Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/758

742 Kanawha, where there is known to be a great abundance of excellent coal in localities to which no railroads have been built. There is little or no doubt of the identity of the coal beds throughout the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, and eastern Kentucky, which shows a wonderful sameness in distribution throughout all this vast territory. This coal field extends over the eastern part of Kentucky, and in the northern part of it in this state the Ohio and West Virginia coal beds of the lower series are found, but in the southern counties of the field only the subconglomerate coal beds appear. Very little development has taken place in this district, except on the Ohio river. Tennessee has an interesting and valuable coal field, which is coextensive with the table land of the Cumberland mountain, forming the western boundary of the valley of East Tennessee. In the more northern part of it the lower coal measures of the states further north seem to be found, but the great body of the field is composed of the coal beds still lower in the series which are found in West Virginia and eastern Kentucky. The conditions for coal making appear to have existed in the south earlier than further north; consequently coal is found in rocks which in the north are subcarboniferous and produce no coal. Alabama has the southern extremity of the great coal field we have been describing, divided into three separate portions called the Black Warrior, the Catawba, and the Coosa fields, containing in all 5,330 sq. m. Some of the best deposits of iron ore in America are east of and in the immediate vicinity of the coal fields of Alabama, Tennessee, and West Virginia, which at some future time will make this the seat of large iron manufactures. Thus far, however, but little has been done to bring into use these vast treasures of fuel. This first, Alleghany, or great eastern coal field of the United States, containing in all 58,737 sq. m., is by far the best and in all respects the most important in America.—When the first geological researches were in progress in the western states, it was supposed that the coal beds and the series of coal-bearing rocks were the same in Illinois, Indiana, and western Kentucky as in Pennsylvania, but it is now proved that they are entirely different and never were connected. The recent geological survey of Ohio shows that the great anticlinal axis which passes from Lake Erie past Cincinnati and through the eastern parts of Kentucky and Tennessee is much older than the coal-making age, and that the coal fields of Michigan and Illinois were always separated by it from that of Ohio. The peninsula of Michigan contains a coal field of 6,700 sq. m., extending from Jackson to Saginaw bay, but the coal-bearing rocks are only about 100 ft. thick, and contain but one bed of coal of about 3 ft. or less of coal of a bad quality, full of sulphur and other impurities, and the annual production is small. The materials of its rocks were derived from the north. The third great coal field covers 6,500 sq. m. in the western part of Indiana, 36,800 sq. m. in Illinois, and 3,888 sq. m. in the western part of Kentucky. The best coal produced in this field is from Indiana, where along the eastern border of it there is a good quality of block coal for furnace use, and some common bituminous coal of fair quality. The Illinois coal is all much inferior to that of Pennsylvania and Ohio, contains a portion of hygrometric moisture which lessens its heating power, and considerable sulphur and other injurious impurities. Notwithstanding this, it is invaluable to the state, which is almost wholly a prairie country, mostly level, destitute of trees, covered in a state of nature with tall coarse grass, and with an extremely fertile soil. The want of fuel of any kind would have been a great disadvantage; and inferior as it is, considerable quantities are annually produced in many parts of the state, especially opposite St. Louis and near other large places. The portion of this field extending into western Kentucky is believed to contain better coal than that of Illinois, and it now produces moderate quantities from mines near the Ohio river.—The fourth great coal field lies west of the Mississippi river, in western Iowa, southeastern Nebraska, northern Missouri, eastern Kansas, the Indian territory, and western Arkansas, and possibly it underlies the cretaceous formation which on the surface separates it from the Texas coal at Fort Belknap; it contains in all nearly 80,000 sq. m. The deterioration westward of the coal continues over this field also, there being fewer and thinner coal beds and coal-bearing rocks, the latter becoming gradually converted into vast beds of limestone, and the shales and sandstones among which coal is usually found becoming subordinate. The best and most productive portion of this field is the district in Iowa along the Des Moines river. In S. W. Iowa and N. W. Missouri, in Nebraska, and the western border of the field in Kansas, the upper coal measures, a great limestone formation very similar to the subcarboniferous limestones below the coal, comes in, containing only one or two very thin beds of coal about one foot thick. The middle coal measures are but little better, the valuable coal beds all being found in the lower coal measures. On the Des Moines river are some beds of fair size, and there is a considerable production. In Missouri, where the lower coal measures are exposed in a district containing 12,420 sq. m., extending from the Iowa line in the N. E. part of the state S. W. across the Missouri river to the Kansas line near Fort Scott, there are workable beds from 2 to 3 ft. thick, and in the absence of better fuel there is local demand for a considerable quantity of the production. This productive coal belt extends into the S. E. corner of Kansas, whereas in the other parts of the state where the coal extends the seams near the