The Elk advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Elk Co., Pa.) 186?-1868, 1866-07-05
(From the Buffalo Daily Courior.)
The C0aS Fields and the Buf"
faEO and EE'aSht1lgEO1s R. N.

(From the Buffalo Daily Couricr.)
The Coat Fields and the BuF"
faE0 and Washington Ee. N.
The rapid increase of manufactures
in this city, the Importance of an abun-
dant supply of cheap coal, and the con-
ceded advantages of this point as coal
market render of practical interest all
projects designed to render the immense
cool fields of Pennsylvania more accessi'
BILE to our citizens. Every Bufalonian,
whether engaged in commerce or manu-
factures or concerned in real estate, has
a pecuriary interest, first in securing di-
rect aud easy access to the coal which
is needed fur local consumption and can
be proftably shipped, and, second, in
securing the large and constantly in-
creasing trade with the thriving towns
which are springiug up on the line of
the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad and
on the route of the projected road from
this city to Emporium. We hazard
nothiugi in saying that this region OF
country will require supplies of a value
equal in amount to that of the coal wc
should require for home consumption
and for export.
1t was with the views Of ascertaining
the extent of the Coal Filds to be reach
ed directly or indirectly by the Buffalo
and Washington Railroad that a COM
mittee Of the Common Council and other
gentlemen were invited to visit the coal
regions in Elk and Cameron counties.
Leaving the city Tuesday morning, the
party went to Erie, and from thence by
the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, to
the junction of this road with the Da-
guscahcnda road, at point between
Ridgway and st. Mary's, about l25
miles from Erie. The line of the p. &
E. road passes through rough and uu-
cultivated country, Warren being the
only considerable town after leaving
Cory. There are numerous derricks in
the valleys along the route, which stand
inscripticnless tomb stones, not very
sacred to the memory of some defunct
oil company.
At Kane 943 miles from Erie, the
party were met by Gen. Thomas i.
Kane, who did some service during the
war as q commander of 80 Buck tails, !"
and is now devoting himself to the de
velopmeEt of a large tract of coal and
lumber lands, and is superintendent OF
the Erie Mining Company which was
organized in January 1865, This gen
; tleman desired to call the attention of
the party to the fact that they were ap.
preaching the "Johnsou's Run Coal
Basin" the northernmost coal lands of
Elk county, which could be relied on to
supply coal in large quaLtity. The
lands of this company are about twelve
miles south east of Lafay yettee, Mexican
county, station on the New York and
Erie extension, and would be crossed
by a road from the state line to John.
sonburg. Joseph Leslie, Geologist for
the State, has made lengthy report on
the mineral and coal properties of this
tract, in which he classes it as belonging
to " the Middle coal system to that por-
tion of it lying below the Freeport sand
stone." In this report Prof. Leslie
says, "The coal measures are thicker in
this basin, than in any locality to the
west or northwest, or indeed north of
the railroad in either Cameron, Elk or
Mexican Counties. The on.
ly GOALS now being mined and seeking
market are those of ST. Mary's which
are the lowest Goals Of tie measures,
and are distant l29 miles from Erie
The Daguscahonda Goals, in the same