The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1878-05-29
rH 4 COAL TRADE.
The opini in Of enc High I'm Authority
rs 90 Kentucky Ceal Resour-
ees. Production, Etc.

has Just issued valuable pamphlet OF
THE Coal Trade" being compend
um Of valuable information relativ,
to coal production, prices, transporta
ton, etc, at home and abroad, will
many facts worthy of preservation 70
future reference, and all corrected I,
the latest dates. Mr.. Seward is, per
haps, more eminent in authority il
matters of this ilk than any writer il
the country, and has presented hi
points in clear, succinct and conven
lent form. We shall present extract
from the pages of his pamphlet to ou
readers, from time to time, chOsin,
for this issue the chapter relating to
KENTUCKY's COAL FIELDS.
This State is internationally en-
dowed with two distinct coal fields
The coal of Illinois enters the Stat,
near Hawesville, and occupies nearly
the whole of twelve counties in the
Northern portion of the State. The
Appalachian coal crosses the Ohio
river little above Portsmouth, and
fills up nearly the whole of the East
ern twenty counties.
The Kentucky river has its head.
waters altogether among the coal
bearing rocks. A section made from
Red river in Wolfe county to the
mouth of Troublesome creek in
Breathitt county establishes the fact
that five good veins of coal exist.
The indications are that the coal meas
ures thicken, and the number of work.
able Goals increase southeasterly from
the mouth of Troublesome creek.
Camel coal of excellent quality is
found over an extended area of coun-
try bordering upon the stream and its
tributaries. In addition to the numer-
Gus workable Goals above the conglom-
crate sandstone in this region, there
are two seams below, that are of work
abe thickness and of good quality.
Prof ID. d. Owen, before his de-
mise, made meteorological and geolog-
ical survey of the State, but the work
was not completed. A large portion
of the Eastern coal field was unfin-
ished. Since the suspension of the
survey new discoveries have been
made--new Goals opened and brought
into market. Approaching the South
ern counties, by the Cumberland Gap
branch of the Louisville and Nash
vile Railroad, in the county of Rock
Castle, we first encountered the sub
carboniferous limestone, which is the
floor of the coal measures of the State.
The limestone series are here three
hundred and fifty feet thick, composed
or an underlying sandstone, some few
feet of colored shales, white marble
beds. cherry beds aud encrinal lime
stone. Upon this member of the
group repo es the coal conglomerate,
frequently eighty or ninety feet thick.
Ten miles from Mount Vernon, the
county seat of Rock Castle county
the coal measures of the three hills
where the coal is opened rests imme-
diately upon the limestone without
the Intervention of the conglomerate.
There are two veins of coal in the
hills. The lower one, at an elevation
of fifty feet above the railroad, is too
impure to be of any commercial val
ue. The upper coal, about fifty feet
beneath the summit of the hills, is be-
ing worked to advantage. The upper
coal is three feet thick, and has the
usual appearance of a good, dry
burning bituminous coal. Il
The coal field West of the Louis.
vile and Nashville Railroad was first
developed during the year 1872. In
form this coal field is somewhat basin |
like; that is, the beds incline from |
the margin toward the center. 1t un.
derlies either in whole or in part the |
of Christian. Butler, Hop
kins, Muhlenberg, Hart, Grayson,
Webster, Union, Henderson. |
Ohio, Hancock and Brock
or total area of nearly four
thousand square miles for this coal
field. Twelve beds of coal have been
identified in the coal measures, but
the result of the survey point to eight
rs the number of beds that will prove
sufficiently trustworthy to receive
final numbers. The Markets for the
coal are Nashville, Tenn. and points
on line of railroad from Evansville,
Ind, to Nashville, Tenn. There
are twelve veins of coal, ranging from
two feet to eight feet in thickness.
For steam purposes the coal rates at
ninety-nine, Pittsburgh coal being a
hundred. For gas purposes four feet
to the pound is obtained, but there is
more sulphu than in Pittsburgh coal.
We append an analysis of the cele-
brated Breckenridge camel coal; vol
atile matter, 50.40; fixed carbon
$500; ash, 1890; moisture, 100.
1t is an error to suppose that the
coal of Kentucky contains a greater
Of sulphur than the Goals of