xt7gf18sbv33 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7gf18sbv33/data/mets.xml Lyon, Sidney S. (Sidney Smith), 1808-1872. 1857  books b96-11-34699143 English A.G. Hodges, public printer, : [Frankfurt, Ky. : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Kentucky Topography. Topographical geological report of the progress of the survey of Kentucky through Hopkins, Crittenden, Caldwell, Greenup, and Carter counties, made during the years 1856 and 1857  / by Sidney S. Lyon. text Topographical geological report of the progress of the survey of Kentucky through Hopkins, Crittenden, Caldwell, Greenup, and Carter counties, made during the years 1856 and 1857  / by Sidney S. Lyon. 1857 2002 true xt7gf18sbv33 section xt7gf18sbv33 













       TOPOG(RAPPHICAL GEOLOG ICAL REPORT

                  OF TIlE PROGRESS OF THE


          SURVEY OF KENTUCKY.


                       THROUGH


IHopkins, Crittenden, Caldwell. Greenup, and   Carter Counties,


       MADE DURING TIlE YEARS 1856 AND 1857,


                         BY


               SIDNEY S. LYON,


                 TOPOGRAPHICAL ASSISTANT.

 This page in the original text is blank.

 

INTRODUCTORY LETTER.



To DR. D. D. OwEax, Principal Geologist:
     SIR: In obedience to your instructions, I herewith submit my
r:port of the progress of the work intrusted to my direction, for the
years 1856 and 18057.
  The necessary instruments and outfit having been procured ror
camp No. 2, of the survey, this-the Western-corps was placed un-
der the direction of Mr. Joseph S. Harris, late of the United States
Coast Survey, who was dispatched to Hopkins county to resume the
work of the late detailed survey at Mr. Watsou's, near the line divid-
ing Union and Hopkins counties, on the line of the Caseyvillc and
Providence road.
  Having accompanied this party to Hopkins county, a rapid recon-
noissance was made of the district in which it had been proposed this
corps should operate, meeting Mr. Harris from time to time, and di-
recting his operations.
  After having obtained a sufficient knowledge of the country, laid
out the work for Mr. Harris during my absence, and left such instruc-
tions for the control of camp No. 2 as the requirements of the service
seemed to warrant, I proceeded to organize corps No. 3, which was to
enter upon the detailed survey of the Eastern Geological District.
  For this purpose I repaired to headquarters for the necessary funds.
On my return to Louisville I found the sub-assistant, on whom I had
relied for the Eastern corps, prostrated by sickness, and unable to take
the field. At the time, being unable to procure a proper assistant to
supply his place, I was compelled, on this account, to postpone, for a
time, the organization of camp No. 3, for the eastern division; mean-
while I concluded to make a reconnoisance of the country lying be-
tween Louisville and the margin of the Western Coal Field, in Hancock
             39

 

INTRODUoTORY LETTER.



county, and thence through the country adjacent to the base line,
which was to be commenced by the Western corps, No- 2, during the
summer- In this examination, having again intersected the line of
operation of the Western corps, on Drake's creek, I made all the ne-
cessary arrangements with Mr. Harris for commencing the base line,
and then proceeded into Crittenden and Livingston counties, to en-
deavor to determine whether the coal region of Livingston county was
an outlier, or an extended peninsula of the Coal Measures connected
with the coal field in Union or Hopkins county.
  On my return, after consultation with the Principal Geologist, it
was decided, as the season was so far advanced, and for the purpose of
economizing the fund;, to transfer the camp equipage and outfit of
corps No. I for the use of corps No. 3.
  This camp was ordered to Louirville by land, while I proceeded by
rail to Cincinnati, lor the necessary instruments, and the chronometers
which bad been sent to the care of Professor Mitchell, of the Astron-
omical Observatory, who had kindly undertaken to have them rated.
   I returned to Louisville by rail, and sent forward, by a special mes-
senger, the instruments for the use of the base line party. Owing to
the extreme low stage of the Ohio river, the messenger was detained
on the road, and did not join the party for three weeks, and that corps
were compelled to begin operations with such outfit as it already had
on hand.
   The outfit having been completed for corps No. 3. the camp pro-
ceeded by land through Paris, Bourbon county, to Greenup county,
shipping by the river being out of the question.
   After having given the necessary directions for the guidance of
corps No 3, to commence operations on Williams' creek, at the mouth
of the tunnel of the Lexington and Big Siudy railroad, for carrying
out the detailed survey of Greenup county, in the Eastern Coal Field,
and having seen that they were making good progress, I then proceed-
ed, in advance of the corps, to make a reconnoissauce of the country,
and learu the key of these coal and iron measures, leaving the Eastern
corps in successful operation.
   On the 12th day of October I left Greenup county and proceeded
to join the base line party, in Hancock county.
   On the 1st of November, the term of Mr. Harri8' engagement hav-



306

 

                       INTRODUCTORY LinER.                    307

ing expired, his corps was paid off, and the eamp outfit, instruments,
&c., were returned to headquarters.
  On my return to Louisville I found it necessary to return to Green-
up county to settle up the outst:unding accounts of corps No. 3.
  On my return home I made a rapid reconnoisasnce of the northern
part of Greenup and Lewis counties, by the way or Springville and
Vanceburg; thence by way of Clarksburg and 'Mt. Carmel to Flem-
ingsburg, Fleming county; thence by Carlisle, in Nicholas county;
thence to Paris, Bourbon county; thence to Georgetown, in Scott
county; thence to Frankfort, in Franklin county; thence to Shelby-
ville, in Shelby county, to Louisville.
  Ihere I engaged the assistance of Mr. Edward Mylotte to aid in
making up the office work of the operations, in Greenup and Cauter
counties, which will be submitted as Eoon as completed.
                               I remain, &c.,
                                         SIDNEY S. LYON,
                         Assistant Geological Survey of Kentucky.

 This page in the original text is blank.

 

REPORT



                                or


Observations in Hopkins, Crittenden, Livingston, Caldwell, Christian,
                     and Henderson Counties.





  In my former report it will be remembered that the out-crop of the
lower coal measures, indicating the place of the Bell and Cook coals,
which lie at the base of the first thousand feet of coal measures of
Union and Crittenden counties, as exhibited on the map accompany-
ing that report, was traced up the line of Tradewater river, until it had
been run to the line of Hopkins county, and carried through sections
19 and 20, T. 5 S., R. 2 E. This line requires some modification
since it crosses Tradewater river somewhere near the south boundary
of section 19, T. 5 S., R. 2 E, and extends thence into Crittenden
and Caldwell counties, making, near the corner of these counties, in
the Hopkins county line, a long tongue of the coal measures, extend-
ing to the south and east of Tradewater. For the position of this
tongue see plat of part of Union, Hopkins, Caldwell, and Christian
counties, for 1856 and 1857.
  The extension of the lower measures of the coal field, into the form
above described, as to its outer boundary, has not produced a corres-
ponding change in the line of out crop of the first, second, and third
coals of the "Lower Coal Measures," which turn abruptly to the north
and even north-westwardly, running in that direction from Providence,
in Hopkins county, to the neigbourhood of Steuben's Lick, where the
line marking these outcropping beds is deflected more eastwardly, and
runs nearly with the line of the Hunting branch of Stuart's creek, to

 

310         TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORJ OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

its head, ill Wright's ridge, when it takes a bend to the south, and
probably crosses the ridge near the Box Mountain Springs, thence
dovwn the line of Flat creek, to the Rocky (lap, while the castwardly
Ijoundary or the outcrop of the lower measures, have, by the flatten-
irg of the dip, and a succession of waves, faults, ai-d breaks, been
spread out on a horizontal surface from one and a half miles to ten or
even flfteen miles. The lithological character of the measures has also
experienced a change, not less noticeable, viz: the heavy masses of
the Finnic BlufT the Curlew, Ice-house. Little Vein, and the Anvil Rock.
  The sandstones -re much diminished, and some of them are entirely
lost, so much that a section at Wright's ridge, and eastwardly to the
outcrop of the lower beds, here known as the Campbell coal, equiva-
lent of the Cook coal, Woldridge, and Terry beds, equivalent to the
Bell coal, the associated measures, well developed at the Ohio river, are
here very obscure, and though more recognizable at Providence. still
it would be hardly possible that the key of these measures could be
obtained, either in the line of Wright's ridge or Providence, without
first having obtained the clue at the Ohio river, and then having follow-
ed the line of outcrop, in all its turnings, to Providence.
  Hitving thus been enabled to identify the equivalent beds at that
point, and having obtained a hint of the changes to be expected fur-
ther to the north, to enable the observer to identify the equivalent beds
at Wright's ridge.
  At Providence the coals are much thicker and closer together than
on the Ohio river, and the associated materials are more calcareous, and
the angle of dip seems to be much flatter, since the first thousand feet
has been spread out into a belt. ten miles wide, though the spaces be-
tween all the coals, where the quantities have been obtained, are less, in-
dicating a positive thinning out of the materials separating the coals,
and those materials are of a character indicating a different condition
from that controlling the deposition of the equivalent beds, twenty
miles to the northwest.
  All the sandstones are thinner, and composed of finer grains, than
those at the Ohio river; and in their stead we sometimes find limestone,
black bituminous shales, and fine micaceous and shaly sandstones.
  The same remarks, here made for that part of the coal basin. at
Providence, and eastwardly to its edge, will apply, with slight modifi-
cation, to the equivalent measures from the head of the Hunting

 

TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.



branch to the edge of the measures, south and east to the margin of
the coal-field, near the head of Casselbury and Drake's creeks, in
Christian county; these changes are especially noticeable at Mlr.
Williams', on the Madisonville and Hopkinsville road, on a tributary
of Drake's creek, and at the Campbell and Woolridge mines, five miles
distant, on the waters of Casselbury creek.
  In a line stretching nearly east from Providence, is a range of hills,
cut through by various creeks, and which extends to and connects with
a range of bills on the south east side of Tradewater iiver. This
range is evidently an axis of elevation, and there are corresponding
basins or troughs on the north and south side of this line. That on
the south side lies in a line nearly southeast and northwest, beginning
in the coal measures, and extending toward the outer edge of the basin,
into Caldwell county. This trough is much narrower than that on
the north side of the ridge, which covers all the space between its line
and the base of Wright's ridge, on its southwest side. being from eigh-
teen to nineteen miles wide in the line of its greatest developement.
   This great extent of country, eighteen miles long, with the margin
of the outcropping coals, and from ten to twelve miles wide, at right
angles with this course, includes a district of country generally luer
and rich, intersected only by spurs of Wright's ridge, dividing the
water courses; many of the valleys are flat and low. These spurs of
the ridge may be regarded as the distant, feeble effirts of the mighty
power that raised the surroullding margin of millstone grit, and the sub-
carboniferous limestone, which Forms the rim.
   Though the prolongation of the Bald hill disturbance is not so con-
spicuously marked, by high and abrupt ranges in Hopkins as in
Union county, still the configuration of the country seems to warrant
the opinion that one branch of this disturbance has been extended in-
to Hopkins and Christian counties, and that the same dome-like
method observed in Union county Las also been exhibited along its
course through Hopkins county, and to the margin of the coal field in
Chlistian county.
   The detailed surveys necessary to determine this question are not
yet sufficiently extended; the subject will be left for further investi-
gation.
   The whole energy of the Topographical parties having been en-
gaged in the Topography and Geology of the part of the country



311

 

312         TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT OP GEOLOICAL SURVEY.

which appeared to promise the earliest practical economical results,
matters of strictly scientific interest have, for the present, been pass-
ed by, and those things only attended to which promised to give re-
sults of immediate practical value, except so far only as they were of
prime necessity for the proper understanding and investigation neces-
Eary to those results.
  While awaiting the return of the party who were operating in Muh-
lenburg county, during the latter part of August, I crossed into Crit-
tenden county, with a determination to find whether there was any
continuous connection between the Union coal of Livingston county,
and those of the Tiadewater country. In this excursion I passed by
the old site of Bellville, where the counties of Union, Crittenden, and
Caldwell corner in the Hopkins county line, and where the line of
Hopkins county leaves Tradewater. Passing along the road from
Bellville, through Caldwell county, in a southwest direction about three
miles, the road then inclines more to the north. Then the interci-
hlated limestones of the millstone grit make their appearance. Two
and a half miles further the road makes a southwardly curve, and the
Coal Measures re-appear five miles from Tradewater river, as shown in
the borings for a well at Shady Grove, which have penetrated the rocks
of the Coal Measures, and at a point one mile northeast, where a coal
has been opened, said to be four feet thick. From one to one and a
half miles from this a coal is to be observed, eighteen inches thick,
wedged between heavy sandstones. East of Shady Grove coal has
been opened by Mr. J. Land; this coal is said to be four feet thick
also. The eighteen-inch coal is again found on the lands of Messrs.
Terry and Cajmpbell, and at Mr. Amos Singleton's, three-fourths of a
mile cast of the grove.
  It is highly probable that the intercalated limestone of the mill-
stone grit, before alluded to, near Bellville, has been brought to the
surface by a fault.
  From Bellville, distant seven and a half miles, in Crittenden coun-
ty, on the farm of Dr. R. M. Hetberington, coal has been reached in a
well; the person boring announced the coal to be one foot thick.
  By the line traveled the country is very billy from Dr. Hethering.
ton's to Piney creek, the hills being caped with from fifty to one hun-

 

TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVT.E



dred feet of the millstone grit, the deep ravines and valleys cutting in-
to the sub-carboniferous limestones.
  There are probably oue or more faults between Shady Grove and
Piney creek, that suddenly bring up the lower rocks, thrusting the
Coal Measures forward and to the southwest. Six and a half miles
to the northeast of Marion, the county seat of Crittenden county, the
upper intercalated limestones of the millstone grit rises to the tops of
the hills, being overlaid by a thin capping of from twenty-five to fifty
feet, of the debris of the sandstones, which are penetrated by sinking
wells, the water being found on top of the limestones. Five miles east
of Marion the road crosses a branch of Piney, called Flat creek, which
flows in a trough scooped into the masses of the lower intercalated
limestone.
  On passing westwardly from Marion, about five miles, the sub-car-
boniferous limestone makes its appearance, coming up the dry fork of
Livingston creek, here connecting with the same rocks, which are cut
into by the waters of the Paroquet fork of Hurricane creek. Where
these creeks interlock the sandstones of the millstone grit series are
severed, and now all the Coal Measures lying to the west, northwest,
and southwest of this point are completely disconnected from the
great body of the coal field of western Kentucky.
  On the Ohio river the beds of the sub-carboniferous limestone is the
surface rock, from a short distance below Crooked creek, in Critten-
den county, to the mouth of Deer creek, which enters the Ohio river
a short distance above the Union coal mines, in Livingston county.
These rocks, as before stated, also form the surface-rock, at the head
of Paroquet creek, and from this point extends to the Ohio river; the
eastern boundary lies nearly in a north and south direction line. The
western limits have not yet been completely traced, it however ex-
tends to the north-west from the head of Paroquet creek, for about
two miles, forming the beds of the creeks, minor streams, and valleys,
the neighboring hills being capped by the lower masses of the mill-
stone grit; then more westwardly, by a great curve, to the mouth of
Deer creek, including an area of fifty or sixty square miles of sub-
carboniferous limestone country with all the marking characteristics,
viz: sink-holes, bold springs, &c.

             40



313

 

314         TOPOGRAPHICAL IRPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

  The belt of millstone grit country lying to the eastward, and be-
tween the sub-carboniferous limestone country of Crittenden county,
and the productive coal measures on Tradewater river, in the same
county, is about twelve miles wide, being very broken from Crooked
creek to that river; the dividing ridge between Crooked and Big Hur-
ricane creeks is also capped by the lower masses of the millstone grit
and the intercalated limestones, rising rapidly from the Ohio river at
the mouth of Crooked creek, into a high table land, with occasional high
bills rising above it. The belt of millstone grit, above alluded to, ex-
hibits the evidence of having been much disturbed, the masses having
been broken into fissures and cracks, locally much elevated. Places
are frequently to be observed where the lower mass of the millstone
grit forms the bed of a branch, where it lies in a position nearly hori-
zontal, while the next hills, four or five hundred feet above the level
of the stream, have the same rock forming their summits, where it is
seen dipping at an angle of ten, fifteen, or even twenty degrees to the
southeast, northeast, or northwest, as the case may be, varying with
different localities These remarks are especially applicable to the
country north of Piney creek; north of that creek, and eastwardly, to
the Caldwell county line, and for some distance into that county, the
surface does not present breaks and disturbances on quite so grand a
scale. Near the Caldwell county line the measures of the millstone
grit at once pass under the rocks of the true coal measures, making
the belt of country possesing the remarkable characteristics of the
millstone grit country, much narrower in Caldwell and Christian than
in Mublenburg, Butler, and Breckinridge counties, where the same
country has been observed. The same remark will apply, with equal
force, to Hardin and Pope counties, Illinois, and Perry and Crawford
counties, Indiana.
  It being established that the coal beds of Livingston county are an
outlier, being cut off from the main body of the coal field of which
they once formed a part.
  It is also worthy of notice, that the upheaving force which has been
instrumental in these changes has also brought up the ores of iron,
lead, and zinc. It is along the anticlinal axis of this greatest disturb-
ance, which has cut through the millstone grit at the head of and
along the line of Paroquet and Big Hurricane creeks, that are to be
found the fissures filled with Galena, Fluor spar, and other minerals.

 

TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL WSRVEY.



  I would, therefore, respectfully suggest that at some convenient
time part of the force of the survey be detailed, to investigate the
strip of country lying along the axis of this disturbance, extending
from the Ohio to the Cumberland river.
  Some years since an effort was made to prove the Lead Lodes of
Crittenden and Livingston counties; the works were not carried to any
considerable extent before they were discontinued, without any profit-
able result.
  The detailed surveys have only been carried to the margin of the
coal field bordering on Crittenden, Caildwell, and Christian counties.
  The foregoing lfcts have been obtained, incidentally, in reconnoi-
sance made by myself, for the purpose of obtaining such information
as would enable me to direct the operations of the field parties, accord-
ing to the tenor and spirit of my instructions.
  Party No. 2, of the Geological Survey, having begun their opera-
tions at the edge of Union county, under favorable circumstances, but
the whole party having no previous knowledge of the topography of
the country, or its geological features, my operations were restricted
mostly to the vicinity of the field-party, thus, by covering but a lim-
ited -pace, I was enabled to make a most critical examination of all the
known outcrops of coal, and by pursuing this plan I have, while c wrry-
iug forward the lineal Survey, discovered many new outcrops of coal,
and connected these with my previous observations.
  The first line run by party No. 2, this season, was begun at White-
sides' creek, and run northward, and connected with the line dividing
the counties of Hopkins and Union, and the work of the previous sea-
son. From the point of departure thus obtained, at the termination
of the work of Union county, the detailed work of Hopkins county
was begun.
   After conducting the party a few days, the reconnoisance was car-
ried furtber. A synopsis of the field notes made, and the fiets obtain-
ed during these reconnoisances, may aid in arriving at just conclusions
as to the structure and value of the Western Coad-f'Tld of Kentucky,
in Hopkins, Christian, and Caldwell counties.
   I dhall endeavor to set forth these facts, and the method by which
they were obtained1 and the impressions they produced on my own
mind.



315

 

316         TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.



  The field-work of the topographical parties not being fully made up,
the courses and distances estimated will, for the present, be deduced,
from the very imperfect map of Kentucky which I have.
  The identification of the different beds of coal, wherever observed,
has been made a matter of prime importance, and all coals, spoken of
in Hopkins and Christian counties, are referred to their equivalent beds,
by the same names by which they are known at the Ohio river.
  The first camp pitched on Whitesides' creek, in Hopkins county,
was found, on examination, to be on the mass of rocks known at the
Ohio river as the rocks covering the three feet or "Little vein," and the
four-feet coal lying first below it. Neither of these beds, at present,
are open here. The "Little vein" has, however, been penetrated, sev-
eral years since, in digging a well, near the Caseyville and Providence
road, within a few yards of the old school house, on Whitesides' creek.
About a mile from this the equivalent of the second coal under the
Anvil rock has been worked by Mr. Watson, on the southwest side of
the ridge, and by Mr. Llewellen, on the northeast side of the same
ridge, only a few rods apart.
  The following section was taken at the opening into the coal at the
"'Llewellen bank," on the north side of the ridge, which here is the di-
viding line between the waters of Tradewater, above the mouth of Crab
Orchard creek, of Union county, and Slover creek.
  Here the dividing ridge has entirely lost its capping of the "Anvil
Rock," there being only about forty feet of materials between the top
of the coal and the top of the ridge.
                      Sedion of the Lieweilen Coal.
Heighth.   Thickness.
  39.6       30.0  Sloping ground.
  9.6        4.0  Loose pieces of limestone projecting from the surface.
  6.6         .6  Black bituminous shale varying from 6 inches to I foot.
  5.1         .11 Coal.
  4.2         . I Parting clay.
  4.1        2.6  Coal.
  1.7         .2 Parting clay.
  1.6        1.6  Coal.
               .0 Top of under-clay, thickness not satisfactorily seen.
  Thickness of the bed is five feet one inch. In this locality there is,
therefore, four feet ten inches, in all, of workable coal.

 


TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVYf..



317



   The under-clay was not seen at this place, but the following section
of the same coal bed, from the "Watson bank," on the other side of
the same ridge, and only a few rods distant, will probably be satisihc-
tory as to the thickness of the under-clay.
Section of Watson's bank, southwest side of ridge, and equivalent of the second
                           coal under the Anvil Rock.
Heighth.     Thickness.
70.9          30.0 Covered space.
40.9          16 0 Limestone in several beds, much affected by exposure.
34.9            .6 Six inches to one foot of black bituminous shale.
34.3           1.0 Coal.
33.3            .3 Parting clay.
33.0           2.6 Coal.
30.6            .2 Parting.
30.4           1.8 Coal.
28.8           1.0 Under-clay.
27.8          10.0 Ten to twelve feet of drab colored limestone.
17.8           7.8 Covered space with coal.
10.0          10.0 Sandy shale.
   Thickness of workable coal, in Watson's bed, five feet two inches.
   The section heretofore given of the Watson and Llewellen coal,
equivalent of the second coal of the lower series, may be further ex-
tended by the aid of a partial section obtained about one hundred
yards to the east of the opening made on Wateon's land.

  Providence lies in an eastwardly direction from the Llevellen and Watson Coal Banks,
about two and a half miles. By an observation of the mapof Unioncounty. in thertGeolog-
ical Report. it will be seen that the outcrop lines of the coals of the Mulford series will be
found running eastwardly across section 4, T. 5 S., i. 2 E. After the line has entered section
3 of the same township, it runs south and southwest, to the southeast corner of section 9,.hen
it again curves to the east. The line again curves sbruptly to the north, soon after entering
section 10. This is probably the centre of a valley of depression in the Coal Measures, which
being prelonged extends into Crittenden and Caldwell counties, crossing Tradewater river at
or near Bellville. Crossing this valley, as before stated, in section 10, the outcrop line runs
northwardly along the eastern edge of the valley to a point near Providence, when the line is
again deflected t o the south and east, by an elesated fold of the Coal Measures that begins at
Providence and runs in a line nearly parallel with the Providence and Princeton road, and on
the south side of it, to the cuter margin of the Coal Field, near the mouth of Dollison's creek,
in Caldwell county. A nameless branch, which rises in section eighteen of the same town.
ship, runs northeastwardly into section eight. Out of this section it passes into saction seven-
teen, where it has its bed in the soft materials associated with the fourth coal, under the Anvil
Rock, or the "Peur-foot Coal" of the Lower Coal Measures

 


318        TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT OF GUOLOICAL SURVEY.



Reigh.       Thickness.
49.11          45.0   Covered space, with limestones near the coal.
4.11           1.00 Coal.
3.11            .3   Parting clay.
3.8            2.6   Coal.
I.2             .2  Parting clay.
1.00           1.0   Coal.
   On tbe north side of the ridge, containing the Llewellen and Wat-
son coal openings, there is evidence of fractures in the masses of the
coal measures covering this bed. The druinage having taken the lines
of fracture has, by denudation, exposed these beds on the south side
of the spurs of the main ridge, and the coal may be entered and work-
ed, on the north of the ridge; with a dip to the north and northwest,
carrying these coals under a level country bordering Slover creek.
   These beds of the Coal Measures, at Providence, have experienced
some slight modifications, the limestones are more ferruginous; there
are also beds of chert intercalated in the limestone mass, which is
thicker. The dip is greater, and to the northwest The limestone
beds are highly fossiliferous.W

  If these beds are entered north of the main dividing ridge, the produce of the mines may
reach tbe Ohio river, by a railroad which may be made almost by a naturally grded road bed.
By laying tbe line of the road down the valley of Slaver creek. to the Pond Fork; thence up
that valley, and on the neuthwest side of that creek, to the gap beteween Poplar ridge and Coal
hill; thence aloug the valley ol Cypresa creek, to a point near tbe mouth at l'earou's branch;
tben either up Cyprss., and reach the Ohio river by the vailey ot Hlne's creek, or by the Book.
ham valley pass, through the gap, at the head of the Little vein branch, and thus reach the
Ohio; or from Pearson's branch, by the Henry valley pass, through the gap at Winstead's, in
section 24, T. 3 ., R. 2 W. Far a coal read, with very light grades, I at acquainted with no
country where a road, with a betrer allignmeni. or lighter grades, could be bad, for the same
amount of graduation, loe a road of this length; while along tbe line of the road, and t very
shout distances from it, the be" aone for bridgea &ad culveru could be had; sin"e, near
by, along its eadre length. the heaviest coal beds in him part of Kentucky find their outcrop,
the main crunk road would receive numnberless branches from numerous cl mines, that mus
be opened along the entire length of the line, and only a ahort distace from it, Mnay of them
within fm lift7y Lo two tbousnd yards of the main road. In tii connection, I may be per-
mitted to state that a gd railroad is th. only relisble mens by uhieb theae vast beds -f foe.
oil fuel can, with ceisainty, reaeb a markeL It baa been in contemplaton to lock and dam
Tradewater river for the purpose of forwarding these coals; m opinion is, that Tradwater
river, if dammed, and its waters were spread over the surface, as they would be by dams suEi-
cientiy high to obtain the head required, weuld not, during the dry season of the year, affu-d
a safficient supply to keep op the pools, much less the waler necessary for lockage. The
evaporation would probably largely eaceed the supply afforded by the river should this be
the case, as it most probably is; Tradewater river, theefere, as a means of transpjrting coal to
market, is absolutely useless.

  5See specimens '(rnm i'cui/rnte "

 


TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT OP GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.



  There being no difficulty in the way, the outcropping bench of the
Llewellen and Watson coal was easily traced to the equivalent bed
opened at Providence. The following section will serve to illustrate,
in some degree, the arrangement of the Providence beds. The land
holdings here being in very small lots, two banks having different
names are included in one section.
  These banks are on nearly the same level, and the thickness of the
separating material is probably somewhat greater than the work on the
ground made them.
                 Section of the Lof land Coal Bank.
Beighth.   Thickness.
60.2        30.0 Yellow-grey shales, (place of Anvil Rock)
30.2         3.0 Black bituminous shale.
27-2         1.3 Slaty coal.
25.11         .5 Parting clay.
25 6         1.0 Coal, (in large blocks.)
24.6         1.4 Parting clay.
23.2         2.9 Coal.
             1.9 Under clay.
20.5

                         Section of Dorris Bank.
18.8        12.0 Twelve to fifteen feet limestone.
6.8         1.3 Calcareous marly shales, IS to 20 inches thick.
5.5          .4 Black bituminous shale.
5.1         4.0 Coal, fine quality, mining in fine b