reports on the South-Eastern Kentucky Coal Field, Volume C, part 2

Albert Crandall, James Hodge · 1885 · Historical

Contents (by PDF page): Report on the Pound Gap Region: pg. 1 Preliminary Report on the Geology of Parts of Letcher, Harlan, Leslie, Perry, and Breathitt…

Public-domain full text preserved in the Mountain Man Mining Library. Original source: archive.org.

Geological Survey Of Kentucky.

JOHN R. PROCTER, Drrecror.

—On The—

Pound Gap Region.

By A. R. CRANDALL.

Introductory Letter.

John R. Procter, Director Kentucky Geological Survey :

Sir: In submitting the accompanying report on the Pound Gap Region, and also the report of Assistant J. M. Hodge, in extension of the same, it seems hardly necessary to recur to the difficulties which have occasioned delays in the publication of the results of field work in the upper counties. Perhaps it is sufficient to say, that while endeavoring to make the best use of the limited time available for field work, I have very Sully shared in your desire to avoid hasty conclusions, and this especially in a field so important as this proves to be, and one of which so little was previously known. There still remains some uncertainty as to the place in the general section of some important beds. As to this, it may be hoped that work in adjoining localities will supply the data for more satisfactory solutions of such stratigraphical problems.

The discussion of the dynamic geology of this interesting region is limited to the requirements for an intelligent view of the economic geology of the mountain region.

Finally, it has been the aim of the writer, by the aid of diagramatic sections and of photo-engravings, to place in compact form before the reader much that is of special interest as relating to this field. A. R. CRANDALL,

Assistant Kentucky Geological Survey.

LExinaton, Ky., June 15, 1885.

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"Breaks Of Sandy" Below Tower Rocks, Ky.

Report On The Pound Gap Region.

The mineral resources of the upper counties are represented chiefly by the beds of coal which, to the number of from six to eight, are found in workable thickness. Enough is now known of this region to warrant the statement that nature has made ample compensation for remoteness from established lines of traffic in both the quality and the quantity of the coal deposits. This will be seen from the sections and analyses accompanying this report. On the other hand, a report on the iron ores must be disappointing, so far as any expectation of large deposits in the coal measures may have been indulged. (See Introduction, page 3.) Reports on the lower counties show an increased leanness in iron ore deposits towards the headwaters of both the Kentucky and the Chattarawha or Big Sandy Rivers. So far as known Pike and Letcher counties are no exception to this tendency, excepting only a narrow belt on the face of Pine Mountain, where, along an extended fault line, ore bearing rocks below the coal measures are brought to the surface. These ores will be described in the proper con-

nection. TOPOGRAPHY.

The Pound Gap region presents some topographical features which in the lower counties are entirely wanting. These features are the accompanying results of the violent movement attending the formation of the fault-ridge known as Pine Mountain. -

So bold an escarpment, extending for nearly one hundred and forty miles across the country, could not fail to give to the adjacent topography many characteristics, of which the mountain itself is the best exponent. :

6 Report On The Pound Gap Region.

The greater elevation of this mountain barrier, and the abruptness of its face, formed by uplifted rocks along an extended line of fracture, appears at first approach more like an interruption of the topography of the country by the uplifting of a barrier across it after its hills and valleys had been carved out and its drainage established, than like a part of the general result of the erosion of the whole country after the formation of this fault-ridge. Doubtless there is a considerable margin of fact on the side of this first impression, as will be seen by a comparison with the Cumberland mountain. But the time of the formation of this fault-ridge is probably so little removed, comparatively speaking, from the time of the upheaval of the coal measures as a whole to form a permanent part of the continent that it may at least be regarded as a prominent factor in the determination of the drainage before the river systems of to-day were mapped out around it.

From the time of the uplift to the present, Pine mountain has not been less prominent as a mountain barrier than it is to-day. And the drainage of this region has adjusted itself to this prominent feature, making extended detours along the foot of the mountain slope to find outlets to the westward with the general slope of the country. Along the face of the mountain, also, the valleys have fallen into line with the fault, as in the instance of Elkhorn Creek, of the Kentucky River above Whitesburg, and of the heads of the streams in the southwestern part of Letcher county, the same parallelism continues along the whole face. Away to the westward and north the drainage conforms in general to the slight inclinations of the rocks of the coal measures, which illustrate by varying dips, some of the minor movements attending mountain-making.

Pound Gap is at the head of important branches of two great rivers, the Kentucky and the Chattarawha or Big Sandy, which flow in widely different directions, in consequence of the slight, but well defined anticlinal, which extends from the Gap westward. (See on accompanying map the direction of inclination as indicated by arrows.) For this reason Pound Gap, though only cut deep enough for a tolerably good wagon road, is an important point in this long mountain barrier. With the development of railway systems to the East and South, it will become

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a more important point of convergence, especially from the valleys of the Kentucky and the Licking rivers, which have for a a separating watershed the extension of the Pound Gap anticlinal, as above described. i Pine mountain* extends as a fault-ridge from the Breaks of : Sandy, in a general southwest direction, to the Elk Gap, in Tenae panna ia nessee, with but two water gaps in the intervening distance, or Goo re 1 three in all, including the Breaks. The relation of Pine moun- § tain to the Black and Cumberland mountains, to the southeast, gives additional importance to Pound Gap, as a possible outlet 1 in that direction. The average height of Pine mountain above i the drainage on the northwest is, in Pike and Letcher counties, about 1,600 feet. The southeast slope is about 200 feet less. Some notion of the prominence of this ridge is given by the view up the Kentucky river from Whitesburg. (See Plate <A.) Also the view at the mouth of Elkhorn creek.

The termination of the Pine mountain fault, at the Breaks of Sandy, gives to the northeast of this ridge the character of an anticlinal, of no great prominence in the general topography of the region, but still an uplift sufficient to place the upper portion of the conglomerate formation above the drainage, and so to give to the country along its axis the peculiar cliff and gorge topography of this formation. In this character it extends across. the country to the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy river, and into West Virginia.

Hy The rocks exposed in the Breaks are all of the conglomerate formation at the base of the coal-measures, and there is shown,

by comparatively slight displacements, little of the effects of the . profound fault, which, within three miles to the southwest, represents a displacement of not less than 2,000 feet.

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View At Pikeville, Valley Of The Levisa Fk., Ky.

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*From the Breaks of Sandy to the Pound Gap or Sounding Gap, as it is some- I times called, the Pine Mountain is known by many as the Cumberland Mountain. This is but one of the instances of confusion arising from local nomenclature. The two ridges, the Pine and the Cumberland, are joined near the Pound Gap by a Black

Mountain ridge, separating the waters of the Pound Fork of the Sandy river and the aah Powell river on the one side from the Cumberland waters on the other. Along this , ridge the State line crosses from the Cumberland to the Pine Mountain; but the dis- 'tinction in both the geology and topography of the several ridges is fully preserved, a the Pine Mountain having a westward and the Cumberland an eastward escarpment

iB throughout. 2 With equal confusion of the geography of the country the northeast extension a " of the Cumberland mountain is called the Stone mountain. ; dae With the introduction of accurate topographical maps, it may be hoped that cor- Ed AA ; rect notions of the geography of this region will prevail.

8 Report On The Pound Gap Region.

Little time has been found to study in detail the effects of this sudden change from an anticlinal to a fault-ridge, or the conditions attending the formation of the water-gap at this transition point. The northwest dip of the anticlinal extension of the mountain beyond the Breaks is preserved to some extent along the face of the fault-ridge southward, giving a considerable area along Elkhorn creek and to the west, in which the conglomerate formation and the comparatively barren shales above form the bases of the hills. The fall of the Elkhorn and Shelby creeks is such that these rocks rapidly fall below the drainage towards the headwaters. (See sections, Plate [V.) The moderate dips, westward from the Breaks, do not fully account for the sudden disappearance of the massive conglomerates which form the walls of the Breaks, as noted along the Russell Fork. No fault has been observed crossing the gorge; but it is probable that one exists for some distance north of the Breaks, but to the westward of the line of the main fault.

The Breaks of Sandy, though now almost inaccessible, will, with the advantages of railway transportation, become a point of great interest as an unusually attractive mountain gorge. Plate B. shows something of the character of the Breaks below the towers, which rise to a height of nearly 1400 feet above the river.

The geology of Pine mountain is not complicated by any considerable variation from the simple fault-ridge type of mountain. The average dislocation, by the upthrow of the whole series of rocks, to an unknown depth along the fault line, is about 3000 feet. The rocks exposed in the face of the mountain reach downward and backward in time to the Upper Silurian formation. These lower rocks offer little of economic value for the present, except the iron ores, which will be noticed in their proper place. But they offer important testimony relating to the history of Pine mountain.. The formations represented are in the same order as noted along the outcrop of the coal measures. (See report of Lesley on western outcrop of the coal measures, Vol. IV, old series ; also report on the geology of Menifee county, Part 4, Vol. C, new series, and other reports by the writer. )

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VIEW AT WHITESBURG, OF VALLEY OF NORTH FK., KENTUCKY R. AND PINE MT,, KY.

—

Report On The Pound Gap Region.

The following table shows approximately the thickness of the several formations :

Western Outcrop. Pine Mt. Region.

Upper Silurian tocks, 100-460-200 feet. i205. cissceccstsvasvisecsetacess 400 feet. Devonian (black shales) 65 to 120 feet ccc00 cecaseeceeseeceens 150 feet.

: Waverly Gr;,-300 to GOO. f6t. 2. ..sci. feeccvaccotecses 200 feet. Lower Carb. + psoath. Limestone, 20 to 400 feet 000. 500 feet. Carb. Cong]. Sandstone, 10 to 300 feet solatiales oA bedaond sae aes 2000 feet. DASGRIVOR BOOVC LG Corl i6 oe seb wn enccae secu va sinks cabenis don ssous ah 2300 feet.

It is interesting to note the changes in thickness as indicated by this tabular view. Up to the beginning of the Carboniferous proper there is nothing along the mountain axis, as now known, to distinguish it from the wide stretch of rock-forming area on elther side ; certainly not to the northwest. The thickness of the Sub-Carboniferous Limestone to the east and south is important as indicating a northwest limit to this area, and also as representing in retreat from this limit a long continued period of comparative freedom from most of the disturbing conditions which interfere with the life of a moderately deep sea.

During the formation of the Upper Carboniferous series, the limit of this area appears to have been little changed. But the conditions attending the distribution of rock-material was so modified, and the deposits so accelerated along a subsiding axis, that there begins from the first a distinct history of the belt, which with the subsequent upheaval, and with the ages of erosion which have followed, is now represented by the mountains upon the southeast border of Kentucky.

It is understood that the great thickness of rocks along mountain ranges is no mere coincidence; but, on the other hand, that the great accumulation of rock material upon the sea floor along an extended axis, carries with it the antecedent conditions for mountain making. These mountains are, therefore, as indicated by this tabular view, Carboniferous in a wider sense than is comprehended in the mere time of final upheaval to form a part of the continent. Pine Mountain as a faultridge, must, however, be regarded as having its origin later than the Carboniferous Age.

*The original thickness of these rocks at the present outcrop would be the thickness that has been worn away, as also the original thickness in the Pine Mountain region would be 2300 feet with the thickness removed.by erosion added. No reliable estimate of extent of the erosion in either locality can be made as yet. It is probable

that it has been greater along the border of the coal-flelds, but not enough to indicatean approach tu the thickness in the upper country.

10 Report On The Pound Gap Region.

The first stage in the history of these mountains was also a part of the history of a wide and shallow channel of the sea as formed by the older mountains of North Carolina on the one side, and by the Kentucky Anticlinal of the Silurian Age, extending through what is now Central Kentucky, on the other.

This is not the place to discuss the actual limit of the Carboniferous deposits westward, or the possible connection of the Kastern with the Western coal-fields across the Bluegrass region by coal-bearing rocks, which may subsequently have been worn away. That which is of importance in this connection, is the fact that to the northwest, as also probably to the southeast, from the line of thickest deposits and of the greatest successive subsidences, these movements and these deposits were evidently less and less towards an axis of little movement and of minimum deposits during this part of the history of the coal-measures. This, with the ordinary variation of conditions over so wide an area, will serve to explain the want of similarity between the sections in the lower counties and those of the Pine mountain region. It is not unlikely that, conforming to the shortest distance to the southeast sea shore, a much more rapid thinning out should be assumed to have facilitated the wearing away of the whole Carboniferous series beyond the crest of the present Cumberland mountains.

The accompanying profile section of the Pine, the Black and the Cumberland mountains show the order of geological formations in these mountains, and for the Pine mountain substantially the relation of beds to the drainage throughout its length. There is also shown some interesting facts in the later history of these mountains. Whatever the fact may be as to the axis of these mountains, as indicated by the line of the greatest Carb. deposits, it is evident that the Cumberland mountain represents the line of final uplift, so far as it is now represented by Carboniferous rocks.*

But the crest of the Cumberland mountain has been carried back several miles from this line of upheaval, while the Pine Mountain has receded but a little from the fault-line which

*[There are some reasons for supposing that this anticlinal, along which in this region only Silurian rocks are now exposed, has an earlier origin than the close of the

'Carboniferous Age. This is not, however, the place to discuss this point, it being in no way essential to the purpose of this report.

Calcareous Concretions In Shale Rock, Carr Fk., Letcher 00., Ky.

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REPORT ON THE POUND GAP REGION. Bl

marks the starting-point as a receding crest. Hence this faultridge has been described as of much more recent origin than the Cumberland anticlinal.*

But the great contrast in these receding escarpments should not alone determine the comparative lateness of the formation of the fault-ridge. The synclinal slopes of these mountains show about an equal progress of the wearing agencies. The general inclination of the rock-beds being about the same in both mountains (15 to 25 degrees), or, if there is any difference in dip favoring erosion, it is with the Cumberland slope. This fact should greatly qualify the inference drawn from this striking contrast in the two receding crests. The truth hes between these conflicting records. And whichever indication may be regarded as most important, the harmonizing of the two must be regarded as emphasizing very gréatly the effects of varying exposure to the sun. The face of Cumberland mountain and the slope of the Pine are fully exposed to the direct rays of the

sun, while the slope of the Cumberland and the face of Pine

mountain present northward exposures. It is, doubtless, very largely owing to this that the very great inequality in the retreat of the two crests is set over against the equal erosion of the synclinal slopes. The erosion of the receding wall of the Cumberland and of the Pine mountain slope has been greatly accelerated by more frequent and more effective alternations of sunshine and frost. 'The same effect is prominent in the valleys along the fault line of the latter mountain. These valleys are to the northward. instead of to the southward of the fault line, as should have been expected from the well-known acceleration of erosion with increased dips, other conditions being equal.

It still remains that the Pine mountain fault is considerably later in time than the Cumberland uplift. It is undoubtedly a sequence to the general movement attending the formation of the latter mountain.

The Iron Ore Of Pine Mountain.

As indicated by the accompanying profile section, two regular iron ore horizons are brought above the drainage by the

*Prof. N.S. Shaler. Vol. III, New Series, p. 224; also report on the region adjacent to the Kentucky and Virginia State-line, by P. N. Moore, Part 4, Vol. iV, New Series.

12 Report On The Pound Gap Region.

Pine mountain uplift; the same that are exposed by the cutting away of the overlying rocks along the front of the Cumberland mountain. The Limestone ore of the profile section is the same as the Red River ore, which falls below the drainage in the western border counties of this coal-field. (See report on the Red River Iron district, report on the Iron ores of Greenup, etc., also report on the Geology of Menifee, Vol. C., reports. on the Eastern coal-field.) Not much is known of the thickness and persistency of this ore in the Pound Gap region, as it is. usually covered by the soil and mingled fragments of rock, which cover the face of the mountain to a considerable depth. It is seen at many points in a weathered state upon the surface, sometimes, as at the heads of Pigeon-roost Br. and of Toms Br. of Elkhorn creek, in a spur of Pine mountain it is exposed in great profusion over the surface.

The quality of the ore is not inferior to that of Estill and Menifee counties. Whether it is thick enough for profitable mining, dipping as it does into the face of the hill, is a question to be settled by practical tests. The surface indications are favorable, but could not be held as conclusive except as to the equivalency and the uniform good quality of the ore.

The Upper Silurian, or Dyestone ore, may, with reasonable certainty, be assumed to occupy its regular place in the beds at the foot of the mountain, as indicated by the profile section. In this region it is everywhere covered by the abutting coalmeasure rocks or by the talus from the ledges of overlying rocks. The tendency of the valley to wear away from the face of the mountain leaves a foot wall of horizontal Carboniferous rocks the whole length of the ridge, except at the water- gaps. And, contrary to the occurrence in the Cumberland mountain, the water-gaps are at points of least upthrow, so that the ore is not exposed the whole length of the mountain except at Elk Gap, (Safford. )

Along the face of the Cumberland mountain none of these conditions stand in the way of a study of the ore, which occurs

in several beds, or interferes with the ready mining at many

points far north and south. The time may not be far distant,

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Report On The Pound Gap Region. 13

however, when it may be desirable, even at greater expense, to develop this ore in connection with the coking coals, which are being developed west of the Cumberland mountain.*

On Elkhorn creek another ore occurs which does not belong to the Pine mountain series ; but as it is a local deposit along the face of the mountain, it may properly be described in this connection. This bed has the character of a recent deposit, though its occurrence at many points along the valley on both sides of the creek at the same horizon, apparently, and the similarity of the arrangement of the parts of the bed at widely separated exposures, make it appear like a continuous bed. It is made up of from one to three feet of anhydrous Sesqui-oxide of iron, including many fragments of sand-rock and siliceous shale, the latter, apparently, greatly changed by heat. The ore is also in part blistered and porous, as though through the agency of heat. Resting on this there is generally found from one to two feet of earthy ore, or red ocher, with small fragments of siliceous rock intermingled. In general, the lower part includes too great a proportion of siliceous material in the form of fragments ef sand-rock to be valuable. In places, as noted near Levi Potter's, it will probably be found comparatively free from these objectionable features. An analysis made at the Labratory of the Survey of a sample from this place shows the following results :

ie Sa ESRI aS Norcea ak 4 RaRMe ar URE EASY lie RNa SRLS toe Me ter BRS Pit 2 1.060 LSE a 2 ESA eee SPO Ca REC e Ara Weta itch me che i OES 59.630 PURITAN nb res one 54a 4s 9 SKA be pad Ga sie UaR LI ed Ada haan Getcha Ce es 7.927 Sg MOR Se RAC AUD ae ORE Pera m Gin Ciera" cere am 563 BONN OEUN cas wr caterers osc vercks Vig ies ooh hedk cen vii eA Tee hoes .234 RO PNMUN SERIE UII oi 52 0545 stewie de bc Seok ike dE ee feet oe 2973

PTY MERI 0s bouts Nino Sad Movs bh 5 ek CaN Wo A a a 41.74

It is probable that this ore is a rim deposit, but nothing has been noted which explains its occurrence at this particular horizon ; and the appearance of metamorphosis cannot be readily explained from the data at hand. No indications of heat in connection with the Pine mountain fault have been observed at any place. Butif this ore isa rim deposit, it is, doubtless, of later origin than the fault-ridge, and as it extends laterally

*For description of the Upper Silurian iron ores see report of P. N. Moore on

the Iron Ores near Cumberland Gap, Vol. C., Reports on the Eastern Coal-tield ; also Vol. IV, NewSeries.

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14 Report On The Pound Gap Region.

across the valley in association with the undisturbed coal-bearing strata, there is apparently no good reason for supposing that this ore has at any time been subjected to a high degree of heat, unless a burning coal-bed be assumed to have been the source. Locally coal-beds in this region are found to be burned out for a considerable distance under ground, but no indications of a coal-bed have been seen at this level. The most that can be said for this ore is, that it is probable thatit may prove valuable as an iron ore locally, and generally as a source of red ocher. It is exposed along the Elkhorn valley, from near the mouth of Sycamore Creek towards the head for six miles or more. On Pigeon-roost Branch it is 285 feet above the main creek. On Harvey Gibson's land, opposite side of the valley, about the same level. It is relatively lower up the creek, being 150 feet above the main drainage at Levi Potter's.

Coal Beds.

The coal-bearing rocks of this region are, as a whole, continuous with those of the lowercounties. The series is greatly thickened, and includes an increased number of coal beds, but, as already indicated, presenting a section so different as tomake the recognition of coal beds as continuous with those in the sections of the lower counties difficult, if not impossible. The progressive changes in the general character of the rocks in Lawrence and Johnson counties, as mentioned in the report on that region, are suggestive in this connection, but only a study in detail of the thickening series, from the outcrop to Pine mountain, can give a full solution of the question of equivalency of beds in the Eastern coal-fields.

There are some features that have been traced across the whole'field which serve to indicate, in a general way the relations of the parts of the vertical section in the different portions of the field. The shales above the conglomerate, fifty feet thick in the western part of Greenup, and 150 feet in Lawrence, are readily recognized on Elkhorn and Shelby creeks, in Pike county, with a thickness of 450 feet. Elsewhere in the Pound Gap region only a part or none of this portion of the section is above the drainage.

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Report On The Pound Gap Region. 15

The first persistent coal of importance above the conglomerate formation is towards the top of these shales, in the latter as well as in the former region. The occurrence of calcareous concretions, which become abundant in Lawrence county, associated with coals 1 and 2, is even more noticeable in the Pound Gap region along with the coals of the same general level, here increased in number to four beds or more. These concretions are prominent in many localities, and at levels ranging through 300 feet of vertical section. (See Sections 7, 8, 13, 18 and 27.) They appear generally as lenticular earthy calcareous segregations, varying in size from a few inches to fifteen feet in greatest diameter. In some instances they are fossiliferous, and in many

Instances they show a well-defined concentric structure. Less

frequently these calcareous deposits appear as more or less regularly jointed layers, or as continuous beds. Plate C shows some of these lenticular bodies as imbedded in the slaty shale at the top of the shale series on Carr's Fork of the Kentucky river, at Kelly's mill, in Knott county.

The section above is not so easily comparable with what may be supposed to be the corresponding part of the general section in the counties near the border of the coal field. There are some points of resemblance ; and some features have been traced with some degree of certainty, across the intervening territory. But the requirements of this report will doubtless be satisfied without urging the matter of equivalency beyond these general statements.

There appears to be no workable beds of coal either below or in the conglomerate series of this region. There are no exposures to show the thickness of the sub-conglomerate shales. From the surface indications along the face of Pine mountain it is probable that less than fifty feet of the general section is occupied by these beds, which along the border of the coal field are relatively much more prominent, and at some points, as in Menifee county, include a workable coal. (Vol. IV., Part IL., and Vol.C.) The conglomerate formation has a maximum thickness of 2,000 feet, made up of coarse ferruginous and more or less conglomeratic sandstone, alternating with shales in such a way as to form five or six benches where the whole series is exposed. Cross-bedding is a noticeable feature throughout the

' . Plate F.

16 Report On The Pound Gap Region.

formation. Quartz pebbles varying from the smallest to onehalf or three-fourths of an inch in diameter, are somewhat irregularly prominent, forming what in that region is spoken of as hailstone grit; a rock from which millstones of good grinding quality are made. Thin beds of coal have been noted at points widely separated, as at the Breaks of Sandy, in the lower benches as exposed along the river ; and on the Pine mountain, south of Whitesburg. Professor Stevenson finds six thin beds at Pennington's Gap, in this group (Geological Reconoissance of parts of Lee, Wise, etc.,Va.); and it is not unlikely that something like the same number would be found in this region if all the shales could be examined. On the re-appearance of this formation to the southwest in the region of the south fork of the Cumberland river, several inter-conglomerate coals are workable beds. (See forth-coming report on the coals of Pulaski and Whitley counties. )

The first coal bed of more than local importance, beginning at the base of the series above the conglomerate group, is also the No.1 of previous reports. It is above the main drainage in most of the region included in this report; and it is traceable with a reasonable degree of certainty from the Graham coal of Carter, to the Paintsville coal of Johnson, the Warfield coal of Martin, the Prestonsburg coal of Floyd, and so to the headwaters of the Chatterawha or Big Sandy, and of the North Fork

of the Kentucky. On Beaver creek this bed has a thickness of from three to five feet; the maximum being found, in the valley of the Right Fork, from the mouth of Rocky Fork, to Caney creek, including portions of the valleys of all the tributary streams of this locality. Enlarged Sections 1 and 6, Plate VII., show the general character of the bed in this region. The cannel - coal, as represented, is probably limited to a small region; extending along the main creek less than one mile and extending for a short distance up Stone-coal creek and for a mile or so up Rocky Fork. On Dry creek, near the mouth and near the locality of Section 9 (see figures on the accompanying map which indicate localities of sections as numbered) a few inches of cannei is again shown as a part of this coal. The thickness in this locality is four feet of good coal. (Section 9, Plate II.) Toward the head of the creek it is reduced to three feet orless. (Section

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Report On The Pound Gap Region. 17

6, Plate II.) On the Left Fork of Beaver creek the bed, as a whole, is considerably increased in thickness (Section 7, Plate II.), but with only forty-three inches of coal available for mining from the thickness of shale partings. On the river in the Laynesville region and on Mud creek a seam of unusual thickness (Section 11, Plate VII.), twenty to forty feet above the river bottom, probably represents this bed. In the Pikeville region this bed is represented by the lower coal on Little Chloe creek—Sycks' coal. (Section 1, Plate I.) On Shelby creek the Jackson Newson seam, on Robinson, fifty-three inches, including eight inches of shale, Keel's and William Hall's coals on Indian (Section 13, Plate I1I.), and possibly Tacket's coal on Long branch of Indian, fifty-one inches, including a six-inch parting, represent this bed. It is possible, however, that the' latter coal is the Elkhorn seam higher up. On Elkhorn creek this bed is probably represented at its best by the sixty-five inch coal, as shown near Wade Sanders' on Sycamore creek. (Section 16, Plate VII.) From the numerous openings made by Mr. Broas on Elkhorn, this seam would appear to have an average thickness of about forty-four inches. On the head-waters of the Kentucky river, the main lower coal of Colly, Sand-lick, and Dry creek, and of Rock-house creek, above Little Colly, appears to represent this bed. (See

Sections 18, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, Plates IV.,V, and VI.) Near Pound

Gap, and also in the southwestern part of Letcher county, this coal bed is below the drainage level.

This coal seam varies greatly in thickness, and especially in the matter of partings. It is a good coal, however, throughout, and in some parts of this field it is the main coal.

18 Report On The Pound Gap_ Region.

The following analyses of samples which represent as nearly as practicable the whole bed, show the character of the coal in the different parts of the field:

Table of Analyses of the Lower Coal of the Pound Gap Region.

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Thompson's Sand-lick C. upper bench . 1.191— 1.10 40.90 |5540 2.60 1,453:

Candill's C. 2 M. below Whitesburg,

Caudill's C. 2 M. below Whitesburg,

pee ee ee ee A Ee a

In Letcher county a bed of coal having in places a thickness of thirty inches, is found twenty-five to thirty feet below the Sand-lick seam. (SeeSections 18, 20, 21 and 26, Plates IV, V, VI.) This is the coal mined back of the school-house at Whitesburg, and also at Combs' store, on Rockhouse creek, at the mouth of Trace branch, but little above the bed of the stream. A thin bed has been noticed at several points in Floyd and Johnson counties, in a similar relation to the main lower coal. (Coal1.) Above the Sand-lick coal, sixty to one hundred

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REPORT ON THE POUND GAP REGION. rey a)

feet, as Shown in Sections 17, 18, 19 and 22, is another coal-seam like the previously described bed. It is mined for local use at one point only in this region—at John Wright's, near the head of Elkhorn creek, in Pike county. It may be seen, however, . at many points, varying from one to three feet in thickness, and is persistent enough to be regarded as one of the regular beds of the region about Pound Gap. (See Analysis (a) general table.) Its relation to the next coal above is so nearly like that of the previously described bed to the main lower coal, that in some tt one of these horizons may easily be mistaken for the other.

The next coal in the series, is probably the most important bed in the Pound Gap region. Better known on Elkhorn creek in Pike county, than elsewhere. From developments pean there, this bed has come to be known as the Elkhorn coal. In the Big Stone Gap region, in Virginia, this bed is known as the © Imboden seam. It is also known as the '' Coking Coal'' of that region, a designation which is applicable in the Pound Gap region from the coking qualities of the coal, as will be seen from such preliminary tests as have already been made. The area of the Elkhorn coal in its recognized character, includes, in a general way, the headwaters of Elkhorn and Shelby creeks in Pike county, of Beaver creek in Floyd and Knott counties, and of the Kentucky river in Letcher, including Mallgtone and Thornton creeks, the head of Rockhouse creek and also the

head of Carr fork, in Knott county.

The openings made to develop this coal are mostly in Pike county and the adjoining part of Letcher. Plate VIII A shows its thickness and surroundings at a number of paint is measured at test openings driven to roofrock.* The place of the Elkhorn coal is at the top of the shale series, as previously described, and it therefore falls below drainage in the southwestern part of Letcher. It is so reduced in thickness and changed in character in this direction, however, so that it can

*The greater number of these openings were made by Mr parties represented by him, at an HiiBas aan could mee by Mes ooauntitee eee been met by the Survey; and it is but justice to say that this work was snereniste shaped to facilitate the investigations of the assistants of the State Genlenien) Surv : in this region. Workmen were also furnished by Mr Broas to cut out the colum for the Louisville Exposition, under the direction of the writer. ce

20 -R-Port On The Pound Gap Region.

hardly be regarded as one of the workable coals. The same is apparently true to the northward of the field, as imperfectly

outlined above. Though one of the large bodies of coal in the eastern field, as

seen from sections, Plate VII, B, the chief importance that attaches itself to the Elkhorn coal, distant as it is from established lines of transportation, is in consequence of the coking qualities, which are found to be a leading characteristic of this bed. Tests in this direction have not been made for the whole body of coal as described ; the unusually uniform character of the coal, as indicated by the accompanying table of analyses, goes very far, however, towards establishing, for a large territory, the superior coking qualities, which are shown by the tests in the Elkhorn region. Little comment is necessary on the results of coking tests, as given in the table which follows. The difficulties in the way of thorough investigation have been very considerable. Coking in small open heaps, even under the most favorable conditions, can hardly be supposed to secure the best results, and the transportation of large quantities of coal has not been practicable. Results in ovens have, therefore, been limited to a few bushels placed in wooden cases, along with the ordinary charge in regular coking ovens of the beehive pattern. To this method there are some objections, which could, however, hardly be regarded as detracting much from results uniformly better than the regular product of the ovens made use of. Two large boxes of Holcomb's coal, on the head of the Kentucky river, were shipped for additional tests in ovens, but were destroyed by the way along with other valuable collections. The results presented, though not so complete as might be desired, fully sustain the first views expressed respecting the Elkhorn seam as a most promising coking coal.

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Report On The Pound Gap Regicn. 21

Analyses of the Elkhorn Coal and Coke.

op ed hy a D B ge eee B z Coal. gg £ 0 Se a [oe ee ae ri as i are etna, mea "SoG Waew cere) Mah aes eh Holcomb's C., near head of Kentucky

Holcomb's C., near head of Kentucky

Mullen's C., near head of Elkhorn cr.,

Mullen's C., near head of Elkhorn cr.,

Bear Fork of Robinson cr., upper part. 1294— 0.40 33.20 62.46 8.94 .642 Bear Fork of Robinson cr., lower part.| 1.273— 0.40 34.80 60.46 4.84 .711

ole nr ee 0 ET RE Ea Ry SOLE NT BEA Ae SABRES eT Sess ede Mill br. coke, open heap :. .-. cae af Obes. ae TOGA eee Mill br. coke, in oven, Cincinnati. . O20. 0 3 498.26. 6.60 1784 Mill br. coke, secord sample in oven,

Mill br. coke, in oven, Connellsville 120] 0.60 94.14 4.66 .906 Mullen's cr., coked in open heap, upper

ey Sener Tao ae ene oc eat a Oe Pr cergar ied con ener ee! Me 8 ee? Be Mullen's cr., coked in open heap, from

aa ne Min ep eee ee ter tas 6g ee LOG. fin 2 OO 40. BO B08

The physical properties of the Elkhorn coke have not been studied in detail, and in fact, the conditions have not been possible for a complete comparison with the standard products of

2) the

22 Report On The Pound Gap Region.

established coking industries of the country, for reasons which have already been stated. The coke obtained by the two methods as described above appears to have the requisite strength for all furnace purposes. It has a bright metalic lustre, and is porous enough for free combustion in the furnace. In the last respect the results of experiment at the laboratory of the survey are not without interest.

For comparison with the standard cokes of Pennsylvania, so far as that has been attempted, the plan adopted was that based on the inch cube of average coke, subjected to tests by weight dry, and filled as perfectly as practicable with distilled water by the aid of the air-pump. The coke used was made as has in a Cincinnati oven, reducing by the formula indicated by the tabular statement of the Pennsylvania report (Vol. L, pages 82 and 128). An average gives the following comparative results:

WEIGHT IN GRAMMES. PERCENTAGE. Dry. Filled with Water. Coke. Cell Space. Pittsburg & Con. Co. Coke. 12 46 20 25 61 53 38 46 maw rern one, 2, oo SP, 12 59 20 688 61 71 88 24

This comparison shows a striking similarity to the wellknown Connellsville coke, which may fairly be regarded as standard.

But while this statement is correct enough for a comparison of the physical structure of the two cokes in this respect, in order to get a correct notion of the actual structure of standard cokes, it should be noticed that the assumption on which the determination of the per cent. of cell space to the coke is based, is very far from a correct one. For the increase in weight by filling the cells with water, is in the one case 8.098 grammes, and in the other, 7.79 grammes; equal to nearly one-half cubic inch of water, indicating nearly 50 per cent. of cell space. Or, accepting the cubes and the weights as correct, in the Connellsville coke the per cent. of cell space to solid coke is 47 to 53, and in the Elkhorn coke the per cent. is 49.5 to 50.5.

Determinations of the specific gravity of the Elkhorn coke play also an important part in this line of experiment. Repeated trials show some variations in results; but a close approximation to the true specific gravity is found to be 1.72, instead of 1.53, which should be the specific gravity if the above determination of the percentage of cell space to coke be assumed to

Report On The Pound Gap Region. 23

be correct for an exact cubic inch. This would increase the cell

space in the Elkhorn coke to nearly 55 per cent.; and indicates for the Pittsburg and Connellsville Co.'s coke about 58 per cent. Corrections for the inexactness of cubes used would modify

these figures somewhat, but these findings are still apparently

below the actual percentage; for, as is found by observation and experiment, this increase in the per cent. of cell space represents very largely the extent to which the external pores are emptied on removal from water for weighing by the first method.

And it does not in any way represent the error that arises from the fact that some of the cell spaces within will be imperfectly filled, asarule. This last is shown in every effort by long continued and repeated exhaustion under the receiver, with long continued immersions in water under the normal pressure of the atmosphere, and under pressure, to reach a final limit of the absorption of water.

These results though presumed to be correct in principle, must, however, be regarded as close approximations only, as will be seen by those who have made repeated tests under even the most favorable conditions of uniformity in density of representative samples, and of success in the filling of cell spaces with water; neither of which will be assumed with unqualified certainty by any one who has pursued this line of experiment. The

Soon after beginning these tests it was presumed that no more water would adhere to the cube on removal from immersion than would fill the surface pores; and 'on the other hand it was assumed that the adhering water would, with sufficient accuracy, represent by weight the partially filled cells at the surface. Later, it was found that this assumption was a source of error. The limit of this error has not yet been accurately determined; but the examination of the surface when first taken from the water, by the aid of a magnifying lass, shows very clearly that the source of error here is too great to be neglected in the determination of percent. of cell space.

It may be added that results obtained on this point indicate an error from this cause, amounting to about 2.5 per cent.

A detailed account of experiments covering this point and others involved in the determination of the porosity of coke, will be given as soon as the series of tests necessary for more specific results have been completed.

Ii should be stated, however, that after the above series of determinations had been completed, a parallel series of experimental determinations for the Elkhorn coke was begun, from which the following results (subject to correction) are obtained :

(1) Weight of cubic inch of coke (corrected for vol.) . . 12 87 grammes. (2) Weight of same filled with water (cor. for vol.) . . 21 46 (3) Weight of same in water (corrected for vol.). . . 5 52 (4) Loss of weight ( 2 ) by drainage from surface. . . 42 Pinca iiss SEAWIEY ooo oe inl en at erie ret ot ee gta 1 75 Var ont Dy VOLDE GORA gs yo ee ood 47 5 as si BPE OID 2 rae n cope ee RL FIRE gs 52 5 ss ee ee 6A COR TOE LOB ERD A ate tear ee 55 0

Correction of volume was made by carefully sealing the surfaces of the cube and 'measuring by displacement.

24 Report On The Pound Gap Region.

range of variation is so great, however, in the physical character of cokes from different coals, that pursuing the same method of investigation with each, conclusions of real significance and of practical value can be made as in the table above. To make the comparison most satisfactory the coking should be done under similar conditions. This has not been possible in this instance as has been explained, and the margin for error in this respect is understood to be limited only by such care and judgment as the writer and other assistants of the Survey have been able to exercise in the several stages of the work.*

The coals of the sandstone series, above the Elkhorn seam, are rarely exposed without excavation, and great difficulty has attended the work of determining the serial relation of beds which could be examined at wide intervals only at best. Some of these beds are persistent, and retain characteristic features over large areas. Others, though probably continuous seams, are greatly changed in appearance and surroundings, from place to place. Several coal beds are found only in exceptionally high points in the several counties. In so large a field, and one so entirely undeveloped, it would not be surprising if some bed has been overlooked. The greatly varying intervals between beds, and the varying character of the intervening rocks, has added to the difficulty of the work. It is impossible, therefore, as yet, to present a general section for the whole Pound Gap. region which is entirely coherent in all its parts.

The first coal of importance above the Elkhorn is a splint and cannel seam on the Kentucky river waters. On the Big Sandy side of the water-shed it is less constant in character, but. generally present. This bed marks the lower cannel coal hori-

*Since this report was written a paper has come to hand, by Mr. F. P. Dewy, of the Smithsonian, on the '' Porosity and Specific Gravity of Coke," the result of a more extended and accurate study of some of the physical properties of coke than has heretofore been made. The average specific gravity of the various Connellsville cokes is found by Mr. Dewy to be 1.74, and the average porosity 46.92 per: cent. of the volume, the maximum being 57.21 per cent.

These findings, though reached by a method different in part and in some respects. more direct than the one adopted here, confirm the results given in this report.

A slight increase in porosity obtained by the method pursued at the Laboratory of the Kentucky Geological Survey, by an estimate of water lost from the surface cells by drainage, a difference amounting to about 2.5 per cent., as explained in a foot note on page 23. This would apparently increase the average porosity of the Connellsville cokes to about 49 per cent., or in general terms, taking the Connellsville cokes as. standard, the proportion by volume of cell space in the best metallurgical coke is. nearly 50 per cent. instead of 83 per cent., as given by Fulton in Vol. L, Pa. Rep.

Wiis

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Yellow Poplars (Tulip Trees), Hd. Of Camp Br, Letcher Co. Ky.

pec

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; Report On The Pound Gap Region. 25

zon of Letcher and Knott counties, though it is more generally a splint or common bituminous coal, with a smaller proportion of cannel, which in places becomes a prominent part of the bed. (Compare Sections 22, 23, 25, 27 and 28). It is exposed at other points in the region represented by these sections, and also westward—notably at Esq. Cornet's, on Carr's Fork, at the mouth of Sassafras creek, where it shows an excellent splint coal fiftyfour inches thick, including two or three inches of ''bone coal." On Woltf-pen branch of Carr's Fork this bed is opened at John Ambergy's, showing above a five to six inch clay shale, parting thirty-four inches of common bituminous coal, and_ below, twenty-six inches of very excellent cannel.* (See enlarged section, Plate VII, A.) The rocks between this bed and the Elkhorn coal have an average thickness of about 140 feet, mostly thin bedded sandstone, generally forming a well-marked shoulder along the hill-side. Sometimes, besides the thin coal just above the Elkhorn seam, a thin bed of coal may be found in shales, which replace part of the sandstone ledge, separating it somewhat irregularly into two parts.

On the waters of the Big Sandy this ped Is represented by the nine feet coal, with many thin clay partings; Section 19, probably by Marrs' coal; Section 10, the twenty-two inch coal; Section 6, the corresponding thirty-nine inch in Section 5; and in the Pikeville region, Marrs', Swords', the upper Chloe creek, and Gillam's coal (Sections 1 to 4), though possibly the two former beds in this last region belong higher up, representing the ''upper splint'' next to be described. Down the river the lower splint coal is found, showing at a few points only, 200 and 250 feet above coal No. 1, of Floyd county, as on Sugar-loaf branch, five miles above Prestonburg, at Mr. Gobble's. Here the seam is again mostly splint, and it appears to be about four feet thick. Analyses of samples from some of these points are given in the table (¢ to k, inclusive). (For the extension of this coal westward into Perry and Breathitt counties, see accompanying report of Mr. Hodge). :

One hundred feet or more higher in the series is found another splint and cannel seam, as shown in Sections 10, 11, 12,

*TIt is possible that Collin's upper coal ,Section 20 and the equivalent bed in Section 21, fall at this level; but is more likely that they represent the next bed above, the: "upper splint," though the middle coal of Section 21 appears to be the Elkhorn seam.

26 Report On The Pound Gap Region.

14, 20, 21, 25, 26 and 28. Next to the Elkhorn this appears to be the most important bed in the Pound Gap region. By way of distinction, it has come to. be known to some extent as the ''upper splint,'' a name that is descriptive for only a part of the area over which it has been traced. It is mined on Cowan ridge, opposite Whitesburg, by Mr. Nickles, for the the grate. It has here an average thickness of forty-six inches of free burning coal, which is hard enough to bear handling without the usual amount of waste. The same character, with increased thickness, is shown in the Smoot and Dry creek regions. On Thornton creek it shows, indifferently opened, three feet of coal. The thickness of Collins' upper seam, which is referred to this geological level with some doubt, is given as reported by Mr. 8. Kiser, who was employed to face it up. (See enlarged section, Plate VII, A.) The upper bed, at the old place of Dr. Breeding, near the head of Camp branch of Rockhouse creek, is reported nearly as thick. This appears not unlikely, as seen at the outcrop. Westward, in Knott county, the place of this bed is marked by the outcroppings of cannel coal toward the top of the ridges. It is shown in the extreme northeastern corner of the county, in Section 5, asa forty-five inch splint coal. Analyses of samples of coal representing this bed, general table, (2) and (m). In Pike county this bed is best represented by the Dorton branch, the Bear Fork and Marrs' cannel coals. (Sections 10, 12, and.14). (See also Plate VII, A.) It is quite probable that the upper coal on Stone Coal creek, or Coal Run, below Pikeville Section 4), represents this bed. It will be seen from the map (see figures indicating locality of sections by number) that this bed covers a large area on the head-waters of the Kentucky and Big Sandy rivers. The Bear fork region promises well as a cannel coal district.

in the Robinson creek region another cannel horizon is found (Sec. 11 and 12, Plate III,) at the base of a coarse sandstone ledge, and but a little above an outcrop of indurated clay, which accompanies a thin coal. Little is known of this seam in Pike county beyond the fact of its presence, as indicated by tailings, -and it is too high in the series to be found in Floyd, except on the left fork of Beaver creek and on Big Mud creek. It appears to

Report On The Pound Gap Region. 27

be represented on Sycamore creek in the Elkhorn valley in Sections 15 and 16by the lower of the two thin coals near the top. So far as known, no considerable importance attaches to this horizon in this part of the Pound Gap region. In Letcher county, however, it appears to be represented by Kiser's six feet coal. (Section 24, In Knott county it is represented by the twenty-six inch coal near the top of section 6, plate II.

In Letcher and Knott counties, sixty to eighty-five feet. above the previously described bed, is a coal-seam which is interesting, so far as known, only as an illustration of frequent

alternations in the conditions of deposits. Sections 6 and 24, with enlarged section Plate VII, A., give the details of this

bed. About 200 feet higher up, and limited to a few hill-tops because of its high place in the series, a thick coal bed 80 inches, including a 4-inch parting, is found in the border of Knott county. (Sec. 27.) A 24-inch coal was opened about 50 feet below. Some of the ridges in Letcher are equally high, but the dip of the formation is such that they do not include this bed. The limestone beds, Sections 26 and 27, illustrate this point. In Pike county this seam is opened on Sycamore creek, showing 92 inches of coal. (Sec. 16.) There is a large area in the flat woods region for this coal. This table-land rises much higher above the drainage than the other hills along the belt adjacent to, and on the northwest side of Pine Mt. It also exceeds all other portions of this belt in the height of the geological section presented, by something more than 400 feet. This interesting feature makes the relation of the sections north and south of Pine Mt. more intelligible by showing that the great disproportion generally, in the thickness of the coal measures above the conglomerate, as represented on the two sides of the mountain, is caused by unequal erosion. (See sections in report of Mr. Thruston on the Poor Fk. region in Harlan county.) About 300

§

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View At The Mouth Of Elkhorn Creek,, Ky.

My) Yj a :

s feet above the 92-inch coal last mentioned, on the shoulder of a the Flat woods table-land, another thick coal occurs. The : thickness is not known. It is reported in a well, 10 feet thick. It shows as a prominent stain in the soil, with abundant frag-

: ments of coal at a point where once partially opened. Its place in the series corresponds in general with one of the thick coals

28 Report On The Pound Gap Region.

in the upper portion of the Harlan section. The hill here is: about 150 feet higher, rising in a narrow ridge above the table- Gathering the data at hand into a provisional general section, gives the following interesting exhibit of the vertical distribution of workable beds of coal in the Pound Gap region: Top of highest hills in Pike county N. of Pine Mt. 150 to 175 feet covered slope. Flat woods coal. Reported as a thick bed. 300 feet, more or less, mostly coarse massive sandrock. Ambergys 80-inch coal. Sycamore Cr. 92-inch coal. (Highest workable seam in Knott county.

50 feet shale and sandstone.

Thin coal. (Sec. 27.)

25 to 40 feet sandrock and shale. (Highest rocks in Letcher county north of Pine Mt.)

Fossil and bastard limestone horizon. (20 feet shale.)

150 feet coarse sandrock, with shale divisions, forming benches.

Coal with many partings.

60 to 85 feet, mostly coarse massive sandrock.

Kisers 6-feet coal. (Letcher) Bear Fk. cannel, (Pike.)

150 to 175 feet, mostly sandrock.

Upper splint coal, 36 to 80 inches.

100 to 130 feet shale, shaly sandstone and sandstone.

Lower splint coal, 36 to 60 inches.

125 to 150 feet, mostly sandstone.

Thin coal so far as known.

15 to 40 feet, shales and sandstone.

Elkhorn coal, 40 to 108 inches.

20 to 40 feet, shales mostly.

Wright's coal, (Sec. 9, 17 and 22,) 12 to 42 inches (analysis:

50 to 75 feet, shales mostly.

Sand Lick coal (No. 1,) 86 to 60 inches.

25 feet, sandstone and shale.

Combs' coal, (Sec. 20, 28 and 26,) 12 to 36 inches.

300 to 400 feet, shale and sandstone, the latter prominent in: '

NitOMetOR Ceti? ewe

e

Report On The Pound Gap Region. 29

places. Several thin coals; irregular but probably locally workable.

2,000 feet conglomerate formation, divided by shale beds of greater or less thickness into five to seven benches. Including several thin coals.

General Table of Analyses of Coals.

ee ee hae ere

Os Be ee ie (h) Wolf-pen cr., cannel, lower 26 in. . 0.26 47.94 44.86 6.94 0.751 (1) Bear Fork cannel coal, 33 inches. 1.293 2.00 43.40 46.30 8,30 0.689 (o) Hager's cannel coal, Little Paint cr.,

In this coal the ash is probably doubled by adhering clay.

Notr.—Columns cut out to represent the whole thickness of coal-beds were obtained for the World's Exposition, at New Orleans, from the following beds: Martin's coal (No.1); Right Beaver, at mouth of Steele creek, Floyd county; Flemings creek coal (Elkhorn), Floyd county; Elkhorn coal, Elkhorn creek, Pike county; Elkhorn coal, Potter's Fork of Kentucky river, Letcher county; King's creek block-coal, Letcher county (see report of Mr. Hodge); Wolf-pen cannel coal, Knott county ; Ambergys, 80 inch coal, Knott county; Hager's cannel coal, Little Paint creek, Floyd county; Wheeler's coal (No. 1), below mouth of Big Paint creek, Johnson 'county (see report on Morgan, Johnson, etc.).

Geological Survey Of Kentucky.

J. KR. PROCTER, DIREcTOR.

Preliminary Report

—On The—

Of Parts Of—

Letcher, Harlan, Leslie, Perry,

—AND— we

iy feet PA TP tO UNAS a

By A. M. HODGE, ASSISTANT.

STEREOTYPED FOR THE SURVEY BY JOHN D. WOODS, PUBLIC PRINTER AND BINDER, FRANKFORT, KY.

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Swords Coal Section No. 2

Levisa Fork, Little Chloe Cr.

Leool SECTION NO.1

Pike COUNTY. atoning Ss. 90" — : 14" cs Swords C. : 3" Sandstone C. Ss.

4-500 a ; Sandstone Bench O33" e EL Te Parting RR AAO Coal C.61" 'Sandstone é Sandstone ; . i ¥ Sandstone 400 eta ae CE EE a eee eo aed a Sandstone '

a eT eee a SE Shaly Sandstone en ter ar

Covered

Sandstone

' C 10" Syck sCoa'<g§ 22"

Shale

& Shaly Sandstone

Bed of River One Mile above

Bed of R. at Mo.of Creek opposite

Pikevitte. PikevitLe.

— C,11 4%" ee Varr's Cy C736"

Plate I.

STONE COAL CR. SECTION NO. Pike COUNTY.

Marr'S Coal

Section No.3 Near River.

Sandstone

C 4 ft. or more Cannel C.at top

C,33"

Sandstone Coal Stain

ee Mec ee oe — ' C.3t?' a TOA Gillam's C S.52" af. G. 31" paces ee names

Sandstone ——— Bit.S.6" meme Coal) cs'

ec ee Je

Thin Coal Shale &

Sandstone

Coal 24''

Shales & Shaly Sandstone

River Bed One Mire Below

River Bed at mouth of

PikevitLe. Stone Coal Cr.

L.B.Folger Eng.Cin.

Qrogo Ml,

ABNER'S Br. SECTION NO. 7. LEFT BEAVER

PLATE ft!

i a Sandstone . or FLOYD COUNTY. noarees a Fs . 6"? sOal 4

ba SSS CC. 26" with: Parting Pan ac fe ec ewees racer soe

Sandstone Coal 24"'

4 Top of nill Slaty & Thin oe . bedded S.S. Bench —— a MAR Coal 48" yi: ae O22 2 Sandstone BEN cea Saneerone 2 : Shay S.S. 5 Coal Stain és aI Ss. "a Sandstone SSS Coal ny "3 Sandstone Catal Chauk Wiaie sees Be RAI atin Shale —— ne ae oA a Se ed of Cr.at. a Sandstone a mencannne Juage Martin's a Bench SECTION NO.9 i C. 45? p Splij MES q I ars PNG erat @bndetahe ON RT. BEAVER e: Bay ABOVE JUDGEMARTIN'S a sy Sutras Knott COUNTY. 4 SSE S & Calcareous - pias —— rock aa Swe Coal S "ay 'i ' : ee is 20'' "SA Coal 22 Coal Stain eo as Sandstone ae Sandstone . Soke Sandstone 7 ee Sandstone Coal Stain. SE Coal 66" g Thin Coal a 5 Thin Coal Coni Stain a ss Sandstone + Sandstone — 0 SS & eee Coal 28 Shaly S.S. od a ae Shae Z—=] Sandstone ; ES) eae Ss. : C17") Sandstone Coa 36" Osborn's C. ree "deg (37? Shale 'hideous ARS SS sevens Sandstone Sandstone ee Coal 27"' — C. about 2 ft. enue er at Thin Coal AC, 18"? Shale

— eel Shale with Cal. See

—— Concer. ee PF a oF oeeeig snestone pee eae Sandstone le, . 60"? Triplet's Shale withCal. semi aI Shale EIN ens ie Concer. SS ed of Rt. Bed of Jones' Fk. Beaver Cr. Near mouth ae +7 Coarse S.S. JONES' FORK RT.BEAVER CR. Tt a A SECTION NO. 5. SECTION NO. 6. 3 M. FROM HD. 4 Mo. of Cr.

KNOTT COUNTY. KNOTT CounTY. FLEMING'S CREEK SECTION NO. 8. LEFT BEAVER.

Floyd County.

L.B.Folger Eng.Cin.

PLATE Ill.

Coal Stain &

Non plastic

a Bit.Clay S.S. Ledge

y Hill 80 ft. higher. Hill 160 ft. higher. z Mostly Massive Sandstone NO. 13.

9 Coarse S.S. Stan: Baw COMBINED SECTION ei eae Cannel Coal|} LOWER ROCKS ON ie ; INDIAN CREEK a Steep Covered Cannel Coal eet Ss

As 700

te Bench

CMe ange ee Ee a

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COAL 33" Bench & Coal

COAL Sandstone CANNEL C, 22"? CANNELS, 2"? CANNEL C.10"?

Cc. Not opened

commu CS. 7"

600 C,30'' or more

Covered a Covered ad S.S. aig Rocks Mostly : aon Ss) BM% Covered but se #9? ' + (¢. ais Chiefly S.S. ei apne, : Sandstone " Canepa Marrs "1 43" os andstone 5 C.3 to 4ft. Be a 997 SS. no F. Cc. oP. a Sandstone o Covered boi "3 Sandetona Cal. Concr. ap Shale ee Slate a Sandstone Sandstone ta i ae e C. Stain Be (S 0" ¥! 3 ? pia fh e Covered oe KNorN Ci. 4 g?* if eS C25" el 0° F.C. Biss : a Sandstone Sandstone on Cc. 3" ' Lx oS A Coal (e Lae Coal Sandstone Shaly S.S. 1200 Covered Slope Covered Shaly S.S. Thin Coal Cal. layer ees Shale too Bed of Shelby Cr. S BES EV a Sandstone ; 200 feet : .S. Ledge S Shale Shalys.8. # SS. mostly Share & Shale alternating! eee including one thin ©. Shaly S.S. below ale § eat S.S. Cr.bed. —— tor 240 ft. to Cr. t- to Creek. |be—as=) Cal. Concer. tso| SECTION NO. 10. SECTION NO. 11 SECTION NO. 12. : AT JOHN MARR'S AT Mrs. MAy's : BEAR FORK OF Fain ON SHELBY CR. ROBINSONCREEK. ROBINSON CREEK. PIKE COUNTY. PIKE COUNTY. PiKE COUNTY..

5 Fy,

Coal 30''

Sanastone

Coarse S.S.

ys Bastard L.S. Pa i 4'? 6"

fe.

Se 12" Cc. 20"

s.S. t+) BastaroL.S.

Sandstone

Coal Stain

ee ae 6s.

: Coal Stain

ae

TON BR. OF shia CR. PikKE COUNTY

FICS Bisixno.

oa NO. 14.

z Coal 92"

Hill 500 ft. higher

ma Coal 20'"

Sandstone

ees Coal Stain

pemrersrer| Coal 16" be ge ak S.S. Coal & Slate

S.S.

Coal 27"

S.S.

Shale i Shale & S.S.S.

Cannel Slate Fossiliferous bed

me C.18'' Part Cannel

Sandstone abies Sandstone

Coal 3+'' Boat aie —=SECTION NO. 16. T BR.OF SYCAMORE CR. R.C.Battsan. en SECTION NO. 17.

24"? Bees Bia LAUREL BR. AT HOLCOMBS. Sandstone Coa e+ oe Coal (Splint) O. 26'? S.s Coal 8" Covered Slope Coal 44''

[he I

ae A se ee

S t Sandstone

S:3. C. 24"? Ss. Ss, 2 Cormeen et lee 2? ag Elkhorn C. " aH) 1S, Cc. 70"

Coal 22'?

al. 3%.

BS Co Mo. of Creek 200 ft. below

Section No. 15. Sycamore Cr. Pike County

Plate Iv.

SS} Cal. Concer

Slaty S.S. Thin C,

gC. 9 ft. many Thin Clay Partings

Coal Stain

ne sae Sandstone

mm Elkhorn C.

ay

Coal 20"'

Mo. of Br.

SECTION NO. 19, JoE'S BR. OF ELKHORN CR. PIKE COUNTY.

L.B.Folger Eng.Cin

SECTION No.20 NEAR Mo.CAMP Br, OF ROCKHOUSE CR.

LETCHER Co.

SECTION No.21 NEAR HD.OF CAMP BR LETCHER Co.

Coarse Sandrock

Bench

ae

Coal4 ft.or more full thickness not seen

"pte ra] S-S.Ledge

—— Nae ie Sandstone ee —— Sandstone GEER STE ek Seka He oe andstone re =29 EE Coals C esi Coal 36"' ' Ss 3" 4a"? Thin Coal 'a Coal 24"' ree card s Sandstone ae Sandstone on Sandstone oe Shaly and Slaty

0 a C. 1t027% ft. — aenerone : Bed Camp Br,| ESC Camp Br.Mill

Plate V. Section No.22 At

J.Q.BENTLEY'S LETCHER Co.

ie oR

—— C.34" Sa mz Coal Cannel © 10"

Sandstone

Sandstone

an Sandstone

Coal 24"

Shale & S.S.S.

Sen ae, (Elkhorn)

Ppk Pall

Sandstone ees Coal 21"

Rockhouse Cr. at Bentley's

SECTION No.23 TRACE BR.OF ROCKHOUSE Cr. LETCHER Co.

Sandstone

382'? romans (Soin) i , 12'?

mae C.42'' Lower Half

Coal Stain Se Splint SC UT ae aS ee Sandstone Lg eee aa Sandstone Thin Coal Slaty S.S EOS BT cE ed Ls] Sandstone te S REE + Sandstone oe et sine om One Coal 26'' pepe C30)' Part Splint ——— Shal : Mo.of Br.

SECTION No.24

LOVE BR.OF ROCKHOUSE CR. Place of Coal LETCHER Co. a ee — as Sand Lick) —a Sandstone ees Combs' Coal

lo.of Trace Br.

L.B.Folger Eng.Cin.

Plate Vi.

Petty 390 ft. to top of hill

eas oe

Hili74 ft higher

Bastard L.S. 72 aa) — I coal JE 7: Massive S.S. T27— Fossil L.S. Cc 5" SD Be Coarse Massive Bastard L.S Sandstone SECTION No. 25 SECTION No.28 THORNTON CREEK SS. Smoot CR. LETCHER Co. LETCHER Co. SECTION No.26 WHITESBURG LETCHER Co. Covered Steep Slope Coarse S.S Kidney lron Ore C.Stam C. Not opened Sandstone C. 3 ft. S Sandstone

Nickels' 2 Splint Coal

Splint C. 50"

Upper Cannel C. Not opened Sandstone

S.S.

Sandstone C.1%)) C.C- Goal ie SR" Cannel C : ©) Cannel Coal 9") Che aa' i Oe al Sandstone Cannel Coal & Shaly S.S. Ss andstone Beatie C? Sandstone Sandstone S.S., oe Covered TS C. 48'( Elkhorn) Sandstone Eee S 100 Coal 20'' Pe ee Se andstone Aor decor. Sandstone "aaah macarons Sandstone ie Elkhorn C; ert Cr. at Francis Sandstone eee Sand Lick C. pre Ambergys S. ECTION No.27 $.S. ee een C 2 ft. ARR FORK Shale to Coal C. 2 Ft. in bed of Cr.25 ft. P24 River 90 ft below KNOTT Co. Mo.of Cr.

L.B.Folger Eng.Cin..

SECTION No. 29 DRY CREEK LETCHER Co.

SECTION No. 30 HEAD OF KING'S CR.

LETCHER Co.

SECTION No. 31 AT

H. HOLCOMB'S LINE FORK LETCHER Co.

Coal 4Sh. 4"'

ensenaié iO... i a h

Sm.Kidneys

wii Iron Ore

Float.Fossil Lime St, Lime Stone

lron Ore

fron Ore Elkhorn Jron Ore Coal-— 32"

i PINE MT.

Coal Stain in Road ie Sandstone

C.C.Slatel]'' Ee

' 13"? ee enka th

Shale

eee Sandstone

Sh. 4"? O.:

Shale|/C. 36" 'Coal '

Coal—26"

Coal — 58"?

O

S.S.

'

J J

Coal-15"

"NMS: Sandstone

Coal—3" Sandstone

Tance

f / My hy ' D "

NS? rw

Coal- 8"

Sp.C. ' 55"? Field C.C. |g,

24"?

King's Cr. coe ES

Thin Coal

Coal 13"

Shaly S.S.

Pe S.S. with Ore Coal a 15"?

Coal 3"

Line Fork at

H.Holcomb's

Mo.Hawkins Br.

Coal 24"

Plate Vii.

SECTION No. 32 AT

HARDIN SPARKMAN'S LINE FORK LETCHER Co.

Kentucky Ridge

Sandstone

Sandstone

Coal— 18"

Mo. Coils Br,

Folger Eng, Cin,

Report On Pound Gap Region Scale 5 Ft. To 1 Inch. Plate Viia

more Coal 31 3)

ORL cnn 92""

Shale 52"'

etaies Clay

UPPER COAL KiseER'S COAL UPPER COAL

LovE BRANCH Love BRANCH AMBURGY BR.

LETCHER Co. LETCHER Co. Clay KNnotTT Co. Coal 31"" ISAAC SAUNDERS'

SYCAMORE Cr. Sh. Bit, Sh. PIKE Co. oot 337?

Gillman'S Coal

CoaL RUN Coal 43" Coal 164" Parting 12" Cannel C.921:"" Coal. sean 23% r Parting 2?

Cannel C.10""

Y LU Clay tj, Clay HEAD OF Marr's COAL Marr's Coa BEARFORK OF wh neo CR. SHELBY CREEK. BELOW PIKEVILLE ROBINSON CREEK. : PikE Co. PIKE Co, PIKE Co.

Sh. Shale 2° (2) Sh. ' Sh, re oal.-.3",, 24"? (2) eee 1 Coal 1'' 315 ' Coal 34" h Splint C.-29"] COLLINS' CANNEL Coal 34" j Shale 6" Bone Mo. oF Camp Br. Coal 45" cgppeiness LETCHER Co. Cannel C.27" Splint C.-22" Cannel C.10" Viriiip Clay Clay Clay Zi Clay

DR.BREEDING'S CoAL J.Q.BENTLEY'S WOoLF PEN COAL Gene His COAL

CampP Br, ROCKHOUSE Cr. CARR FORK Mo.SASSAFRAS Cr. ---I8'" LETCHER Co. LETCHER Co. KNOTT Co. KNoTT Co.

Coal 24"

Clay 14"

Coal 54" Coal 36" Coal 65""

AQ" Coal 34" Slaty Coal 6" pannel O10 Yii////, Clay 7, Clay Yyf, Clay Va Clay LAY NESVILLE COAL TRIPLET'S COAL GEARHART'S COAL WADE SAUNDERS'C. SAND LICK COAL FLoyD Co. Mo.oF JONES' FoRK Rock F'k of R'T BEAVER SYCAMORE CR. LETCHER Co. FLloypD Co. Ftoyp Co. ® Pike Co.

Folger Eng. Cin,

Report On The Pound Gap Region

Coal 17"

--94??

. ROCKHOUSE Cr.

AMBURGY COAL CARR FORK KNOTT Co.

Coal--- 48"

MEAD'S COAL HEAD OF MILLSTONE LETCHER Co.

Coal 54"

ADAM'S COAL Mo. MILLSTONE Cr. LETCHER Co.

Coal 24"

eee] SN Qle 2"?

Coal 2'4" Shale---7" Coal 68"

Holcomb'S Coal

LAUREL Br. K'y Riv. LETCHER Co.

Plate Vii B

Sections Of Elkhorn Coal.

7 Coal 42"

Scale 5 Ft. To 1 Inch

Coal--- 43"

ley

Shale---3!4

MiILt BrR.COAL. Coal--- 49" LETCHER Co.

Mullins Coal Head Of Elkhorn

Coal 48 PIKE Co. HEAD OF ROCKHOUSE Cr. LETCHER Co. Coal-- 40"

ba Shale 4"

Coal--- 26" Coal-:--- 47"

Shale 1"

9519 Clay

Coal CANE BRANCH

YONTS FORK COAL PIKE Co.

BOONE FORK LETCHER Co. Coail 4]" Shale_—10" Coal--- 46" Shale :2"? Coal 72"

Coal 47"

Perks Branch

ELKHORN CREEK PIKE Co.

Potter'S Fork

BOONE FORK LETCHER Co,

Elkhorn Creek

Coal 15"

GShale—3"' 36"

Coail 28""

Shale—6" CAPT.HALL'S COAL : RIGHT F'K OF. BEAVER Cr.}. KNOTT Co.

Coal. 53"'

LEFT FORK OF MARSHALL'S Br. PIKE Co.

Coal 66""

Coal... 43°, FLEMING CR.COAL LEFT F'K OF BEAVER Cr.

FLOYD Co.

B Coal 3"

Shale—20"

Coal 27"

Shale—9"' BEN BRANCH ELKHORN CREEK Coal 25" PIKE Co.

BEAR ForK COAL ROBINSON Cr. PiKE Co.

Coal 42"

—— Shale-7"'

Coal 3]" Coal 58" Shale_12" Coal 30"

RIGHT FORK OF MARSHALL'S Br. PIKE Co.

Folger Eng, Cin

Benj.Potter'S Coal

ELKHORN CREEK Pike Co.

Introductory Letter.

LEXINGTON, Ky., March 12, 1885.

Prof. A. R. Crandall:

DEAR SiR: I should feel that injustice had been done the region treated of in the accompanying report, were it not regarded as essentially preliminary. Some of the main requirements for a satisfactory knowledge of the field are indicated in the report, and many others will be found during a more thorough survey. That additional work is justifiable, and, indeed

necessary, the report makes evident.

Respectfully, J. M. Hopes,

PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OF PARTS OF LETCHER, HARLAN, LESLIE, PERRY AND BREATHITT COUNTIES

A rapid survey, made over a considerable area, in continuation of the work of Prof. Crandall on the headwaters of the Kentucky river, where well defined marks of persistent beds are rare, has proven insufficient to carry the identification of strata to any great degree of detail. Enough work has been done, however, to trace the more important coal beds with a fair approach to certainty, wherever they appear of workable thickness. But it should be understood that, in this report, assumption of identity established is based frequently on what from personal observation is believed, but not known to be reliable evidence, and which is, therefore, still open to revision.

The region covered by the survey includes that part of Letcher county, lying north of Whitesburg, and between the west fork of Kentucky river and Pine mountain ; the head of Greasy creek in Harlan county ; in Leslie county, Cutshin creek to the mouth of Wooten; in Perry county, Leatherwood creek, the North fork to the mouth of Big creek, Lots' creek, Lost and Troublesome creeks; and in Breathitt county, Troublesome, Lost and Big creeks. Excepting Buckhorn creek and Ball's fork, the tributaries of the creeks named are generally included.

The strata are found to have a slight inclination, generally corresponding in direction with the course of the streams. They have their highest elevation against Pine mountain, about the head of Greasy creek, where, probably, the lowest coal above the conglomerate appears, dipping thence gradually down that stream and Line fork, but with somewhat more rapidity down Cutshin and Leatherwood creeks. On Line fork, from Pine. mountain to Defeated creek, the strata lie nearly level, and an

36 Preliminary Report On The Geology

approximate line of strike appears to run, following the direction of Defeated creek, across to near the mouth of King's creek.

Northwest of this line an inclination is found sufficient to carry a coal bed lying 300 feet above Line fork at Isom's, down to 70 feet above the Kentucky river near the mouth of Lot's creek. The same coal bed is found at about the latter height above stream near the mouth of Wooten creek, on Cutshin, and again at the Tunnel mill on Troublesome creek. North and west from these points the dip is not quite so rapid as the fall of the main streams,which have a very gradual descent; the bed referred to above being about 100 feet above the river at the mouth of Troublesome creek. If the coal beds have been correctly traced, there are

partially developed, in this region,eight beds of workable thickness, of which number five are more or less frequently found as part cannel coal, but oftener as splint, and two others contain much splint coal. It is probable that some of these splint beds will be found valuable for coking, but no trials for determining this have yet been made. The table given on page 48 of analyses of samples collected from various openings, furnishes means of judging which are most likely to prove favorable in this regard. Particular attention is called to the admirable quality of the two samples of cannel coal included in the table.

A ninth bed to be described is the ''Elkhorn'"' bed of Pike and other counties. Though some of the coal from this bed has been used near the mouth of Leatherwood and Troublesome creeks, in Perry and Breathitt counties, it is not classed here as a workable coal, and it derives its chief importance in this report from the fact that to the eastward it becomes one of the most valuable beds of the State. Other beds, too thin to work, appear and disappear throughout the strata with great irregularity, and are of so litle importance as to require no especial notice for a long time to come.

The lowest worthy of remark in the series, and one of the lowest beds of the coal measures above the conglomerate, appears above drainage in the region under consideration only on Greasy creek, Harlan county, and possibly on and near the Kentucky river, below Whitesburg. On the river it has not been found

OF LETCHER, HARLAN, LESLIE, AND OTHER COUNTIES. Oo

of workable thickness. On Greasy creek it has a thickness of 34 feet, as shown in the lowest bed of section 42, at the only place where it has been opened. Further investigation is necessary to determine whether the deposit continues of sufficient thickness to render it of especial value. The outcrop extends up Greasy creek, probably to about the mouth of Big Laurel, and short distances up the branch streams below.

The coal appears from its surface opening of excellent quality, the greater part a high grade bituminous, possibly a coking coal. A peculiarity is to be remarked, found in the upper 16 inches of this, and in some of the higher coals on the heads of Greasy and Leatherwood creeks, consisting of the absence of all evidence of lamination, resulting in the formation of slikensides coal, a coal closely resembling anthracite in its cleavage, and somewhat in its lustre, but without the strength or hardness of the latter, and burning very freely with a bright yellow flame. An analysis of a specimen of this coal from the head of Leatherwood creek is given in the accompanying table. Its specific gravity and composition point to its being a partly formed cannel coal.

The next coal above in the series, partly a cannel coal, is most prominent, though perhaps not most valuable, on Greasy creek,

where, on Half-Mile branch, Abner's branch, (section 42) it has

a total thickness of coal of 7 feet, and of bed of nearly 13 feet, but its five partings materially injure it. Farther east on the main creek, these partings are so enlarged (section 41) as to form several distinct beds, which are still more separated on the heads of Leatherwood creek. A good workable seam is found there on Stony fork, a part of it being the soft ''slickenseit'' coal already described, and the remainder mostly an excellent hard splint. An analysis from an average sample taken from the whole bed, as shown in section 40, is given in the table of analyses.

On the main head of Leatherwood, as well as on Greasy creek, it isin part cannel coal, and itis probably the same seam which shows close to the bed of Leatherwood near the mouth of Clover fork, a splint coal of 32inches or more, and again near the mouth of Owens' branch, 27 inches or more, with two thin partings, the two inches at the top being cannel coal. It drops below drainage not far from the latter place, and gives rise,

38 Preliminary Report On The Geology

probably in connection with another seam of the same bed, to the report of 12 feet of coal immediately below the surface of the ground, said to have been discovered in boring the salt well at the mouth of Leatherwood creek. Its outcropping as a thin bed on the river, a short distance above and below, as well as on Leatherwood creek, leads to the belief that the report is founded on a very small basis of fact.

On account of a local change of dip to nearly horizontal, one seam of the bed appears at Wm. McIntyre's (section 45) on the low water level of the river, two miles below Leatherwood, while six miles above the mouth of the creek (section 36) a part of the bed is 100 feet above the river there, and there again it contains a small seam of cannel coal. Farther east and to the south its separation into small seams precludes its specification, until, on Line fork, one seam disappears below drainage at John Holcomb's, while upper ones probably remain above as far as and beyond Hardin Sparkman's.

The third bed to be considered is the '' Elkhorn" bed, previously referred to. Below Whitesburg, on and to the south of the river, it is thin and insignificant, until at the mouth of Leatherwood creek it attains a thickness of about two feet, with two

or three partings. Its accessibility there led to its being mined

a little for use at the salt well and neighboring houses. — Followed up Leatherwood the partings increase, and on Greasy creek it seems to be merged in the bed below it. At Pennington's, on Cutshin creek, Leslie county, it is distinct again, but thin (the lowest bed of section 44), and its outcrop is exposed at several points on the road down to Wooten creek as a thin stain, ata nearly uniform height above Cutshin creek.

On the North fork, a mile above Hazard, its thickness is increased to 3 feet, (section 46), but it is so divided by partings, and apparently so impure, as to be without present value. It is lost beneath the river at the mouth of Lot's creek, but appears on Troublesome creek, where it has been traced some six miles up from the Tunnel mill, maintaining a height above the creek of about 15 feet, with a thickness varying from 1 foot to feet. Below the Tunnel mill it is represented by the

thin seams shown at the bottom cf section 49, and again is.

found thick enough to mine for local use at the mouth of Rus-

Of Letcher, Harlan, Leslie, And Other Counties. 39

sell branch. Some coal has been taken also from the same bed in Lost creek, near its mouth, and from the river at the mouth of Troublesome creek, where two seams, 3 feet apart, are exposed at very low water, with a thickness of 20 and 12 inches. Followed up the river these seams rapidly separate to a distance of about 30 feet, and both appear above drainage on Big branch, together with a possible third seam, but whether a third seam, or the reappearance of the second at a higher elevation, has not been satisfactorily determined. In section 55 three seams are represented.

On Lost creek also a rise of strata has occurred similar to that near the mouth of Big branch, but of less marked degree, and the seams do not appear to be so separated there. Ten feet above the level of the mouth of Leatherwood branch of Lost creek, the bed shows but 15 inches of coal, with two thin partings, and again at the mill about two miles below the mouth of Ten-Mile creek, 17 inches of coal with four thin partings. At the mill-dam it disappears under the creek.

No samples for analyses of this coal have been collected from this region, but its quality does not appear to the eye to be so

good in Perry county as in others where examined, those expos-

ures which have been open to the air for a long time having become encrusted with a white coating, tasting strongly of alum. In Breathitt county this has not been observed, except in the upper seam on Big branch, the coal from the lower seam having an excellent reputation as fuel, both raw and coked.

Doubtless the most valuable bed of the series in this region is that which lies next above the '' Elkhorn"' bed, owing its importance not alone to its large area of good thickness, but also to its quality. Asa bituminous coal it rarely shows other than an admirable quality, both by analyses and by its behavior in the grate, and this is equalled or surpassed where tested as a splint coal, which is its most prevalent character, while its frequent outcropping as an excellent cannel coal adds still more to its value. 7

From Whitesburg down the river to the mouth of Mace's creek, is a region practically barren in this as in other coals, it having a thickness at Wm. MclIntyre's, below Leatherwood

creek, of but 15 inches of coal, (section 45,) while at Allen

40 Preliminary Report On The Geology

Christian's (section 36,) it is reduced to 5 inches. But to the south of the river (the region to the north being covered by report of Prof. Crandall) the thickness increases at Moses Isom's, on Line fork, to 25 inches, mostly cannel coal, and at Ira Hall's, on Defeated creek about two miles from the mouth, to 36 inches. of handsome block cannel. On Dry fork of Line fork, its thickness diminishes again to 12 inches, 11 inches being cannel, while across the divide near the head of King's creek, it attains its maximum thickness, so far as known, of 78 inches, of which five feet is a block splint coal, which has been mistaken for cannel,and the remainder is bituminous. Unfortunately for this locality, however, it appears to be reduced to 25 inches a quarter-mile down the creek ; but there is abundant room for a large deposit of thick coal, with nothing to indicate an improbability of finding it under the hill to the south and east of the opening made.

Toward the head of Line fork it has been found only at Holcomb's with a thickness there of 22 inches. On Greasy creek it has not been identified positively, but it is most probably represented by the 55 inches of coal shown in section 41, the bottom coal being a slickenseit, the top splint coal and the whole of excellent quality. On Stony fork of Leatherwood it appears with 16 inches of cannel coal and 13 inches bituminous (section 40.)

On Cutshin creek it begins to show a more even thickness, with a better average. It is probably the bed which passes. under the creek at the mouth of Laurel fork, bituminous coal, twenty-nine inches thick, increased at Levi Boggs' (section 48) to thirty-eight inches, of which all but six inches is cannel coal. At Isaac Pennington's (section 44) a further increase would obtain but that the lower eleven inches of the bed is there replaced by a bituminous slate, hardly to be distinguished from block cannel, and showing in its composition a near approach to cannel coal. An analysis of it is given on page 48, with those of the other coals. AtJ. C. Lewis', near the mouth of Wooten creek, the bed reaches a thickness of fifty-six inches splint and bituminous coal, with a fire-clay parting of five inches, and at Elijah Cornett's, on the river above Hazard, fifty-five to sixty inches of the same coal, with but one inch parting, and from there it has.

: 3

: @! :

e

A " , re 2 7 Ye Sa ' - : re Bie Mey re ee sae - esl —— re — — a i

Of Letcher, Harlan, Leslie, And Other Counties. 41

been mined and shipped down the river by boat. At Hazard the upper seam alone, thirty-three inches thick, is worked for the supply of the town.

In the bend of the river, a mile and more below the mouth of Lot's creek, a number of old openings, now fallen in, indicate a thickness ranging from three feet to five feet, and many other openings still farther down the river are reported, from all of which coal was shipped to Frankfort and other markets, until the recent opening of new railroads in the central part of the State provided cheaper and safer transportation from other fields.

On Lot's creek the bed is distinguished as containing twentytwo inches of particularly fine cannel coal, having by analysis. but 6 per cent. of ash, with about the same thickness of bituminous coal. (Section 47.) On Troublesome creek it is thin again, but on Lost creek, first seen thirty-three inches thick near the mouth of Ten-mile creek, to the south of which it goes below the drainage. It is opened at G. W. Noble's, a half mile west of his house, thirty-four inches thick, and a mile southeast of the house, with the following section:

RE eam Cis AAU ohn ce so oie Aniccinic oa. women ne Cad Raa aaah oke desnees 22 inches. GN APS ii ds wesghn i Popaed sawed s cncesasnnmagadvnavs rucdsonacessvansiotts 6 inches, Cale IU Eira ns kn eek cand as tae did as Cae 17 inches.

An analysis is given in the table of coal from the thirty-four inch opening. An entry was made into this bed, near the mouth of Lost

ereek, by Judge Strong, and afterwards abandoned on account of water, in which was found only bituminous coal, although

the bed crops out as cannel coal in an adjoining field. On Big branch (Breathitt county) it is represented by the fourth coal of section 55, and the cannel coal now mined and shipped down the river from George's branch, which has a reputation more than local, is probably from the same bed, as judged by the character of the coal and its known approximate geological position.

It is well toremark, as an indication of the value of this bed throughout a large part of the region embraced in this report, that on George's branch the only opening accessible and mined.

in the summer of 1884 had a section at its working face of :

Mane ik EB ii 1S ci dd ini cng A Pea eh Mo ema oe 3 inches. Splint Coal csssceeecseeeeseerer seers RE SNA Ad ~apple e At mae ae oD ES 17 inches. . Beate css anc us cos ios oak gn ao nh a es waa s Sgt dha sa cae nese 17 inches.

42 Preliminary Report On The Geology

Although the upper 20 inches is excellent coal of its kind, it was treated as waste, the cannel coal alone being able to bear the expense of two miles hauling by wagon and subsequent shipment at high water by boat, with its attendant risk of loss by wreckage. That a large and profitable development of these fields may be attained under the advantages derived by means of railroad transportation cannot be questioned.

From the foregoing notes of this bed, it is evident that a heavy body of coal exists, extending from Lost creek across the North fork, and between Cutshin and Lot's creeks to Carr's fork (beyond which reference should be made to Prof. Crandall's report), with rich pockets on Defeated and King's creeks, in Letcher county. Whether that on the head of Greasy creek is a part of a large area of thick coal or a small pocket remains to be determined. Its most important outcroppings as cannel coal are on Lost creek, 17 inches ; Lot's creek, 22 inches ; Cutshin creek, 32 inches; on Line fork, 20 inches, and on Defeated creek 36 inches; all but the latter being accompanied with bituminous or splint coal.

Lying from 15 to 50 feet above the bed last described is another one, generally bituminous or splint, but possibly containing cannel coal on Troublesome creek, above the Tunnel mill. Further investigation, however, may prove this to belong to the bed below. It appears to best advantage over the main body of the bed beneath it, and the two are in some places so close that the economy suggests itself of making there one connected mine in the two beds together.

Its greatest thickness discovered is at Pennington's, on Cutshin creek, 60 inches, excluding partings. At Boggs', further up the creek, it is reduced to 36 inches of coal. On Leatherwood creek section 39 it has 29 inches of coal, of which twothirds is an exceedingly rich slickenseit, as shown by analysis on page 48. At Isom's on Line fork it is 36 inches thick. (The two openings of that thickness shown in section 34 having been 'made at points a considerable distance apart, though shown at different levels are considered as probably in the same bed.) At MclIntyre's, section 45, the same thickness of coal was found, but it is there divided by three partings. On Lot's creek, 34 inches of very bright coal, has but one parting. On Lost creek

Of Letcher, Harlan, Leslie, And Other Counties. 43

it appears above drainage at Jacob Niece's, 26 inches thick, and retains this thickness at the mouth of Ten-mile branch. On Mill branch it is mined, on account of its proximity to the mill where it is used, with but 24 inches of coal, and that of poor quality. Further north it increases again to 36 inches on Big branch. 7

The next bed in order, seems to be quite as persistent as the others, but is, generally, too thin to be of much economic value. It is shown, the third bed from the top of section 31, as a thin coal, much separated by partings, and again on the Cutshin creek sections, 6 inches and 12 inches or more of coal. The 15 inches stain on Greasy creek (section 41) is probably of the same bed, and it is identified on Tolson creek and at McIntyre's below Leatherwood creek, at each place 9 inches of coal. On Lot's creek it is found only 2 inches thick, but suddenly reaches 60 inches on Comb's branch, Troublesome creek (section 48),

entitling it to be classed as a workable coal. (For analysis, see

the table on page 48.) The only other point where it has been found of considerable thickness is on Tom's branch, Troublesome creek, as represented in section 49.

On Lot's creek it has been traced as a thin coal, without evidence of any pocket there. On Russell branch, Troublesome creek, the rapidity of change of thickness which sometimes occurs is well displayed in this bed. At the spring by James Rholley's house it may be seen less than 1 inch thick, while it is exposed as a handsome splint coal, 22 inches thick, about 100 yards farther up the branch. Whether it continues to increase beyond there can only be determined by mining, asit very soon

goes below the drainage.

The sixth bed in the series developed, neglecting undefined thin seams, lies generally about 60 feet from that belowit. This is another one of the particularly valuable beds of the region, though its area of thick coal in this region seems to be confined mainly to two widely separated and not very extensive deposits. As a cannel coal it has won a high reputation in Central Ken-

tucky, where it is known as the Haddix (incorrectly Haddock's)

One of these bodies of thick coal is first encountered at the

eastern margin on Line fork at Isom's, and again at Holcomb's,

44 Preliminary Report On The Geology

at both points having 32 inches of coal, but in the former sepa--

rated by two partings. Farther west, on Turkey creek (section 33), an increase to 53 inches is exhibited, and at Sparkman's (section 32), to 62 inches without partings. Its appearance here and analysis (for which see table of analyses) are alike

favorable to its being a coking coal. Its low percentage of ash.

is especially remarkable, because its outcrop opening was so soft and penetrated by mud that it was impossible to obtain a clean sample. The bed has not been identified on Greasy creek, but

this is due to insufficient search rather than to its absence. A.

report of thick coal on Turkey fork of Big Laurel creek is supposed to apply to this bed, its approximate level corresponding with the Shepard opening across the divide on Oldhouse branch,

where it is exposed, an excellent splint and bituminous coal, 70°

inches thick. Farther down Leatherwood and on Cutshin creek, it has been found only as a thin bed, the upper one of section 44. On several branches of Lot's creek, openings have

been made on what is presumed to be this bed, showing on the

Dark fork 44 inches, and at various points on theTrace fork about 12 inches. Sections 48 and 49,from Troublesome creek, show the bed but

10 and 18 inches thick, and the stain seen at Allen's, on Lost.

creek (section 50), was too unpromising to investigate. That at Niece's, farther down the creek, gives indications of a good thickness, with cannel coal reported in it, found in making a grave. On the North fork, near Big branch, where it has been opened by Gough & Co., to 50 feet underground, it was found about 4 feet thick at the entrance, diminished to 42 inches at the head of the entry. Itis shown on section 55 as the Haddix coal, but in this entry it is bituminous and splint, while the mines across the river and about two miles below, from which the Haddix coal known in the market was taken, contained a large proportion of cannel coal.

The 58 inches of Russell coal (secton 56), and about 5 feet of coal, partly cannel, of the Robert's mine, near the mouth of Fugitt's branch, Troublesome creek, together with other thick outcroppings in the neighborhood, indicate the presence of a large body of coal in this vicinity, with a limit as yet undefined on the northand west. Its existence as cannel coal seems to be rather exceptions'

Of Letcher, Harlan, Leslie, And Other Counties. 46

As the tops of the hills are approached identification of beds

'becomes more difficult, not only on account of a less extent of outcrop and tiresome ascent in getting to it, but also because

the rain and spring waters there do not accumulate sufficient

energy to wash out and expose the outcrop, and consequently, especially in this region where most of the land has been occu-

pied but a short time, landholders frequently have not learned even of the existence of these beds, and search must be made without much help from them. This explains a marked reduction in the number of openings recorded of the remaining beds to be described. In the vicinity of Pine mountain their proximity to the limestone ores of that region was the means of establishing their identity.

The lower one of these upper beds, is separated, in the

'Troublesome creek region, from the bed last described by a mas-

sive sandstone, 100 feet thick, which appears in high perpendicular cliffs on nearly every hill, and not unfrequently forms their crests, making a marked feature of the landscape. South of Hazard this prominence of the rock is not observed, and against Pine mountain its character is changed by an admixture of shale,

along with which was deposited the limestone ore referred to

above. The coal above the rock has a thickness of 42 inches on

Smith branch, Leatherwood creek (section 40), is seen as a heavy

stain on the main heads of Leatherwood and of Greasy creeks,

and is exposed in a rockhouse at Cornett's, above Hazard, 31 'inches thick (section 46). On Troublesome creek, near the Tun- 'nel mill, itis 48 inches thick, and it has been found at Campbell's, 'about four miles below the mouth of Buckhorn creek, as a heavy 'stain lying 420 feet above the level of the creek and covered

At Rholley's, on Russell fork, it was discovered 62 inches thick, part splint coal, with two one-inch partings, as shown in

'section 56. And here it is necessary to state that the apparent Increased thickness of strata of this section is to be attributed

to their inclination as followed up Russell branch from its mouth

'to its head. A correct section would then represent the strata of about their ordinary thickness, or approximately as shown in section 55, in which the upper coals correspond with those of

46 Preliminary Report On The Geology

section 56. The 50 inch coal of Big branch belongs then to the

bed under discussion, and also the 60 inches of coal of section 54, found on Leatherwood branch of Lost creek. Coal from these openings should be tested for its coking properties.

Comparing the thick coal openings of this bed with the one preceding, remarkable coincidence is discovered. Inboth there is a heavy deposit about the heads of Line fork, Leatherwood and Greasy creeks, and again in both on Lower Troublesome creek and its vicinity, extending, however, in the upper bed to a greater distance south on Lost creek and south-east on Troublesome.

The remaining and probably uppermost bed of the region has

been found, with two notable exceptions, of little estimation, but, being in part cannel coal and but little explored it is quite probable that some other valuable pockets, at least, may be discovered. 7

It is recognized as the top-hill cannel bed of section 33, on Turkey creek, and again as the 18 inches bituminous coal of the next section at Isom's, on Linefork. The cannel coal stain of section 38, from Beech fork, appears to have slipped from the beach above, where this coal should be in place, but nothing in the vicinity there indicates a thickness sufficient to induce further search fort. Across the ridge, and about two miles west from this place on Laurel fork of Cutshin creek, is a valuable deposit, which now must be considered as a part of this bed, though requiring determination. It is one of the exceptions alluded to above, and shows at Archibald Cornett's 67 inches of coal, of which 23 inches is a fine cannel, ranking by analysis among the first in the country. A section of the bed is shown in Plate XV. The upper bed of section 43, 25 inches bituminous coal found at Bogg' on Cutshin creek, isalso referred to this bed.

Northward from the last named point many of the hills are not high enough to catch the bed, and it has not been identified, excepting in the eighteen-inch coal in the Lot's creek section, until near the mouth of Lost creek, where, on Mill branch, it again appears, but in a slip where its thickness could not readily be ascertained. It is a point where investigation should not be neglected. On Big Branch (section 55) an unfortunate point fer

fi

' z g ' Gi

Of Letcher, Harlan, Leslie, And Other Counties. 47

opening the bed seems to have been selected, but eighteen inches of bituminous coal having been discovered, while at the mouth of Lost creek it was found thirty-six inches thick, and former openings in the vicinity, now covered by earth and water, are reported to have about three and a half feet of coal. Within 100 yards of the opening made on Big creek a line of cannel outcrop on the same level proves a sudden change in the character of the coal, and other hill-tops in the vicinity are reported as having an abundant outcropping of cannel, which may reasonably be referred to this bed, and which invites further investigation. The bed is known in the neighborhood as the Flag coal.

The thickest coal yet discovered in this bed in Breathitt county is at Rholley's, on Russell branch (section 56), where forty-five inches of splint coal gives it a decided value, which its height of some 500 feet above Troublesome creek does not diminish to the degree to be expected in this locality, as the greater altitude of the adjacent Flint ridge, compared with the surrounding hills, gives it an ample area for extensive mining.

In the following table are given analyses by Dr. Peter of coal from some of the principal openings which have been referred to. (Detailed sections of the beds at some of these openings are represented in Plates XIV and XV.) The analyses were made from samples taken where practicable from the whole

~working portion of the bed, excepting that of slickenseit coal,

which was from a picked specimen. Inasmuch as most of the

. Openings were not penetrated beyond the outcrop, the samples

were frequently mixed to some extent with earth, and the proportion of ash resulting was correspondingly enlarged. Some allowance, therefore, should be made on this account, and to such as were probably most affected in this way an asterisk is affixed in the table to the percentage of ash given. The table is arranged in the order of the beds from the top down, and analyses from the same bed are connected by brackets.

48 PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OF LETCHER, HARLAN, LESLIE, AND OTHER COUNTIES. 49

cumeten Y atten! semen eatin eatin

Occasional outcroppings of iron ore have been found through-

b bab, : eee ee ae ae #¢ # out the area explored, frequently of excellent quality, existing oO 3) Q Q ° ° ° SoprNeer OL CORR oe. te Ao. g 2 as kidney, block and limestone ore. While generally free from his SH SG ON SS Bad ow we BSS ee eee i ( : Gg eer eeraarareseae bas sand and rich in iron, the deposits of the two first-named vari- Rao saV EA sSVO SHAVED &HO' GA SOF ° ° e ARDRARARHAARRHAAARAAD AAA eties do not appear to be persistent, and are in too small quan- y] oe Begyousee cseessse sen tities to merit especial attention. An exception may be made, ad haa ag Etat MOSSSSHSSSHSHSHSSS SSS however, for the ore on Turkey creek, Letcher county, shown . — - -- n in section 33, which bears too close a resemblance to the ''little Sosr*sessesesgessesses3s S3e j 3 . . : . MG Ais oS 3adduca Sa Ss 3 eS s 3 block"' ore of the Hanging Rock district to be passed unnoticed. 5 The same paucity is noted in respect to limestone ore until 4 e es e Ss e e r 7 SASEsssrsexsosoesx so8 within a few mile of Pine mountain, but th oughout, wherever Fixed Carbon . PSR AE ERNDASSAHR STS Aa found, it is particularly rich in lime, and sometimes it is accompanied by limestone. As Pine mountain is approached the de- 3 OoOeoooonovotowvowoossd +o Oo ° e e ° Volatile Cohan [So OSS oie O10 Sa ae posit of ore increases to a very considerable extent, being found tible Matter co ¢o sh do do cd co GO NGO CD aD OD OD OD HOD OD OU most abundant on the headwaters of Leatherwood and Greasy a . P Seeesorsovesorsyes eco i: creeks. As petit has been looked for only as a means of iden- Moisture... SSSNSOMNABSSSATHTAS ATH ' aE SO ae SAMOA OSAMA MOMMA Arid tification of other beds, but, from the surface indications already indie a nel iad bask Dheiua cae & OO eS Ce i seen, it is reasonable to suppose that a fair development will Specific Gravit NANGSSSGSABASSANDNAD BRS % . ka ot . 1 Pp Pils Goat telat ite ioe Er ee : prove it to be of prominent value. ee ee ee Limestone, so far as known, occurs throughout this region, cn a % Os ° ° ° ° e ° "Inches COSC POHFRSSTANO NHS BSH as in counties northeast of it, only of little thickness in small Coal—Inches. . : 2 areas in rather widely separated localities. It is believed, howeae; £.; £2 S- ee 8 leo} . . . e . e . e oe 3 ° e m ° a e ° SPREE ee ge Ree eee Re z ever, that in approaching Pine mountain a heavier and more — ae oe oo ie Si ee Ss Ms . . e . : e e ° e Waits 4 Ped ne ¢ pa § Pe : generally spread deposit may be found lying immediately below Maa) — ra) . ° ° . ° e Bees: Wetass ER ae git ees e the ore to which is given its name. Along Pine mountain the aD re Ce ey eae Pee a ae haa pe ge ee a ie at iw ° as ie " ; — 3 5 eet me 5 eo cen Pe Fe 1 heavy outcrop of sub-conglomerate limestone forming its cliffs, a fe as Spee. Mae ir Saeed are pea ye bee e ° eee ee ee. ee eS continues as the result of its upheaval and the fault there. oer eo ee a Ae ee Oe : aN ; Be go ——, ener Be # From this an unlimited supply of limestone may be drawn. Pi epee 2 oss te gg SS "dS 2 ' ' Ps ee sBa: en é 'OS 2 i638 me The bastard limestone boulders, common in the heavy shales One eae OS" - Ss. 8 (Os sk ry E Sa peed me d.Osse $03 OE of the lower coals above the conglomerate, are rarely met. In SS 2 PSROESO wl Ra POSH he Re AE Beer rap 5 PSSES gg ra much of the region these beds are below drainage, and, where A OQ Sp we - 82 tee, ; $ . . . "3 a rae bee Pete mt s As ee i appearing above it, the place of the shales is generally occupied Dang mood om : GerOg@wiag Op +) pron 5 : Ae eck oS Som x oe 2ga899 2 by sandstone. 'This is especially noticeable along the south side P3238 8 .— jaa) Ro a g 2 & a e ° ° 2 Be Re eed eS S Eb SAR Eo EAS of the Kentucky river in Letcher county, a locality in which Sake SO sESSS esl kw Se : ; ; Sos pe GOCE A058 SEs che we : only very thin beds of coal occur. A comparison of sections oo 42: aD fas] kh 5 6S 2 lanl e e,@e ° e E ; aie aca ee Be Pee wage Sr taken there and in other localities, does not show this so promi- SOORSS PS 2aks— Te om" es nently as does observation on the ground, where the character dddueid Se Poddsmcdden ae

of the surface and loose rocks exposed often gives reason for

50 Preliminary Report On The Geology

conclusions as to the kind of covered strata beneath, when their actual positions can not be accurately defined on the sections.

A thin and very durable layer of flinty limestone, noted at various points north of Hazard and on Lot'sand Troublesome creeks, is indicated in sections 48 and 49.

A remarkable deposit of flint, about 30 feet thick, lies on and near the top of Flint ridge, Breathitt county, a high dividing ridge between the tributaries of Troublesome and those of Quicksand creek on the north. From this bed fragments have been washed in great profusion down into the South Quicksand valley, and lie thickly strewn along the bed of the creek for several miles. Though of little economic value, the deposit is not without considerable geological interest, especially if it should prove to be of the same horizon as the black flint at the base of the '' Barren Measures"' of the Kanawha region of West Virginia, to which position it seems to be at least approximate. In color it varies from black through yellow to nearly white.

Approach to the high ridges separating the headwaters of Line fork, Greasy, Leatherwood and Cutshin creeks is rendered difficult by sandstone of a particularly hard and durable character, which, in many places, covers the ground so thickly with its detritus that wagon-roads have not yet been attempted over it, though probably soon to be made, and even bridle-paths are. barely passible. Search for coal among these rocks is tedious and unpromising, though an occasional exposure indicates its presence. Cliffs, so generally associated with such rugged surfaces, are inconspicuous, or altogether wanting, probably for the reason that the streams, being small, do not have power enough to carry off the larger fragments, not easily disintegrated, which are broken from the mass and accumulate and protect it. The smaller stones are washed down and cover the stream-beds for miles below. Where this peculiarity exists, the rock is easily recognized, not only by the roughness of the ground it pervades, but also by the almost impenetrable growth of laurel, which accompanies it, invariably, it may be said.

It seems to be a feature of the locality, extending through the greater part of the measures represented there, rather than belonging to any particular geological horizon. Beginning above the second coal on Greasy creek, near the bottom of the

. "Wied " el er Ps,

Of Letcher, Harlan, Leslie, And Other Counties. 61

series, and extending through nearly 300 feet of the measures on

that creek, it is continued on the other three streams named from a higher horizon to an additional height of several hundred feet.

Reference has been made in the preceding pages to the saltwell at the mouth of Leatherwood creek, Perry county. Another one at the mouth of Troublesome creek is mentioned by P. N. Moore in his '"' Report on the Geology of a Section from near Campton, Wolfe County, to the Mouth of Troublesome Creek, Breathitt County.'"' Neither of these wells were in operation in the summer of 1884, though the former was being re-opened at that time. No authentic information regarding them could be gathered at the wells, but it seems probable that the supply of salt obtained from them was unsatisfactory, and that they will be altogether abandoned when the present haul of about sixty miles is no longer necessary. These wells, and one on.Goose creek, near Manchester, Clay county, which now supply a large area, indicate the presence of extensive saline beds.

In conclusion, the writer wishes to call attention to the fact - that in the study of the coal measures, many supposed means of identification of beds, after closer investigation, are found to be illusive, and have to be abandoned. It still remains possible that further examinations may lead to a considerable alteration of his views regarding the continuity of the beds described. Especially may this be the case in the little explored extreme southern part of this region. But whatever changes in this respect may follow, the fact is established beyond dispute that there are large fields of coal throughout nearly the whole region, which are only awaiting means of transportation to become of great value.

Finally, he wishes to express his obligations, particularly to Judge EK. C. Strong, at the mouth of Lost creek, for his aid in the examination of the coal-beds in that vicinity, and to all others by whom he has been assisted.

Analyses made by Prof. Thomas Egleston, of the School of Mines, Columbia College, New York, from Samples Col-

Preliminary Report On The Geology

lected by Himself. Published by Permission.

Below are given the analyses of all these coals, from the samples taken, just as they were found on the day they were taken. Some of them are somewhat higher in ash than those given by the Survey, but they show generally remarkably well,

both as to ash and sulphur.

The following is a list of the places from which the samples

were taken:

Sample No. 1.

+6 ce 10. ee ie A

é ce 18.

¢¢ ¢é 14. ¢é ia 15.

$6 ¢é 16.

_P. Duff's Bank, at Compton.

2. Tyler's Bank, miles from Compton. es ¢é 3.

Bed of the stream, near W. Day. on Frozen Creek.

. Myer's tract, opposite Jackson.

5. Cannel Coal, Hargis Bank, mouth of Troublesome Creek. tng eran 3

Bituminous Coal, Hargis Bank, mouth of Troublesome Creek.

. Upper part of Wolfe's Creek Bed. . George's Bank, Cannel Coal. . Lower part of Wolfe's Oreek..

Williams' Bank, Leatherwood Fork of South Fork. J. Clemmons' Lower Bank, S. Fork of Quicksand, Cannel Coal. J. Clemmons' Upper Bank, S. Fork of Quicksand, Cannel Coal.

Limonite on J. Clemmons' Land. Combe's Bank, Main Quicksand, Rasp Cannel.

Spencer's Bank, lower Spencer tract, Kentucky River, six miles

below Jackson.

Hobbs' Bank, Elkhorn Coal, 43 miles from Compton.

ns S

: ¢.

ah

be 1% Q sok a

& be sil

Analyses Of The Coals.

Of Letcher, Harlan, Leslie, And Other Counties.

Soo A a ae SS CO. bees ae ; A 5 5 8 a he peti s. © pes co ine of} oO Ne) 5 re i Vox) nw re 3 co. 139 is NO . ti Pu lor) ) a 2. EOS a oR og 8 ja ee en eae ee ee 6 6 ss ° Yon) pat. , an eo?) [o.@) N m aes SWAN H HI/S BN EE ana wt © ele oom 2 S Yer) om & + 8 sH iS [e.2) S me . ee ee ee ae ae oe. ° 3 ' ° . . ° rd 2 N J 18Q ag a oe N a (om) Yen) . 123 2 8 21s en ee a oS Ye) oD sal +3 a te Ae 2 0 OB ° n e ° . ° io ° ° © S a =O. ae le oO Oo S oF ee ee Go. as BA Bee: S 4 abs Oo TM £8 e S : : s ss ¥ 2) Me ae ee eee a: 2" lon oO oO o s 3a 5 sabe Reem : ; a tS co or ore) aa Yen) 'S) s pis 5 — an. Seat. eee ee (Or Se EF & ® a Se aie e e . ° e fama! it~ Ww ie} me we) © o ie. [a 8s °/2 8 ° 38 on i) ae) . gia S$. 8 -E 7S be 6 os 1 © & 1S mo Oo 3S fea oo uf a ee MO o ee ese Se See é c . e o [as] aS 10 a: nomi) pac e348 es or aay 5 ear eS ee LS @ . enn e S " ° oO CO on

RS OE ee ae Be err - Ss . ° . ° — OS co fo) 6 Ce ee © oO & 2 OS we pa xO (ines A ea feria Yen) re e we) By 3 s . . e bed 10 oat ono) nN a tae Ra GR Yo : oO oo 8D S th O + c/a ' q9$68 8 @ & S Oo om ae . Ss " e e ' te oD ra ave mo 2&2 So 12 oe re Ps oD 2 Rae)

Secs Sse Zz - ae . . Bs ' o 2 Fe ' . © c : : ay a LT aml S 2 ~iet ft 7. ie i ae ae rm S fo) a nN o) 3 io) Ze PrP & Om 2

52a

Geological Survey Of Kentucky.

John R. Procter, Director.

Preliminary Report

On The '%

GEOLOGY OF THE LOWER NORTH FORK, MIDDLE AND SOUTH FORKS, KENTUCKY RIVER.

By J. M. Hodge, Assistant.

STEREOTYPED FOR THE SURVEY BY JOHN D. WOODS, PUBLIC PRINTER AND BINDER, FRANKFORT, KY.

Introductory Letter.

Pror. A. R. CRANDALL:

DEAR Srr: Herewith is transmitted to you my report on work done last year, covering a preliminary survey of what remained unexamined of the more important coal fields of the Three Forks of Kentucky river, with additional notes on parts of Wolfe, Breathitt, and Clay counties, where the work extended over territory touched in former explorations.

It is believed that enough work has now been done on these waters, excepting on Quicksand creek, to answer all present requirements, and to suffice until a final detailed survey becomes necessary. An exception should be made, also, in regard to the quality of the coal in its availability

for coking. Respectfully,

3. M, Hodge.

PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE LOWER NORTH FORK, MIDDLE AND SOUTH FORKS, KENTUCKY RIVER.

The work of which this report is a summary, consisted of an extension of the work reported upon last year, and embraced a preliminary survey of that part of the territory not included in those reports comprised in the water-shed of the North and Middle Forks, Kentucky river, down to Lee county (excepting the extreme eastern and western parts of Breathitt county), the western part of Wolfe county as far north as Red river, and the greater part of the South Fork, Kentucky river, water-shed above Owsley county.

Errors in the accompanying map of this region are due to the necessity of making it from inadequate data, much of which consisted of random notes taken in the saddle. Such additional material as could be found in the office of the Survey was also used, but it is remarkable that no map or notes of surveys could be procured which would aid in mapping Clay county, and none but a little detached work in Leslie county was available, excepting the maps of the whole State, on a small scale, and abounding in flagrant errors in their representation of this region.

Because of the lack of a satisfactory map, the one now presented is made to include a larger area, and is drawn in greater detail than is required for this report, in the hope that it may be useful for other purposes, until surveys are made from which may be drawn a correct map of this little known region.*

Leslie county has an area, roughly determined from this map, of 875 square miles; and of such roads as are passable for an ordinary freight wagon, there are barely 100 miles in the county, the travel being almost exclusively in the saddle or on foot. ;

58 Preliminary Report On Geology

A new arrangement of sections adopted is made possible:

by the certainty with which the lower splint bed is identified in most of them. This bed is, therefore, used as a base, and its elevation arbitrarily assumed at 500 feet in all of them. Where the location of this bed is not clearly ascertained

the position of the section, relatively to the others, must be

regarded only as suggestive of the probable place it should occupy, to be verified or proven in error when occasion requires. In the description following they are assumed to be in their right places.

The tracing of the beds having been carried down the North Fork, Kentucky river, to a connection with the lower

coals and conglomerate again, a satisfactory check upon this work is established, and a return is made in the report to the system of numbering in use in the north-eastern part of the State.

Although the numbers given to some of the individual coal.

exposures may be, and probably are, incorrect, the main fea-

tures are given with considerable more confidence than was.

felt in the report of last year, that work having been verified

to some extent by the later work, and additional confirmation.

of both being gained by a comparison of this region with that of the north-eastern field. The similarity existing between the two fields may be seen

most readily by comparison of sections of the latter with the

exhibit given on pages 98 and 99. The table given there is made up from the accompanying sections, and includes, with but few exceptions, all seams of coal shown in them, though where several seams appear to belong together in one bed, they have been so grouped at their average elevation.

A considerable irregularity will be noticed in the table, in

the distances apart of the different beds. In western Breathitt, Wolfe and Clay counties this is mostly due to an actual difference of thickness of intervening rocks, while many minor differences throughout the whole region are to be attributed to unknown inclinations of beds between points of observa-

tion in the same section, and to variations of barometer due:

to changes of weather, which frequently occurred without opportunity for discovering and correcting them.

Of Upper Kentucky River. 59

The table and sections probably do not give as favorable

an impression of the coal region as it is entitled to, inasmuch

as openings made in search of a bed are frequently abandoned on finding a single seam, when a more thorough search, for which time was not available, might have developed the main seam a few feet or even inches below the one found, and of much greater thickness. But so far as could be done this possibility was avoided.

The topography of a considerable part of the region to be described is determined by the position and character of the conglomerate rocks, and in part also by the composition of the rocks overlying them. About the head waters of the Middle Fork, Kentucky river, the hills are steep and high, and composed mostly of sandstone. Proceeding down Stream a gradual reduction in height is noticed—with some exceptions—but the predominance of sandstone continues to about the point where the conglomerate makes its first appearance, and there a somewhat abrupt change of the greater part of the rock from sandstone to shale occurs, the hills

are more rapidly reduced in height, and are more rounded

in form. On the North Fork this change to shale is very marked,

and its line seems to lie close along the dividing ridge between

Frozen and Holly creeks on the west, and Frozen creek and Red river tributaries on the north. Southwesterly the line

can be followed from the shape of the hills across Breathitt

county, and the corner of Owsley into Clay county, crossing Bullskin creek near its mouth; thence up Red Bird and Hector creeks, and to the Forks of Goose creek.

A rapid thinning of the measures accompanies the change in Breathitt and Wolfe counties, and where this is fairly accomplished the height of the hills on the conglomerate varies but little from one hundred and fifty feet. But down below the base of these hills the streams have cut their way in narrow, winding gorges through the conglomerate and strata below, sometimes to a depth of two hundred feet.

Most of the conglomerate of Clay county being easily disintegrated, these gorges are rarely found there, the slope

60 Preliminary Report On Geology

being continuous with that above. But occasionally a more stubborn rock gives more or less of the cafion characteristic. Manchester, the county seat, is built on such rock, a part of it reaching a height above the creek of one hundred feet; but even there the slopes admit of streets upon them. Below the mouth of Little Goose creek it forms a cliff, ''The Lovers' Leap,'' some seventy feet high, and at intervals on Little Goose creek and on Island and Laurel creeks lesser cliffs have been formed of the same rock.

The dip of the strata continues down the North Fork from Letcher county, slightly exceeding the fall of the stream, to a point near Fish-trap branch, where the ''Elkhorn"' coal is probably fifty feet below the river. But this refers only to the general inclination, for everywhere the strata lie irregularly in undulations of varied length and height. From Fishtrap branch on down the river a series of such waves are found, giving the strata an average slope, just about equal to that of the river bed, until the mouth of Stray branch is reached, two miles above Jackson, Breathitt county, where the "Elkhorn" coal is at the river level. From this point a continuous rise is observed, which, at the mouth of Bloody creek, Wolfe county, throws the same coal about three hundred feet above the river level. On either side of the North Fork the strata rise, as usual, towards the heads of the tributary streams.

The Middle Fork and its branches, as far down as the Leslie and Perry county line, follow synclinal axes in the same manner, but below that line the main dip of the strata is across the direction of the river and towards the North Fork. Its rate is undetermined, but a comparison of the sections on the two streams will give its approximate amount, as they differ little in their level at opposite points. On the South Fork such an additional rise has taken place as to bring the conglomerate to the surface through its whole length, probably. From the mouth of Red Bird, up Goose creek to Manchester, the rise is slight; thence to the forks of the creek a more rapid fall sinks the conglomerate below drainage, and from the forks south the rocks lie very nearly level.

The table of comparative elevations shows that there are

Of Upper Kentucky River. 61

in the region covered by it no less than sixteen coal beds, to which should be added one other to obtain the full number above the conglomerate. Of these beds, fourteen are of workable thickness, and one other, Coal 40, will probably be found in pockets suitable for working when more thorough search is made. It is the bed described previously as below the upper splint bed, having some fine exposures on Troublesome creek, Perry county.

Of these seventeen beds eight are in part cannel coal, and openings have been made where the coal is thick enough

for profitable working in all of these when suitable means

of transportation are provided. But two tests of the coal for its coking properties are known to have been made, and from them it is probable that two beds, at least, will furnish excellent coke. While it is quite possible that other beds may be worked for the same purpose, the greater part of the coal is not suitable

for at.

Roughly speaking, the proportion of splint coal appears to grow less as the distance north and west from Pine mountain is increased, and also to diminish as the vertical distance from Coal 4, the lower splint bed, increases.

The additional number of beds over those reported a year ago is due mainly to a greater vertical range of rocks having been observed, and in part to the discovery of thick deposits of coal in beds previously seen in thin seams only, and not included in the former enumeration.

Where work of the two years joined, or overlapped, the later work has been confirmatory of the conclusions reached from the earlier, excepting that at the heads of Greasy and Leatherwood creeks, it is now believed, a less inclination and increase of thickness of strata obtains than was at first supposed, throwing the beds higher up in the stratigraphical scale. This will be referred to again in detail.

The accompanying sections have been numbered and arranged in order, as well as possible, to show continuously with last year's work, those farthest up stream coming first. For greater convenience in the description of the beds, an order somewhat the reverse will be adopted.

62 Preliminary Report On Geology

Coal 1.

This bed in Wolfe and Breathitt counties lies about ten feet above the conglomerate, as estimated by the writer, though put at twenty to fifty feet above it by Mr. P. N. Moore in his report, Part vi, vol. iv., p. 14.* The coal shows a nearly uniform thickness, where found at all, varying between two and three feet. The latter thickness is at its extreme southwestern exposure, on the land of J. §. Hobbs, in a roll where it may be abnormally developed. Owing to the uniform character of the rocks over the conglomerate west of this point, and consequent easy slopes of the hills, its stain is rarely visible, and no other opening in it has been made in this part of the county.

It is reported that the Bear Pen coal, a part of this bed two miles south-west of Campton, was tested for coke, and, in confirmation of the opinion expressed in his report by Mr. Moore, excellent results are said to have been obtained. While there is no reason for doubting this, it is much to be regretted that time was not available for making a test, the results of which could be carefully and authoritatively specified.

The bed has been worked in various places about Campton, and also on Holly creek, where it is known as the Branch "' coal, from the fact that it appears in the beds of many of the small branches there. On main Holly creek it remains above the stream nearly to Mrs. Hollon's, some five miles from the mouth of the creek.

On Frozen creek it is exposed at several places on Mrs. Day's and the neighboring farms. Its stain is seen by the road on Little Frozen creek, and across the hill on the head

of Cedar creek, and again at the mouth of Shockey Fork—in

all these places with a thickness varying little from thirty inches.

Rising nearly with the main Frozen creek valley it should —

be found as far up as the mouth of Cope's fork, but above that it is believed to be cut off by a mound of conglomerate SE SRE Ray ae eu

*This difference is attributed to an unequal allowance for pitch of the top of

the conglomerate, or, perhaps, to a variance in opinion as to what is its top—a question often difficult to answer in this locality.

pecs SE ee aes ree:

°g

Of Upper Kentucky River. : 63

deposited above the level of the coal bed at the time of its formation. On Cope's fork no such irregularity appears, but the bed goes below drainage near its mouth.

The rapid pitch of the strata up the river from the mouth of Frozen creek quickly carries the bed into the river. It is probably this bed which shows in the bank opposite Wm. Spencer's house, with only eight inches of coal and three inches parting, though possibly this should be referred to a thin seam above the main bed.

It has not been found elsewhere on the south side of the North Fork, and on the Middle Fork its only known exposure where it can be measured, at Isaac Terry's, on Turkey creek, gives but sixteen inches. Little search for it was made on the Middle Fork, as it is doubtless everywhere thin. It goes under the river somewhere near the mouth of Buck branch.

In Clay county the distance of the bed above the conglomerate is uncertain for want of any distinguishing feature in the top of that rock (the word conglomerate being applied to the formation and not to the constituents of the rock). About Manchester the formation is clearly evident, and at Gen. Garrard's mine the coal appears to lie directly on it, though some few feet of the sandstone underneath may be intervening rock. At the mouth of Bullskin creek the coal shows above forty feet of sandy shale, such as that of the western part of the county, which may, perhaps, be considered as a part of the conglomerate formation. On Laurel creek it is found close above the sandstone, and again, a mile away, with one hundred feet of shale below it.

The bed has been opened in many places in the county, with a somewhat better showing, generally, than in Wolfe and Breathitt counties.

At Mr. Davidson's, three and one-half miles up Bullskin creek, and about thirty feet above it, the coal is thirty-nine inches thick (see Plate xv111); at the mouth of Little Bullskin creek, close to its bed, twenty-four inches without parting; and on both sides of the South Fork at the old salt works, Ammie P. O., about three feet, also without parting.

On Beech creek near its mouth it has been opened nearly

64. . Preliminary Report On Geology

three feet thick, but the coal was covered when visited, so that it could not be measured. Rising quite rapidly up Laurel creek, at J. L. Hornsby's, one mile up, it reaches its greatest known thickness of forty-five inches; and a mile farther up it is reduced to thirty inches. In other openings, beyond, the coal is said to be thicker again.

Several openings have been made in the bed in the close vicinity of Manchester, but they have been abandoned for thicker coal at a greater distance. At D. W. Roberts' opening, a mile up Horse creek, it is thirty-eight inches thick, and at the mine of Gen. Garrard, on the east side of Goose creek, thirty-one inches thick at the face, where a sample was obtained of which an analysis is given on page 97. Another mine of Gen. Garrard's, on the west side of the creek, is stated by Mr. C. J. Norwood, State Inspector of Mines, to: vary in thickness of coal ''from twelve to forty-two inches, with an average of thirty-two inches.'? This mine has been worked more extensively than any other above the Beattyville mines on either fork of the river. It is the only mine in Eastern Kentucky in which trouble from fire-damp has. been experienced, and the evil there does not appear to have been great.

Above the forks of Goose creek the bed is below the drain- 'age. On Hector creek the bed shows by the roadside in several places, increasing from six inches, some four miles up, to fifteen inches near the mouth; and near the mouth of Flat creek it shows about two feet of coal in the bed of Red Bird creek.

For a considerable part of Clay county this bed is the only one of value, and, though nowhere remarkably thick,

it seems to run with sufficient uniformity to make a large

area susceptible to profitable working.

It will be seen that the bed is below the drainage in the

greater part of the region under discussion.

Coal la.

This bed has been noted at various points in Wolfe

county as a cannel coal about four inches thick and thirty feet above Coal 1, in a heavy shale bank containing also

Of Upper Kentucky River. 65

many seams of small calcareous concretions. (At Wm. Bur. ton's, on Upper Devil creek, eleven such seams were counted, none more than four or five inches thick.) Where the coal is thin it is a pure cannel; but it sometimes thickens to a large extent with such an increase of impurities that it remains worthless. Its most remarkable development is at B. T. Spencer's, four miles west of Campton, where it has been opened as cannel coal, but is nothing more than black slate three or four feet thick. Several attempts to work and burn it have been made near Campton, but all were unsuccessful. The bed is a convenience for determining the horizon of others in the county, but is without intrinsic value there.

In Breathitt county, on the North Fork, the bed seems to be wanting, and on the Middle Fork waters it has been recognized in but one place, at Isaac Terry's, Turkey creek, forty-five feet above the exposure of Coal 1, and it has there six inches of cannel coal on fourteen inches bituminous.

In Clay county the bed is generally thin or altogether absent. In sections 98, 99, and 100 it appears, the second bed from the bottom, the opening on Beech creek being the only one of especial note as a workable coal; it is shown in detail on Plate xvi. It will be seen from its analysis given in the table, page 97, that the cannel coal here has an excessive

'proportion of ash. This results from including a little too

great a thickness in the sample taken (and in the measurement of the cannel), the coal changing by hardly perceptible degrees from a good cannel to an unquestionable black slate. A few inches less of the dubious part taken would have given an analysis suitable for a good marketable coal.

Coal 2.

This bed, well known as a valuable cannel bed in more northern counties, has not been found as such on either fork of the Kentucky river. In Wolfe county it is a thin bed lying about sixty feet above Coal 1, generally in a heavy yellow shale.

At Samuel Napier's, a mile above Campton, it is twenty

inches thick; at Wm. Burton's it has twenty-four inches of GEOL. SUR.—5.

66 Preliminary Report On Geology

coal with two partings. This appears to be its maximum thickness in the county, and also in Breathitt county on the North Fork waters. It must go below the river near Jackson, but is above Quicksand creek from John Roark's to Hunting creek, probably.

On the Middle Fork it first assumes importance on Long's creek, near the mouth of which it has been opened about at high water-mark. Here it measures thirty-one inches of coal with a parting of four inches, identical with an exposure a half mile up Squabble creek, Perry county, excepting that the parting is there reduced to one inch.

A remarkably fine wagon-load of coal from an opening of Wm. Blanton's, one and one-half miles up Long's creek, supposed to be in the same bed, was seen by the writer, and a specimen obtained from it for the Frankfort cabinet. The coal is reported thirty-six inches thick, with six inches of parting additional, and its unusually fine appearance warranted an examination, but the opportunity was not afforded.

On Guy's creek, a mile from its mouth, the bed is exposed with but twenty-one inches of coal and two inches parting, ~underlaid by shale with small calcareous concretions. A covering of about eight feet of black slate extends over the bed from Long's creek to Rush creek. On the latter stream the coal has been worked a little, with a thickness of forty-

four inches (Plate xv1), its handsome appearance probably:

more than compensating for the unusually large amount of sulphur in the upper seam, which its analysis, page 97, discloses.

On the river, a quarter of a mile above Elkhorn creek, it is

opened thirty-five inches thick, at a height of seventy feet —

above the river, and at the mouth of Grassy branch its place is about at the river level. It is reported that coal has been taken from a thick bed in the river below Wilder branch.

Beyond this point it is well beneath the river to above Hyden, appearing again at Bowling's mill, with thirty-two inches of coal and two thin partings, and dropping finally beneath the river there.

In Clay county the distance of the bed from Coal 1 is increased to one hundred or one hundred and_ twenty-

Of Upper Kentucky River. 67

five feet. It appears at its best at the mine of Mrs. §S. A. White's, on the Left Fork, Goose creek, where the coal was used quite extensively for evaporating brine. Near the mouth of the mine the coal measures forty inches, as shown in Plate xv1II; its analysis is given in the table, page 97.

An entry has been driven in the bed at Mr. Woods', a mile below the mouth of Martin's creek, with but about two feet of coal, and about the same amount is developed by several openings on Otter creek, near its mouth. Above this creek the bed soon goes below drainage.

On the right, or Collin's fork, Goose creek, it remains above drainage to near the head of the stream. It is the lowest coal of sections 103 and 104. At James Adams', a half mile below L. A. Byron's, it is thirty-three inches thick, exclusive of a parting of nine inches; and an opening at Isaac Swafford's, near the head of Buzzard creek, supposed to be in the same bed, has thirty-six inches of coal without parting.

In the sections 98, 99 and 100 the bed is shown with twenty-seven to twelve inches of coal, and nowhere in the northeastern part of the county has it been found any thicker.

Without any definite guide in the matter, but from a general impression derived from passing through the western part of the county, it is presumed that the twenty-seven inches of coal at Wm. Wyatt's, near his house, on the Little Goose creek road, is in Coal 2. This bed is opened also on the head of Hogskin branch of a left fork of Sexton's creek, twenty-one inches thick ; and probably also the same at Mrs. Reid's, at the head of Sexton's creek, thirty-one inches of coal.

Coal 3.

From the work that has now been done it is pretty well established that this bed is identical with the '' Elkhorn'"' coal of the Pound Gap region.

In the south-western part of Wolfe county it lies about one hundred and fifty feet above the conglomerate, a distance increased to one hundred and eighty to two hundred feet at the mouth of Frozen creek, Breathitt county.

So far as his investigations carried him, Mr. Moore has accurately described the bed in his '' Report on the Geology

68 Preliminary Report On Geology

of a Section from near Campton, Wolfe County, to the Mouth of Troublesome Creek, Breathitt County,'' previously referred

to, along which section it is a most valuable bed, as its many

openings fully attest.

Some additional openings were made in Wolfe county for determining the extent of the thick ''Hobbs"' coal at the head of Upper Devil creek, and a test of the coking properties of that coal was made. The whole bed at the face of

the ''Hobbs'"' entry, some thirty feet under ground, was measured as follows:

REE moras On lal gies te a ins Sek ae ee et eee eee 24// CBE toe ray ae Dae Ch ea ee Eh See abel Re eters eget Vb ee wee Se Ferenc a ees hgh nL SORTE ines Dated Coe genes op aeieg ae cee OMIT Eh hts RCN OE af RE asta te Be ey Soha ne ete Gk che Ae oe be PrN ace te eet, Og PE A" tee Fg ea ee et 1 ed MUON MN tg te ar od ee eh ta yee ee ene Petes bed oer MEDrOmhMleIy)-§. Sis. eel ei ae § bid

The lowest seam was measured in water, and was not included in the coking test, because of the difficulty of obtaining coal from it. The whole face had been submerged

for a long time, and several days' work was required in order to obtain access to it.

The following analyses by Dr. Peter give the composition

of the coal and of the coke made from it:

CoAL. CoKE. A. B a b. b' MURA EGS oop, ee ee, hig ate 4.70 3.40 4.00 3 90 2.96 Volatile combustible matter... . . 33 56 37.50 1.00 0 50 1.44 SISO CAPO. 25S es SSS 59.14 55.70 89 20 90.00 91.00 PIN Sp og sp ee ee eae 2.60 3.40 5.80 5.60 4.60 BNET peed oes Pt AL es 0.574 0.895 0.505 0.576 0.503

Columns 'A'? and ''B"' are from average samples of the upper seam of twenty-four inches and middle portion of nineteen inches respectively. Columns 'a,' *'d," and 'b'" are from selected specimens of the best coke obtained from the same respective divisions of the bed, the latter being

Of Upper Kentucky River. 69

from a portion of the splint coal which had not become

thoroughly incorporated with the rest of the coke.

The coal is distinguished by a very low percentage of ash, and in the samples analyzed above, it shows rather less sulphur than was obtained from Mr. Moore's sample (see page 18 of his report), due, perhaps, to the long exposure of the later coal to water at the head of the entry. In appearance the coal varies little from the handsome specimens which may be obtained from the ordinary run of openings on the North and Middle Forks, Kentucky river, where the splint and common bituminous coals are interleaved, as is the case at this opening.

The process of coking was carried on in two hive-shaped stone ovens, built with an inside diameter of three feet, and

height of about two and a half feet. A door was made at

the bottom, by which the draft could be regulated, and an opening about eight inches square was left at the top. Ordinary clay mud was used for binding the stones together and closing all chinks, and when the ovens were finished earth

was heaped about them, excepting at the door-way, half way

to their tops.

They were then filled with coal from the two parts of the bed, kept separate, and the coal was burned for forty-eight and fifty-two hours. The result would have been more and probably wholly satisfactory had not inexperience led, through fear of overburning, to cutting off the draft soon after the fire was started. Nevertheless, in the centers of the masses of partly burned and somewhat smoked coke was found some that was sound and good, had a slightly metallic ring, and was fairly strong. Compared with the ''Elkhorn"' coke, as given by Professor Crandall in his '' Report on the Pound Gap Region," page 21, this coke has rather the advantage in the matter of ash and of sulphur, and falls but little behind in fixed carbon.

The analysis ''0','' from splint coal, goes to show that such coal makes a higher grade of coke, as far as its constituents determine it, than the common coking coal, but it has not sufficient tendency to agglutinate to make a satisfactory coke. Probably a judicious mixture of the two classes of coal would be most advantageous.

70 Preliminary Report On Geology

The promise of a large amount of coal held out by the ''Hobbs"' opening is not realized, as far as area of thick coal in that locality is concerned. Though a considerable amount may be won from the hill in which the main opening is made, no other such exhibit has been found. In an opening on the other side of the gap, less than a quarter mile away, the bed has the following section :

AONE es 8S ae Ca pial ke ae oe ee eas Cee eee SE aa id ROMA briulg © Pad Os 5 th ba gy Se ee ah haus pike ee 2/7 RE cnc ee Ae Se ete i oo Poeaa) OF whe eee 2// eee Oe hee Re Be 5 i ere tan ee Bree a ae 8/' Ne ae a tka Stee te BAG eat ere he yee ay eee in"

Towards Campton it does not diminish as rapidly. At Wm. Tyler's, about a mile in that direction, its section is:

MORN a he, Ue Lic gt ee ays Oe ae A TR GR Eee ve Cements. etwas! + ose aes ee) Face Gea eee 137 JE RRA iP Dee ae Oe NOR RG, Dae AOR, Be ey 1 hes NN bat E pet kite ols aegis on eee a aN fae, & ete bh Rr MSS oa 8 hg oe ae eh ng OT EE RE Ae oe ee oe Mite Bore rare ete ae eee Skee ee ae Rs EE op Be ead ow ge wicaa eae aig mar ed a eee SE i

It has been opened again on the same branch, above Tyler's house; but the opening was abandoned, and no other opening has been made in that direction. At A. M. Swango's, Stillwater creek, it shows a good stain, not opened.

Directly over the hill from the '' Hobbs"' opening, towards Holly creek, the bed appears to be cut out by sandstone, all excepting one seam six to eighteen inches thick. Near Poplar Gap, Upper Devil creek, on the land of J. M. Cockerham, it was opened with a section measuring

hs). Doe Tae hie? Ge ee RE RD Oar Ue Bes REI he ae Sar ae res o" BSBA. 3s tate g a Dick soe fee a ek ee ee 4/? RM sa sees, Be en Fades 6s 0 ca ee OR ee aig ROR a ate Sai ee a A ae Y fa RA eg a he he eR oo Wh es eR eee

with five inches of coal about ten feet above it. Various openings were made on the head of Hunting Fork, Holly creek, in search of it, but all were in thin coal which was not fully identified. At Jonathan Elkins', on Hunting Fork, the coal is probably eighteen inches thick. (Section 88.)

Of Upper Kentucky River. V1

Of the many openings along the river from Bloody creek to Jackson, where the bed is known as the "River Hill"' coal, all are now abandoned, pending improved means of transportation. From the report of Mr. Moore and information gathered on the ground, they run generally with from two and one-half to three and one-half feet of coal and a parting of from two to twelve inches. A new opening made in the course of this investigation at Mrs. Day's, near the mouth of Frozen creek, gave thirty-six inches of coal without parting.

But the impression first received from visiting these openings of a continuous body of thick coal is erroneous. In this bed, as in all others of the whole region covered by this report, and by that of last year under the same hand, no predictions can be made with any degree of certainty on the thickness of coal at any particular locality. But irregular as. the deposits are, the sum of the areas of thick coal developed is enormous, beyond present calculation, and sufficient to warrant and repay large outlays carefully directed, but likely to lead to loss if full investigation follows, instead of precedes, the construction of extensive works.

Further, it should be remarked, that, in general, it has not been considered within the scope of this investigation to determine the bounds of thick coal in any particular locality, but rather to obtain a comprehensive view of a large area, and at the same time record all details as should come within the range of observation.

In the bed under discussion, an example of the uncertainty noted above is seen at A. C. Bowman's, on the river, two miles below Jackson. Here, on the south side of the river, an entry was driven a considerable distance into the hill before working coal was found; only the knowledge of its presence on the opposite side of the hill leading to persistent work. On the north side of the river the coal is exposed in a number of thin, irregular seams, in one of which a part of it is excellent cannel coal.

Above and below, on the river, the coal lies thick, while on either side, beyond those mentioned, such exposures as. have been found are thin, or the bed is broken up into several widely separated seams.

72 Preliminary Report On Geology

Such is its condition on Big Pan Bowl branch, as shown by the lowest three seams of section 82, the Bowman cannel coal being there diminished to two inches; and a like separation exists where the bed has been found on the upper part of Frozen creek, though an approach of the seams is discovered on its main head. By J. R. Wilson's house two of them are ten feet apart, the lowest ones of section 86, and a mile above but three feet apart, and twenty-seven and seventeen inches thick without any parting. A mile further up the creek they are separated twelve feet, the upper seam with twenty-nine inches of coal having partings of two and twelve inches, the lower seam with the same thickness of coal and a parting one-half inch thick.

At G. W. Johnson's, Stillwater Fork, but one seam was found, twenty-seven inches thick.

About a mile up either fork of Cane creek, near the level of the streams, exposures of the bed exhibit the same variation, with a total thickness of twenty-one and thirty inches. On Stray branch the separation shown in the cliff at its mouth increases until the seams disappear beneath the creek.

On Quicksand creek, a half mile from its mouth, the bed, uncovered at low water, has twenty-five inches of coal and three thin partings; at John Roark's, three miles up the creek and eighty feet above it, the thickest seam has nineteen inches of coal (see section 81); from outcroppings on the creek, as far up as Hunting creek, no working coal is apparent.

From Quicksand creek to Troublesome the bed rises and falls along the bed of the river, and furnished without mining a considerable supply for local consumption; but it will not admit of extensive working there. Nor does it show to advantage in the region above up to Carr's Fork, Perry county, as developed in the report of last year, and further shown by its exposure in thin seams along the river between George's branch and Lot's creek. . (See also the lowest coals of sections 80 and 79.)

On the waters of Middle Fork it is first recognized on Puncheon Camp creek, three miles from its mouth, one seam a foot thick. At Granville Spicer's, below Canoe Fork, are

i)

+a hoe Bes, 4 ie ae

fe

s

Of Upper Kentucky River. 73

two seams, ten feet apart, with thirty-four inches of coal (section 76), and on Canoe Fork it shows about the same. So far as known to the writer, no exposure of the bed has been seen anywhere between Canoe Fork and Grassy branch, Perry county. It is quite possible that it may yet be found of good thickness, but the interest existent in that neighborhood when coal was marketed from there, quite as likely would have led to its discovery.

On Grassy branch and on Hell-for-Certain and Bull creeks, Leslie county, it is thin and broken up; but at the Asher entry, two miles below Hyden, it is massed almost into one seam with fifty-three inches of coal. (Plate xviiI.) Several openings have been made about Hyden and the coal found about three feet thick, the upper. one of them, on Hurst branch, measuring:

Cae i i atas RE e ea ts Be pra 2777 ee Oe eine OP a cee Beer Beare te giver eRe ree i hare ky so las ES ia NOE os Se tig er Mn EY Bee nN So me tole a 8/7

At John Bowling's the bed has but twenty-three inches of coal divided by four partings, but at Hughes Morgan's, or Saltwell branch, it reaches a thickness of fifty-nine inches of coal. (See Plate xvi and section 69, Plate xx11.)

The fifteen inches of coal at the bottom of section 68 is supposed to represent an upper seam of the bed, going underneath the Middle Fork near the mouth of White Oak branch. On Beech Fork it is probably not less than eighty feet below drainage, at the mouth of Oldhouse branch, but it rises again further up, to sink below finally about at the Harlan county line, with a thickness of but eighteen inches in the seam showing there.

Three miles up from its mouth, at Elias Howard's, on Greasy creek, the bed shows but thirty-one inches of coal, thirty feet above the level of the creek; at the mouth of Honey branch it is about sixty feet below drainage, and it probably continues at about that depth up to the mouth of Lewis branch, though at the mouth of Abner's branch it is

thirty-five feet above the creek. It is the lowest coal of sec-

tion 42 of last year's report, in which it is wrongly referred toa lower bed. Excepting this error, and also that the Coal

74. Preliminary Report On Geology

3a, now distinguished as a separate bed, is there sometimes. included as an upper seam of the lower bed, the description

of the ''Elkhorn"' coal, now determined to be Coal 3, is believed to be correct, and should be consulted for the region east of that now described.

In Clay county only a few openings have been made which can be referred to this bed, which here lies about two hundred and fifty feet above Coal 1. Sections 98 and 99, on Bullskin and Hector creeks, show a seam with seventeen and sixteen inches of coal. On Upper Double creek (section 96) there is but twelve inches. The bed shows at its best in the county at J. T. Smith's, Tom's branch, Red Bird creek, with thirty-five inches of coal; the lower five inches cannel coal. (See Plate xvii, and section 102, Plate xxx, and for analyses page 97.)

On Oollins' Fork, and perhaps for all the western part of the county, the distance of the bed from Coal 1 is probably somewhat less than given above. At L. A. Byron's (section 103) it has about three feet of coal cut up by partings. At Mrs. Hopper's, in Knox county (section 104), but twentytwo inches without parting, increased to twenty-six inches of very slaty cannel coal a quarter mile up Bull creek. At T. Jones', two miles up the same stream, the bed has the following section:

Cannel coal, inclined to splint... 40. LS PO OMAPOIUN OIE 5 iat eo oe Bek a bat es 1" to 4"

oie, cee aah de alee 3" to 0" pS AE a Rear ee V7 Coal 3a. This bed varies in distance from Coal 3 from thirty-five

feet on Hunting Fork, Holly creek, where alone it has been —

identified in Wolfe county, to one hundred and twenty feet on Collins' Fork, Goose creek, Clay county. Its usual distance is about sixty feet.

It is ordinarily a thin coal without value, but it has one pocket, at least, of excellent cannel coal, lying about eighty feet above Quicksand creek opposite and below John Roark's. Numerous openings have been made in this deposit, and considerable coal taken from it, but now they are all abandoned

Of Upper Kentucky River. 75

and generally covered up. At one of them the following

measurements were obtained : Wiis Coal. sw ea ee ee Le, Be 13/7 etre ete oer 6 a Peale bar ee ae ee eee, ees 18/7

a thickness somewhat less than has been given in other reports. It is stated that unsuccessful search for working coal has been made in the neighboring hills, and that the old workings are nearly exhausted.

The bed is identified back of John Roark's as the eleven inches of coal of section 81, and opposite Jackson (section 83) it is in two thin seams. ee

For other points in Breathitt, Perry and Leslie counties, it is sufficient to refer to the table of elevations, pages 98 and 99, as the bed is uniformly thin, excepting where split up into many seams as shown in section 70, the third bed from the bottom, and in the lowest bed of section 93; and also as found at Henry Chappell's, a quarter mile up Elk branch, Greasy creek, where thirty-seven inches of coal has four partings. It should be noted also that it occurs again as cannel coal at the mouth of White Oak branch, Middle Fork, Leslie county, and that where indicated as lying close to the bed above it, it might be, perhaps, correctly included as a lower seam of the upper bed, instead of assuming it to constitute a bed in itself. :

In Clay county its presence is shown in various sections ; but with a thickness rarely exceeding eight inches, it is only necessary for present purposes that the fact be stated.

Coal 4.

This bed, from previous investigation determined to be the chief one of a considerable part of the drainage area of the North and Middle Forks, continues to hold this distinction over much of the region now under consideration. Heretofore it has been designated on the above streams as the 'lower splint'? bed, and as Coal 4 it is most widely known as the Hunnewell cannel of Greenup county. In many other localities in North-eastern Kentucky the bed carries cannel coal, and though the same is not infrequently present in it in this newly explored region, it retains, throughout, its general character as a splint coal bed.

76 Preliminary Report On Geology

In Leslie county the bed is generally divided and strongly marked by a parting of non-plastic fire-clay from one inch to eight inches thick, a peculiarity extending into some of the adjoining counties, and even through Perry into Letcher county, and rendering the identification of the bed particularly easy and sure.

On account of this, and because it is rarely wanting in the sections made, this bed is taken as a base in grouping the sections in the plates, the scale of each plate of sections being placed to indicate this bed at an elevation of five hundred feet.

The bed in Wolfe county lies fifty to eighty feet above Coal 3, too high to be found in most of the hills south-west of Campton. At A. M. Swango's, on Stillwater creek, it is an excellent coal without parting and thirty-four inches thick. At Jonathan Elkins', on Hunting Fork, Holly creek, it has been opened in front of his house with about six feet of coal and shale, measuring in its upper part:

Me gee ed Be a he ees 6' IRE Bre aS re a ag ea OS Se EES BE Res Sa MN ea PER eee ir Sine caer a oe eee yd RN pce ied 5 pata ees, Cah ie AEE RN OR Se le 3// 7 DS SRY aD pe Ea ne tele meer Sepa eee Cas Ni 5/7 RS os ee le a eee eee ee ae ab eas 15"

The lower part is said to have one thin parting and two good seams of coal, but it was covered so that it could not be measured. Below and back of his house two abandoned openings are reported as having twenty-seven and thirty-six inches of coal and a parting about two inches thick.*

Other exposures in the southern and western parts of the county, which have been identified, show the bed only with thin coal. It is found as cannel coal, seven inches thick, at

The measurements of coals of section 88 are given as reported by Mr. Elkins, who has done considerable towards developing the coals in his neighborhood. He is confident that the above openings are in the River Hill" or No. 3 Coal bed, on account of the resemblance of the coals, and because of their thickness and partings being similar to those of openings of the latter along the river. The writer's conclusions are based on the distance of the bed above the conglomerate (determined by the four inches of cannel, Coal la), on its distance from the outcrop near the top of the hill, which can hardly fail of being Coal 5, and on the number of intermediate beds.

Of Upper Kentucky River. 17

the head of Red river on the Hunting creek road, and reports of other cannel outcrops between that and Campton are referred to this and the two beds next above.

On Frozen creek, Breathitt county, it is uniformly thin, and sometimes separated into several seams, only the twenty inches of good cannel coal at James Cope's, on Davis' branch, giving promise of a workable bed. On Cane creek, a mile from the Markham: Branch Gap, it has twenty-one inches of coal and nine inches of shale in two partings. Near the head of Stray branch it is a splint and semi-cannel bed sixteen inches thick. Near the mouth of Markham branch it is opened under the name of ''Coal Harbor"' coal, thirtyfive inches thick, with a parting of one inch.

Two miles above Markham branch the bed has increased to six or seven feet, in an old opening where it could not be measured, and from that point for two or three miles farther, on the north side of the river, it appears to hold to a thickness of thirty to thirty-six inches with some regularity. On the south side of the river it has been found only in thin seams, between Markham's and George's branches. On George's branch is the cannel coal (Plate xv) described in the report preceding this, now established almost with certainty as belonging to this bed.*

The numerous entries along the branch, and absence of any on adjacent branches, is indicative of a closely limited pocket of thick coal. An abundant outcrop of cannel coal is found, however, on the head of Lick branch nearest George's branch, and on Wolfe creek another enlargement of the bed has occurred. This is seen at openings about a mile from the river, where the coal reaches a thickness of eighty-eight inches without parting, the lowest twenty-seven inches closely resembling the curly cannel coal of the Haddix mines in a higher bed. An analysis of the whole thickness is given in the table, page 97. Such unusual thickness in this bed cannot be expected to hold through any great distance, and a considerable reduction is reported on either side of this

*The somewhat singular statement is made of this coal, that all that is mined from the east side of the branch is so explosive that it can be marketed only with

some difficulty, and at a lower price than that taken from the west side, which burns quietly and without flying from the grate.

18 Preliminary Report On Geology

main opening within one hundred yards. It is scarcely possible, however, that an ample quantity for working should not be found.

Continuing up the North Fork no further knowledge of this bed is obtained until Caney creek is reached, near the mouth of which, at John Deacon's, was discovered forty-two inches of coal, the lowest nine inches being cannel coal (Plate xv), and this is probably not the full thickness of the bed, as the opening was made in the point of a hill down which the coal pitched and had wasted to some extent. Analyses of the two seams of the bed are given in the table.

Crossing the hill from Caney creek to the river above, the coal is found again at Cardwell's, probably somewhat under three feet thick, and again a mile up Grapevine creek, Perry county, at John Spencer's, where it is said to be three feet thick ; but it was so covered that but twenty inches of coal could be seen. On Thomas Johnson's land, two miles up Ebersole branch, the bed is first found to -contain the fireclay parting previously alluded to, and having here a thickness of but one inch. The fifty-seven inches of coal opened, of which twenty inches is splint coal, is represented in Plate XVI, and its analysis is given in the table of analyses. A half mile down the branch it is opened fifty-five inches thick. Its development on this stream, taken in connection with that on Guy's creek, yet to be described, augurs exceedingly well for this locality.

As shown by its exposure a half mile up Henson' s branch, the bed has changed its character very much in that distance, its section there being as follows:

i. Cae ete, PRE ae 2 BPO EY ey PAT OS st EEE RENE senate tp aie ju Rtetn eon eto Male Poel Meee a tig SO Rite Seago ee oe ek ag eae shale 1k ee ee 16" LS MS Per et ai ey tee Ba ee ar ae 4/' Re Se SRM tae Cae SERRE ot SIND Se a a aed Ra ee aS Po ee esr SA cy yet Giern Bate Reel Pe le fy oe ee ete ee ee 1 As Ce phe s LEE ores Lae So gine ee ee - EN PSs Sia OES ae eee Ge ha Faille Ona aah Race © ANT eG ae ries yd BOE RUN ger eae eR Ne, he Re a a a CERO) CORK os ae OS 1k a eR Ee el

Of Upper Kentucky River. 719

Near the mouth of Rock Lick branch are two exposures, nearly alike, in which the coal is concentrated again and is

somewhat thicker than as given above. One of them is

shown in Plate xvi, and an analysis of the coal is given in the table. (See also the lowest coal of section 78.)

Its next exposure, on Willard creek, near its mouth, has the following section:

tk CI RE Seer a OR a Alo Ak ee RT 2 Wo a Se a ew te Ee Se 4/' Cee oi, a oe te ee a ep es oe te, eee 10" i) gga omer Bs aie iia Bara aaa aa Se NG Se kh eg ed 4// nes SSE SS al eae SS EAS ad SO aR PC gece ghd Agee ar wees Ear ery mee Me de Se 3/7

At Samuel Whitaker's, near the head of the creek, the upper seam is entirely gone, and below the fire-clay is but one seam of coal fifteen inches thick.

Again the coal has increased to a good working thickness on the river four to five miles below Hazard. Among other entries, abandoned for the time, one of Alexander Combs' has thirty-seven inches of coal in sight, and it is said that a lower seam of the bed is present (under the fire-clay) which has net. been worked; the other now partly covered openings \dedicate it. In more extensive mining there is no reason why both seams should not be made use of.

Points farther up the North Fork have been treated in the report preceding this, but to them may now be added the twenty-one inches of coal found on Big creek, and shown near the bottom of section 58; the fifty-seven inches of Woolrey Campbell's, on Mace's creek (Plate xvi), and the twenty-two inches coal of section 57.

On that part of Middle Fork and its tributaries in Breathitt county, the bed has not been found of workable thickness, its best exposure being at Crawford's on Beginning branch, where it occurs as a cannel coal eighteen inches

thick. The analysis given in the table of a picked speci-

men of this coal shows it to be of rather ordinary quality. The specimen was selected, however, on account of a peculiar stain of iron peroxide, which banded one of the layers of cannel blocks, and not as representing the best of the coal,

80 Preliminary Report On Geology

Exposures on Puncheon Camp creek, Canoe Fork, and at Granville Spicer's (section 76) have only thin bituminous coal. At Turner's, on Lick branch (above Turner's creek), a

promising stain was brought to the surface by a slip, under

which the solid coal lies deeply hidden. A quarter mile above the mouth of Squabble eis in

Perry county, the bed first appears as a workable coal. Its

one opening belonging to Peter Gross, lying at a height of two hundred and eighty-five feet above the river, has thirty-six inches of coal without parting, measured at the face of the entry some twenty-five yards underground. This coal is of remarkably fine appearance: a dull black, hard and strong, and nearly uniform coal, a part of it almost without visible lines of lamination. By general report of the neighborhood it is the finest bituminous coal that has been sent down the Middle Fork, and it brought an advanced price in the market. Reason for this report is readily seen in its

analysis (page 96), giving but 3.10 per cent. of ash, while

in other respects it stands well up among good coals.

At the mouth of Guy's creek the fire-clay again appears. in the bed, parting forty-eight inches of coal; and two miles. up the creek a total thickness of forty-seven inches was.

measured, probably including fire-clay, though it was not noticed. That at the mouth of the creek was hard and black, scarcely distinguishable from coal, excepting on fracture. Taking these openings in connection with those on Ebersole branch, North Fork, their close resemblance almost justifies a prediction of constant working thickness nearly from one river to the other.

But farther up the Middle Fork, as on the North Fork, the bed becomes thin, sections 74 and 783 showing but eight and ten inches of coal; on Bull creek an increase to twentyeight inches is noted, and about Hyden the bed has been found with only thick coal over a large area. This is represented by detailed sections as follows: Wm. Sisemore's coal, Rockhouse creek, Plate xviir; John Lewis', on Hurst branch, J. C. Brewer's and Reuben Magyard's, Cutshin creek, on Plate xvi, to which should also be added J. C. Lewis' fifty-six inches of coal on Cutshin creek, and on Plate xvit.

i. a a a ce ;

: 2 "%

Of Upper Kentucky River. 81

John Bowling's and Jesse Morgan's coals, on Middle Fork, and on Burnt Camp branch above Hyden. (for analyses, see the table, page 96.)

Near the head of Rockhouse creek the bed is reduced to twenty-four inches, that part of it under the fire clay having wholly disappeared, and, though absent at one opening on Hal's Fork, Big creek, as shown in section 97, at two others near by it is present, but with a thickness of four inches only. At these two openings the seam over the fireclay is fifty-three inches thick. (See Pleasant Sisemore coal, Plate XVIII.)

Above the mouth of Greasy creek, on Middle Fork, and on Beech Fork, the bed as yet found is too much cut up by partings to attain to the value it has below that creek. It appears probable that the bed above approaches so near to it that the two become indistinguishable, though the attempt is made to describe them separately. The sections of Plate xx1 show this conjunction (of Coal 4, on the 500 feet level, with the bed above it), those of Oldhouse branch and of the head of Middle Fork giving fair working coals.

The bed goes under Middle Fork close above the mouth of Spruce Pine creek, and under Beech Fork near Chumley rock, a cliff of local renown but not unusual height, at the mouth of the branch of the same name.

On Greasy creek the bed is exposed in one seam twentyfour inches thick on the fire-clay, at Elias Howard's on Lick branch, and again on Honey branch (section 64) with four inches of coal below the clay, which here has lost its usual hardness and color, due to iron and bitumen, and has become soft and white.

On and above Laurel Fork, Grtnay creek, another unbroken series of thick openings has been developed. On Laurel Fork the least thickness found of the bed is on Fed's (or Fred's) branch, thirty-four inches of coal and six inches of fire-clay parting. On Upper and Lower Double branches openings give seventy-three and forty inches of coal respectively, the former represented in Plate xvii.

On White Oak creek the bed has forty inches of coal, and

on Lewis branch, Greasy creek, forty-four inches (Plate GEOL. SUR.— 6

84. Preliminary Report On Geology

feet impairs its value greatly. On Beech Fork, however, at the mouth of Oldhouse branch, its thirty-eight inches of good cannel coal gives it a value elsewhere unattained. Its analysis is given on page 96, This seam of cannel coal may, perhaps, belong to the bed, Coal 4, to which it lies close, as shown in section 66; it is, doubtless, the same seam as the thirty-five inches bituminous in the lowest coal of section 67. While the latter can hardly be treated as a separate bed, the former is given a distinctive character by the quality of its coal.

At all other points in Leslie county the bed has been found .

'only with thin coal. (See sections 59, 60, 61 and 65.)

In Clay county the bed appears quite constantly, varying in distance from Coal 4 from ten feet on Upper Double and Katy's creeks to seventy feet on Tom's branch, Left Fork, Goose creek. Nowhere in the county a cannel coal, and ranging in thickness generally from fifteen to twenty inches, with its maximum thickness, thirty-two inches, on Hector creek, Lick Fork and Red Bird creek.

Coal 40.

This coal lies from thirty feet above Coal 4 in Wolfe county (unless it is there mistaken for Coal 4a), to 90 and even 125 feet above it in Clay county.

It has not been found anywhere in the region of workable thickness, though what were supposed to be small pockets of thick coal in the bed were found in the region covered by the report of last year; nor has it anywhere appeared as a cannel coal. Places where it has been found are indicated in the accompanying table, and the corresponding sections furnish a guide for its further identification.

Coal 5.

At a height of 80 to 120 feet above Coal 4, with exceptions in Clay county, lies the coal, well known in Breathitt county as the Haddix coal, designated in recent reports on the North Fork, Kentucky river, as the upper splint coal. Until recently only suspected to be the equivalent of Coal 5 of the north-

Of Upper Kentucky River. 85

eastern part of the State, it is now determined to be so without reasonable donbt.

Occurring as a cannel coal in the region now described only in Wolfe and Breathitt counties, its frequent appearance as such, its excellent quality and occasional great thickness, coupled with the difficulty experienced in reaching the solid bed, gives it a peculiar interest there.

This difficulty is probably due to a thick stratum of clay accompanying the coal, giving rise to frequent unusually heavy earth slides from above, which cover the coal and sometimes serve to mark its approximate position. Such a slide has taken place at the head of a hollow in front of Jonathan Elkins' house, Hunting Fork, Holly creek, Wolfe county, estimated to measure 400 feet along the hill by 50 feet on its slope, and a similar slip has occurred at the same elevation behind the house.

At A. M. Swango's, Stillwater creek, cannel coal blocks were found in earth through a distance of twenty-five to thirty feet, search being then abandoned, with the bed supposed to be about two feet thick. Reports elsewhere in the county of random blocks of cannel coal slipping out of the hillsides indicate a nearer constant cannel field than its regular outcroppings can prove.

Even with the steeper hills and greater proportion 'of sandstone in Breathitt county this tendency to slip is very marked, and caused the discovery of the original Haddix coal, from the face of which its covering was entirely stripped. It is not unlikely that other such deposits may be brought to light in the same way, though the usual effect is to hide them more deeply.

The bituminous stain of the coal is found near the top of the hill at the mouth of Frozen creek, and cannel coal at the head of Stillwater Fork, but neither has been opened. On Cope's Fork, Frozen creek (section 84), the bed exposes but six inches of coal, but it is probable that a search there would discover more. At Wilson's, on the main head of the creek (section 86), the bed is broken up by partings, the lowest four inches cannel coal, but near by, at Green Taulbee's, on Clear Fork, a single seam, without parting, measures forty-two

86 Preliminary Report On Geology

inches, the lower half being a semi-cannel coal; and, again, farther up the main creek, the bed is thirty-six inches thick. The discovery of a bed, confidently believed to be the same,

mainly splint coal, forty-eight inches or more thick, at Isaac

Back's, on the head of Middle Fork, Licking river, Magoffin county, should lead to its early development in this locality.

Should the bed hold good under the high ridge on which the

three counties corner, means of communication by tunnel between the Licking and Kentucky rivers may be easily ob- 'tained.

Across the river from William Spencer's, and also from Jackson, cannel coal has been reported, but it has not been seen by the writer; the bituminous stain of the bed shows in the gap on the road from Jackson to Cane creek. A welldefined bench on the level of the bed may be seen almost. anywhere in Breathitt county south and west of Jackson, but no openings are known to have been made nearer than the vicinity of the mouth of Troublesome creek, where the Haddix coal is mined. This coal is described by Mr. Moore in his report, elsewhere referred to. His section of the bed at the Sewell mine is given on Plate xv.

On Hayes' branch, Troublesome creek, an abandoned opening gives a thickness of two feet or more, and other outcrops farther up the creek show a rich field in that direction, as indicated in the report of last year.

Above Troublesome creek, besides the forty-two inches of section 55 (last year's report), a recent discovery has been made at Marion Spicer's, on Lick branch, North Fork, sixtyone inches of coal without parting; but efforts to open it elsewhere in this neighborhood have resulted unsuccessfully. On the road from Caney creek to Leatherwood branch cannel coal may be seen ina slip where the bed can only be reached with much labor. The only other opening to be mentioned on the North Fork waters is on Mace's creek, Perry county, where a thickness of coal and shale of thirty-five inches was found, with another seam (or bed) twenty feet below. :

On the Middle Fork waters the first appearance of the bed is at Berry Turner's, on Ground Hog branch, Long's creek, with fifty-nine inches of coal much injured by partings (Plate

Of Upper Kentucky River. 87

xv, and analysis, page 96), after which, though found at many points along the river (sections 75 to 63), no further thick deposit has been discovered nearer than the base of Pine ain. lie. fifty-five inches, part slikensides coal, at Adrian Metcalf's, on Greasy creek, Harlan county, reported last year as probably belonging to the lower splint bed, is now, from additional data obtained, referred to the upper splint: bed, though further work is yet necessary to determine it satisfactorily. Its relation to higher beds is shown in section 62. Another exposure at the forks of Laurel Fork, Greasy creek, evidently in the same bed, has thirty-nine inches of slikensides coal without parting. : : In Clay county the bed is as represented in the sections of Plate xxvitI, and in section 102, Plate xxx, nowhere of importance to require especial remark.

Coal 6.

Yarying within quite narrow limits, the average distance of

this bed from Coal 5, as found from the table of elevations, is about sixty feet. . : With a Orica barely cutting the tops of the highest hills of the southern part of Wolfe county, it can be found of considerable area in that county only in the high dividing ridge between Red river and Hunting creek, where no search for it has been made.

In Breathitt county it is opened only at Granville Spicer's, below Canoe Fork, Middle Fork. In his entries, now inaccessible, is reported twenty inches thickness of cannel coal, and six or eight inches bituminous. Some hundreds of bushels of the cannel coal mined have been left exposed on the hill for years, yet it looks perfectly fresh and. good, some blocks measuring eighteen inches thick. In quality it appears remarkably fine, having some resemblance to the ''curly'? Haddix coal (and there is a possibility that 1t may

be ultimately identified with that bed, with a corresponding

reduction of the others of section 76), and a part of it showing a change in individual pieces from pure cannel coal to a semi-cannel, like that of Coal 4, on Wolf creek,

88 Preliminary Report On Geology

On Howard branch, North Fork, it has a promising stain never opened, but other stains seen in the county indicated only thin coal.

At Elijah Davidson's, three miles up Grapevine creek, Perry county, the bed was measured as follows:

Bituminous coal Clay

mupher slaty cannel coal oS ee see a?

_At John Spencer's, on the same creek, it has fifty-two inches bituminous coal (see section 79 and Plate xvi, and analysis, page 96), but it appears again as cannel coal, twenty-two inches thick, at Samuel Whittaker's, Willard creek. (Section 77.)

The bed has been found at various points on the Middle Fork above Breathitt county (sections 75 to 63), but at only one of them with cannel coal. This is in the river hill a mile below Rush creek, Perry county, where it is ten inches thick and inclosed by twenty-four inches bituminous coal. The only other point at which it was found suitable for working is at G@. W. Hoskins', Beech Fork, Middle Fork, Leslie county, forty-four inches of coal. (Section 65 and Plate xvii.)

In Clay county, also, one opening of good thickness has been found (forty inches, Plate xvi, and analysis, page 96), at Alvis Hubbard's, on Katy's creek. Other openings in the same county show its usual occurrence there as a thin bed. Pieces of cannel coal on the ridge between Big Double and Little creeks are the only evidence of its being a cannel coal yet found in the county.

As in Wolfe county, its horizon overreaches the tops of a large proportion of the hills.

Coal 7.

This bed lies from 200 to 300 feet above Coal 4, its distance increasing towards Pine mountain probably witn more regularity than is shown by the table of elevations. Its distance from Coal 6 ranges by that table from thirty to seventy feet.

At J. R. Wilson's, on Frozen creek, Breathitt county, the

Of Upper Kentucky River. 89

stain of the bed has been opened over three feet thick in the top of a spur where no solid coal could be had; a better result could be obtained from the adjoining hill.

It is believed that the thirty-nine inches opening of J. Wells', near the mouth of Troublesome creek, described by Mr. Moore, and represented in Plate xv, is in this bed ; it is similar to one of sixty inches on the head of Leatherwood branch, Lost creek, reported a year ago (Plate xiv), and of which an analysis is now given in the table, page 96.

Another opening, on John Little's branch, North Fork, gave only nineteen inches of coal, but, having been made in the point of a hill, its full thickness may not have been obtained. On the river side of the hill, on the road from Caney creek up the river, is a heavy stain of the bed, but it is badly slipped.

Above Rock Lick branch, Perry county, the bed was opened with thirty-six inches of coal without parting, reduced to thirty inches some twenty yards under ground. (Section 78.) On Willard creek it was found thirty-two inches thick, and on Big creek, at Alfred Ebersole's, it has sixty-two inches of coal with but two inches parting. (Section 58 and Plate XVI.)

Undiscovered on the Middle Fork, in Breathitt and Perry counties, in Leslie county the bed occurs with some regularity, so far as it has been explored, as a thin bed only.

In Clay county the bed has not yet been opened of working thickness, but a heavy stain near the top of the high ridge between Bullskin and Red Bird creeks, of which the elevation was not obtained, is thought to belong to it.

Coal 8.

This bed, generally about forty-five feet above Coal 7, is the one known about the mouth of Troublesome creek, Breathitt county, as the Flag coal, and described as such in the report of last year. Indications had been found there then of a valuable cannel field or pocket, which later investigations have more fully confirmed. e

The greatest development of cannel coal in the bed is In the ridge between the North Fork and Lost creek. Open-

90 Preliminary Report On Geology

ings near the heads of the branches named below gave the

following measurements :

Mill. Leatherwood.* John Little's.* Lick. Gans) sles Gade ee Se Se Me gee RY Pae yee oe ee POE MPO NRL MAREE oe cet Tek TeIb LAM OORT Fe Eee 5s ee i Re ee eee a ge ha Aas anes og acer d oo a "pce le oe gai Deiat Pe ah Bituminous coal 8/7 3/7 ay 8' HAIG! oe. ee 2/" - 2 11" (clay) Bituminous coal . . 25/7 ded ) 6/7 Lo" Cannel coal 14" 13" (bitum. c.) 8 had i

The Lick branch opening is on the south side of the river, the others on the north, and all in the region above the mouth of Troublesome creek. The bottom coal of the Leatherwood branch opening is in detached blocks, similar to those of the

cannel coal. The bituminous stain of the bed was found, but

not opened, at various other points in this part of the county. In Perry county an opening, now covered, at Alfred Eber-

sole's, Big creek, shows that a very good cannel coal was.

found there, and a thickness of two or three feet or more is indicated. At the head of Mace's creek but thirteen inches bituminous coal was found.

Other openings of the bed in this county, never before reported, are included in the following table:

Cy TD op

Po rd Pa rs

nS Dis ae Oe an 2 Zo

© 5 3 oO Pris fsis ook

ro) A D- ket (oz) — 3

eM SS Sf o Se Sct

24°C OQ " oO OS Agate oO ve ten ae)

ple Qu et Os et an

S 5 es) 2 Or 2 me

® 9 aay Oo oO oH oO on ce

Or © 5 2 Fu oc aa wi & As

"DN oo a O Qn. Ree oT a, a ee es Af? gear ae SO ee GA AD 3,1, San es Deportes rg a rare ee pere 6/7 Mie 2 eos Sere ee Bituminous coal soa Bale eeat he, larly Pe eee OP (CMR Se 9 os Mele: sess. SS AINE Toit 6 Rae BF. gee, Se Bituminous coal it' 6077+ 48' 45" 39/7

a

Prior to making this opening several attempts to reach this bed were made, on account of the profusion of cannel blocks which mark its outcrop, by those living in the neighborhood; but all efforts were thwarted by masses of rock which had fallen

from above. crushed through the coal, and entirely separated the outcrop from its:

bed. So it had come to be believed that the outcrop all around the hill was no evi-

dence of a bed of coal extending through it. A similar experience being had by the:

writer at the above openings, the triumph of the spectator was great—but brief, as: the coal was soon found immediately behind the rock.

ae ey,

mS niceties" daimans

r ¥

yr

Of Upper Kentucky River. 91

Slips having caused partial covering of the Willard creek openings before measurements were taken, they are approximate only, but are substantially correct. The thick seam at the bottom of the bed is generally part splint coal, and sometimes a large proportion of it is of this kind.

Analyses of coals from some of the more important openings are given in the table of analyses.

What openings were made in Leslie county disclosed a thin bed, excepting on Wolf and White Oak creeks. On the former it has thirty-seven inches of coal, as in section 50; on the latter it was opened in several places, and its changes and relation to the bed, or seams of coal under it (Coal 7), are exhibited below. Openings in the same seam are placed in line horizontally, the upper group alone representing Coal 8:

At C. K. York's,| 3 mile up Right Fork 4mile up Rig't Fork 4 mile up Left F'k

White Oak Cr'k. from J. Turner's. from J. Turner's. from J. Turner's. 4// Shale . . .90/" Shale. . 3"-- a ip ee a a7 Conair. ee yy Uoal: 3 Or Beale 5... Coal stain. Shale, iron 0. 10" 4/ F Shale . 35 ar. PEN ge Splint coal . 36" is a, Clay. L Clay. 35' covered. Y : é 45° s vip mee 20' Covered. 20' Covered. 1' sandstone. c lL Bitum. coal. . 19') Bitum. coal.. . . 14" Bit. c. & can. sl. 9" SMG. soe ' C ed. . Covered. if Shale. 9'. Covered. seo 2 yellow shale. 2'+- yellow shale. Coe ee cn & t. eee eeeereee 8" Se Ae 4 URE a Block bit. e. . 11/7 Splint coal. 15'; (Splint coal .. . 4"

A considerable upward pitch of the beds on the Right Fork, towards Old Roan creek, would have led to a misconception of their number and position had they not been examined carefully. rita

The single opening in this bed in Clay county, on Katy's

92 Preliminary Report On Geology

creek (the upper bed of section 95), gives little intimation of what it may develop, though it is too high to be found of sufficient area for working elsewhere in the county than near the head of Red Bird creek and of the Left Fork, Goose creek,

It may well be remarked, as indicative of the lack of development of nearly the whole region, and particularly of the higher beds, that all but three or four of the openings in this bed named above were opened last year under the direction of the Survey.

Coal 9.

The few openings that have been made into this bea show

it well worth a more thorough search. Fifty to seventy-five feet above Coal 8 it lies on the top of a hard sandstone and below much softer rock, so that a very broad bench is often formed, which marks the place of the coal distinctly, but serves for hiding it effectually.

Its place in Breathitt county appears to be not far below the top of the high peak at the heads of Frozen and Hunting creeks and Red river. Cutting only the highest peaks to the south-east, it should still have a working area in Flint ridge, but it has never been looked for there. Its only opening in the county is on Markham branch, North Fork, where its thickness, not fully obtained, is more than three feet.

At Abner Campbell's, on Fish-trap branch, Perry county, the bed has its greatest thickness, fifty-six inches without parting, of which the lower half is a fine splint coal, and the whole of excellent quality.

On Hell-for-Certain creek, Leslie county, its bench is distinct, but its stain gives no indication of its thickness. On White Oak creek but fourteen inches of coal was found; but at Wesley McFadden's, on Hal's Fork, Big creek, the bed has sixty-one inches of coal, as shown in Plate xvtitt.

Analyses of the thick coals of this bed are given in the table, page 96.

On Lick Fork, Red Bird creek, Bell county, the bed has twenty-one inches of coal. In Clay county it has not yet been found.

R ; ; +

FE ST ieee

Of Upper Kentucky River. 93:

Coal 10.

Sixty-five to ninety feet above Coal 9 is another bed, which, though high in the hills, carries sometimes sufficient coal to give it considerable importance. Though having some little cannel coal in it, not enough has been found to increase its value materially.

The bed probably overreaches all the hills of Breathitt county. In Perry county its place is marked by a prominent bench near the tops of the highest hills, indicated in sections 79 and 77. At the head of Fish-trap branch its stain is found; but no opening in the coal has been made lower down the North Fork than Big creek.

At John Fields', on that stream, it was opened, measured, and the lower part sampled by James J. Profitt, soon after which the opening caved in. His measurements (sixty-one inches of coal, including six inches of cannel) are given in Plate xvi, and the analysis of his sample with others in the table.

At Mace's creek, the only other opening of the bed on the North Fork waters, the coal was found thin.

On the Middle Fork, in Leslie county, the bed runs from twelve to twenty-nine inches thick as found along its main course, but on Beech Fork it is found again with about five feet of coal, on Oldhouse and Reuben branches. (Sections 66 and 65 and Plate xvii, and for analyses, page 96 )

At points of sections on the waters of Greasy and Cutshin creeks the bed was found in each instance, but no working seam developed; it is quite possible, however, that the one at Magyard's, on Cutshin creek, which was imperfectly opened, might give a better result if fairly developed ; and also that at Metcalf's (section 62), in which some of the five partings are likely to disappear in working to solid coal, the opening having been carried barely far enough to distinguish coal from shale, and none other showing such an intermixture.

The bed has not been found in Clay county ; but just across the line, in Bell county, on Lick Fork, Red Bird creek, it has in its several seams a thickness of over four feet—a strong inducement for further search in that vicinity. It is the top bed of section 94.

94 Preliminary Report On Geology

Coal 11.

In the high hills about the heads of Greasy creek, Harlan and Leslie counties, about 200 feet above Coal 10, lies a body of thick coal shown in sections 61, 62 and 63, which for present purposes may be called Coal 11, though it is not unlikely that some intermediate bed may yet be found, which, eventually, will take this number, and scarcely probable that at any time can these upper beds be fully identified with those of the north-eastern part of the State.

The bed has its greatest thickness of coal, eighty-three inches, at the head of Pace Trace, White Oak creek, but its area is confined to a narrow limit in the top of a high ridge. On Upper Double branch the hills are much higher, and, though much injured by partings, the sixty-four inches of coal there will in time become valuable. (See for these openings Plate xvu, and also analyses.) On Gill branch, Laurel Fork, Harlan county, but forty-one inches of coal was seen in an imperfect opening, which, perhaps, might have developed more.

Other openings in this bed were made at the head of Middle Fork and on Harmon branch (sections 67 and 69), the former with a thickness of forty-two inches, the latter with but nineteen inches of coal.

. Coal 12.

No opening has been made into this bed, and its stain has been seen only at Nicholas Schell's, on Upper Double branch (section 63), where it lies forty feet above Coal 11. It is probably from two to four feet thick there.

Coals Excluded from the Table of Elevations.

In section 70 is a seventeen inches seam of coal lying thirty feet above the lowest coal of the section. This may be an offshoot from the bed below, or, perhaps, more likely, should be called Coal 2a, but as no equivalent to it appears elsewhere in the region, it is preferred to omit it in the table as a local interpolation.

Again, in section 69, a seam thirty-five feet below the highest bed there, having twenty-one inches of coal, has no

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Of Upper Kentucky River. 95

place in the table for a like reason. Its distances from the seams above and below are large for its consideration as attached to them, and are correct, the three seams being exposed directly above one another.

Coals below the top of the conglomerate are

Inter and Sub-Conglomerate Coals.

These beds reach the surface only in the western part of Wolfe and Clay counties, and are not known to be of workable thickness in either county. Sections 91 and 92 show their positions in Wolfe county at the mouth of Clifty creek and on Lower Devil creek, as nearly as could be ascertained in the short time allotted to them.

Exposed in the cliff opposite the mouth of Clifty creek there are two thin coal seams in the shale which separates the two sandstones of the conglomerate there, and two or three seams between the bottom of the lower conglomerate sandstone and the top of the limestone below it. The bed reported in the river at the mouth of this creek, two or three feet thick, is the only one which has any probable value.

On Chimney-top creek this bed appears to be absent, only an eighteen inches seam being found, five to ten feet below the lower conglomerate sandstone, which here is but fifty feet

above the limestone. This seam probably corresponds with

the fifteen inches seam of section 92. On Lower Devil creek a coal appears from under the

stream between Whistman's mill and the ford below.*

It is said, also, that coal has been found in the inter-conglomerate shale there, as found near Clifty creek.

It is probable that the deep-cutting streams of this southwestern part of the county expose many miles of outcrop of the bed, three to five feet thick, mined at Beattyville; but as yet no such thickness has been discovered.

In Clay county no attempt was made to find any of these beds. It is not likely that the lower ones reach the surface, and the upper ones are, doubtless, inconsiderable. An eight inches seam, supposed to be about fifty feet below the top of the conglomerate, showing on the Little Goose creek road about five miles from Manchester, is the only one seen by the writer.

On the following pages are tables of analyses of some of the principal coals and of the comparative elevations of beds previously explained and referred to. Samples were averaged in the usual manner, excepting some cannels, which have been specified :

*Permission to open this bed was refused by Mr. Whistman.

a

Preliminary Report On Geology

Of Upper Kentucky River.

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102 Preliminary Report On Geology

Recapitulation.

From the foregoing details the following prominent features of the various beds in the region discussed are extracted :

Sub and inter-conglomerate coals reach the surface only in south-western Wolfe, and, possibly, Clay counties. So far as found they are without economic value.*

Coal 1 has a large area developed in Wolfe county and lower Breathitt, on the North Fork, ranging from two to three feet in thickness. It is the least variable of all the beds; is an excellent bituminous coal with some splint, and promises, unlike its equivalent farther north, to become an important coking coal.

In Clay county the coal is much used for local consumption on Goose creek, where it is two and a half to three feet thick, but it gives no indication of possessing coking qualities.

Coal ia is a thin cannel coal in Wolfe county, without working value. Elsewhere it occurs only as a thin bituminous coal, excepting on Beech creek, Clay county, where there is about one foot of cannel overlaid by two and a half feet of bituminous coal.

Coal 2 is not found as a cannel, and carries but little splint coal. It reaches a thickness of over two and a half feet on Long's creek, where it is an exceptionally fine coal, and will probably become an important working bed along the Middle Fork in Perry county, where it reaches a thickness of over three and a half feet.

In Clay county its single thick opening on Left Fork, Goose creek, promises well for that vicinity only.

Coal 3, the ''Elkhorn'' coal, is found as a superior coking coal in a thick pocket in Wolfe county. It is found as a cannel coal in Breathitt county, but in thin seams only. An extensive field of coal, three and a half to four and a half feet thick, probably also suited for coking, has been well developed along the North Fork from Bloody creek to Stray branch. Another hardly less important field, with a thickness reaching up to five feet of coal, is found on the Middle Fork extending from below Hyden, Leslie county, nearly to

*The main sub-conglomerate, or Three Forks coal, is below the surface in the region described.

Of Upper Kentucky River. 103:

the mouth of Beech Fork. These fields are somewhat interrupted by areas of thin coal, probably small.

In Clay county the bed again carries a thin seam of cannel coal, and this can be profitably worked on Left Fork, Goose creek. Evidence is found pointing to the extension of this field as bituminous coal only, through from one fork of Goose creek to the other.

Coal 3a is generally a thin bituminous coal, with occasional pockets of cannel, one of which has been considerably worked near the mouth of Quicksand creek, Breathitt county.

Coal 4, the most important bed, is the ''lower splint'' of previous reports, sometimes a cannel coal. In Leslie county, and parts of counties adjoining, it is conspicuously marked by a persistent thin parting of non-plastic fire-clay, on account of which it is made the base in grouping sections at an assumed elevation of 500 feet.

Working seams are found in the southern part of Wolfe county, but they appear to be limited to pockets. :

Above the mouth of Troublesome creek, Breathitt county, frequent openings show an immense area of coal, varying from two and a half to over seven feet in thickness, and containing pockets of cannel coal of good thickness and quality. Thick deposits are found along the North Fork nearly through Perry county, and one is believed to extend from the North Fork across Middle Fork-—on Ebersole branch and Guy's creek, and down to Squabble creek, where it yields the purest bituminous coal of the region.

Another larger, and still more promising field—favorable in the more uniformly thick coal found—extends in Leslie county from Rockhouse creek, up the Middle Fork and Cutshin creek to the points at which the bed disappears. below those streams, and nearly the full length of Greasy creek. Of the many openings made in it scarcely any give a thickness of coal of less than three feet.

On the waters of South Fork the coal is generally thin, exceptional thick deposits lying near the heads of Big creek, Leslie county, and Left Fork, Goose creek, Clay county, which are not unlikely to prove of considerable extent.

Coal 4a carries cannel coal over a greater area than any of

104 Preliminary Report On Geology

the other beds, but, where of workable thickness, the cannel 1s probably still in pockets. It lies frequently so near Coal

4 that both beds are made more valuable thereby, and it -

appears that they are sometimes in contact.

In lower Breathitt it has been developed as a cannel coal without the discovery of any thick deposit. Its openings of nearly three and four feet, on Grapevine creek and Ebersole branch, North Fork, alone indicate a considerable working field in that part of Perry county: the latter thickness includes eleven inches of cannel coal.

Near the head of Middle Fork and on Beech Fork Leslie county, it again becomes prominent, with over four feet of bituminous coal on the former stream, and thirty-eight inches cannel on the latter.

Coal 46 has been found only in thin seams, though its previous discovery as thick coal, elsewhere, leads to the expectation of finding similar deposits in this region.

Coal 5, the "upper splint,' is another important bed, containing cannel in Wolfe and Breathitt counties. 7

Near the head of Frozen creek, Breathitt county, it is three to three and a half feet thick, part splint and semi-cannel coal, and probably over four feet thick across the hill in Magoffin county. About the mouth of Troublesome creek is an irregular field with coal from three and a half to five feet thick, including the Haddix coal with its three feet of fine cannel. Unusual difficulty in opening the bed has undoubtedly prevented finding much other valuable cannel coal in this vicinity. five feet opening on Long's creek probably marks the south-western limit of the field.

Along the base of Pine mountain, Harlan county, it is three to four and a half feet thick, slikensides coal, as shown by exposures at the forks of Laurel Fork and of Greasy creek.

Coal 6 is frequently in part cannel coal, but as 'yet has been found with a workable seam of it only on the Middle Fork below Rush creek, Perry county. Scattering openings made in bituminous coal, three to five feet thick, show it to be of some importance; these are on Grapevine creek, Perry county : Beech Fork, Middle Fork, Leslie county, and Katy's se 'Clay county. :

Of Upper Kentucky River. 105

Coal 7" is of working thickness on the head of Frozen creek, Breathitt county, and over a considerable area about the mouth of Troublesome creek openings have discovered a field, with five feet maximum thickness, which may extend to the Perry county line. Thick coal is found also in Perry county on the North Fork above Rock Lick branch, and on Big creek; and in Clay county probably on Bullskin creek.

Coal 8, above the mouth of Troublesome creek, is an important cannel bed four feet thick, with about one foot cannel. Along the North Fork, in Perry county, openings indicate a constant thickness of three to five feet. In Leslie county, three feet on Wolfe and White Oak creeks gives some promise of a considerable field there.

Coal 9 has but few openings, of which the principal are: Markham branch, North Fork, Breathitt county, three feet ; Fish-trap branch, North Fork, Perry county, four and a half feet, and Big creek, Leslie county, five feet.

Coal 10 has five feet of coal on Big creek, Perry county, and on Reuben and Oldhouse branches, Beech Fork, Leslie county. Probably an excellent working bed will be developed in Kentucky ridge in Harlan and Bell counties, and in its northward spurs.

Coal 11 has seven feet of coal at the head of White Oak creek, Leslie county, but it has sufficient area for working only on the south side of Greasy creek, where it is tive feet thick on Laurel Fork and three and a half feet on the head of Middle Fork.

Coal 12 has been found, but has not been investigated.

Iron Ore.

Of the iron ore in the region under discussion that about the head waters of the Middle Fork, in Leslie and Harlan counties, alone appears to be in abundant quantity. Some intimation of this was given in the report of last year, and though still imperfectly developed there, it is now ascertained almost beyond question that the ore will compare favorably, in quantity and quality, with most of the furnace regions of North-eastern Kentucky. The valuable ores all lie above Coal 5, as seen in the accompanying sections, are

106 Preliminary Report On Geology

generally calcareous, apparently rich in iron and free from Silica. Diminishing in quantity northward, their limit may be considered reached at the Leslie and Perry county line, and on the west at the ridge between Middle Fork and Red Bird creek.

There are, however, numerous smaller deposits in Perry and Breathitt counties, and occasional ones in Wolfe and Clay counties. Among these are noted, in Breathitt county, a bed close above Coal 5, quite plentiful about the heads of the small streams above Troublesome creek, but too sandy to be of value, and a bed twenty to forty feet above Coal 1, which on Frozen creek appears good; but, extending into Wolfe county as far as Campton, is also sandy in its greater part.

The lower limestone ore of the Red river is found as far up as its place lies above the river bed, but it probably di. minishes in quantity eastward to that point, and southward also, as none of it was seen south of the Red river.

A most unusual occurrence of ore is found at John Clem. ens' at the head of South Quicksand creek, Breathitt county, where it lies in a vertical fissure vein about eighty feet above a coal opening, probably Coal 4, and about one hundred feet below a bench said to carry a fine quality of calcareous. iron ore. The vein would appear to be near the level of the ore bed next above Coal 5.

An opening in the sharp point of a hill follows the vein down to a depth of about ten feet, between walls two to three feet apart, of sandstone lying horizontally. The vein filling is of earth, through which runs, parallel to the walls, a continuous seam of pure hematite, two to eight inches thick, small scattering pieces of ore, also lying vertically, being adjacent to the main seam. At the bottom of the pit the vein is said to make a sharp turn, and continue hori-

zontally on the top of a thin bed of coal. The exploration -

was abandoned after following about five feet in this direction, and the place is now partly refilled with earth.

The vein was excavated from the surface a length of eight feet, beyond which no search for it was made. Its direction is about east and west. The opinion first formed by the

Of Upper Kentucky River. 107

writer, that the fissure was made by the breaking of the cliff of a former ''rock-house,'' is brought to question by the credible report by Mr. Clemens of other singular formations in the vicinity.

Limestone.

The sub-carboniferous limestone, exposed in cliffs of Red river and its branches in Wolfe county, and again in those of Pine mountain, in Harlan county, is the only constant limestone in the region, and it is below drainage almost altogether. .

The ferriferous limestone of the '' Hanging Rock"' iron district crops out at frequent intervals on the north side of the North Fork, in Breathitt county, never more than five feet thick, and usually impure. An attempt to make lime from that of A. C. Cope's, on Frozen creek, is said to have resulted successfully, but most of the rock is unfit for it.

The calcareous concretions of the lower shales are abundant in Wolfe county, over Coal 1, in layers three or four inches thick, and serve for a mark in tracing the lower beds. Less numerous layers are found, however, in the shales above Coals 2 and 3—in the latter as far south as Grapevine creek, Perry county.

Large calcareous bowlders have been noted only in Breathitt county, north of the mouth of Troublesome creek, where they lie immediately above Coal 3.

The hard, black, fossiliferous limestone of section 73, of which no counterpart has been discovered elsewhere in the region, lies, about five feet thick, at the head of Peach Orchard branch, the next stream below Hell - for - Certain creek, Leslie county. me ;

In Clay county a thin limestone at J. T. Smith's, Tom's branch, Red Bird creek, is the only one which has come to the notice of the writer.

Conglomerate. The outcrop of the conglomerate is roughly indicated in the opening pages of this report; some further comment upon it is desirable.

108 Preliminary Report On Geology

In Wolfe county the formation may be said to include two benches of sandstone, containing quartz pebbles in greater or less profusion, with an intervening stratum of shales the whole approximately 200 feet thick on the Red pea and undetermined on the waters of the North Fork, Reutguie river.

Between the conglomerate, as defined above, and the subcarboniferous limestone, is a stratum of shale 100 feet thick at the mouth of Swift's Camp creek, and but fifty feet aie the mouth of Chimney-top creek. The thickness of this shale is easily determined on Red river, but becomes uncertain in the south-western part of the county.

On the Red river the upper bench of sandstone carries a profusion of pebbles, while the lower bench has but few. On the North Fork waters neither bench has many, the nabs constantly decreasing toward the south; so that in Breathitt county they become a rarity, and where the upper part alone of the formation is exposed, careful examination is required to distinguish it.

Especial difficulty is met because of its very irregular surface—much more uneven than that of the coal Stratum immediately above it.

An example of this irregularity is evident near Campton Swift's Camp creek there runs on the top of the con glans: rate, and also a branch of the creek on its top eo. walls westward on the Winchester road. The branch is about 100 feet above the main stream, and the consequent slope of the conglomerate has no counterpart in the strata above as may be seen from the smooth and nearly level benches alone the hills between the two points. No evidence of non-conformation has been found, however, which can not be accounted for on the supposition that the first coal strata were depos- Ited on a very uneven bed, which sometimes even protruded above the level of the coal-forming swamps.

The flat creek bottoms, generally found just above the points Where the streams begin to cut through the hard top of the conglomerate, are often a guide to its location where the rock itself can not be seen, though the bottoms usually rise almost imperceptibly onto higher strata. Once the cut is begun, an

Of Upper Kentucky River. 109

exposure of a five-feet layer of cross-laminated sandstone, five tc fifteen feet from the top, is often found; and this is

the principal means of identification of the rock in Breath-

itt county, though occasional pebbles still may be found in it.

By this cross-cleavage the rock is recognized as reappearing on Holly creek, below Mrs. Hollin's, where it is cut into by the stream ten to fifteen feet, though farther down, near the mouth of Hunting Fork, it is below the stream bed.

A like elevation has taken place on Stillwater Fork, Frozen creek, and it is believed that the cliffs reaching a height of about fifty feet on main Frozen creek, between Cope's Fork and Davis branch, are of the conglomerate formation, though it must be admitted that the principal evidence found is in their gorge-like character. The lower coal, and other beds lying at an easy slope on either side of this mass of rock, are supposed to have their edges abutting against it, while higher

ones lie smoothly over it. On Cope's Fork no such cliffs

appear. Between the North and Middle Forks irregularities of this

nature have not been found, stream beds rising rapidly to the top of the conglomerate, and then continuing on and above the top to their beginning.

- In Clay county no inherent peculiarity has been discovered in this formation by which its rocks may be distinguished from others, excepting its tendency toward the formation of cliffs where it is particularly durable. These cliffs have been mentioned already.

Their frequent sudden terminations and apparent replacement by sandy shales (taking also into consideration the shaly character of the formation towards the mouth of the South Fork) are indicative of a large area of conglomerate shale outcrop replacing the upper sandstone in the western part of the county. i

Probably the strongest evidence in this direction is to be found near J. L. Hornsby's, on Laurel creek. There the sandstone cliff rises about forty feet from the creek and is capped by a bed of coal which can only be regarded as Coal 1 —the same bed that is found along Goose creek. A mile above Hornsby's what appears to be the same bed is 100

110 Preliminary Report On Geology

feet above the creek, a uniform shale reaching from the creek to the coal.

This shale, indeed, is so sandy that it might nearly as well be called a very fine-grained sandstone. Where exposed to the weather it disintegrates like ordinary Shale, but the fresh rock has little appearance of it, and has even a slight ring, as of limestone. It gives a good light soil to the bottom lands of much of this part of the county.

Another view of the formation worth considering is, that the cliff-forming sandstone is the top of the conglomerate and the shale a subsequent deposit. This induces belief that the upper surface of the conglomerate is extremely uneven, and that, previous to the growth of any material forming coal, the depressions of the rock were filled with shale, such as has no place in the series north of the Middle Fork. Further study of this question in the field is necessary for its solution.

Sandstone.

The sandstone of the region has the usual characteristics of the formation, the numerous stone chimneys constructed showing that an abundant supply for local use, of easily worked and good building stone, may be had in any part of it.

Notably between the North and Middle Forks, in Perry county, and between the Middle and South Forks, from Long's creek, Breathitt county, to Rockhouse creek, Leslie county, the sandstone above Coal 8 (Mahoning Sandstone) assumes a prominence which, it is believed, will be a material aid in a more thorough investigation of the measures there. At various points on these ridges its great resistance to weathering has given a comparatively broad and flat top to the hills, in marked contrast to their usual narrow Summits. Most prominent among them is that at the head of Squabble creek, Perry county, where the gap to Buffalo creek is on the top of the rock, the distance on it from Stream to stream being upwards of a mile.

Salt.

Attempts have been made to obtain salt by boring wells at various points on the North and Middle Forks, but the

Of Upper Kentucky River. 111

abandonment of them all shows a lack of financial success.

This is probably chiefly due to conditions independent of the

supply obtained, among others the small market accessible, but for a few of them it must be attributed to weak and insufficient brine. Possibly deeper borings would have resulted better, as was found to be the case in Clay county. The more important of these wells are described in Dr. D. D. Owen's reports on the Survey for the years 1854 and 1855.

In the same report, pages 67 and 218, are described the salt wells of Clay county, which at that time were producing a considerable amount of salt. Only two of the wells are now in operation, competition with other supplies having cut off a large part of the former market. These two are situated at the forks of Goose creek, where the most abundant supply was found, and their combined production is said to be about 2,000 bushels of salt per year, one-tenth of the yield from about twelve wells in operation in the county thirty years ago. No sensible diminution in quantity or strength of brine is believed to have taken place in that time, the strength being said to remain constant at about ten degrees, while a slight reduction of quantity is attributed to leaks in pipes, which are not kept in good repair.

Gas.

The active interest in natural gas now awakened by its successful application to manufactures makes it worth while to repeat the description of the ''Burning Spring" given in Dr. Owen's report, referred to above, page 217, which is as follows:

'"The 'Burning Spring,' of Clay county, is one of the remarkable geological phenomena of this section of the country. Through a pool of water in a narrow bottom a constant stream of gas escapes in copious volumes. A lighted match suffices to set the gas on fire, which flashes instantaneously into numerous jets across the pool, continuing to burn until the force of the gas, or a gust of wind, blows it out. Judging from the color of the flame and the odor of the gas, it appears to be a mixture of heavy and light carburetted hydrogen, with some free or uncombined hydrogen.

119 Preliminary Report On Geology

'The commotion in the water rendered it too turbid, without filtration, to test it satisfactorily for its saline constituents. Bi-carbonate of iron seems to be the principal constituent.

'The gases must here reach the surface from some deepseated source, through an extensive fissure of the rocks, concealed by the debris from the hills—perhaps from some bed of coal or iron ore exposed to surheated (superheated) steam or other heat, by which decomposition is effected with evolution of these gases. Whatever their origin may be, the materials which supply the elements must be contained in the interior of the earth on a vast scale, since the 'Burning Spring' has continued to evolve these gases with unremitting energy since the country was known to the first settlers. In half an hour during which I continued to watch its action, I could not perceive any cessation or intermission."'

It is said that two of these springs are found on branches of Sexton's creek, one of which, on Sacker branch, was visited by the writer, and a cursory examination made. The above description is there applicable, no apparent change having taken place in the character or amount of gas escaping, after the lapse of thirty-odd years since the first re- 'corded visit was made. The conglomerate rock crops out in the valley a short distance below the spring.

That no effective utilization of this wasted heat has been attempted is rather surprising. If not applicable for other purposes, it might easily be carried to the salt wells at the forks of Goose creek, about ten miles, and be economically used there in the evaporation of brine.

Silver Ore.

Considerable time and means having been spent in desultory and unavailing search for silver ore in various localities of this region, as well as elsewhere in this coal field, it is desirable to state that as yet no indication of any deposit of silver ore worth exploitation has ever been discovered in the Appalachian coal fields; and also that no true vein of any kind has been found in the eastern field of the State, ex- éeating the one here described under the caption of iron ore. From these facts, after such investigation in this field as has

Of Upper Kentucky River. 1138

been made, it may be assumed as reasonably certain that no paying quantity of silver ever will be found in it, though it is beyond dispute that occasional silver-bearing ore has been found in exceedingly small quantities. The rugged conglomerate cliffs, which have attracted the most search, are not more likely to contain silver than other smoother surfaces. The legends of Swift and his concealed silver mines and treasures, current in the mountains from Pennsylvania to Georgia and North Carolina, may be left to those who wish to believe them. It should be known, however, that the North American Indians had no knowledge of mining or metallurgy.

This report would be incomplete without acknowledgment of the faithful service, in the difficult work of exploration between the North and South Forks, Kentucky river, of Mr. James I. Profitt, through whose untiring zeal in searching for and opening coal outcrops such success as has been obtained in gathering information of the various coal beds is in a great measure due.

Apart from the subject in hand, but meriting record here for want of a place more suitable, the following description is added of a ''pounding mill'' in use on Lick branch, Red river, Clay county. This grist mill is probably the last of its kind in the State, the hand-mills and home-made fourbladed turbines cut from solid wooden blocks, and now in common use, having generally superseded them.

The mill consists essentially of a mortar and pestle; the mortar a short section of a tree, in one end of which a hole is scooped out for the reception of grain; the pestle a straight stick about four feet long, attached to one end of a lever supported in the middle.

A weight is hung with the pestle in order to balance the opposite end of the lever, which end has cut in it a hollow place with a capacity of about half a barrel.

Water is led to this trough from the rapidly-falling stream by a conduit some 100 feet long, made of the bark of trees five or six inches in diameter.

When the trough is filled with water the added weight causes it to descend, until its inclination is sufficient for

Geol. Sur.—8

Plate V111.

Hill 50' Higher Hill -75' Higher

Coal 18"

SECTION No.35. AT

Moses Whittaker'S Tolson Creek

SECTION No.36

ALLEN CHRISTIAN'S| - Kentucky River

114 PRELIMI : NARY REPORT ON GEOLOGY —- 2. & 6 Saas LETCHER Co. LETCHER Co. most of the water : : oe ahh 8" Re 2eei ah : to run out. The greatest weight being C. SECTION No.34 a e other end the pestle falls, and lifts the trough pare .8. uScex innuth into position to be refilled. LINE FORK : ' ' Shes ' LETCHER Co. This 'see-saw motion continued, it is said, will crush into at fe) very nice meal a half bushel of corn left over night in the pay eras mortar ; . ; 8.8. tar; and also any stray field-mice, or other hungry, small a Sh ; n,7" ditmala' which may venture into the mortar, left open and 600 lee Roses: unprotected in the forest. he Sh. - ome gt §,S, Sh,& Sh.SS. eee s Coal 9" 500 18,8.

SECTION No.33 C. 31)' ree F. Clay 5 IRA STAMPER'S 9,8. 1SH.witty piaene sir ag Thin Splint Coal Ore as 400 ETCHER UO. Shale wit re yn ' Mostly he andstone ee ae ; oal 6h. 412" 00 Ped Coal Stain Coal Stain Ss Sandstone H===18,8. poe Coal 6. : hin Block Ae Ore

3, 0.0, 27 Pee Coal-12" Bi epee ss Sp.C, 23"

eee eer a oY

Splint Coal- 4"

Green Shale 'elk siJ2"? (ess am 8" L— Coal-13" Glay

i; ——— Kentucky River L For! 3 M.below wis INE FORK TOLSON CREEK. at |som's 10 Turkey Cr. at i Coal about 6" 5 FT, Stamper's Mo. TOLSON CR.

Folger Eng.Gun

SECTION No. 37 AT HARDIN HOLCOMB'S LITTLE LEATHERWOOD CREEK PERRY Co.

Coal Stain

Sandstone

gg, [BUKSI.12" pad Se C. 26°?

Massive S.S.

ae h. Sh. 3" Coal. 1G. 2" Sh. 5" ibe Wy ge

Mass S.S.

Sh.& Shaly S.S.

Forks of Little Leather'd

SECTION No. 38 AT JAMES SINGLETON'S BEECH FORK

Nee. Co.

Coal Stain (c. c.9)

Bench

: Limestone Iron Ore Bench Coal Stain

Coal—11L"

Feeaeeey only s.S.

ae Coal —

Coal-3" Clay |BI'kSI. . Coal-

Sh.

a

S.S. Beech Fork at

J, Singleton's

Plate 1X.

SECTION No. 39 SECTION No. 40

Stony Fork

HEAD OF OF LEATHERWOOD CR. LEATHERWOOD CR. Perry Co. PerRRY Co.

WwW WW Oo O a a o rs

? ? o z rf WwW WW x ae tN Sor] eo es 86. Sandstone ea SplintC. 42" Coal Stain Ln Slip eee ae Iron Ore ge" ni 2? Pee re Sp. Coal Sh. 1" C. ae Sh. 1" Coal Stain Slipped Qa Pd Sandstone aa ae Sh.S.S Cc: " Coal) |Sh. i Res sii "if Seieute Slick raeee -~—1S.S. S.s Sh. With a a oe, . elem, fae to ee PROM o" oe" C.Cc. 7 S.s, cee Clay 79 C. 12"? Bik SI. 3" Shaly S.S. Shale Coal- 20°' + Coal—17"' Se Shaly 8.6. 2 ide gh Sh. 1' tek Sh re Coal 6" 66 16° Coa oe 221 Bh.&S.8igh.: ! sas Sh. 3°' Part} S.8 8h. FSH 18: (6. ity stick| Sh. 10" —— haly 8.80147 °° ae a Coal-6" a S. 8.8. Sears poe s.s. SST {voal— 5 Coal 4 Sh, & 2"? Bastard (Bik $1.3" L.S. Clay |Sp.c. 5" Mo. of Stony Fork ee Stony

Folger Eng, Cin,

Heavy Coal Stain SECTION No. 42 HALF MILE BRANCH OF ABNER'S BR. OF

L.S. Iron Ore 9" +

Greasy Creek

HARLAN Co. CoalStainis" + sec C. 23" Sp. SS eee 4? 1G" Coal Sh. 6" C; 17" Slick 400 M Ss s ass. S.S. Covered Letianinanictal lay Sandstone C. 3"? A ~I/8.8. Sh. 7 Ss : is'? Sh. With BlackSlate a one Tae? G. 1 |h==ss=18.8. |Ciay 2" Coal-16" C.. 9" eT am ee 14? Coal BIKSIL 11" ma Coal- }C.C. 1° N65 ss eh plegic Clay 8"' tee 15" BI'k SI.3" c oo Se h. With Bast.L.S, CanSl. 11" paler 2" Clay ¢ BI'kKSI, 4" C. 2)? Base at Greasy Creek 00| 36M. above Big Laurel Cr,

SECTION No.41.

Plate X.

Hill 160'higher

aE .

Sandstone >7.5 [partly Covered

BI'k SI. 4" Eas OaAI-(S.S, 30" seas On) ine SoS Clay 24?

r s==|ShalyS.S, Coal &lron Ore (in Slip.)

noe ae IS ae

|lgandstone

h. EI Coal- 6" lay

78.8. Be lle mks Fave

Mass. S.S. & Be i Shale 78:8. C. 29" Sh : Sh Alt C. : Serguei Cr. at a Sh. ta Boggs' Seated C. 4"? Ss Ss S.1. 11" ere — Thin Coal

\Cutshin Cr. at <I. Pennington's

SECTION No 43 SECTION No.44

Near Head Of Cutshin Cr. Cutshin Cr.

és aged Sh, spices 1M. BELOW 7M.BELOW 50 GREASY CREEK Goake;, 8 Slick TRACE FORK TRACE FORK

HARLAN Co. es a oh. 1" LESLIE Co. LESLIE Co. Ree lee

Clay ao 1.8,

io Coal—Mo. 5 FT Mile Br

Folger Eng. Cin.

'

j

SECTION No.45 SECTION No, 46 AT AT

Wm.Mc INTYRE'S E. CORNETT'S KENTUCKY RIVER KENTUCKY RIVER PERRY Co. PERRY Co. 'i ~18.8. " ani COAl—31' Shate A ee lay ne 5 h. Coal—" lay a

- a tS

eh tais

on se

Sandstone

Le) fe}

f i)

U

Bed of River 3 M.below Leathw'd

: SNS C.3" ri Kentucky River 3 M,above Hazard. Coal — 24" at

Plate Xi,

SECTION No. 47 COMBINED FOR. LotT's CREEK PERRY Co.

SECTION No. 48

TUNNEL MILL. TROUBLESOME CR. PERRY Co.

Coal

Hy ; i

es

7 oN

Pan

Sandstone

C. 39"

h. + ie on 4"

C. 22" Coal 12" tli S.S. Poe Red Clay Shale

ere eal Coal—10"

h. Engle (Cc, 3 Sp.Coal Sh; 12*

Coal 2" C, 36"

Shale 8.8.

is SN SI neat eo Bastard L.S.

peer FD Oo.) eee dehy

' C. 4"

aed Coal — 30"

Troublesome Cr, at Mill

Folger Eng,Cin.

Ne

Trace Byoioy3"

>-18,8, Sain O. 10" Sites Ce salle, Bee fe hh. ot oan lee Fee (Be See Sty de Mee ABS Oi Coal-/gp.c. 3° Sp.Coal ;Sh. 1" 99717" ,Coal |Bi'k 51.10" ees Jpbiest. 0 MES HB 13° Cla a . 22°22" ; S.S. . "8h.with Calc, /Slack Shale yea Core. ae Is,s i es eet ut Coal en Te es ae a Sl Rete Mo.of Lot's Cr. ed : Neate, S. Ss. Coal S. 4".

"

SECTION No. 49

2M.BeLow BALL CR.

ON . TROUBLESOME CR. PERRY Co. "bs00 a se — ae, oe te [—S 72 -|8.8. Cliff Rt ee es, ere a ; 400 Coal Sh, Q"? ' bl ad ae Feri Cc. 5" Sh. pl 00 Coal )C. 2"

oo

°

Ee aN cell by

Rena

cee ees 50 Thin Coal .

Thin Coal

wt

SECTION No. 50 AT E. ALLEN'S Lost CREEK PERRY Co.

Probably

Bes

all

—

(

y

/ ka

/

Sandstone

Coal Stain

rn

? Vy (Yet

Anas?

SAI, GaN

Coal Stain in Slip)

oe

acumen "Tho Coal

Float, Flinty L.S. Lost Creek at E.Allen's

Troublesome Cr.

5! Oo below Ball.

SECTION No. 51 AT JACOB NIECE'S LOST CREEK PERRY Co.

Mostly Covered Sandstone:

Coal—Reported Cannel

=-—198h.8.8.iC. 6"

Coal—hsh. 1" h, & BI'k Slate Lost Creek at Niece's

bs PLATE Xll.

SECTION No. 52 AT THO'S WATS'

LosST CREEK BREATHITT Co.

Kidney lron Ore oal— 4'

Bas Coal—26"'

—

na

S.Ss. ox Coail— 39°)

S.S.

Mo.Ten Mile.

Folger Eng. Oin.

SECTION No. 53° AT G.W. NOBLE'S LosT CREEK BREATHITT Co.

S.S. Cliff

Coal in Slip

Sandstone

?

e Cy (ls

Thin Coal & 1.Orein Slip

S.S ' 200 Ss. tS Shale {C.21" a 8p, Coal;Sh. 1" aes Coal-9" Ss gat Li ig 977 ' h. 3 AS 50 j2" , Bed of Lost Cr, a 10 . SFT q y

SECTION No. 54 MiLL Be. OF. Lost CREEK BREATHITT Co.

Coal ig, gr+ oi. oe

' : Hake

22 chin Sh. 1 on (C. 8"

Leatherwood Br,

©. 46" Coal-\Sh. 7"

a, 87! Sp. Coai-—5"

Sh. 2" Coal4C. 25" a he 2" a see SS Sh. with Calc, Conc,

SECTION No. 55

AT GOuGH & Co. Bia BRANCH

BREATHITT Co.

C. 7" She 4"?

FlagC.1C. 8" Sh... 2" oO... 8 Coal Stain 50"

with 2 thin Parts

Haddix C, —42" ©. 13"

Coal-(Sh. 4" Cc, ga'.

16"'

Coal-\Bone C. 3" C,

Coa) —— 30"

Coal — 14"

Coal -— 22"

Mo. of Big Br.

Kentucky Riv,

Plate Xiii.

SECTION No. 56 RUSSELL BR. OF TROUBESOME CR, BREATHITT Co.

ors Dy Flint

ay Aone

Wu o o je ay

a

ae

Sp.c._/G., 16" p Sh, 9) Cc. 6"? on. $F C. 19" 5 Sp.C. 22771" ff

Thin Coal ' Thin Coal fb 30"

e

sh, as Conti e 8h.

Mo. Rusgell Br. FOLGER ENQ. CIN.

Si. pg"

REPORT ON PERRY CO. &c BY J.M.H.

H. HAWKINS' Dry CREEK LETCHER Co.

Ira Stamper'S

Coal. 22" Coal —. AT")

704?

H.SPARKMAN'S LINE FORK LETCHER Co.

Coal 58""

Scale 5 Ff. To 1 Inch,

Leatherwood Cr.

Tune y See Perry Co. R ForI BREATHITT Co. LETCHER Co. USSELL FORK BREATHITT Co. Goal 2c 36? Coal <6"' : Bae Shale.<.-12" Shale+---4'?

Plate Xiv.

L.H.Noble'S

J.Rholley''S Leatherwood Br.

Coal 42" Part, Splint

ik ARR acme

A.Cornett'S Laurel Fork

Coal 16" EsLiE Co. Shale 1

Part Splint

Fa Gok

Coal Part Spiint Coal!" Coai_1 2" Coal 62' Coal-t_.4"'

GRIGSBY'S LoT's CREEK }SplintC. [RA HALL's E,CORNETT'S Perry Co. DereaTeED CR. 'KENTUCKY RIVER Perry Co.

LETCHER Co. Coal 10"

Shale 2" PENNINGTON'S Coal 24"" NAPIER'S CUTSHIN CREEK Splint HALF MILE Br. LESLIE Co. ; HARLAN Co. Cannel C, 36' Splint C. 44" by Coal. ...7" Coal Shale 4'' oe Shale... aly Shale 1"' Coal 22" (aaa Splint ©. 11" Coal 13° Coal 29" nee Shale: 29" oe Shale..." Cannel C. 22 with small Coal 9" Kidneys W_D.JONES & CO memes OF2!e 1" Iron Or ; KINGS Cr, STONY FORK Coal 15" Coal 14" LETCHER Co LEATHERWOOD Cr. Har Mice BR Clay - -.22" Perry Co. GREASY Cr. Coal... -..14" : HARLAN Co. Kensal il: oi Coal. ite dorcel Coal 2223" a Bk Slate 3" Splint C. 54°" Ee 2) Shale 4" Cannel C, 3" Coal 5" Bit.Siate 11" Shale 3" Coal 24" Coal !93 Olay... ZZ ¥ .Clay 4" Shale 1" Ooala...; 24? Coal 41"' ; Coal 5" Coal... git Coal oO Coalo wan

bit Si ]1""

Folger Eng, Gin.

_Wolfe & Breathitt Co'S By J.M.H. Plate Xv. Scale 5 F'T To1 Inch.

ISAAC BACK'S PETER GROSS' HEAD OF Mo. SQUABBLE Cr. MIDDLE FoRK J.R. WILSON'S HEAD OF M ieee Fil MIDDLE Fork FROZENCR. LeaTHERWOOD Br. |v: FROM MouTH LICKING RIVER) BeratHiTT Co. CORT On. BREATHITT Co. Perry Co.

MAGOFFIN Co. BREATHITT Co.

Sh. Can.Sl 4" Mainly Coal 3" Splint paca a Shale 3" Coal aos 61"? Reon Mainly Splint Coal 27" Block C...]3" GREEN TAULBEE'S 77\ Clay Cannel C.27'? CLEAR FORK Gi

FROZEN CR. BREATHITT Co,

BERRY TURNER'S GROUND HOG Br.

Ae LONG'S Cr. A.M.SWANGO'S "vets! 8S. HEAD OF MILL BRANCH.

BREATHITT Co. RIGHT FORK Lost CR. STILLWATER Cr. BREATHITT Co MARIAN SPICER'S Sie WOLFE Co. : RIGHT FORK af 4)? Lick BR.

wae: 9 eae NORTH FORK

MEE Shale_.'? BREATHITT Co,

Coal 2]''

eee Shale -:. 5

Coal --- 34'' Coal 25"' erat 3 Shale 8?' Cannel C.14'' Coal 10 Wipow DAY'S

FROZEN CR. BREATHITT Co.

hale 6?' Coal 6? B=" .

HosBsBs ENTRY UPPER DEVILCR. WOLFE Co.

Coal 39' SEWELL MINE Ma GA NORTH FORK NEAR MOUTH OF

a TROUBLESOME Cr. Coal 4" BREATHITT Co.

Coal 24" Sh.S.S. ( BY P.N. MOORE) GOUGH & Co's JOHN DEACON'S JOHN LITTLE Br. Mo. oF CANEY Cr. Shale 7" NorTH ForRK BREATHITT Co. Bese Coal 10" BREATHITT Co.

oal bad a Shale 2" JOHN CLEMENS' Coal 12" So, QUICKSAND Cr.

Cannel C.36" Coal 33"

Coal 13° [a Coal oa 18 agape Btay owe ral vi 'i Cannel C.9" oOal 32 1 Clay J.WELLS' NEAR MOUTH OF HANKS ENTRY TROUBLESOME Cr. GOUGH & S SwiFT'S CAMP CR. QUICKSAND Cr. BREATHITT Co. "aoa spe bi Georce's Br. BELOW CAMPTON 1M. FROM Mo. ( By p.n. moore ) sees rarer Co NneriT RGA WOLFE Co. BREATHITT Co. : BREATHITT Co. BI'k SI. Sh.S.S. MEE Shale 2" Coal 13" Coal 13"' ea Coal 3" Coal "AL 'Shal rs Opal 42" Splint C. 17" aie " : Carnel C.18" Picet st 15" Cannel C.17"

FULGen eNG, OIN.

Perry & Leslie Co'S By J.M.H.

Scale 5 F'T To1 Inch.

JOHN FIELDS' FORKS OF BIGCR. PERRY Co.

W. Campbell'S

Wss Left Fork 1M. Below

§ Cannel C.g MACE'S CREEK PIGEON Roost BR. RUSH CREEK PERRY Co. NORTH ForRK MIDDLE Fork

Shale~<.--19" Perry Co. Perry Co.

Half Splint

Coal 9"

Mo. oF Guy's CR. MIDDLE FORK PERRY Co.

ALFRED EBERSOLE'S JENNY LICK LEFT FORK BiG CREEK

PERRY Co. JOHN SPENCER'S GRAPEVINE Cr. PERRY Co.

oF a wg.'

oes ett oe a, i

S.WHITTAKER'S WILLARD Cr. PerRY Co.

Can.Sl. --- 4"

Coal 44" Clay

a=) SHAIC ? si

Coal 18"

A. Campbell'S

Fish Trap Br.

NORTH FORK PERRY Co.

ALEX COMmBs'

NORTH FORK 5M. BELOW HAZARD PERRY Co. THO'S JOHNSON'S

NORTH FORK of

PERRY Co. Splint Coal 28"?

33"

ww ewe g"? Shale 2" 4 Ciay Coal 8"

ty 2 ny

Coal :--. 18" J. CAMPBELL'S MOUTH OF

Cannel C.11" Rock Lick BR.

BVk SI 3" NORTH FoRK

PERRY Co.

pigtas ott ' il *'s ep rten

vm beh. 4!

S.S.

Coal 30"

F.Clay 1" F.Clay 2" Spolint Shale 2" Splint Coal 9" Coal 20" a BI? SI 2"? 5-5 Shale 4"

Plate Xvi.

J.C.BREWER'S NEAR CUTSHIN CR. LESLIE Co.

5"

Coal 5"?

REUBEN MAGYARDS CUTSHIN Cr. LESLIE Co.

' PS i NM ag?

abit! SS ORE Ly "4 . Py

Splint Coal 47" F.Clay 5"

1 Coal 4"? Sh.

John Lewis' Hurst Branch Middle Fork

LeEsLie€ Co.

'1 SS Coal... 17" Shale 12" Shale 16%? Coal 38" F.Clay ane 6"? Coal 6" Clay

BOWLING'S ENTRY RusH CREEK MIDDLE FORK

PERRY Co.

BI'k SI.

Folger Eng. Oin.

Leslie & Harlan Co'S By J.M.H. Plate Xvii.

Scale 5 F'T To1 Inch. John Baker'S

PACE TRACE WHITE OAK Cr. DALE BLEDSOE'S FORKS OF LESLIE Co. LAUREL FORK REUBEN Br. SILAS NANTZ'S HUGHES MORGAN'S GREASY CR. BEECH FoRK OLDHOUSE BR. Mo. SALTWELL Br. HARLAN Co. HARLAN Co. BEECH ForK MIDDLE Fork LesLté Co, LESLIE Co, nD? —— Bi'k SI. Coal 30? Coal -~i-ss 6"? : Shale 9" , aCoal 3" Shale 1 whale- aed 3") een] SOA 59) fi ciple Bee hs om 1" See nne ers ne . fe - a" 1" Coal 53"? oa 53 m Coal 43" N.& Mc.C. SCHELL'S UPPER DOUBLE BR. LAUREL FORK GREASYCR. JOHN TURNER'S LESLIE Co, WHITE OAK Cr. G.W. HOSKIN'S LESLIE Co. BEECH FORK LESLIE Co. Sh. Ocal 3" Shale 10" W'M HELTON'S RAINBOW BR. MIDDLE FoRK ; Coal ene 36" HARLAN CH. JESSE MORGAN S BURNT CAMP BR. Sh. MIpDLE FORK oO Coal 2'? LESLIE Co, ay BI'k SI...10° BaaSh. Coal --=-]2"' Coal 35)? Shate.-- Q?? - 1" J. LEDINGTON'S Aut WHiTE OAK CR, (FR ooai Bo, Splint Shale ]'' NEAR MOUTH O. OLDHOUSE Br. Coal 28°? Coal 12" LESLIE Co BEECH FORK ; BI'k SI... 4"? LESLIE Co. ae Sh. Cannel Coal ...38'' MIDDLE ForK NEAR MOUTH OF MARROWBONE Br. ee Bim Sh. LESLIE Co. . =3Sh. Career JOHN BOWLING'S

2 M. Above Hyden

MIDDLE FORK LEWIS BRANCH jm Coal :

LESLIE Co, GREASY Cr. Coal... a5" : chia C gs EO LESLIE Co. Bhale.c ax Shale 13" Caal 33"? § Coal 6"? Coal 359' Shale 4" F.Clay 8" Saat 14"? Coal 2" F.Cilay 6'' a Shale 10" AM AE Clay 8" "oat hae oe OSL... ... 12"

FOLGER ENu,. CIN.

Clay & Leslie Co'S By J.M.H. Plate Xviii. Scale 5 F'T To1 Inch.

Wipow REID'S

HEAD OF LEFT FORK. ALVIS HUBBARD'S SEXTON'S CREEK KATY'S CREEK CLAY Co. CLay Co.

J.L.HORNSBY'S i

ae Wem. SISEMORE'S LAUREL CR. Bi'k SI.

2 M. ABOVE HYDEN Siost ROCKHOUSE CREEK Splint LESLIE Co. Coal a Coal 38"

BIV'k Sl 2" Coal 2"

Clay ee 43"? o-te= Di thad see tle cakes ws

1" a coal 2 . WESLEY Mc.FADDEN'S Clay 3" NEAR HEAD OF

Bia CREEK

Lestie CO. £[RRBEVOal 35"

3e Vig, F .Clay 5"" Coal 6''

GARRARD MINE East SIDE OF GOOSE CR. CLAY Co.

Shale 20"'

Part Splint

Coal -: 3)" Coal. 12"

ASHER ENTRY 9 M. BELOW HYDEN HEIRS OF B.SMITH soe —

44 MILE BELOW ESLIE Co. INDIAN GRAVE BR.

LEFT FORK PLEASANT SISEMORE'S GOOSE CREEK. HEAD OF BiG Cr. DAvip ROBERTS' CLay Co. LESLIE Co. Splint HORSE CREEK Coal 30" CLAY Co. Sh.S,.S Shale ae cm oe ee me Clay editing hie ' Te on on rh " Part Pa cae eo} - ohee ag Splint Coal 53 (iim Coal sy ae peers oa 53 Coal 13 Coal 38"' BP ; digi F.Clay 7" eal. ase" or Coal~ -2 2" Mrs.S.A.WHITE'S J.T SMITH's Lert FORK Tom's BR. SALT WorKS ENTRY Goose CREEK C C Lert FoRK DAVIDSON'S Mo.BULLSKIN CR. LAY Co. Goose CREEK BuLLSKIN CR. SOUTH FORK CLay Co. CLay Co. CLay Co. as, Sh.8.S. Coal 30'' Cannel C...5"

Folger Eng, Cin.

Perry & Leslie Co'S By J.M.H, Plate Xix

SECTION No. 57

At

WILLIAM FARLEY'S Mace's Cr. PerRrRY Co.

Mica 7" Coal 05.& Sh12"

Clay

Sandstone (very durable)

SECTION No. 58 SECTION No. 59 SECTION No. 60 AT AT AT JOHN FIELD'S REUBEN MAGYARD'S CHRis. Lewis' FORKS OF BiG Cr. CUTSHIN CR, WOLF Cr. PERRY Co. LESLIE Co. LESLIE Co.

Sandstone

ore ot 6" Cc, 55! See plate XVI

lron Ore

Coal Stain

(Lower 3" cannel)

few Sandstone

oO

oal nearly 3 ft.

en ee os

Sag ie 1 he Dis ae has Sh Saou 9 pam Coal__¢C yy Sandstone lag mE 6" lron Ore bee MAN he! vid Cr uncle Sasa) Coal 13" acta: conf 809 Ebersole Coals , C 25" a Sh x. <ke ahaa Coal—62" cout—{e Derbi Ua Coal 15" with two [ Soa plate XVI Clay Sh. partings §.§. {(C.Stain a ae Coal Clay---17" C.Stain 3 Clay. _12//+ poe hy S, S.C... 2" Coat. ." ae 1" (ET ie bs BI'k SI.-8" os eel Coal, ap eta Eeioit S,S,% She S, Coak" (Cocca yw Coal. ./C.& Sh. 20" Sh. S. Me 1c: ancane 15! Coal, Sh. 8 Clay 16" |Eeseey Sh. joh 20 memes COal, (Bi'k S|, 18" Coala"\C : 3 600 ' Cc 16" LBRO eg oi Ca Ae 1Coal 9" cere be er SSE, eh ee 1S t C*C2 Wn - Seeeees] Coal |Sh 9" i Cr.2.M.from head C y ee eure, Coal about 12" Trims Sas oe a eae 12" Po 1G &- ee Coal 19" ic 14" S58 F.Cl a Rm en Pa ee Coal-\C 10" ees, C Oal oal- 54 5 ,Suu8 CI peter ps het Sh. See plate XVI Sh of eg m.from Head of Creek eres Cr.,at C.Lewis' ae ee en Bl*k SI. a fe 1 Clay

Folger Eng.Cin,

Cr.at R.Magyards

Harlan & Leslie Co'S By J.M.H. Plate Xx.

Hill 30 f't higher. Kidney tron, Ore Iron Ore 60 higher, Hill 180 f't higher,

80 f't higher. Hill go f't higher. a 7 PAPERS Goaks sae ai See plate XVII. Sandy Iron Ore Cre SECTION No. 64 ore a SS Coal. gee HONEY Br. See plate XVII + B2 GREASY Cr. LESLIE Co. WOO SECTION No. 61 WHITE OAK CR. SECTION No. 63 LESLIE Co Upper DOUBLE Br. LAUREL FORK GREASY CR. vee LESLIE Co, Dixzss en COAl 24" ee Aah fad ard comes ea ae Sandstone CT Ee Sts 11'/ id pease a 14" oer 5 ae es a5. 800 uf Mu —— Coal 12 + 38 bv Thin Coal CBI vce 6: 19

Shae

Coal. ..4% SS. ene se Coal 3" os Shi, Sie Coal 19"

Coala-=

Coal. 8"

Mo.Honey B 30 ft.lower.

Folger Lug.Cin,

Sh. with lron Ore,

gi /

Oho; & Forks of Sh. 2 Laurel Fork and of Coals Shi Shale wae git Greasy Creek. S.S. SECTION No. 62 FROM HEAD OF rR Ao be 6.53" 55-6 a6 LAUREL FORK Coal 73 mam Coal Clay.._ & OF GREASY Cr. See plate XVII. pe ates Mo.White a Cr COMBINED ; 60 ft. lower. HARLAN Co. Si \Mo. Lower D'ble Br ESE! aoe. 12"

Te

ee ee ee, eee

ree

HARLAN & LESLIE CO'S BY J.M.H. PLATE XxXI!

SECTION No. 65 PL ee ET RNS! Hill toosft.higher SECTION No. 68 BEECH FORK T.PENNINGTON'S HARLAN & LESLIE Mo.WHITE Oak BR. COUNTY LINE '. Sheer MIDDLE FORK

'oP TRS Le oly Re yo" LESLIE Co. Ch. ae Cc Na ee 98"

rThin tron Ore

S.5. Bledsoe Coal_.fi3" See Plate XVII

Coal 8" Bees Coal 15!

ee a

FP Fe

p)

+ f

ee

Nantz Goal...58" Sz 8: 5: Float.Bast.L.S. ' See Plate XVII

oe Mn SG S537 Coal Stain ar ef aes Coal Stain an Seles at ee eee Gene fee igs — ita sa) Sandstone a t he S25; tae ar e Hoskins Coal 44" cok apg Z See Plate Cale." Pa z Ste SAL SS. ee et J ne ge eek Ae sss eae 4 : andstone 2 h ley Rock umley Roc . . Sessa acme eth ate KE BSE 90'1 Goat. i..." Sh" pits ra Cannel Coal 38" oi C Sh.._1 Coal 10" (C.25% 4 Coal Cw Oblates aF.Cip) Coal & |F.cl--5'"] ae Coal Ge Shoe al Creek |F.C) 2" Sh..-2816. 19 ite Mo,Oldhouse Br. STN ere i ai Spruce Pine Br. i, Sikee Biansa® 6" Sh Ca Pee ore SECTION No, 66 SECTION No. 67 og Neen a ce OLDHOUSE Br. NEAR HEAD OF Mo.otl Sym M Wh.Oak Br. Tere BEECH FoRK IDDLE FORK Bese ee Can.Cl7 LESLIE Co. LEstie CO. oe Coal. ..- 16!

Cr.at.Co.Line,

Folger Eng,Cin,

LESLIE CO.BY J.M.H. Hill 110 ft.higher.

SECTION No.70 SECTION No.7 1 h 3 AT NEAR HEAD OF ep ad ! SS Giay..5" JOHN BOWLING'S ROCKHOUSE OR pel Siete C 2M. ABOVE HYDEN LESLIE Co. Siw ah MIDDLE FORK PO t Mass.S.S aa LESLIE Co. ——S Coal., a7 P ee! ET JClay..1" 900 Teh i iNT a Massive $15. Coal 20" ici. 8/ ACRE Pet a pe ee pol 9 --dSh 6 900 Gos ae a, 124 & Lé ; evs Mainly af ss SECTION No.6 BI" SIE" x - Sandstone HARMON BRANCH Mass. Jap 77 al] 42 AND MouTH OF |Pr2x— 9*S3--Io tL A SALTWELL BRANCH 7° [Sh Hi ve MIDDLE FORK amen... bh ee lean fe ee 800 eee Sh with 2/1 O : LesLic Co. site Wye lings oy Lone 38 ToS fae 6.5 1 eee oe 3 17 Clay Fe, ae ee SS s.5 —<=als.s, — fait.c_ Coal--: UF 3 Sd (Clay eed ae in oe aes Massive S.S. SF Coal--- eee Coal Stain pad gl S.S. |Clay Go. use eh a y a ES aS (Be Eee peace ay DAM Shc... 4 Boe 10" -- Sn. 5.5 ood Sh er 4 Coal 1" Pies aee Boat Cc oN C I Pees Sh.S.S:; ig eee ep a OP Rew —— on at mS pee Sa es Sh.with s" See A eee Sh... ee 300 Bhi lron Orel# ae Clay Cc... 2 seocent". RA Sh. A Ceeee 2" ss 6.5 ei fed Sieg" Shenae" memes " Base eo Par ND Coal. oo" Ng See Coal Stain ao — Sandstone encore 32 SHS. Seca Gain Rama Se 4 Si SRS cel Peen é aac rated SSR ey & a Bae fer" S14" eee C 10" Sandstone

Pata SP aw i ET 7 SENT Zz — Massive Sh 7 Forks ot Cr. at tf Sandstone Coal . eet ied sh J Wanians eas C 2" Pca Mass.S.$ Sh 1" . Loge. 59!" pA Fie cae See plate XVII. Rises Vee eo

Se ner Sn SiSi

ok wee 5. Raa Mo. Saltwell Br. Se

ata. Sr is

River at Mil Folger Eng.Cim.

PLATE XXIil.

SECTION No 72 NEAR MOUTH OF BULL CREEK 'LESLIE Co.

ee

Mo.of Bul! Cr.

ee & BREATHITT CO'S BY J.M.H. Hill 60 f't higher

EES Shale

SECTION No.74 SECTION No,.75 000 GRASSY Br. ee ppt lanl tg MIDDLE FORK QUABBLE CR. ——— og LESLIE&PERRY PERRY Co. Clay: COUNTIES,

SECTION No.73

HELL For CERTAIN CREEK LESLIE Co.

; vey be Stain

poeta OIRCK, Limestone. (Fossiliferous)

Sandstone

Black Slate ( Clay Coal Stain ( eS girs, ¥ Sh.S.S ye oo oe sales fees Sed Ep es em er une Coal... 59" Sap Oal.. ... 4' ee Plate XV. Se aN eee oe oe _15/ Coal Stain... 8" FA Se Coal nnn a2" LAANMIS.S, Can,Sl, 20" [PAZ S lj t Cc 1 " SSS EEE BI' Ke Si 90rr point Coal 9 Poat cc. nd My 20 SES 7 . C 6" Sh Bek, irs 500 Coal . F.Cl,.4" 6 # gi" Gross Coal ares Clay nee "gill RS was fe ee See Plate xv. i mA 2 mA 2 om AS Sandstone rn? "=—2! Sandstone were PALL Coal 25.87 ie eee t Coals. 5 x. . Clay 4008S SS ceeeeed Coal Thin Coal

Sara 300 Mouth of Hell for Certain Cr. Mo.Grassy Br. , Elo5 S ESS ed c. esau 1 Tet ome mmm Coal' (BI'k.SI.6 Fulger Eng.Cin. Mo.Squabble Cr.

20 f't lower

Plate. Axis

eget No,76

Barnes: Spicer'S Near Mouth Of Canoe Fork Middle Fork

BREATHITT Co.

Cannel Coal about 2 f't

Thin. Coal

Thin Coal

Coalana: 2"

ao ete

Cos. 14"

Mo.Canoe Fork

Perry & Breathitt Co'S By Ju.M-H.

SECTION No.77 SECTION No.78

ud old any FISH TRAP BR. S ITTA ; S NorTH ForK such cotta ti Perry Co. PERRY Co. Bench Q Coal Stain

SS° Céalk. Se

S=S Sandstone si tae.coeegiatie Vv W- NS + Se ee Sh. Clay.6" Coal---\Can.SI..9" Sh © ee ae ae oe 3!

See also plate XVI Pigeon Roost & Whittaker Coals.

earerenT Soy Sy Coal--—

SS ae

VS. 5. Coal_ .30:36"

Pigeon Roost Br.)

Clay. _..4" B.L..S.& 1,Ore_.3" Sh Ses 15/"

Coal--

Sh Ree 4 Can.C.23" Clay Sandstone

Ss

es

conto is Coal__ 39"

Cae 5 — <5"

Clay (Rock Lick Bre

iNear Mouth of Cr, j Clay

Folger Eng.Cin,

See plate XVI.

Cr.tg M. Below Coal) Whittaker's Set Sil beady

——A\ Mo. Fish Trap Br. + Coal 10" 1 Thin Coal ' Forked MoJSh.19"

c PA by

SECTION No.79 oS AT JOHN SPENCER'S GRAPEVINE CR Perry Co.

oO WN Sandstone oa. We,

ae os

mn! COal Stain

Me

— —

Pfasa3| S.S.

ipceawoeceeanes Oto Uae ld

See plate XVI.

Gosl.cu..00"

Mo.Grapevine Cr.

Plate Xxiv,

SECTION No.80

LicK BRANCH (BELOW GEORGE'S BR.) NORTH FORK BREATHITT Co.

Place of lron Ore LS Cc

Sse Sh

oe was

Cannel Clay --- U1" Coal— Cnn Can,C, 12' Clay Bench Coal 3..8" ees See plate XV. Coalaaee 19 Ci ae tCoal—isp, 19" REE

Splint Coal... 4"

Coals whee 17" With 3 thin partings

Mouth Lick Bro

Breathitt Co.

SECTION No.81 AT

JOHN ROARK'S QUICKSAND Cr.

BREATHITT Co.

oyah Goal cic 10" psd Coal. 12! al-~-{5P C2" SS a) 15lClay--8" a] S.S. (BI'k Si.10" 500 Coal---(C 11" SB nin AO, C.ce5 Sh Pn Clay Ne—™ Ne Re Black Slate Coa l--- 19" Mainly Shale ks mae' Coal..1¢" ee" Quicksand Cr. at Roark'.

Folger Eng.Cin,

Byj.M.H.

SECTION No.82

AT JAMES ROBERT'S BiG PAN BOWL Br. BREATHITT Co.

Thin Coal

Mo.Big Pan Bowl Br.

SECTION No.83

BETWEEN JACKSON AND CANE Cr. BREATHITT Co.

yn

Sandstone

River at Jackson

Plate Xxv.

SECTION No,84 AT A.C.COPE'S CoPE FORK FROZEN Cr, BREATHITT Co,

ay

Massive S.S ce 2 aid Coal...8" SSS Coal 3" ' Coal---12:16" ,Coal--—1! Clay mage 3-9 eS Sh.S.S mae es. Se

oe see.

3h.$.S.

mem Coal

Sh.S.5S.

Coal_i.18" Clay arn Bastard tS,

Cr.at A.C.Cope's.

Breathitt & Wolfe Co'S By J.M.H.

SECTION No. 85. NEAR MOUTH OF FROZEN Cr. BREATHITT Co.

Coal Stain

Mainly Sandstone

Coal Stain

e 100 mam C Oa... 36!" See plate XV

Sandstone

Coal 6" Mainly Sh.

m™ Coal__ 24/7330"

BS cee"

Seo, of Frozen'Cr.

115 f't conglomerate Capping peak 50 fit higher at heads of

Frozen Cr. and Red River.

m Coal Stain__36" +

Mainly S.S.

trot} Limestone

[SAN] Sandstone

mm Coal & Sh._21't

ete Coal.._12"

ipertaelee "Pera aie 19" annet Coaks.o" Coat ee 14"

Sh ee 15" pea 8: Ean Cr.14¢ Mile below Wilson's

SECTION No. 86. AT

J.R.WILSON'S NEAR HEAD OF FROZEN Cr. BREATHITT Co.

a

Hs Limestone

SECTION No. 87.

STILLWATER FORK FROZEN Cr. BREATHITT Co.

Cannel Coal

Cannel Sh

Coal_..10"

Thin Coal Coal

oT"

Thin Coal!

BI'k. SI

: oe qr c ap -t Sette CC 2 et ze Clay Coal Stain

Plate Xxvi.

SECTION No. 88. AT JONATHAN ELKINS' HUNTING FORK HOLLY Cr. WOLFE Co. AND Mo. OF HOLLY Cr.

BREATHITT Co.

MN Ae ee 2 f't ?

Coal Stain

Coal reported 27/36" parting oe

Coal reported__.18/

oe Ore

Cr.4 Mile below G.W.Johnson's

lan pe Conglomerate

Sandstone

L.B.Folger Eng. Cin,

Wolfe Co. By J.M.H.

SECTION No. 89 AT A.M.SWANGO'S RIGHT FORK 700; ss STILLWATER Cr. WOoLFE Co.

Lr rtm Limestone Cannel Coa! Reported 2 ft

Coal Stain

Coal. 34"

it Ho Coal Stain

400 rs ==1Coal about— 8" Cr. at Swango's

SECTION No. 90 SECTION No. 91 AT NEAR CAMPTON

WOLFE Co. Lower DEviLCr.

WoLFE Co.

Coal Stain

Coal Stain in Gap Winchester Road

Coal Stain Pye

—

Mainly Shale

Coal 24" 31" Cr. at Campton and top of Conglomerate

Conglomerate

aS — Sandstone

below Mill

Whistman'S Mili.

Plate Xxviii.

SECTION No. 92 OPPOSITE MOUTH OF CLIFTY CR. WoLFE Co.

Mainly Shale

onglomerate

;S.. Me Shs

Xn C S

Bastard L.S.__3"

Goalsic3"

ieee Coal about

15'

F=3 Reported Coal Ltt Mo. Clifty Cr. Seed Limestone

Folger LugeCin,

LESLIE & CLAY CO'S BY J.M.H. Hill 30 f't higher

SECTION No. 95 KATY'S CREEK CLay Co.

C Pere Le SN ce GFises ON vw

&

ewe Coal .-14/

Mainly Sandstone

Coal 21"

Clay & Bell Counties.

S.S.

Coal 6"

Coal... 15"

Coal ._19"

Sandstone

SECTION No. 93 AT ELISHA MORGAN'S PHILIP'S FORK RED BIRD Cr. LESLIE Co.

o,Lick Fork Mo. Katy's Cr.

Gert SECTION No. 94 Clo~ ay Lick FORK Céai 74. RED BIRD Cr. Clices

Plate Xxviip.

SECTION No. 96 AT W'M. HOSKINS' Bia DouBLe Cr. CLay Co.

(nvm ace 4!

Coal ra & 3"

Shick. eae

Fs Ss8-S. Ic. 7

Cz 6"

ae: AS V

Bic ae

Sh.&C._.6" Coal 17"

is a y"' Si ede 4" ——— (Ca Cr onan ea Coal_ 14' F. een a Sh. &C.. 6" Sees Coal & Sh.__7" ae memncnl 1°. SI; oem COal. Clay Big Double Cr, at Hoskins' house 100 ft lower.

L.B.Folger Eng. Cin,

Leslie & Clay Co'S By J.M.H.

Hill too f't higher W .Mc. Fadden's emmmmemes! C0 2 61" SECTION No. 98

' See plata XVIII, AT AT '200 S. DAVIDSON'S A. Lewis' BULLSKIN Cr, HECTOR Cr, CLAY Co. CLAY Co. S bee ae oN Ud PSS =SF Coal 2 re e 2% rs et iz SRO ire... 18 Coal+' -(C,.. 11" aaa 3 Ape iSh 6" Co ee es Co eer Coal —fF Clg areal Coal 267 aid pee Saes C remem a Fire Clay Sandstone Mainly Se a 1 Coal 8" — Mouth of . Mc, Fadden's Br.

Coal... 16" Shale

Ss IF Sandstune Coat. 19" Clay Mainly Sandstone - peel? Sh. oss s Qu Pee /Bl'k SI. Coals soar" (ait Coal... 12" eae? mone ro Peet eee C 4 Cr. at Lewis? we Sh, .3/ Cu Hy t ' SECTION No. 97 HAL's FORK Coal mys 100 BiG CREEK ne 82S; Be Sh. oal 4" do LESLIE Co. with Calc. Con.

Cr. at Davidson's Coal about 12"

SECTION No. 99

Plate Xxix.,

SECTION No. 100

AT J.M.JONES' BEECH Cr. CLAY Co.

Sandstone

Sh. S.o. Coal... 16" Clay SWh.S.S:

j

fl Nw

Shi 5.5, Coal... 12!

Wg N! ,

y) ;

Coal. =.232/" Cannel Coal .._15" See plate XVIII.

Folger Eng.Cin.

CLAY & KNOX CO'S BY J.M.H. Hill 175f't higher

reas Coal 11""

F Clay =——'|Coal & Sh.—17"

fares Sandstone rr

Cannel Coal__8" ct) ai cee Liealt See plate XVIII.

r. at Jackson's Mill,

SECTION No.I0I INDIAN GRAVE BR. LEFT FORK GOOSE Cr. CLay Co.

Folger Eng, Cir.

SECTION No.!03

At L.A.Byron'S Collins Fork

GOOSE Cr. CLAY Co.

ney conc. it.Clewith rs oal,.

Mainly Sandstone

me

10"

See plate XVIII,

Sandstone

Mouth of Tom's Br.

SECTION No.!02

AT J.T.SMITH'S Tom's BRANCH

LEFT FORK GOOSE Cr. CLay Co.

Cr. at Byron's

Plate Xxx:

SECTION No.!I04 AT Wipow HopPer's COLLINS FORK GOOSE Cr. KNox Co,

mo] o E ts] ad ®

° Se,

et Coal... 11"

Criat Mrs.Hopper's

"

, Director

. Procter Report On The Y Of Whitley County

And A Part Of Pulaski

Jno. R With Map And Illustrations

Geological Survey Of Kentucky

CO —— Be

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ae

My

Crandall, Assistant

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By A

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Ss Csrees

"Ml Be

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Kfort

Printer

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Polk Johnson,

Rvey By E

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Page 7, eighteenth line from top, for north-west read north-east; page 15, general section, " Place of Lilly Coal," omitted near top; and for Bryan read Bryvan, below; Plate-view of Jellico Mountain, etc., read View from Jellico Mountain, etc. (Page 26,

next to last line, period after Station, and read southward from Pine-Knot Station.

This bed may be found, ete.

Introductory Letter.

J. R. Proctrrr, Director of the Kentucky Geological Survey:

Str: In continuance of the work of the Survey under your direction, I submit the accompanying report on the geology of Whitley county, and an adjacent part of Pulaski. In respect to this report, it is but just to state that many adverse circumstances have conspired to delay its completion, even on the basis of a preliminary report. As an offset to this, it will be found to be based on a more detailed study of some portions of this region, which, from the lack cf readily recognized horizons, and also of exposures of economic beds, would otherwise have been less. adequately, if not incorrectly, represented. In respect to this, it should be added that the equivalency of economic beds in different parts of this extensive field is still a matter of doubt in some localities; and the extension of these beds through areas in which they may be supposed to occur, as known elements of the general section, must of necessity be left to future developments; but the facts essential to an intelligent view of the possibilities of this region, will be found to be embodied in this report.

Very respectfully, A. R. CRANDALL, Assistant Kentucky Geological Survey.

KEPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OF WHITLEY COUNTY, AND ON A PART OF Peon COUN LY,

Whitley county embraces a territory about 600 square miles in area; extending in irregular outline from the Tennessee line northward, across the valley of the Cumberland river, in its detour around the higher drainage plain of Knox and Laurel counties. It reaches along the State line from a point a few miles east of Pine Mountain, on the Clear Fork of the Cumberland river above the ''Narrows,'' to the South Fork of the Cumberland, a distance of 34 miles.

The county was organized in 1818 from a part of Knox county, and Williamsburg, centrally located on the Cumberland river, and now a town of considerable business importance, was made the County-town.

General Geology, Topography And Soil.

The topography of Whitley presents some interesting features which are traceable, with various modifications, along the border of the eastern coal field, from the Ohio river southward into Tennessee. This border is in general marked by prominent but broken escarpments, the receding outcrop of the Subcarboniferous limestone and of the Conglomerate sandrock of the coal measures, which rise above the eastward-dipping Devonian and Subcarboniferous shales, forming a distinct line of demarkation between the central blue-grass plains and the hill lands of Eastern Kentucky. To the southward, however, this line becomes less definite with the depression of the Silurian axis, and the attendant widening of the erosion plains on the outcrop of the several geological formations which rise above it to the eastward. The main drainage is across these formations westward, like that of the Kentucky

6 Report On The Geology Of Whitley .

river valley. The tributary rivers and larger creeks, as also the tell Cumberland river itself, locally flow in valleys that conform somewhat to lines of outcrop, or to the strike of the rock formations. This is more noticeable in the western portion of the county, and in Pulaski, where the streams flow iz "he rocks 'near the base of the coal measures, than eastward, where the thickening of the series tends to reduce the dip to :

a slight inclination, and even to reverse it in some of the upper beds.

Like Elliott county, Whitley region has its two types of country. The north-western portion, known in part as the Flatwoods, has much in common with the Conglomerate tablelands of western Elliott, illustrating an advanced condition in the leveling stage of erosion, while the south-eastern part, like the eastern half of Elliott, illustrates with striking contrast the hill and valley stage. South of the Cumberland : river, the hill region begins abruptly with the Jellico Mountain, which rises from the foot of the Flatwoods slope to a height ' of 1,000 to 1,200 feet. North of the river the Flatwoods Pe topography extends eastward to the main Watts creek val-. ley, gradually approaching in relief, the hills which form the east side of the valley. These hills are less than 600 feet high, but they fall in line with, and may, in a general way, be regarded as a continuation of the Jellico range.

While the general south-east dip of the rock beds gives to the country belts of successive geological formations, with y striking contrasts in the topography of the region as a whole, the special features which are seen in traveling across these 3 belts are so characteristic as to serve in a general way as an . index of the geology of the several belts. i

The rocks exposed in this field represent a part of the Devonian age and the greater part of the Carboniferous age. a. The divisions of the latter only are conspicuous in the topography of the region, the former being brought to the surface at the Pine Mountain fault, in a belt too narrow to give it any 3 prominence in the surface features of that mountain. 'The Oriskany beds of the Upper Silurian underiie this formation, covered from view mostly by the horizontal coal measure rocks at the foot of the mountain. The Waverly group or knobstone -

'Ay 'Ayun0g AoptymM 'spoomye,q jo sepz0q 01} WoO BUISII 'UIVJUNOW JO MeTA

sa

AND A PART OF PULASKI COUNTY q

formation of the Subcarboniferous division, like the Devonian black slate, has its outcrop beyond the limit of the field treated of in this report, but is exposed by the Pine Mountain fault, so covered by the soil and fragments from overlying ledges as to make its thickness, supposed to be about 150 feet, a matter of doubtful estimation.

The Subcarboniferous limestone, the mountain limestone of the older reports, extends into this field, bringing with it the characteristic rocky slopes, sinking creeks and red soil of that formation. Being at the base of the series in this region, it is prominent in the lowest drainage only on the north-western border. It falls below the Cumberland river below the mouth of the Laurel river, as represented in the accompanying map.

The rocks of this division represent the St. Louis and Chester groups. The former is conspicuous in the hard grey limestone of Point Burnside, Somerset and Mt. Vernon, having a thickness of 250 feet or more. This formation is less prominent to the north-west. Lesley, in his report on the western outcrop line of the eastern coal field of Kentucky, gives the thickness on Buck creek, in Pulaski county, at 250 feet, and at Mt. Vernon, at 182 feet. This thickness is decreased to 50 or 60 feet in Menefee county, and only isolated patches of limestone are found on the Ohio river in Greenup county, as noted in reports on these regions.

The Chester group is less conspicuous. It is represented by earthy buff limestone, alternating with greenish and reddish marly shales, having an aggregate thickness of 25 to 40 feet. These beds are for the most part covered along with the lower beds of the formation above, so that the thickness is not easily obtained This has led to some confusion in statements of the relation of the coals above to the top of the Subcarboniferous rocks. This formation is fully exposed in a cut at Happy Hollow Station, on the Cincinnati Southern Railway, and at the mouth of Rockcastle river.

The Pine Mountain exposures of the Subcarboniferous limestone is in an abrupt, partially covered ledge above the olive shales and fine-grained sandstone of the Waverly group. The estimated thickness is 300 feet or more. A prominent bench

8 Report On The Geology Of Whitley

is formed by this limestone about half way up the mountain throughout its entire length.

The next formation above the Chester group is the Conglomerate division of the Carboniferous rocks, which forms the

ridge traversed by the Cincinnati Southern Railway south of

Happy Hollow Station, and which gives to the South Fork and the Rockcastle river valleys their striking natural features.

Respecting the limits of this formation, some confusion has heretofore prevailed which requires some notice.

This group of rocks, which varies in thickness from 10 feet in the hill back of Springville, on the Ohio river, to about 450 feet in the South Fork region, is made up in its south-western extension of alternating beds of shale, associated with coal seams, and of much more prominent coarse sand-rock ledges, some of which are conglomeratic with white quartz pebbles. The latter characteristic is more definite and persistent in the upper ledges, as also the shaly, coal-bearing beds are more prominent towards the base. For this reason Professor Lesley, in his report mentioned above, divides the formation into two members, the Conglomerate and the Sub-conglomerate, giving to the latter much the greater thickness. In a report on the Geology of Menefee county, the writer followed this classification so far as to call the Menefee coal a Sub-conglomerate seam, and the terms Sub-conglomerate and inter-conglomerate have, at various times, been used in the description of the coal beds of this formation, in the attempt to find designations suited to the facts as developed in different localities.

A more thorough acquaintance with the formation as exposed in various parts of Eastern Kentucky, and especially as found in the Pine and Cumberland Mountains, where the thickness exceeds 1,500 feet, and where the conglomerate character obtains so generally as to give the name to the whole series, leads to the conclusion that it would be more consistent with all the facts to regard the formation in all its phases as the Conglomerate division of the coal measures simply. Whether all the rocks included between the Chester group, as described, and the recognized top of the Conglomerate, as exposed in varying thickness at its western outcrop, constitute an equivalent representative of the Pine Mountain Conglom-

Cumberland Falls, Whitley Co.

ny

And A Part Of Pulaski County. Q.

erate may, perhaps, be questioned. The fact remains, however, that most, if not all of them, do represent that formation by position ; and while it is true that for a part of the series the name Conglomerate is far from descriptive, and may, without explanation, be misleading, this can hardly stand as a reason for retaining a descriptive classification which is misleading in the more' important matter of place and equivalency in the general geological section. The whole assemblage of rocks in question will therefore be treated as the Conglomerate in division of the coal measures.

To avoid, in part, the repetition of a somewhat cumbersome name, and to have the advantage of an equivalent typical designation for the formation, as seen along the border of the coal-field, and as well illustrated in the Rockcastle river region, this assemblage of rocks will, in this report, sometimes be called the Rockcastle group, as also the greatly thickened equivalent formation in the Pine Mountain, will representatively be called the Pine Mountain group.

With this explanation, the description of the conglomerate formation of the region in question can readily be made to accord with Lesley's report, which relates to a portion of this field, and to regions adjoining in Rockcastle, Pulaski and Wayne counties.

The topography of the conglomerate formation is more characteristic than that of any other group in Eastern Kentucky. A partial illustration of this may be seen traveling by rail across this belt, as in the Sinking creek valley, on the Newport News and Mississippi Valley Railway; from Hazle Patch to Altamont, on the Knoxville Branch of the Louisville & Nashville; and from Sloan's Valley, southward on the Cincinnati Southern. The features, however, which may be observed from the car window are without special significance, except to those who have seen some of the towering walls which, like those on the Rockcastle river, and in a portion of the South Fork region, hem in the narrow drainage valleys with massive ledges and overhanging cliffs. In both of these regions, whether from above looking across or down into the walled valleys, or from the valleys looking up at the castellated hills, the scenic effects are unusually imposing. But, again,

10 Report On The Geology Of Whitley

the real wealth of scenery can be realized by those only who clamber about these laurel-fringed walls, seek out their unique water-worn recesses, the haunts of rare ferns, and who appreclatively note the picturesque carvings of time, in massive rock reliefs, and in the pictured record of the surface bravery. Attention is called to these features as giving to this belt an interest and a value which will be greatly increased in coming years. 'These romantic regions are admirable recreation grounds or natural parks. It will interest botanists to know that two of our more rare ferns, the climbing fern (Lygodium palmatum) and the moss fern (Trichomanes radicals) are found in some parts of this belt, both in considerable abundance. ; The great Rockhouse and natural bridge and the Gulf, two or three miles west of Cumberland Falls Station, illustrate

some of the striking results of the erosion of this massive

formation, and among the many interesting special features in the Rockeastle region, the great Horse-shoe Rockhouse, on a branch of Bear creek, is especially noteworthy.

South-eastward the Conglomerate cliffs decrease in height, as seen on the Laurel river and on Marsh creek, and the continued dip carries the Rockcastle group below the drainage of the south-eastern half of the Flatwoods region. The low hills of this belt are made up of the shales and sand-rock of the coal measures above the conglomerate division.

In the Conglomerate belt, the farm land is on the table-land areas between the abrupt drainage valleys. The soil is sandy, but is not lacking in retentive clay. Under ordinary cultivation it is only moderately productive after the vegetable humus of the newly-cleared land has been exhausted. A considerable portion of this belt is still valuable forest land.

The Pine Mountain uplift presents the conglomerate formation in greatly increased thickness. It gives to this mountain its rugged features. The whole group is exposed in the Narrows, the Clear Fork water-gap in this fault scarp, at the State line. The estimated thickness by barometric observation exceeds 1,000 feet—more than twice the thickness of the equivalent Rockcastle group; 25 miles to the westward. The Pine Mountain group includes beds of shale and of shaly sandstone, at intervals of 100 to 200 feet between the Conglomerate benches.

Rock House ("Falcon's Retreat"), Rockcastle Springs, Pulaski Co.

And A Part Of Pulaski County. 11

The lower massive member of this group, instead of being conglomeratic, is largely made up of a hard quartzose like sandrock, which breaks up into irregular angular fragments, that are scattered over the steep slope above the limestone bench, adding to the difficulty of reaching the top of the mountain.

It will be noticed by those who visit this gorge, that the St. Louis group is exposed at the river level at the lower entrance of the Narrows. This is in consequence of the greater erosion at this place, producing an eastward detection in the face of the mountain, and exposing the limestone along its dip from the limestone bench to the bed of the river. Here the Devonian black slate and the Waverly group are covered along the river bottom. Going up the gorge of the Narrows, the dip decreases from about 20 to 5 degrees, and the Bee-rock,"' the upper member which is so prominent in the topography of the rock-terraced south eastern slope, falls to the drainage level near the mouth of Hickory creek, giving place again in the topography to the coal measure rocks above.

The disturbed condition of the rocks in some parts of the gorge indicates a break without any considerable vertical displacement, traversing the mountain axis, and facilitating the cutting out of this drainage gap. A careful study of this region, with reference to this and other geological problems, has not been made. This water gap offers a practicable way for a railway line through the Pine Mountain barrier, the Pineville gap and the Breaks of the Russell Fork of the Big Sandy river being the only other water gaps in the entire length of this mountain.

The coal measures above the Conglomerate division include in this field rocks to the thickness of about 1,400 feet. Until a more complete study has been made of this series, as found in the Hastern Kentucky coal-field at large, no attempt will be made to conform to the classification in neighboring States, or to compare with the general section of regions outside of Kentucky. It is apparent that there are no very good reasons for following the division into Lower, Barren and Upper measures, except in the fact that the rocks of a part of the Appalachian coal-field has been so classified. For the present, all of the coal measure rocks above the Conglomerate measures will be considered as an undivided series.

12 Report On The Geology Of Whitley,

The topography of the hill region is not so speciaJly characteristic of the formation out of which it is carved, as is that of the belts already considered. Alternating shales and sandstone give to the hills a benched slope, and to the valleys a terraced appearance ; and at various levels, more especially towards the top of the series, masses of coarse sand-rock mark geological horizons with far-reaching exposures of bare ledges and projecting cliffs. These hard sand-rocks usually cap the ridges, spurs and low hills, at heights according with the progress of erosion, or with the general features of the drainage basins.

The soil of the hill region is derived from rocks more varied in character than those of the other belts. It is richer in veg. etable mould in proportion as the timber growth is heavier or is left to protect the steeper slopes. Some of these slopes, when cleared, continue even surprisingly productive for a considerable time, the soil being loose enough to absorb the heavy rains and to prevent rapid washing. With continued plowing, however, these conditions are lost, and the soil becomes more clayey and heavy, a result that might be largely avoided by suiting the farming to the nature of the ground. The statement made for other regions holds good here, however, that a large portion of the hill country should be judiciously kept in forest, as a direct economic measure; to prevent the washing of the steeper hillsides, and to check the tendency to sudden disastrous floods. <Agriculture can find suitable conditions for profitable prosecution in all the country covered by this report, but to be most successful, it must be by an intelligent adaptation to the conditions which go with the geology, and the resulting topography of the district. Both the Flatwoods and the hill region promise well for fruit-growing. The well-known Berry Red apple was originated in Whitley county. Many evidences of adaptation to small fruits have been noted, which are probably as much owing to surface features and to elevation, as to the character of the soil.

The accompanying map shows the distribution of the geological divisions which fall within the province of this report, as also the general elevations, the drainage and the prominent

And A Part Of Pulaski County. 13

features in the topography, especially of the south-eastern or hill region. Views to illustrate some of these features will,

it is hoped, aid in giving significance to the map delineations and to the foregoing brief descriptions.

The timber growth of the two regions is unlike in many respects. The hills of the eastern region have a greater number of useful species and a larger growth, Among the soft wood timbers the following have been noted in the field covered by this report. The data is not at hand for detailed account

of the distribution of species:

Yellow Poplar, Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera). Cucumber Tree (Magnolia acuminata).

Umbrella Tree (Magnolia umbrella).

Ohio Buckeye (AMsculus glabra).

Chinquapin (Castanea pumilla).

Chestnut (Castanea vesca),

White Walnut (Juglans cinerea).

Black Walnut (Juglans nigra. L.)

River Birch (Betula nigra. Ait.)

Willow (several species).

White Elm (Ulmus Americana).

Sour-wood (Oxydendrum arboreum. D.C.) Yellow Pine (Pinus mitis).

Scrub Pine (Pinus inops).

Spruce Pine or Hemlock (Abies Canadensis).

Sweet Gum (Liquidamber styraciflua). Bottom lands: Sassafras (Sassafras officinale).

Of hard wood trees the following are found:

White Oak (Quercus alba).

Swamp Chestnut Oak (Q. prints. Willd).

Mountain Chestnut Oak or Tan-bark Oak (Q. prints, var. monticola).

Post Oak- (Q. obtusilaba).

Red Oak (Q. rubra).

Black: Oak (Q. tinctoria).

Spanish Oak (Q. falcata),

/

14 Report On The Geology Of Whitley

Scarlet Oak (Q. coccinea)..

Willow Oak (Q. phellos), Moist low lands.

Laurel Oak (Q. imbricaria.)

Black-jack Oak (Q. nigra). Noticed in South Fork region

only. Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra. Torrey).

Shell-bark Hickory (C. sulcata). 'Beech (Fagus ferruginea).

Sugar Maple (Acer sacharinum).

White Maple (A. dasycarpum).

Red Maple (A. rubra).

Ash Maple, Box Elder (Negundo aceroides).

Black Birch (Betula lenta).

Mulberry (Morus rubra).

Hornbeam (Carpinus Americana).

Ironwood (Ostrya Virginica).

Locust (Robina pseudacacia).

Yellow Wood (Cladrastis). Hill land, Patterson creek.

White Ash (Fraxinus Americana).

Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis).

Black Gum (Nyssa multiflora).

Many smaller trees and shrubs abound, some of which, like the flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida), the Service Berry (Amelanchier Canadensis), the great leaved Magnolias (M. umbrella and M. macrophylla) the Holly (Ilex opaca), the Red-bud (Cercis Canadensis), the wild Camelia (Stuartia Virginica), the Kalmias, the Rhododendrons, and many others, contribute in their turn so much of beauty to the woodland landscape, that it is at the least a pleasure to know that 'they have no special commercial value to make them a prey to the timberman's ax.

Adjacent to the larger streams, the yellow poplar has been

mostly removed. The tan-bark oak has been mostly cut down

near the railway lines for the bark alone. The black walnut trees of the original forest have very nearly all been removed. Fortunately for the future wealth of Whitley county, as also of Pulaski adjoining, much of her woodland has been so inaccessible as prevent an immediate exhaustion of timber resources. Properly husbanded, the timber should be second in value to the coal deposits only, in a considerable portion of this region.

And A Part Of Pulaski County. 15

COAL, IRON ORES, CLAYS, ETC. The coal-beds of this region are distributed through the two

divisions of the coal measures at varying intervals. For each division alike, it may be said in a general way that there is a coal ova E Seam for each 100 feet of vertical section. 3 The workable beds would be considerably rock ene on, less from the number of thin seams, and ' f=o'g2¢=-| from the occasional thinning out of the workable beds. With all its forbidding we} appearances, the Conglomerate measures come nearer to this ratio than the measures above, or, in other words, in the percentage of carbonaceous matter deposited in workable beds of coal, the Rockcastle group is the richer division of the two. In the matter of economic value, much depends on the special qualities of the coal and on accessibility. In these respects, the upper division is of first importance. This. field, as a whole, including the two divis- NES ch — lons, from the range in quality and the sano-nooK, great body of the deposits, is one of the most important in the Appalachian coalfields.

CONGLOMERATE Lt SAND-ROCK [-

BARREN Fk. COAL

— ee ey tt! i

CONGLOMERATES: "ef SAND-ROCK [-7

Thin Coal

Coal

Conglomerate Measures.

200 Hi cael kf, THIN COAL fersesrrrrmrn The coal seams of the Rockcastle group.

¥s will be gathered from the brief general

description of the formation, are more prominent towards the base of the vertical section. The accompanying generalized section, shows the typical order of beds for this group. In some portions of this Conglomerate field, all the features of this section, except the coarse cliff forming sand-rocks and conglomerates, are so generally covered, and the coals have been

Bryan Coal

Thin Coal

8T.Louls F.%— GROUP

Tia nt

opened in so few places, that the extension of beds is a

16 Report On The Geology Of Whitley

matter of inference. The order here indicated is, however, substantially correct, both as a basis for the description of coal beds, and as a guide to a fuller development. The iron ore at the top of the Chester group is the equivalent of the Red river ore of Estill county, and of the lower limestone ore of the Hanging Rock iron district. It is present in the Cumberland river region, at and below the mouth of the Rockcastle river, showing a foot in thickness at one point where exposed, and apparently considerably thicker in places where formerly opened. This ore and the Kidney ore, which occur in the coal measures above, have been made the basis of a profitable iron industry in the Red river and Hanging Rock districts; but with the recent developments in iron making, these ores alone can hardly serve as the basis of a profitable iron industry. The thin coal near the top of the'Chester group is interesting as occurring at a coal level of some economic importance in Jackson county—the Jackson county cannel horizon. It is shown in the Happy Hollow region under the first prominent sandstone ledge. The variable character of the rocks at the base of the Rockcastle group, and a comparison of the South Fork section with the exposures along the railway from Happy Hollow to Greenwood, suggest the possibility that this bed is

also the equivalent of Bryvan coal of the South Fork region,

though that seam is generally regarded as the equivalent of the next bed above the Happy Hollow coal, 50 to 60 feet above the top of the Chester group. At Happy Hollow, the beds are as shown in the general section. In the Bryvan coal region, the thin coal seam is wanting apparently, and the first coal, 30 to 50 feet from the calcareous sand-rock and shale which represent the Chester group, or are transition beds that locally intervene between the two formations, is the Bryvan coal. This is the most prominent bed in the South Fork region. It has been opened at a number of places both in Whitley and in Pulaski, and rising to the westward, it should be the most widely distributed bed in Wayne county.

The thickness of this coal, as indicated by openings along the South Fork, on the Bryant and Vanwinkle lands, varies from 46 to 63 inches in one body. The points where the bed was exposed to view when this region was visited are mostly

And A Part Of Pulaski County. 17

in Whitley county. Near the ''Devil's Jumps,' some miles

'above the mouth of Roaring creek, the thickness of the main

portion of the bed is 46 to 51 inches; at the mouth of this

creek, 57 inches; on Worley branch, 55 to 63 inches; near

the mouth of Rock creek, in Wayne county, 56 inches. In the point of the ridge, between Nigger and Big creek, this bed 1s in two benches, 31 and 23 inches, separated by 9 inches of shale. 'The lower 23 inches is a splint coal.

Preliminary tests of the coking quality of the Worley branch coal resulted favorably, as will be seen by the analysis of the coke, which is described by Dr. Peter as a firm and compact coke. The favorable result of these tests is the more interesting, as this bed is supposed to be the equivalent of the Pocahontas coal of Virginia.

In the following cut the shale parting should have been 10

inches instead of about 4, as drawn by the engraver.

An average of three analyses made

SHALY sanosTONE from samples collected at different times by Capt. Crozer, Assistant Thruston, and

myself, is added; and also the result of

the analysis of coke made from this coal

under the direction of Mr. Thruston:

BEC ee ey pirate eho gwen: 3.00 2.10 Volatile combustible matters... . BbuI4 hi es eas iae Fixed carbon in coke 56.41 90.46 PRR io for Aah eae oe eee 5.18 7.44 tt Ss ae Sh Gi OMe ne eg Be YO Sy" 197 665

Further up the South Fork this coal shows a larger per cent. of volatile combustible matters. Samples from near the Devil's Jumps, collected by Mr. Thruston, give the following results :

a

Z Clay And Shale

Sa

COAL 18° EP res RG emai Sieg? AS UAO Ries 90 1.50 Volatile combustible matters... . 39.86 39.40

Fixed carbon in coke. 47.30 53.88

PPM CES, gk Te Se eh eae ES oo gah 11.90 5.40

SF LS Percentage of sulphur... ... . 8.741 1.089

Bryvan Coal, Worley Br. A gas coal of considerable richness is GEOL. SUR.—2.

18 Report On The Geology Of Whitley

indicated by these samples. The percentage of sulphur in one of these samples may be incidental, as is indicated by the other.

The Happy Hollow coal on the Cincinnati Southern Railway, 50 to 60 feet above the top of the Chester group, has 39 inches of good marketable coal, with surroundings as shown in the annexed cut. Sample for analysis was taken

Sas SLATE ° from a room on the main entry 500 feet from -

the entrance.

Da oy Ras lhe ee NLM anal! coe oh A ane ah et ae 1.40

Volatile combustible matters. 4 36.20

Caccen i thevwabhke) os 2ogt, Fs ee et 56.80

SF RRR EE hl ite Sa Lee oh eongng, he eisai yl a oe ue 5.80 Stages Rae See mere gr eas See icity Sree eA d 1.043

The entries here are about 50 feet above the grade of the C. 8S. Railway at Happy Hollow station. 3

In the Cumberland and Rockcastle river re- Pilea Hollow Coat, Zion, this seam is represented by the '' Lower

Mm COAL & SLATE

Coal'' of the ''Cumberland Coal'' region. This was a noted field until the uncertain river transportation made it unprofitable to compete with other sources of supply for Nashville and other towns in the valley of the Cumberland. The lower coal is about 60 feet above the Chester shales, as noted at the Edwards mines, three-fourths of a mile below the mouth of the Rockcastle river. The Boyer, the McKee and the Hudson mines are at this level. The latter showed a thickness of four feet in shaly rock, with conglomerate sand-rock. both above and below, as observed by Capt. W. C. Crozer. The Edwards coal, which is still mined, has been taken as a representative of this bed, though thinner than at 'the other mines. From a partial outcrop exposure of the McKee Big Lick seam, showing a splint coal 32 inches thick, with 4 inches

And A Part Of Pulaski County. 19

of impure cannel resting on top, a sample was aux also taken for aia fia

eS

oe ee at he

C

mn ety

Coal 80"

Be el ks ce oa ha ontac a ioa he EX 3.40 2.80 Volatile combustible matter 34.40 383,80 Carbon in coke. eer tee od OL OS? BO TR SP INE Irate ec pe Ceo gies nt 5.00 9.80 Baie Bice fae te he eg es AEs a 687 2.58

WAN nA ZA NAS

PANS Edwards Coal.

coal on this creek, now fallen in, giving 4 feet 9 inches of coal, with a slight clay parting, which at one point increases to 30 inches, with the coal 4 feet 6 inches thick. (See volume IV., Old Series, page 485.) The stain of this coal seam shows at various points up the Rockcastle river, following to the drainage above Rockcastle Springs. This bed also falls below the Cumberland river near the mouth of Laurel Fork.

The next workable coal in the series is also found in both the South Fork and the Rockcastle region. It is from 70 to 90 feet above the seam just described. This bed is opened on the Worley and Stover branches of the South Fork, 44 and 37 inches respectively, as measured by Mr. Thruston. The former has four inches of splint coal at the top. The latter only has been seen by the writer. It has the appearance of being a good coal. Samples for analysis were not obtained from this bed in this region, Probably the Wilson coal, faced up to show 30 inches on Little Indian creek, represents this bed ; and the Dicks coal, reported by Lesley, in Wayne county (volume [V., Old Series), also visited by the writer, and found at one point, where reopened, to be 39 inches, including 3 inches of clay at the middle of the bed, is also at this level. A thin coal is found about half way between this and the main lower coal.

In the Cumberland and Rockcastle region, this bed is the main coal. This seam has been opened for mining, and more recently to show its extension in this region, at a number of points from which the following data respecting it is obtained.

Lasley aehorth having measured the McKee

20 Report On The Geology Of Whitley

Rayburn's '"'Slip-up'' mine, on the great bend of the Cumberland river, is the only place visited where mining is now carried on in this district at this coal horizon. The subjoined cut gives the bed section as shown in an entry recently driven.

A Coal 40"

Moisture: 52S ; 8 alee ee Ry pe 2.00 Volatile combustible matter... 2.4.. 34.80 Fixed carbon . é ae ne ee era cr Mey ered YS 55.20 PR cg ae Gone ae eae ee [oan 8.00 ROIBO ES eo eT eg ae oa 5 yi Sey a ee eee

This is about the average thickness as found

Site Coal. in a number of entries in this locality. Near the head of Addison branch this coal is opened, show-

ee ing a maximum of 54 inches. A sample taken

ete from the whole thickness of the bed gives the

following results by chemical analysis.

Coal 20"

Moisture . ecasik- oh Mv Tag ri cee pb ee ag Lycee

Volatile combustible matter... Sa Pee ROA ee

wu Rixed carbon . . 6 TET wens A ae ae en 54.40 POR Gh die ed a ae GO eae EG ee eR Loree ee

PRONE 8 EE te ee ae ee es os iene ee ee

Coal 23"

An opening on the head of Bear creek ex-

oe eee

Ss

poses 42 inches without parting. There is

Ses AT

Re ad ay a gS a

Addison Br. Coal.

Wp

also a natural exposure of this bed in the

And A Part Of Pulaski County. O41

ereat crescent rock-house at the head of another branch of this creek. The analysis was made from a sample sHale from the opening at the head of the creek.

—— Cannel C. 4°

Were res 29 en a ies Pw a ee aes 2.40 Volatile combustible Matter... 1. ae eas (ge a a BS, 00 Wized carbon... a Se ee SS ee TT oS Elica eS dot ee ae a ce ga) te ae 9.40 coaL 42" Sulphur... .. . DA gen Shine ne, eek er 467

This bed is opened on the waters of Buck creek, showing bed sections similar to the

Un) the wate It is also reported by Lesley, on V, A e .

the waters of Pitman's creek, in workable Baar 6p: Cont. thickness. Eastward in Laurel county, on

Craig's creek, above the old salt well at Vox post-office, 51 inches is shown without parting. Sample for analysis was collected from this bed by Assistant G. M. Sullivan. The

following is the report of Dr. Peter :

Moisture... REPT OEE OF A ie, Cer 1a RAE y eee Re Ne Leda! le V olatile combustible matter. er phe tg cabs cee ey ee thee. Se e100 Fixed carbon. Gr Re Bee ed LES li cgh Met hel ve 5 gee ei i tea oh FN aig an Site apa Ree a ee a koe ate hanes geo Ch Le cc ete ie "ta ee Set ulpnur sk RPh ares it os et ab ug tg tee eA een a oe peer!" : Fob

An opening was formerly mage one mile above Sublimity, or or nearly four miles avove Rockcastle Springs, by Montrose Graham, who reports 48 inches of coal, the upper 18 inches splint coal. The excavation had been entirely covered by a slip when recently visited. A massive sand-rock overlies this bed in the Rockeastle region, with a few feet of slate intervening, In the South Fork region, the place of this bed is not so conspicuously marked, the overlying sand-rock rarely forming cliff ledges. A thin coal is found at many places 25 to 30 feet below this coal bed. It is not known at any place to be a prominent bed. ,

The third workable coal seam of this group is the Barren Fork, Flat Rock, Greenwood, Beaver creek seam, about 200 feet higher up in the formation. Samples for analysis from

ua REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OF WHITLEY

this bed were mostly collected by Assistant R. C. B. Thrus- Cae Bee ton. Analyses of three samples taken in

pam eer Ss

sanosrone lifferent ways are here given.

—.

Shale

bo Z © S ts thy 2 Bye o 5 ; ae Mes COAL 32. TO 36. Gat tp f se aly Mh RP a eee ph teed eee z Shes Moisture... pee ieee ae 1,54:-.1 52533 2.42 Volatile combustible matter. . . . |33.80 32.48 31.56

Fixed carbon .. . 58.26 |59.10 59.02

1 OPP ce Aa ape Ra a aA, (a 6.40 6.10} 7.30

"t WSEAUS Cos Since gr oe fy hae ow) fh 04 SE Oe to ee

BONE-COAL 6 ene Samples collected by the writer from Barren Fk. Coal. near the outcrop, before the mine was put

in operation, gave results very nearly the same.

The Flat Rock coal differs somewhat from the Barren Fork in its bed section, but it is essentially the same in character. '2 conctoerate LHe analysis is of sample from the whole

m2 re SANDSTONE thickness of the bed.

COAL 6 ee oc ye - MOisture' . ww aks: Seiad "oo a erie Volatile combustible matter ./ 86,24 PING Be Es rs TS ae an ek ae . . 55,26 PRONE BOE PL ot Mi Ade Ven blather Wa a he ee ag we 6.7 Rtas ant SAVE) S55 SRS fc ig? Maree ey gee TERROR Rape ok mre Ss a 1,286

As mined at these points, this bed is from 150 to 180 feet below the grade of the

sone-coas" Cincinnati Southern Railroad.

cLay The result of the analysis of the Green- Pink toh Coad, wood coal is as follows: Moisture . SF La AS aie Raton care a nee Serres a a, Volniiie cambuatibie Watton. 4) ib SP es a ge EN es eee 36.20 WAOUG COUN s iis og STisialgy ease fel oes es Pa Te EN eee Oe ee ON Ret eee ed Pe ae eg he Sg AE igs nics oe aa GaN ini: i ne nck hela pe Tatas eo eh ie 8. 1 EMME pg re Oto Se eee go teat Rent Lie ben TA, er ahiae hs aeriane Sees pe.

two analyses, is here given:

And A Part Of Pulaski County. 23

The composition of the Beaver creek coal, as indicated by

PS on ere

so is,

Entry No. 6, Beaver Creek. . 1

2s 5

ea

oe oa

RE teat fhe oe pees FR Se eS Donte eet yee epes ore ge sii ates 2.20 2.34 et AIAG FIG IG LUGE 85 a er ee i 8 aE ES 36.56 34.32 Ere Sak eet RES ye a OATS GAR OS te toe a ea be Pome ge 538.14 56.12 ABI B555an oT es ea ea aT eae opt uk datons yam Boke Tee Nese eiae eats 8,10 mean Sebi we MEE git aie ei OD Os tae i Dt ates ieee ere. Seg Pice ee, ke ee 1.265

This coal seam appears to be more variable in thickness and quality in the Beaver creek region than elsewhere in this conglomerate field.

At the tunnel cut next above Cumberland Falls station, this seam shows 39 inches of coal, with 18 inches above, separated by 8 inches of clay shale. It has also been recently opened at the station nearly down to railroad grade. The four mines

mentioned are in Pulaski county. This bed would doubtless be found at its proper outcrop level in the South Fork valley,

in Whitley county, 200 feet or more below the grade of the Cincinnati Southern Railroad.

02a But one opening of this bed has been noted sy aek eter conste in the Rockcastle region. This is at the Winday mcrreusstne ing-stair Gap, near the mouth of Cane creek, in Laurel county, beyond the limits of the accompanying map. A cut and an analysis is appended for comparison with the preceding

TOME Bis sa Sr me Finks os 8 os ica tet bye, EB he TY ae ne eee Volatile combustible matter, . 2. 1.6 5. 6 ws 44°86 40 Pized carbon . is Sek a MA ak aa oie tO, OO NI sae WEL etek Meee gece vie Men) Lana he SRR SON Rew 3 5 Nga 5 80 anda RAE PSOE 2 ia cy s0 08 otal Se at ee wh we tela ago eal ae ee

Above this coal level follows a conglomerate sand-rock from 100 to 200 feet in thickness. ca she This is removed in part or entirely over a con-

SHNIZY) siderable part of this field. It is most prom-

a, SY'

a

\Winding-stair Gap c. nent towards the Tennessee line, forming the

24 Report On The Geology Of Whitley

rock tables southward from Flat Rock station. Like the whole formation, this upper member of the Rockcastle group decreases in thickness northward. The report on the coals of Jackson county and a part of Rockcastle will give an increased number of beds from the local prominence of the thin

coal found here near the top of the Chester group. Portions. of Lee, Estill, Wolfe, Powell and Menefee counties are included.

in this conglomerate coal-field. The number of workable beds in the latter county in this formation is reduced to one. The whole field is one of promise beyond what had been expected of this cliff-forming part of the coal measures.

Of the coals in the corresponding Pine Mountain conglomerate, little is yet known. As the beds here are tilted so as to.

be unprofitable for mining purposes, it has been thought best.

not to attempt a study of the coals of this monoclinal mountain until the more important fields have been developed.

The possibility of finding the Oriskany iron ore in this uplift, although not within the present means of the Survey to determine, gives to this ridge an economic interest which should not. be overlooked. The uplift is certainly such as to bring the Oriskany formation above the main drainage. It is, however, covered by the horizontal measures north of the fault-line, or by the debris fallen from the steep face of the mountain. The question of the occurrence of this iron ore is one of' great importance in connection with the coking coals which have already been developed. From what is known of its occurrence elsewhere, the probability of its being found here is sufficient to warrant the expenditure necessary for a practical solution of the question.

Measures Above. The Conglomerate.

The series above the Rockcastle group is made up of alternating shales and sand-rock, the former varying from clay Shale and slate to shaly sandstone, the latter from slaty to massive sand-rock. No conglomerate rock has been observed, though the massive sand-rocks are often coarse, giving rise to jagged ledges and cliffs, especially in the middle and upper portions. 'This series is coal-bearing throughout : though little

And A Part Of Pulaski County. 26:

is known of the value of the upper coal

beds. Iron ore in kidney segregations or

in thin beds occur more especially in the

lower portion. No limestone is found; but

calcareous strata occur, without definite

place in the vertical section. In the more shaly lower part of the section calca-& reous ¢oncretions are more or less abund-&§ ant, bedded in the shale rock, as noted ing other parts of the Eastern Kentucky coal field. These concretions are noticeable from their lenticular form, and from their buff or whitish earthy lime composition. They vary from a few pounds weight to masses weighing tons. More rarely this rock occurs in jointed beds. By reference § to former reports, it will be seen that these 3

Group, Whitl

calcareous concretions are associated with &.

Coal No. 1 of the Greenup, Carter and Law- & rence region. They are traced along thes Kentucky, the Licking and the Big Sandy § valleys to the Pound Gap region, where they are associated with the increased num- a ber of coal beds in the shaly lower part of 3 the geological section, or in the shales§ below the Elkhorn coal. In the Whitley s region they are in the shales beiow the $ Jellico coal. The irregularity of their ver- & tical distribution within the limit of about 200 feet or more, in some portions of the § Kastern coal-field,. makes this feature an § uncertain guide for the identification of equivalent beds, but it is important in az more general comparison of vertical sections. 2

The place of the first coal above the conglomerate measures is indicated in the preceding general section. It is the equivalent of the Altamont, Pittsburg, Lilly seam of Laurel county

Sandstone ee ad 100 See er

Cannel C. SS

DE MeahanhahianA aad ante alee

Massive Sandstone

Dean' €. &

Shale &

sShaly Sandstone(/:

Coal

" co Caddell C. jipmpemmmee

200 a Jellico C. faegupemmepas

Birdseye Cannel C.

Shale &

ih

Mi

Shaly ———

td 4

: ®

j,! : it MT

26 Report On The Geology Of Whitley

In Whitley county it has not been opened in such relation to the top of the conglomerate measures as to give it a definite relation to that formation. In Laurel it is from 50 to 7 feet above the conglomerate. The bed which appears to represent the Lilly coal in Whitley has been noted along the Cumberland river as a stain, is opened at Albert Mahan's, at the bed of the Paint branch of Jellico creek, at the mouth of the branch near Steeley's store, at M. E. White's, near the foot of Shepheard's Peak, or Lone mountain, and along the road to Marsh creek, with an average bed section of 30 inches of good coal; also near the head of Marsh creek, Ryan's coal, 36 inches in thickness. All of these exposures appear to be nearly 100 feet above the conglomerate measures. Southward from Lilly, on the tributaries of the Laurel fork, where this bed is most likely to extend in workable thickness, it has not been traced. This coal is above drainage in the Flatwoods region only, though it is not unlikely that the coal shown in the bed of Clear Fork, at various points, up to Saxton station, may represent this seam. Report makes this bed 3 feet or more. I have not been able, from high-water and other hinderances, to verify this account.

The Laboratory report on the Ryan coal gives the following favorable showing. The result of an analysis of the Lilly coal is added for comparison :

Ryan. Lilly.

NMMIR AR MMRE eS eoo G S ak e R ee iey o oek e a fee ee at te ee 2.08 2.00 Natl ea Commnuatiine Matter... S: lee Cobra. cae Seles 35.58 37.00 WR NR ee ig fo nas thd gee tat WE AY Es od ae Vel feta as 58.90 58.10 Re Ras git asa, ees nH ge lel Bk eee ae ee 3.44 2.90 PN SE te Sv hie gt ee a rigs SON dae Cad eat Boe 567 1.058

ee

a — co Piro

Greater importance will attach to this coal, I think, as it becomes better developed. For local use, it will be the most available coal of the greater portion of the Flatwoods district. It is entirely removed from the Pulaski portion of the Flatwoods, and from that part of Whitley which lies on the ridge traversed by the Cincinnati Southern Railway, north of Whitley Station, southward from Pine Knob Station. This bed may be found in the hills which rise above railway grade.

AND A PART OF PULASKI COUNTY. oT

Several coal seams follow in the upward order to the eastward, in the mostly shaly rocks of the lower part of the general section, which form the low hills towards Jellico mountain, south of the Cumberland river, and towards Watts creek, north of that river. So far as known, they are too thin to have more than a local importance. They are indicated diagramatically in the accompanying generalized section. The coal opened on the land of W. B. Morgan, on the Carr's fork of Watts creek, shows as great a thickness as has been noticed. The bed section here measures 4 feet 3 inches, including 15 inches of shale 1 foot from the top.

The yellowish or ocherous shales which form the low hills of a considerable portion of the flatwoods of Whitley, and which are even more prominent in Laurel and Knox counties, and especially noticeable in the Yellow creek valley of Bell, are also the shales of the Clear fork valley, and that of Patterson creek and of Poplar creek, as seen near the base of the hills.

The whole thickness in Whitley is probably about 300 feet. The whole thickness is not exposed at any one point or at different points that have been examined in sufficient detail to warrant a more accurate estimate.

The clay shales of this portion of the general section, especially, less prominently of the whole coal-bearing series, afford valuable deposits of plastic clay. good illustration of this is found in an excavation along the Procter Coal Company's railway on Indian creek, where a thickness of 8 feet is exposed. A sample cut from 5 feet of the exposed face gives the following result:

Per

cent SE ea 2 Se its 8 a a ery Ag ONS Be eR eet Mes chee ian Rees eer ee 59.10 Pe WILN ITN PSU. 36.3 Os ae ae ew OR TR RR, eee ere 29.70 SeaTaINUN WP EMVEVGR Oc 8 aes Chae eae Le A UE te Re ce Cee ae We a eee a trace OM he ist oti ia Se ae Cemey Kak gig ptt heal ewe thas kid: We NRE es RT ote RERERS Na gs aam tere Tig TG, a pmeg Se habeee Sons Gone he (oe eed ee en ae 3.86 PEE ecg nS: Sais Gu Tak Mig Nig RSS a aE Sule ay WAR REPRE Re eae er har ane a trace Mahan Shak eee ee ER a gk a ee Re as cael Sa keg gt aed eee Oe a trace

Moisture not determin

This bed is unusually free from impurities excepting potash. Most of these clays are colored more or less with iron, They

28 Report On The Geology Of Whitley

are, however, suitable for the commoner earthen-ware, for drain tile, building tile and terra-cotta, without expensive preparation. What better results may be reached by more careful selection and admixture, remains to be determined by

well-directed experiment. In addition to the bedded clays of

this portion of the coal measures, the under-clays of the coal seams throughout, ranging from one to four feet in thickness, should be mentioned in this connection. The surface clays of the valleys are very generally suited to brick-making for building purposes.

Of the coais in the measures above the conglomerate division, the bed known as the Jellico seam is the most important. It will, therefore, be first described and made a reference level for the description and identification of other beds. In the series above the Rockcastle group this coal is the third workable bed. Counting all of the coal seams which may have local value, the Jellico seam would be the fourth or fifth in the series.

The Jellico coal is already most favorably known in the market, and the question of its extension and relation to the surface features of the country has a corresponding importance. In its relation to the topography of the hill region to which it is here limited, it ranges from 200 to 400 feet above the main water-courses. In bed section it has a thickness varying from 30 inches to 62, generally separated into two benches by a thin clay parting, which is reduced in its northward extension to a mere trace, or replaced by a thin parting near the base of the bed. In this region this bed is exceptionally persistent in its structural characteristics, as it is also in its composition ; being unusually free from excess of ash and sulphur throughout.

Illustrations of bed sections with analyses, covering a large territory, follow. In the first instance, a number of analyses are given of samples taken from the whole bed, from the

upper and lower benches separately, and also to show the

And A Part Of Pulaski County 29

difference between a sample from the whole face and a supposed representative lump: snore SAMPLES TAKEN FROM THE PROCTER MINES.

Upper Bench| Lower bench

ay i COAL 22° © 5 So) oes ee mf os CLAY 1" g ae . oO (qe) @ ree PNR ne hen Ps ar ake 2.00:4.1,80 2-00 2.60 2.40 Volatile combustible mat. 133.70 |85.00 36.40 |33 20 33.10 PU OAPHON. os ss (oa 61.90 |60.60 60.30 62.20 63.10 ? OTS hee ee Ce rg eee 2.40 2.60 1-1:80 206 1.40

'At the Wooldridge and the Standard mines, a few miles southward in Tennessee, this coal differs in no material respect from that of the Procter mine. The former is 420 feet above the main drainage, and the latter about 20 feet higher.

The mine of the East Tennessee Coal Company, in a spur between Jellico and the Main Jellico or Kensee mine, has a bone coal parting of one inch instead of clay. The following is the bed section at this mine, and the result of an analysis of a sample from the whole bed, excluding the bone coal :

— " darian PS ERE

SHR POOP oi. oh POMBO a ile ce ae oy 2.00

Nes ah ok AP ga oh olin 14 inches. Volatile combustible matter . 86.00

Bowe CON ok a ek, 1 inch. Fixed. carbon: 24°. 42308 eee 60.00

ARR Say 4, et A eae ae ene 30 inches. ABS 25 OE ED Le ee eee 2.00

WBE. C8 Slee egy amaleeas Poe ee eas Buiphar. oon eee 631

~The one inch bone coal has 14 per cent. of ash.

The height above Clear Fork is less by 50 feet or more than

at the Procter mine, from the eastward dip along the western

side of the Clear Fork and Elk creek valley.

30 Report On The Geology Of Whitley

The Main Jellico mine, in a spur of the Jellico Mountain,

on Pigeon creek, has an increased per cent. of fixed carbon. Esquire Ridner's opening of the same coal on the Right Fork shows the sandcoaL20° Stone roof, which is a char-

acteristic feature northward jccav? from this locality.

MRO he ec hese Se Ty 1.90

COAL 20 Volatile combustible matter. . 32.86 Maven Carbon 26.7 202 es Ee BBD

POR eS ho AEE eee A 2.14

Sae % TR ws eo ee . 700 m COAL 2"

3 In the Jellico creek region

Main Jellico Coat. this bed has been opened in several places. Near the old salt well at R. P. Creekmore's, about one mile from the Tennessee line, this bed is considerably thickened, and the clay parting is increased to 7 inches, as in the cut, but the coal is characteristic. Separate analyses are given for the two benches,

Sandrock

Coal 86°

Clay

Ridner's Coal.

ee a ee

And A Part Of Pulaski County.

Sandrock

Sandrock

Coal 36"

Coal 26°

Creekmore's Coal.

Coal 36.

Joseph Cox's Coal.

!

Shale & Shaly

Clay Shale 7°

top. Here the bed is about 980 feet above the local drain-

CO rd

'

s 3

oo Lar] my

PIRGILO iskO es eis ee tip ae eek ee tees 2.00 1.70: Volatile combustible matter. 31.20 37.40: eA CAPONE ar celta ee Se OA ORE rs 62.94 59.36 PAT eo aa LP os Maho 5 NP se ci eek. vee 3 76 1.54 Be OUE 2. hee a he cle ee ela Ret ee 901 1.721 Specific gravity 4k ah ee one Se bE

This coal will be found in all of the Jellico creek region south of Pleasant Run, and in the Lone Mountain north of that stream.

Northward from the mining district, the Jellico coal has been opened at a number of places on Wolf creek. The coal imperfectly opened near Mr. Thomas' house, on the showing 30 inches, probably represents this bed. Other exposures on the main creek, near M. K. Mahan's, ° about 250 feet above the creek, indicate the place of this bed with less certainty. But on Possum branch this coal is readily identified. It is opened at Joseph Cox's and. also at Jas. Cox's, 36 and 89 7s ~1t7 inches, with traces of a clay seam 15 inches from the

age. ieasoeraeis : eerie oe COAL 45° PEE I EOE Eee ee 1.84 Volatile combustible matter . . 338.84 Fixed carbon ¢ oe eee Bee Mite ees ote baa oe bis gegen ened 4.36 SSLELLELL gem eRetn raga PCR hater abet hay a a8

The Lawson coal, in the

Clay

point of the hill nearer to Pleasant View — station,

B55 Report On The Geology Of Whitley

thicker, as shown in the cut. On the opposite side of the hill this bed is opened on the land of Robert Bird, Esquire. F'ree- ZA sandstoneMan's coal, on the north side of the Cane ==Shale creek valley, is almost identical in bed sec-

tion.

Coal 21." bo xy

Qu rae)

cn 5

i]

Clay 4% 5

Q

oakia" + .% "ieee POGUTO Le BS EAs RS sa a ak) eee 2.40 1.60 , Volatile combustible matter... 34.80 37,20 ae A 14" PIS ON POCONO ok a ee ee hee 68.86 58.40 Clay PRI eet het a pthcwchad ad ek Gighrd iF. oo. -pY cate 4.00 2.80 DR IADS, R eo e o oyl tea es eS a ee 522 . 796

Bird's Coal. S vee pier ee —

This bed is also exposed on the head of the Left Fork of Cane creek, somewhat reduced in thickness, only 28 inches being shown as opened by Mr. Ridner.

On Brier creek, this seam is opened on the land of Mr. M. Richardson, showing a similar bed section. Openings near the head of the creek indicate a reduction in thickness to 30 inches, as at Mr. Jones' and at Mr. Greer's. (The coal exposed at the latter place may prove to be the seam next below the Jellico bed.) But Foley's coal, recently opened nearer

Lhe sanorox Williamsburg, shows 47 inches, including one inch of bone-coal.

" [809

Coal 36"

3, UOSPABYOIY [80g seu0r [BOD 8.1001

K

gS. ié?) cr S @ ——s We)

oooh we) om —" ile] c—_

ACRE Gat era te 38.92 |36.10 37.40

MIKO CHERON YM a's C80 4) ats ao . . . [56.84 |59.50 58.60 eT PER go eis ee ee ah eee ae a 2.36 2.50 2,10 a Be ee pA RUE TOME ok Fae Casts oe pig BE BS . 164 ORF .928

Richardson's Coal, Brier Creek.

And A Part Of Pulaski County. 33

In Jones' Peak, on the Jellico creek side, this bed, as recently opened, shows as follows :

Shale to sand-rock above. . 2 fod Moisture oss is Jae Saag 1, 26 Dae ite ea eg in ty. fig ge 39 inches Volatile combustible matters . 37.86 Ee se Nk ss oS. op Sapobes Pied Carpon. 505 7 i: ea oe ee rc IVE See ls Sinan Ca a Sais 1 Ae se be 2 oe os eee 6.40 no. Mi ee Sa ee rer 1,8 loches jC Buipour. Ss mantener ef) ee re re ecg tee wg 7.5 inches

In the Williamsburg region the Jellico seam is recognized from openings made by Dr. Gatliff, Jno. W. Seiler and others, in Morgan Mountain, the river terminus of the Jellico Mountain west of the town. On the west side of the mountain, which is about 900 feet high, an opening made by W. C. Cox also shows this coal in its specific character, 37 inches thick. The average thickness in this locality appears to be about 40 inches. An analysis of a sample from an entry on the land of Mr. Seiler gives the following result :

Aes ct tr t5 De ee BAS eh ate goes What ee. al wo el 2.00 VY slatilo combustible matter . 0.0). oe eee ae we 8 Sp oe 34.00 Mew HR PURIEC OT ecg gh aces bal gee him ye Sk at ae ie Me Meira ok 7 PO OSS Ah A Oe nhs Epa eer eee an, PARIS eM ce ke Wk pe Pg OP ee ae 4.80 oe SS Ce ea rods oer Rarer Meee gee eer Sa Set Poi e ee eases ee este -, + 1,428

East of the Clear Fork, the Jellico coal has been traced to the Pine Mountain, where it terminates at the fault line in the face of the mountain. In the hills opposite to Pleasant View, this seam is opened at a number of points extending southward to Buck creek, at a height of about 340 feet above Clear Fork, and varying in thickness at outcrop from 37 to 41 inches. On Tackett's creek, the Terril Seiler coal represents this bed. It is 41 inches thick, with one-half inch clay 16 inches from the bottom. The following analysis is of this coal as opened near

OSS SES Sa fe ROC ACE? On gh eR ea a ROE RPE ein sion eke 5 240 Volatile combustible matter. 2 2 6k ce eg ee we eG ies 36 60 TS ORES ele FeO CR Pe Re ROT: See PCE eh dle Ss eee eg hed le PS eke eS eg hh ae ge we ce ae ee ae 3.30

we her 0 Ota Se eae hae ee a ee RE ee le Te le a eae Sem? ae

34 Report

Of The Geology Of Whitley

Jones' coal, opened near the head of Little Patterson creek

100 feet above the bed of the creek, probably represents the Jellico seam, though the structure approaches more nearly to.

splint than is usual for this bed. The bed section and com position is, however, characteristic.

Slaty Sandrook

Shale

Coal 86" (Part Splint

—

Volatilecombuistible matter' "<2 8-4 2a 56.08 Mixed Serbo er Ge, io. pees ae eee 59.20

This seam was formerly opened on the main Patterson creek by Messrs. Clapp and Fixton, 115 feet above the Polley coal, which will be described in connection with the Bird's-eve seam. This entry has fallen in so as not to show the thickness of the bed. Coal thrown out shows the characteristic Jellico fracture. The Same bed is exposed in a ravine on Rose's. Fork of Patterson creek, about 200 feet

Jones? C. Little Pattersoner. Above the local drainage. On Little Caney creek this bed shows 36 inches. In the ridge between Big Caney and Mud creek, it is opened in a number of places bh a minimum of 37 inches without parting. On Mud creek. in the face of Pine Mountain, two and one-half miles hake Boston, this seam has 'been opened by Wymer Seiler, 275 feet above the creek, in the horizontal measures which sxibadt to. the fault along the face of the mountain. Slight traces of the clay seam were noted here. which are not shown in the sub-

joined cut,

et et tt et giieecornisanaiant: — RE TE Oe 9 ene en

AND A PART OF PULASKI COUNTY. oo

Sandstone

Coal 40"

Sand-Rock

Shale

° Coal 19

Pp Sinruiy I Clay

Coal 21°

H. ©. King's Coal, Near Mahan Station.

Analysis Of The Wymer Seiler Coal.

MN eh ky og et nea tet ce an ee 2.58 Volatile combustible matter ay ay Be. 12 Pine Garver ey 5 OR OLS "eed ae ee 62.70 DG oo eases a ae ek eee, oa pe ee 1.60 POE AS ata gl aoa hak eee 670

The coal, 36 inches thick without parting, opposite to Wm. Wilson's house, near the head of Golden's Fork of Poplar creek, may possibly be the Jellico seam, but it is probable that the coal, 80 to 90 feet higher up in the section, opposite to Mr. May's, two miles down the creek, indicates the place of the Jellico coal in this locality. Very little has been done to develop this bed in the Poplar creek region. —

North of the Cumberland river the Jellico seam has been opened at a few points only. The coal opened on the land of H. C. King, near Mahan station, is clearly identical in character and surrounding with the Jellico seam south of the river. It is 40 inches thick, and about 280 feet above the bed of the creek. The bed section and analysis are as follows:

PERRIER Bact te ia cg og hae ang thaiiee feet e 4.60 Volatile combustible matter ... . %.- 32.80 eee CNTY oo Fk ok el ee eee eS 59 .00 Pe ere SS es athe ASS 22 ap ane ne ag 3.60

, 742

DEER gets gh va Gas a DO. on. ERE eR ee

On Brown's creek, 200 feet above the creek, at Mr. Falkner's house, this bed shows as a stain along a bench in the hill.

On Tyree's Fork of Watts creek, two and one-half miles from Rockhold station, this bed has been opened, and an entry driven fifty yards or more. Measurements and collections were made

at the heading of the entry.

36 Report Of The Geology Of Whitley

Moisture. - Flas Sats LF ate rig iad oreen rele Mad 1.80 Volatile combustible matter <0. weiss -¢ eve} 07,00

SHALE Wiged : Carpet oe ae a 8 ee

Me ge et as eV Vilar ae Paley Re Lame 3.40

LE di ia ieee Bee Cece hae tale Bike Eas a PEL Ge A Wis Se 961

a

Coal. 24"

The hills on the east of the Knoxville Branch of the L. & N. Railroad are high fees cs enough to include this coal horizon as far as the headwaters of Lynn Camp creek. Northcose' eastward it has been identified as one of the economic features of Knox county. The bed section of this coal, as found on Indian creek, near Robert Ford's, is here repeated from the

W. 7. King's Coat, Teport of Mr. Thruston : Tyrees Fk.of Watts Cr,

me ee Geis Pe NESE a ey aca es eee ee Parting re i yg v om LE Ro NGA ek SS ig Donia owe, #1 ke pe ee ee a Wh ere hi) ns Se ee cyl ia Leste tints Oop 9) Sea cele Under-clay.

The North Jellico seam, as mined near Gray's Station, on the Cumberland Branch of the L. & N. Railroad, appears also to be at this level, though not so readily identified from its character and surroundings.

From the preceding description of the Jellico coal, with its regional extension, it will be seen that itis a bed of great importance to the county and to the coal trade. It does not appear to be a coking coal in a special sense, on inspection. Sufficient experimental work to show its possibilities in this direction, either by itself or by mixing with other coals, has net been done. It appears to be at the horizon of the Pineville coking coal, which already ranks with the best in the Appalachian field. The Jellico coal is recognized as a steam and a grate coal of the first rank, and as such it has become the basis of one of the largest coal mining interests in the State. The miming plants in operation here are on a scale suited to a erowing industry. The accompanying photo-engraving of the Tip- house of the Procter Coal Mining Company is an illustration of this. This Tip-house is in many respects the perfection of a modern arrangement for handling the output of a coal mine. Its

'9

%

Birds-Eye Cannel Coal, Patterson Creek.

AND A PART OF PULASKI COUNTY. oF

capacity, which can readily be doubled by substituting a second basket for the counterpoise weight and adding a second set of screens, is 1,000 tons per day of twelve hours. The capacity af the five mining plants is in excess of the railroad transportation provided, especially to the Southern markets. The increasing demand for this coal makes additional transportation lines a necessity, the meeting of which will add greatly to the industrial wealth of the county.

Below the Jellico seam, 100 to 125 feet, in a portion of the Whitley region, is a bed which will find a ready demand from its free-burning qualities. It is known as the Bird's-eye coal, from the peculiar pitted fracture which it exhibits in unusual perfection.

The accompanying photo-engraving illustrates this, necessarily imperfectly, but better than words could describe it. The face represented is at right-angles to the stratification. In some instances this peculiar fracture is shown in two planes, nearly at right-angles to each other, and to the deposition plane. It is preserved with greater or less distinctness through changes in the character of the coal from a rich, pure cannel to semi-cannel or splint coal, and to a block coal; but it does not generally prevail through the whole thickness of the bed.

The field for this coal is the Patterson creek region and the heads of adjacent creeks, Big and Little Caney, Mud and Poplar creeks. Westward from this district it is a splint coal 20 to 30 inches thick, and is one of the thin coals already mentioned.

The following sections and analyses represent this bed 'as known from the few openings made to show its range as a workable bed.

38 Report On The Geology Of Whitley

Pa The Polley coal, near the head of Patterson creek, shows the maximum thickness so far as known. The subjoined analysis is of a sample from the whole thickness :

Moisture .. Pei Sa Tigi e od kag Meth 2.14

Volatile co mbustible matter Ny da ot Senay fey Sa ha eee

RINSE: LEROON: as ee alan ete wisba acer we eat ie: als

BLOC OOAL OF Bob eG seu tere fae pelts ish daw oe eteh we Siete ea ea ay 3.04 Sipe eit eine Ak ee te Lp ey ae ogee 892

Specific grav ity RTE Pray seagate ay Vagal i Cog ay ane

From an opening on head of Little Caney creek, showing 28 inches Bird's-eye cannel coal, and six inches of common bituminous rere coal resting on it, an average sample of

Cale Ls Os

Shomer ae the cannel portion is found to have the fol- Fit oh ae toa

Polley's Coal, Patterson Cr lowing composition :

Moisture . . RR rR Sa ae" oe ee APN ae WOE Pe caer ae et Volatile sanubtintible inatter . er arey Bacar tet er eds Kies a a RS Res cree ie hey We Cnet 8h rhe ek Mi ah ic Swe Sh Gate VR NAY Goyer as See el geek aw 48.80 re eS ee oh Riedel wet AAs MKT Le Rk eee F 7.20 SS "5g 5 ie an aE arene ea OTE etna ae Reh aa ae aR Seg NL Are Se esate 1.207

On Bennett's creek, a branch of Patterson, heading against Big Poplar creek, this seam has a thickness of 48 inches of semi-cannel coal, the analysis of which is as follows

Moisture . . Fe nc tae igh Sat Ae aC a

Volatile combustible heathen oct co ae

ast ie MOMENT AECOROO5 1p rat fe rhe Sean ata fake sl 58.96 ON Fae eh eee Me EER kh Net ee

PUTAS yy 5nd oc ok Sep a 9 aight Ree eds . 555

Specific gravity 6 sie. ee et ee ee 1,282

Near the head 'of Mud creek this bed is a Bird's eye cannel coal, like that on Little 227) ovay Caney. The same is true on the head of

ris ee ee ee

Rennett's Coal, Bennett's cre atterson creek, but generally it is a semi-

And A Part Of Pulaski County. 39

cannel, scarcely inferior to cannel as 'a grate coal, and at the same time a steam coal of the highest promise.

The thickness of this bed, as noted at other places in this district, varies from 31 inches on Rose's Fork, to 41 inches on Long Branch, which heads against Tackett's creek of the Clear Fork valley ; and 36 inches at Wilson's, on the Golden Fork of Poplar creek. This last named coal being referred to this horizon somewhat doubtfully, as is also the coal reported on Long Branch of Poplar creek, but not seen. In all this district this seam is near the base of the hills. Out of this district, especially westward, the peculiar structural characteristic of this seam is lost ina great measure ; and the thickness ranges from 20 to 30 inches; but the quality of the coal still gives it an importance not entirely local, as is shown by the demand for the out-put of the Blevens and Carley and the Meyers mines at Jellico. Its place in the series can readily be traced by its relation to the Jellico coal, which is better known than any of the other coal beds of Whitley, and can generally be made to serve as a geological level from which to start in the identification of beds in the various localities.

From the showings of coal in the five workable beds already described, the natural wealth of the county will be seen to invite greatly increased industrial enterprises based on these deposits.

There are other notable coal horizons yet to be pointed out. Sufficient development has not been made to admit of any thing like a full description. From 75 to 100 feet above the Jellico seam a bed of considerable importance has been noted at a few points. The Caddell seam, in the ridge between the forks of Wolf creek, which is at this level, shows a thickness of 37 inches. It approaches cannel coal in composition, being a freeburning coal, as indicated by analysis :

Seen neininapation —

Descriptive section. m Moisture ; i 1.50 Coarse sand-rock. Volatile combustible matter ; 40 56 halo ahd sand-rock 2.'.... 16 feet. Carbon in coke'-.\ Seats 51.24 Bituminous shale tte © Re nea Pe anwareRs pe a ec PORE SS hee edicla Sorte tees Gaia: ie os S7- inches, Sulphur. 6: s ce e4ides ai st ag 108 Under-clay.

tC salt inaiamatasil Pipe

——— - ee an — mbes

40 Report On The Geology Of Whitley

On the opposite side of the mountain a parting of bituminous slate separates this seam into two benches. At the head of the Left Fork of Wolf creek, near Aaron Thomas', the '' Forked coal'? is probably at {this geological level. Here the parting is nearly 2 feet, with 18 inches of coal above and 2 feet below, the including rocks being locally a bituminous shale. A coal stain has been observed at a number of points on the Right Fork of Wolf creek at this level. In the Brier creek region only one foot of coal is found in an opening made by Mr. Richardson.

The Mahan Station coal, though generally regarded as the Jellico seam, should, I think, be referred to the next higher, or the Caddell coal horizon. Those who carefully follow the description of Jellico seam in its northward extension will notice its persistent character both in bed section and quality, and also the very great changes in character required to make the Kings coal and the Mahan Station coal equivalent beds. My notes, which I have had no opportunity to correct, make the Kings. coal 270 above the railroad grade, and the Mahan Station coal 360 feet above grade. A single set of barometric readings Is hardly sufficient to settle this point ; but the probabilities are in favor of the views here expressed, though the bed has not been definitely traced in its character as here given, beyond a limited portion of the Whitley field, and is without a recognized equivalent in adjoining counties.

The following cut and analyses represent the Mahan Station coal :

a

Es

oe

COAL 28° e @

a) js gy

a i)

CLAY & eta 3 PERG SW hi fe ened Re Wiielarees oe Se ee aa ps Ae 2.20 PBs Volatile combustible matter "0. e 33.10 34. : a Claviin Vee 4c. sf Gas ate ek tie ee 55.80 58.1 gen egleegee CT RSI AA eee ae a 7.90 4.80 Sulphae via ete S EF blast Ga 4.234 1.340

Sglsfi Anon (C2Fblsg

Mahan's Coal, Watts Creek.

Berry's coal along the ridge, 1 mile from

the Mahan Station opening, has been more

AND A PART OF an a COUNTY. 4]

carefully studied by R. C. B. Thruston, and shows very promis-

ing coking qualities, which it may be hoped will be realized by practical tests.

Sandrock

a seeteoe oc Be a Por 3 e3 "a

gi ee 0 3 o COAL 27" sf ie o : Bu

MUU oe oS eet is 2.00 2.00}; 2.00 : Volatile combustible matter . . 33.40 34.54 ee Carbon in coke. soc: . 61.90 61.92 o4 Se ae ua Ur gta A SORE 2h ia 1.54 520 ch LN aa ee Lies. aed 830 849 Specthe gravity se Se a 1.289 gi COAL 22" . : This coal is opened at a number of points along the ridge for several miles beyond Berry's opening, and probably from its

prominence here it will be found to have a Berry's Coat, considerable areal extension.

Above the Mahan Station or the Berry seam, two thin coals have been noted in the overlying 200 feet or more of sand-rock and shale, as indicated in the general section. The third, though not proven to be a workable bed in thickness, is sufficiently prominent to lead to the expectation that at some points it will be so found.

The next coal above, though too high in the hills to be of immediate value, is interesting as representing the Dean coal of Bell county, in its southward extension into Whitley. See report on Bell county by R. C. B. Thruston and the writer.

Report On The Geology Of Whitley

Coal 24"

I Coal 36°

Bennett's Coal, Harp's Creek. y, i ya 7

: Sb Ser SANDROCK

eS a

Goal 30°

Coal 20

Adams? Coal, Head

of Golden Fork.

It has been opened at a number of places at a vertical distance above the Jellico coal of 450 to 475 feet. Bennett's coal on Harp's creek, a tributary of Poplar creek, represents this seam.

an th ao) ee) ee © © BE atte tose eee ee 2.46 1,60 Volatile combustible matter . 34.14 84.00 Fixed carbon in coke .. . - + + ee . 57.80 56.80 Vint h Dee eee ea 5.60 7.60 Sulphur .848 820

The lower bench is largely splint coat. The whole bed has all the appearances of a

good coal,

This coal is shown on the Golden Fork of Poplar creek, varying somewhat in the details of the bed, but apparently the same in character. Here the coal was only faced up to show the thickness, and no sample for analysis was collected. ;

On the head of Mulberry creek this bed is reported as having a similar section.

It is opened in the hill between Tackett' s creek and the Clear Fork near Pleasant View, 150 feet below the top of the hill, showing the following section, as faced up without driving to roof-ruck :

Earth.

Sty sees As aie Pec neh: Wiig wien kay (Ak Mae 13 inches MR NS ings ces AR Sak Fa EE RST 13 inches Coal . 15 inches Clay 4 inch

Coal 7 inches Clay 4 inch

Coal 8 inches

Under-clay. ae

And A Part Of Pulaski County. 43

In the high hill opposite the house of Mr. Jones, near the head of Brier creek, this coal shows two partings :

Pe ae a EE EU ic SS aT vihhdegbicbapc tintetipiasiinctadh ke Leelee PS AR ACRE

Shale.

Cceal Todds ey oly Ee

Shale parting ASS asics Sachets oe AUR MEK ot ee MEMO nb ert Fe ee Sere A ORCS ot A aS 5 inches te seh hE i ee Gee Coe Nis ey ee a SA PMR ie Ne initi at Pah Bho (antici inches Under-clay. we Ag BT een ee Date Re, "5 i oo

In Shelley's Mountain, at the head of Wolf creek. this bed Is rendered nearly valueless by shale partings, thoneh tis uality ol the coal is good. The bed is shown to be vated in section by the two subjoined cuts, which represent it at two points about one-half mile pare a ade

apart. Analysis of upper part only :

COAL 24" PRES ee a Bae Volatile combus'le matter. |35.66 Carbon in coke ... . . |58.76 Ash Veta GMa The tae ee CLAY 4° i a eC Oe . COAL 4

t

At the head of Caney creek, the coal which appears to be at this hori- E£ SHALE 2"

zon has the following pH elly's Coal, Jellico

Shelly?'s Coal, Jelli 'oa, Babes Solan section: Mountain.

Sandstone roof.

Coal

. . . . a . . . . . . . . . . . . o . - e . . 7 e . . . . . 30 inches Clay RE fo ne he oe ee ert i ie Ron 8 Oe, LY a foe a CR ee 29 eos ee ee 34 inches MAG PANG COE coco ee ea he Se re ae ee 3. inches

Clay shale.

On Rose's Fork of Patterson creek this bed shows 38 inches of coal, with the bird's-eye fracture in the lower layers.

The cannel coal of the Standard mines near Jellico, in Tennessee, is on the bench next above the Dean coal, something more

44 Report On The Geology Of Whitley

than 500 feet above the Jellico coal. Fragments of cannel slate have been noted at this level at a number of points, notably in the ridge between Smith's Branch of Brier creek and Cane creek. At the head of the Left Fork of Wolf creek, a bed 26 inches thick, part cannel, was opened. This is a cannel coal horizon in Bell county, and workable pockets of cannel may very probably be found in the high hills of Whitley.

There are still coal seams above this bed to the tops of the highest hills, but little is yet known of them here. They are important as representatives of the beds of adjoining fields, chiefly. These upper coals will, therefore, be more fully described in a general report of the Eastern Coal Field.

Eo 5

'prsmysve sutyoo, "Ay 'Aqunog AopmM 'uTequno__ JO MOT

'Ay 'Ajyunog AopIyM 'UTeJUNOP_L OdTTT9F Wor uses sv PUB UTeJUNO_, Yrog

'Ay 'Agunog AspyM 'UIvJUNO_, Yvog wWoI uses sv 'uoTseyY spoomjeyT

Fees

Jellico, Whitley County, Ky., and Campbell County, Tenn.