The Elk advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Elk Co., Pa.) 186?-1868, 1866-04-26
For the Advocate.
COAL FORMATION.
Number Three

7 omitted to state iu my last that iron
ure occurs in the shales Of the two last
named beds of coal, e. and d, particu.
larly above the latter. q shall hereafter
use numbers Instead Of letters to desig.
nate the beds, lest might misapply
them) Passing from d, or fourth bed
10 the ascending order, we come to the
fith be6 of coal, which may be averaged
at eighteen inches or two feet IN thick
ness the under part bituminous, the
upper a slaty camel coal in one place
I have seen it near four feet oil the lat
ter, except two or three inches in the
bottom Of bituminous coal. Above this
bed occurs two beds of limestone near
together, the under bed OF dark and
the upper of blush color--the under
one about eighteen inches or two feet
thick, and the upper about three, but
neither of them are generally Of very
good quality. Passing these beds we
come to mixture of lime and sand.
stone which may be singly a limestone
in some places After these comes the
sixth coal bed. / have never seen this
bed opened on the side of the basin l
am alluding to, but on the west side of
Que of the branches of Brandy Camp
creek, and in the same position in the
series of this bed l have seen it opened
in two places IN each Of which the
coal is near three feet thick and ofgood
quality. We next come to a bed of
limestone, three or four feet thick this
is represented by the state geologist as
being four feet thick at Brandy Camp,
and | think Isaac Horton, Jr., burned
some lime from it. The next coal in
the ascending order is the seventh bed /;
this is from two to two and half feet
in thickness, where l have seen it
opened, but it is somewhat slaty. Over
this we come to the eighth or highest
bed, which is three feet in thickness
where | live; it is of very good quality.
There is limestone under this bed. l
mined the coal in this bed two winters,
but the dip was the wrong way Tor min
ing on my land, and did not want to
open it on other peoples, so the water
made me back out and leave it; this
coal was excellent for hlacksmiths.
Over this bed where the hills are high
enough, there is a considerable quantity
of brown Hematite iron ore saw on
a small stream flowing into Rattlesnake
Run, aud short distance from Little
Toby, some opening of coal, one bed
about five, and the other about three
feet thick. Of a good quality, with oed
of limestone between them. l could
not locate their position in the basin
from any particular marks l could dis
cern while there. In giving a hasty
account of my knowledge of part of the
Little Toby coal basin, l may here re.
mark that the averages have given of
the coal beds is designed to fall short
rather than over their correct measure.
meut. AS l have given some account
OF Iron ore in the coal measures, it may
not be amiss to mention that the state
geolugist told me that whenever the
sandstone and conglomerate rock could
be got under, a good bed of iron ore
existed. This rock exists all along the
Clarion River, and the heads of Ell
Creek, frequently throwing of bog orr
in springs. There are several acres o
ground impregnated with the oxide o
iron, which may be found at JohI
Mosier's on Brandy Camp Creek, which
undoubtedly flows from this bed
Professor Rogers, in one of his annua
, reports, explains the reason of the ore
seldom being seen in the underlying
! shales, he says they discompose and fal
! away while the conglomerate rock, no
! easily decomposed, falls over and cover
up the out crop Of the ore. / will fin
ish with an extract from his fifth asnua
report:
=" About 1 mile and half above Cal
edonia, on the edge of Benefits Branch
> the current has cut away the loose rocl
and covering soil, leaving the ore il
view under the overhaneing sandston
of formation twelve, (the sandstone ant
con. lomerate rock the bottom Of whicI
is within eight feet Of the water. I'm
,, mediately beneath the sandstone lies on
foot of black shale, and under this thre
fee. of brown shale, which contains sea;
: terng nodules of the ore, underlaid b.
a solid bed of the ore, forming, wit
!, very little shale bed between thre
and four feet thick"
a JESSE KYLER.
I AGAINST THE UNION AND FOR TIL