The Huntington argus. [volume] (Huntington, W. Va.) 1872-1905, 1883-11-15
wear round.-("Coal. Iron and Oil. y

Along the line CT the DaltlInore u
Ohio Railroad at Fairment, Clarks-
burg and Newburg, a valuable gas
coal, the equivalent of the Pittsburg
seam, is extensively mined and SHIPPED
eastward to towns along TIE railroad
and to Baltimore, for the manufac
ture Of gas. The coal is s to 10 feet
in thickness. Mining operations are
prosecuted with considerable vigor,
along the Ohio river in the Pittsburg
seam. The cal production Of the
state will hardly exceed one million
tons. The unparalleled extent of the
mineral treasures of this state, which
a bountiful nature has treasured up
in her grand old hills and mountains
to serve the purposes of modern civil
ization, although seemingly inexhaust-
ible, will all be required to develop
light, and heat and power during the
long enduring future of Americas
commercial prosperity and greatness.
The day of final exhaustion of our
mines of coal is nearer at hand than
MANY geological writers would care
to admit.
Old Virginia's share of the ALE
gheny coal field, exceeding $1,000
square miles of area, is about $50
square miles of territory, lying in the
counties of Buchannon, Wise and
Lee. on the eastern flank Of the
great basin, now forming the south
western angle of the state. The
Southerners, in their alteration of
King Cotton, were apparently all IN
conscious of the fact that King Coal,
the mighty hero of the mine, was
rapidly extending his sceptre over the
whole earth, and that neither rebel
ions, nor revolutions, nor wars of
conquest could arrest his onward
progress; that his power would be
more potent than that of the genii Of
oriental tales, and that every state or
nation without his possession must
become his vassal or his slave.
Virginia, has, however, in addition
to the fragment of the Allegheny
basin, still left to her, quite import
ant coal field situated on the james
river, near Richmond. 1t is an in
dependent deposit, and later crea-
ton of geology than the Goals Of the
carboniferous age. 1t lies on both
sides of the James river and is about
five miles in average width, by thirty
miles in length, and contains 100
square miles of area. This coal field
is very irregular in shape and struc-
ture, extending in the form of series
of deep basins, the TANKS of which
often rise to the surface and cut out
the coal. On the north side of the
James the basins are shallower than
those of the south side, and the or
der of qualification is also materially
different. On the north side of the
river there are 5 different seams of
coal, one of which is bed of natural
coke, divided into two grades-soft
and hard coke, while on the south
side there is but one workable seam of
coal. 1t is however, Of magnificent
thickness, locally rising to so al d 60
feet, and averaging 20 to 80 feet.
The full thickness of the coal strata
on the south side in the lowest ! laces
of the basin, is nearly l, 900 feet.
Some costly and extensive mines
have been opened in this basin, and
the deepest coal shafts reach 700 or
800 feet in perpendicular depth.
Most of the mines, however, have
been opened on the ridges, to reach
the first valuable coal. Whether by
reason of the slave system, which re-
tarded social progress, or because of
the cost of opening the mines or the
inferior quality OF the mineral when
opened, this coal region has made no
progress in comparison with other
coal fields of Pennsylvania, Ohio and
/ Illinois