Washington telegraph., 1851-03-19
From the N. o Bulletin.
Ceo.ogy-No. 3.


nARKANsAs.-Perhaps it is not generally
oo that there is coal in Arkansas; aud when
kno" tho case, it NAV not be known whether 1t
t"' :, such quantity, or possesses such quail
eA''. >, render it an object worthy OF attention.
W' the exact limits of the coal field Of Arkan-
IT, I'd consequently its extent, have not yet oeeh
sa'' 'L I6,;tivey made out, nor all its varieties
very H. 70 l;ght: vet enough is alreaoy known,
, as TO its quantity and quality, 10 give 1uIi
o0'" r.nce TO a hundred times more mining enter
':Sa than the wants of the country VIII soon re-
Gure. - ,rh.rs.s commences about
,Ies above Little Rock, on the Arkansas
'o'C "a extends up the river, on both sides, lar
nd the limits of the State. certainly know
e;,s he;nc from twenty to tnrty miles broad' ana
.,srtlv u w. hear of coal being found to consid
iequ i;.,.,ce outside of those limits. Its length
e'd"S than hundred miles within the State,
,and;uc. know not how far into the Indian
S,,ry No coal field could lie more advan-
.'.or.lv than it does for mining purposes as the
- running Iengthwise through It's whoe eH'eh''
mss, occasion very numerous PiacefSI wh.ie eau
""'s inad above the water level. This is great
D. NJ, az i, diminshes the expenses of mining,
su, nd.rs the mine entirely safe from those dis
Au1 avnlosious from carbure!ta hydrogen gas,
n:oS of,ap occur in those which lie below the
"a.e' ysrv little mining has been done, more
49,. 70 sn,pIy q few blacksmthS III She nei9hoor-
i'ao, and to furnish d few boat LOADS ior Lli'e
poct IL is not yetknown how many 'oeos 'here
40 c series: nar is i,of SO mucn Practeai ilpPor
80. 20 know. as one good one IS sufficient lhe
','ess of the veins, so far as ii is known, is
, 'io The same that il is in the coal fields on the
Ohio
a,thracte bituminous, aud camel coal; but
ar. is an almost infinite number OF varieties,
,ccupying every possible shade oil difference De-
,v,-,n che most perfectly formed anthracite, on
',h. one hand, and of camel on the Other lhey
,n into each other by such slight variations, that
!, . almost impossible to tell to viii; species GER
rain varieties most properly belong; indeed they
do no, beloug the one species more than 10 the
.,bar hat partly to both. Nevertheless, ley are
none the worse ior that
This is one of the ways by which Providence
b,, shown, as in all HIs works. the henevoiehce
If H,, character, by furnishing us with as great
variety in this most important fuel, as there is In
,h, uses to which it is to be applied There is no
ou. kind of coal that will answer for all purposes
nor * there anv kind that is useless, or uisateo "
,on,e purpose IL is for the want ot the knowledge
Of tb.se facts. that people often pronounce certain
Li,t, oI conl as poor or even worthless; because
',i. IA moi drport themselves in the same manner
:; ,h. fire that other Goals do with which they are
acquainted Every variety of coal is suited TO the
nroducton of some specific effect, and requires
corresponding variety in the treatns ut o! It's COM
bIution. i.
1t is not pretended that al! kinds OF coal are oil
e1u,l value any more than tIat all Kinds Ol WOOD
are; We, many varieties oil coal are very much
uudrryaneI, for want Of proper knowledge to
the uses to which they are best suited, or TO The
hest manner of using them Thirty years ago,
anthracite coal was thought TO be utterly useless,
because it would not burn in the kino of CRATES
then in use; aud It WAS remarked that 1t never
would be burned until the last e eat contiagrdton.
Bat small change IN the form OF The CRATE, soon
.nowso il te be the most va uable fuel ever known
Several varieties of the ONO r.ver GOALS have
been pronounced Of little or 10 value, and could
find no market; because they did not, with the
same kind of crate and management, succeed
equally we'll with the Pittsburgh coal. But alter
wards when their true character came to be
known, they have taken their place III the market
according 10 their real merit
The greater part of the Goals in Arkansas, is,
like thai of all other coal ileids, bituunnous:
indeed this is far the most common kind all over
the world. But several UartetieS OF btumlnous
coal have already come 10 hight, and doubtless
many more will, It's development progresses.
| know not that any true camel coal has yet
been found, but some of the b luminous approaches
lltlo towards il: and there is little doubt that it
wal be fouud 1t exists IN all our other coal tleds
But anthracite, ,rcLt marked Anthracite, has
been found, though not as YET OF sailc,eAt thick
ness admit OF being worked. let there is
strong ground for believing that 1t does exist IN
quantity, and that proper search would bring At
20 light. There are two reasons for this belief:
oue is, that small qnani,y, as already stated, has
been found; another ls that a portion oil The coal
field has been disturbed, and The rocks, together
with the coal, highly inclined Anthracite
coal IS never found in rocks lying horizontally;
though it does not follow that all Goals found in
highly inclined rocks are anthracite. That portion
OF the great PENNSYLVANIA coal field only in which
the rocks have been very much disturbed, and
consequently highly lacned, produces aHthra-
cite This leads TO ie coucl uslou, that the same
cause which produced the disturbance, produced
also the anthracite; or, IN other words converted
bitumnous coal into anthracite, by driving otf It's
blIunen. A variety of coal, having very little
h,umen, or in other words, almost anthracite, has
Been found under circumstances VIII. ch lead to the
belief that it exists in inexhaustibe quantities
From what has been said, it would seem that
There is deficiency IN the quantity or quality ol
Arkansas coas There is little or no doubt that
every variety Of coal which the multiplied wants
Of man may hereafter require, will III due tipe be
fsand to have oeen laid up there III store for him
BY The Great Provider, thousands Of years before
these waits existed, III anticipation OF them. And
lhere is no little doubt that this is the best SOURCE
and that it will ultimately be the principal source
from which the lower portion of the Mississippi
Valley Will be supplied.
NV next will be on ENC and manganese.
b. LAWRENCE. Geo!ogist
The MoNTEsoUIoUs.- gentleman OF
G. on;C hoe .fprnic haI tho Renuhlicau