Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1906-09-20

as lar as pOsslDle.
In the shallow water near the sea.
shore We find the coarse sediments Of
sand and gravel forming. These are
united into pebble rock or conglOm'
crate, as it is called, and into sand
rock or sand stone. Farther from
the shore in a little deeper and more
quiet water the shelled animals are
building up lime sediments to be con-
solidated into lime rock or limestone.
Each has its place and they do not
change in position, but mark relative
depths of water.
From the seashore we pass to the
coal regions ofthe interior many miles
from the present sea, and there are
found the coal seams one above the
other but separated by sandstones,
limestones, shales, conglomerates, and
we must conclude that they represent
a varying level of the old waters, but
with these rocks there are the coal
beds and remains of land plants that
could not have lived below the sea.
The sea floor with its varying depths
of water above must have been raised
into dry land for the growth of these
land plants, and as these are in turn
covered by the rocks of the sea, the
land must have been depressed below
the sea again. There were then
changes of Level up and down, re-
peated many times. These move
ments were extremely slow, probably
to be measured in inches per century
or even less, but they gave an orderly
sequence of strata which adds to the
ease of Identification for the geologist,
and to the wealth of the coal terrific
ry by the additional number of seams.
Long periods of geological time
passed away, man came to make his
home on earth, empires rose and fell,
but no one learned 10 use or prize
this precious fuel product. Thirteen
centuries of our era united them
selves to the past, before coal was
used as domestic fuel in England.
Its introduction brought cloud Of
abuse around the heads of it's users
heavier than its own smoke cloud, and
the distinguished men of London OBJ
jected very much to the black sootY
atmosphere caused by the locals OF
Newcastle and saw great danger
therefrom to the public health, so that
strict orders were issued to prohibit
its use.
For two centuries more coal was
regarded rather as curiosity that a
useful product. 1t was then intro
ducsd throughout the land as a do.
nestle fuel. Near the end of the
seventeeth century it was employed
in the smelling of ores. and thus was
drought about that union of coal and
iron which accomplished so much
for England and the world.
Not long afterward, coal was mined
in this country, and in 1890 coal was
shipped from Richmond, Va, to New
York and Boston. The year l760
gives the first record of the great
Pittsburg seam, when mine was re-
ported from near the present city of
Pittsburg, but no shipments were
made until the year 1903, when $50
tons were sent to Philadelphia. There
was steady growth in this field from
that time to the present, and this has
become the greatest field for bitum.
inous coal in the country. The coal
is most excellent, as shown in use and
by chemical analysis.
The chemistry of coal is an impOr.
tant and interesting subject, and one
to which much attention has been
given. This black stone, as it was
called in the early history, is com.
posed of certain elements united In
certain proportions, and these factors
determine the value of the coal as
fuel. There is always present GER
tain amount of fixed carbon and vol.
atile combustible matter, which de-
termine the heating value of the coal.
There is also present moisture and
ash which give no fuel value, but are
inert parts. Sulphur is also present,
which in large quantity may prove
injurious in the furnace, eating out
CRATE bars and boiler Aues. A typ
ical coal should have about the fol-
lowing composition, though no coal
ever reaches exactly these percent
ages:
| Fixed carbon ..................... IS per cent.
Volatile combustible matter 30 per cent.
Ash ............-..........-... per cent.
| Moisture .....-.......-.... 100000. per cent.
Sulphur .................. per cent or less.