New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-01-23

Completion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Ca
naI-DescriptiOn of the Cumberland Coal
VaIIey-The Coal Trade-COal Companies
Speculation In Coal Lands. &c. &c;
CUMBERLAND Md Friday, Jan 10
To the Editors Of The Tribune;
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, extending
from Cumberland to Alexandra, Va. ls6 miles,
was completed last autumn. 1t has been ted
GUS and expensive work. Twenty-six years have
elapsed since it was commenced, and Sl2,OOO,0OO
have been expended in its construction. Its COM
pletion will produce rapid increase of the trade
from this region. The supply of Cumberland coal
hitherto sent tothe seaboard has had but one out
let-that furnished by the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad, and the quantity has been limited to
the capacity of that road. 1t will now be sup
piled in large quantities and at materially reduced
prices. A better quality may also be looked for.
The character of Cumberland coal has been In
ured at the East by the inferior quality OF no In
considerable portion of that which has been sent
TO market. Much of the coal has been carelessly
mined, and mined at the outcrop, where 1t Is
always combined with slate and other earthly I'M
purities, producing, when burned, smolderlng
fire and heaps of ashes. AS many of your citizens
are interested in the coal fields of this region and
as your market will hereafter be extensively sup
piled with Cumberland coal for domestic uses as
well as steam purposes some details connected
with the trade and the character and extent OF
the coal beds. may not be uninteresting.
Cumberland coal is an intermediate species,
between anthracite and English bituminous, aud
is properly called semi -bituminous, having sum
cient btumen TO make its combustion Tree, WIN
out occasioning the densely black smoke and smut
,r1.a h al 70 f1ooTOn
Goals 1t takes its name from the proximity OF
the coal.feld TO the City OF Cumberland, the near
est point to the basin being distant about nine
miles The coal is brought into the cty-the
present terminus of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail
road and Of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal-oyer
two lines OF railroad, one belonging to the Mary
land Mining Company, extending into the Brad
docks Run Valley and the other passing through
the jennings Run Valley, owned by the Mount
Savage Iron Company These two roads are
capable OF transporting one and halt millions oil
tuns per annum.
The Cumberland Coal Basin lies between Sa.
wage and Dams mOuntain-two parallel ranges oil
the Aleghenies, about four miles distant, extend
ing in a southwesterly direction-The basin or
trough is regular formation about twenty-five
miles long and covers On area OF about one hun
dred and fifty miles. It's vertical depth, including
the various strata peculiar to the coal formation
is aboutone thousand five hundred feet resting on
seams of coal lying below this rock. The number
Of distinct veins in the basin is fourteen or fifteen,
and the mean aggregate thickness OF the series Is
about iity.hye feet.
The productive capacity of the coal field is re-
markedly great, the quantity Of mineable coal be-
ing computed 10 be equal 10 four thousand million
oftons. The general conformation of the basin IS
that Of canoe, the strata extending in parallel
curves within and across the basin, the lower
qualifications, which are continuous, rising by
gentle slopes, up into the mountains on each side,
where they crop out. There is a remarkable re-
gulsrity in the lay OF the measures, the whole
field being comparatively free from disOcations or
faults To exemphiy the structure of these coal
beds, comparison has been suggested of a nest
or a series OF canoes with gently sloping sides,
lying one within the other, each made to repre-
sent the successive straits OF coal, shae iron ore,
&c, within the trough A ridge crosses the basin
at right angles. uniting the two mountains toge-
ther, GU the top of which the town Of Frostburg
is situated This ridge separates two streams
which flow through the longitudinal axis Of the
bRsD turning their currents 10 opposite directions