xt7rn872vw1k https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7rn872vw1k/data/mets.xml Procter, John Robert, 1844-1903. 1880 books b97-20-37302604 English [s.n.], : Frankfort, Ky. : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Coal Kentucky. Iron ores Kentucky. Report on the resources of the region adjacent to the Paris, Georgetown and Frankfort Railway / by John R. Procter. text Report on the resources of the region adjacent to the Paris, Georgetown and Frankfort Railway / by John R. Procter. 1880 2002 true xt7rn872vw1k section xt7rn872vw1k
Maps and Charts for Kentucky Geological Survey
Publications, Series 2, Miscellaneous Reports, Volume
1-2
Map of the Paris, Georgetown & Frankfort Railway and Connections is
filmed at the end of John R. Proctor's Report on the Resources of the
Region Adjacent to the Paris, Georgetown and Frankfort Railway.
Map of the Paris, Georgetown & Frankfort Railway and Connections by
Rand McNally & Co., Engrs, Chicago is filmed at the end of John R.
Proctor's Report on the Resources of the Region Adjacent to the Kentucky
Union Railway Company.
REPORT
ON THE
RESOURCES OF THE REGION
ADJACENT To THE
PARIS, GEORGETOWN AND FRANKFORT RAILWAY.
By JOHN R. PROCTER,
STATE GEOLOGIST OF KENTUCKY.
OFFICE OF THE PARIS, GEORGETOWN AND )
FRANKFORT RAILWAY COMPANY,
FRANKFORT, Ky., I 880. J
JOHN R. PROCTER, ESQ., Director of the Kentucky Geological Sutfzey:
DEAR SIR: On behalf of the Directors of the Paris, Georgetown and
Frankfort Railway Company, I request of you a report on the resources
of the region which would justify the building of the proposed railway
from Frankfort through Georgetown to Paris, and beyond into the coal-
fields of Eastern Kentucky, with connections to Louisville and Cincin-
nati. The Company also wish your views. respecting an extension of
the road to form connections on the southeast with a system of roads
extending to the sea-board.
Respectfully yours,
D. W. LINDSEY,
President Parts, Georgetown and Frankfort Railway Company.
PARIS, GEORGETOWN AND FRANKFORT RAILWAY.
OFFICE OF THE KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,
FRANKFORT, KY., December 4, i880. f
GEN. D. W. LINDSEY, President of the Paris, Georgetown and Frankfort
Railway:
DEAR SIR: I comply with your request the more readily because of'
the important interests to be advanced by the construction of a railway
,on the route indicated by you. To any one who has given study to the
resources of Central and Eastern Kentucky, the importance of such a
line, giving the shortest possible route from Cincinnati and the most
fertile portion of Kentucky to the eastern coal-field, is apparent. A
glance at the accompanying railway map of this State will show how
curiously the important railway lines have avoided the coal area. The
Cincinnati Southern Railway skirts along almost parallel with the west-
ern border of the eastern coal-field, and only enters it south of the
Cumberland river, and the Lexington and Big Sandy appears to enter
the coal-field reluctantly on the north, whilst the Louisville and Nash-
ville has made a long detour as if to avoid the coal-fields of Western
Kentucky.
It is evident that a railway from Paris, entering the eastern coal-field
at right angles to its outcrop, will afford the shortest and cheapest means
for supplying a large area with coal. No shorter road can be con-
structed from Cincinnati to workable coal of good quality than the one
under consideration.
It only remains, therefore, to examine the quantity and quality of the
coal reached by this proposed road to decide whether such a road would
justify the expenditure necessary for its constrvirtion.
Independent of the coal, iron ores, and timber, this road will pass
through a region abounding in other varied resources, sufficient to insure
to it a profitable and ever-increasing freightage. From Frankfort to
Paris, and for a distance of 25 miles beyond that point, the road will pass
through a portion of the Blue Grass Region equal in fertility to any por-
PARIS, GEORGETOWN AND FRANKFORT RAILWAY.
tion of that celebrated section. In this region there are no waste lands;
even the woodlands are in pasture, and every acre is made available for
production. The country is thickly settled, and that portion of your
road can depend on a profitable local freight and passenger traffic from its
completion. The scarcity of timber in this region forces the inhabitants.
to use coal; they also require a large amount of lumber for buildings,
fencing, &c. The amount of coal and lumber used at Paris and other-
towns is now considerable-enough to insure profitable freightage to this
road. The facilities afforded by this road to obtain cheaply a superior
quality of the above articles will greatly increase the consumption, inde-
pendent of the increased population which may be expected in the near
future.
Between the borders of the Blue Grass Region and the outcrop of the
coal, your road will pass over, in a few miles, quite a variety of geolog-
ical formations; from the Upper Silurian to the Lower Carboniferous
inclusive, giving in a short distance quite a variety of soil and timbers,
and consequently a variety of agricultural products. In these various.
groups are to be had in abundance hydraulic limestone, superior build-
ing stones, pottery and fire-clays, iron ores, and valuable timbers.
RED RIVER IRON ORES.
The excellent quality of the charcoal iron known as the " Red River
Car-wheel Iron" is so well known as to need no description. The ore,
from which this iron is made is a limonite, resting on top of the St.
Louis Group of the Subcarboniferous Limestone, and is very persistent,
with a varying thickness of from a few inches to several feet along the
eastern outcropof the coal-field in the counties of Estill, Lee, Powell,
Wolfe, Montgomery, Menifee, and Bath. In Estill county, three fur-
naces have been erected; two of them large and well constructed. The
product of these furnaces must now be hauled 17 miles over mud
roads to reach railway transportation. The construction of the pro-
posed road would give an outlet to the existing furnaces, and would
insure the building of others using coal. The iron ores of this region
range from 39 to 52 per cent of metallic iron, and the pure coals to be-
obtained convenient to these ores will insure the manufacture of a supe-
nor iron at small cost.
For further description, see "The Iron Ores of the Red River Iron Region," by P.
N. Moore, Part III. vol. IV (second series) Kentucky Geological Reports; Report on.
the Geology of Menifee County, by A. R. Cr ndall, Part II, vol. IV (new series); Report
of Joseph Lesley, jr., vol. IV (old series), pages 462 to 48o.
4
COALS OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY.
COALS OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY.
The scope of this brief statement precludes a discussion of the geol-
-ogy of the district beyond the briefest mention, the object being only
to give a summary of the resources. The first coals to be reached by
this road are the two workable coals in the shales beneath the conglom-
erate sandstone. These coals are well up in the hills above drainage
in this valley, and are well situated for cheap mining.
The following are analyses of Subconglomerate coals of Menifee
county from averaged samples " carefully taken, representing the whole
thickness of the bed," by Prof. Crandall, from beds ranging from thirty-
-two inches to forty-eight inches in thickness, analyzed by Dr. Robert
Peter, Chemist of the Geological Survey:
No. i. No. 2. No. 3. I No. 4.
Specific gravity............ . 1.300 1.319 1 1.301 1.300
Moisture.. .. . . .. . .. . .. . 5.00 2.94 1 3.80 5.00
Volatile combustible matter ... . ........32.40 33.06 38.60 39.o6
Fixed carbon.... ...... . . . 58.40 56.6o 52.'00 55.94
Ash.. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. 4.20 7.40 5.60 2.76
Sulphur. ..... . .. . . . . .614 .997 -not det. 1.300
Dr. Robert Peter says of these coals: "These are all remarkably
good coals, containing less than the average of earthy matters, as well
as of sulphur." Nos. 3 and 4 would bear shipment to Cincinnati and
beyond, to be used in the manufacture of gas. These coals stand
exposure, and bear transhipment and yarding well. A similar coal is
sometimes brought down the Kentucky river in small boats during high
water, and it always commands from one to two cents more per bushel
than the best Pittsburg coal. From this coal to the Ohio river, by the
proposed road, it is all down grade, which should be a guarantee of
cheap freights, enabling this coal to compete successfully with Pittsburg
coal in the Cincinnati market, and to monopolize the market of a large
part of Central Kentucky. In the valley of the Red river, towards the
heads of the streams, there are but two coal seams above the Conglomer-
ate. Coal No. I, the first above the Conglomerate, is a fat caking coal,
and will doubtless make an excellent coke. It is probably the equivalent
of the excellent caking coal described on page I3. On the upper por.
tion of Red river, on Stillwater, Gilmore, Glaidie, and other streams, an
excellent cannel coal is to be had of workable thickness. Little search
Page 121, Vol. IV (new series) Kentucky Geological Reports.
5
PARIS, GEORGETOWN AND FRANKFORT RAILWAY.
has been made on these streams, but enough to justify the assertion that
there is a large area of valuable cannel coal in the Red River Valley.
The following analysis from one of these beds shows the quality :-
Volatile matter.. .. . . ..51..... . 51.70
Coke.. . ....... 48.30
Ash. .. . . .. . . . . .. . .. . . .. 5.10
Sulphur.. ......... . .955
These cannel coals will afford to any railway penetrating this valley a
large and constantly growing freightage. The timber resources of this
valley are valuable. The only considerable area of white pine timber
in the State is in this valley. In addition, there are extensive forests
of yellow pine, white oak, yellow poplar, and other valuable timbers.
On the ridges and uplands, near the border of the coal-field, are exten-
sive forests of chestnut oak-enough to yield, for years to come, a large-
supply of tan-bark.
The valleys of this region are fertile, and will support a dense agricul-
tural population. There is a broad, high table land, held up by the Con-
glomerate sandstone. On this table land the lands are level and gently
rolling, similar to the "Plateau Lands" of Tennessee, about which so
much has been recently written.
These table lands have an elevation of from I,200 to i,400 feet above
sea level, and are admirably adapted to fruit-growing. They will pro-
duce excellent grass. The climate, water, healthfulness, and ease with
which they may be cleared of timber and brought under cultivation, will,.
when transportation is afforded, cause them to be rapidly settled by
immigrants,
KENTUCKY RIVER VAL LY.
The rocks dip from Central Kentucky to the southeast, and the height
of the hills also increases in that direction, so that, penetrating the east-
ern coal-field in the direction of the proposed road, there is a steady
increase of the thickness of coal-measure rocks, and also in the number
of coals. A section from Red river to the mouth of Troublesome creek,
in Breathitt county, shows this very plainly, and establishes the exist-
ence, up to that point, of at least five workable seams of coal above the
Conglomerate sandstone and above the drainage level of the country-
These coals are thick and admirably situated for cheap mining, and are
of excellent quality, as the following analyses, by the Chemists of the
Survey, from samples carefully averaged by officers of the Geological
See page i z6, Vol. IV (new series), Kentucky Geological Reports.
6
KENTUCKY RIVER VALLEY.-COAL.
Survey, will show, though these samples were, for the most part, taken
from imperfect openings near the outcrop, thus showing the coal at a
disadvantage:
No. i. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 5.
Specific gravity.... . .. 1.300 1.294 1.297 1.290 ,1.289
Moisture.. . .. . . . .. 2.50 3.50 3.56 2.76 2.10
Volatile combustible matter. 41.10 35.20 33-59 36.60 36.20
Fixed carbon.. .. . . .. 49.22 56.70 58.38 56.50 58.20
Ash. . . . . .. . . . .. 7.18 4.60 4.50 4.o6 3-50
Coke. .. . . . .. . . .. 56.40 61.30 62.88 6o.56 61.70
Sulphur. . . . .. . . .. 0.818 X.189 1.381 o.865 0.836
No. i. Coal from Frozen creek, Breathitt county.
No. 2. Coal, 5 feet 7 inches thick, from Devil creek, Wolfe county.
No. 3. Spencer's coal, Br4athitt county, 4 feet thick.
No. 4. Coal, 6 feet to 7 feet thick, Wolfe creek, Breathitt county.
No. 5. Coal from near Hazard, Perry county, over 5 feet thick.
No. 6. No. 7.
Specificgravity... . .. . . . .... . .. . . . .. . . . 1.289 1.274
Moisture... . . . .. . . . .. . . .... . . .. . . .. 2.10 l .8o
Volatile combustible matter....... .. . . . . 36.20 40.90
Fixed carbon... . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . . 58.20 53-70
Ash. . . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . . 3.50 3.60
Coke . . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . . 61.70 57 30
Sulphur. . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . . o.836 1339
No. 6. "Cobb's " coal, near Hazard, Perry county.
No. 7. Grigsby's Bank, Lot's Creek, Perry county, coal above the Cannel coal.
The above analyses of some of the bituminous coals of this valley
show what a variety of excellent coals can be depended upon. The
sample of No. 5 was taken from a pile of coal at the mouth of the
mine which had been exposed to the weather for over twelve months.
From the appearance of this coal, after so long exposure, and its free-
dom from slack, it is evident that it will stand long shipment, handling,
and yarding. The detailed survey of this region will doubtless bring to
knwledge the existence of other valuable coals.
In addition to the above-mentioned bituminous coals, the Valley of
the Upper Kentucky abounds in cannel coal of great value. The
7
PARIS, GEORGETOWN AND FRANKFORT RAILWAY.
demand for cannel coal for the purposes of enriching gas is large and
increasing, and the supply convenient to existing transportation is nearly
exhausted. In addition to this, there is an increasing demand for this
coal for open fires. One great objection to cannel coal for this purpose
is its manner of " popping " when first placed on the fire. The Ken-
tucky river cannel coal is remarkably free from this objection.
The following are analyses of some of the cannel coals from this
region, from averaged samples taken by officers of the Survey, and
analyzed by the Chemists of the Survey:
No. i. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No.5. No. 6.
Specific gravity..... . . . 1.280 1.265 1.219 1. i8o 1.290 1.280
Moisture. .... .. . . 0.94 1.30 0.30 1.20 3.40
Volatile combustible matter 52.38 47.00 56.70 58.80 40.86 43-40
Fixed carbon. .35-54 44.40 38. 10 35.30 1 48-44 46.96
Ash . . II.14 7.30 4.90 4.70 9.50 6.24
Coke.46.68 51.70 43-00 40.00 57.94 53.20
Sulphur. 1-423 1.574 1.513 notest. 0o.634 o.634
No. r. George's Branch cannel coal, Breathitt county.
No. 2. Haddock cannel coal, mouth of Troublesome creek, Breathitt county.
No. 3. Cannel coal, near Jackson, Breathitt county.
No. 4. Frozen Creek cannel coal, Breathitt county.
No. 5. Lot's Creek cannel coal, Perry county.
No. 6. Roberts' bank, Troublesome creek.
The value of these coals is best shown by comparison with the fol-
lowing analyses of well known cannel coals. These represent four of
the best gas coals of Great Britain: No. I, Lesmahago cannel; No. 2,
Ramsay's Newcastle cannel; No. 3, Weyms' cannel coal; No. 4, Bog-
head cannel; and No. 5, the cannel coal from Kanawha, West Virginia:
No. i. No. 2. No. 3. No- 4. No. 5.
Specific gravity .1.228 1.29 1.183. 1'.27
Volatile matter.... . . . 49.6 36.8 58.52 70.10 43-37
Fixed carbon.. .. . . .. 41.3 56.6' 25.28 10.30 46.50
Ash.9. I 6.6 14.25 I9.60 10.13
Including moisture. Sulphur not determined.
8
KENTUCKY RIVER VALLEY.-TIMBERS.
There are no cannel coals superior to those of the Kentucky Valley,
and on the line of the proposed road-the beds are thick, above drain-
age, and the coal can be cheaply mined. The very high price for a
superior article of cannel will justify long shipments of these coals by
rail; and if there were nothing else to be shipped from that region, I
believe the freights to be had by the shipment of this coal would alone
justify the building of a railway to reach it.
The dip of the rocks is continued until Pine Mountain is reached,
and consequently the coal-measures thicken, and the number of coals in-
creases to the southeast.
Little search has been made for ores, but the numerous fragments
found-along the streams indicate the existence of iron ores of good
quality in this portion of the eastern coal-field. The iron ores will be
discussed more at length further on, when enumerating the resources of
the Valley of the Upper Cumberland river.
TIXBERS.
The timber resources of this valley are very great-unsurpassed by
any part of the State, unless it be the Upper Cumberland. Mr. L. H.
DeFriese has made a careful study of the timbers along this valley to the
Virginia line. The following extracts from his report will show the
value of the timbers of the country between the Middle and North
Fork. He says:
"The forests of white oak are as fine along the rich hill-sides as I
ever saw. Hickories are splendid also; and walnut, yellow poplar,
chestnut, and linden are unsurpassed along all the ravines whose waters
head in the rich woods below the brows of the high hills. The tops of
the hills are crowned with black oak, scarlet oak, chestnut oak, rock
maple, scrub hickories, and pines. A considerable
amount of fine old forest walnut, black birch, and cherry still stands in
these fastnesses, and gigantic yellow poplar, white oaks, ashes, lindens,
locusts, chestnuts, elms, buckeyes, magnolias, and maples have so far
bid defiance to the axe that has laid waste these timbers in other
parts of the State. A list of timbers noted in the
Troublesome creek region includes white, black, and pig hickory, white
oak, holly, black and blue ash, black walnut, yellow poplar, chestnut,
black gum, black and grey birch, winged elm, -white, rock, black, and
mountain maple, redbud, mulberry, chestnut oak, beeches, black cherry,
big buckeye, black locust, linden, water beech, cucumber and umbrella
trees, chestnut oak, sycamore, bartram oak, pines, cedar, hemlock, elm
Part X, Vol. V (second series), Kentucky Geological Reports.
9
PARIS GEORGETOWN AND FRANKFORT RAILWAY.
(racemosa), dogwood, &c. The great variety, and the rich-
ness in valuable timbers, of these forests, I think, can scarcely be surpassed."
This richness in valuable timbers is continued to the Virginia line.
VALL-EY OF THE UPPER CUXBERLAND RIVER.
The proposed line, after passing Pine Mountain, if it were designed to
connect with the system of roads to be described hereafter, will pass
through Big Stone Gap or Pennington Gap, in the Cumberland Moun-
tain. The following section across the Valley of the Upper Cumber-
land will explain the geology of this region.
It will be seen from the accompanying cross-section that the region
to be described-lying between the Pine Mountain on the west and
the Cumberland on the east-which latter forms the eastern boundary
of the coal-field-is composed of Carboniferous rocks of great thick-
ness, resting in a broad synclinal valley. The valleys of the region
through which this road would pass have an elevation above the sea
of from 1,150 to 1,500 feet, and the mountains an elevation of from
2,000 to 3,500 feet. The slopes of these mountains are gentle, often
not too steep for cultivation, and there are on the tops of the moun-
tains broad, fertile plateaus, whilst the valleys are generally level, and
afford excellent farming lands.
0
z z
0 BLACK MOUNTAINS e
A Valley of Stiaiglt Creek C Sub Carlb. Limestone
B Valley ofthe Poor Fork of Cumiberland River D Poor Valley
E Powell's Valley
The soils of this region are superior to any coal-measure soils with
which I am acquainted. Dr. David Dale Owen, Director of the first
Geological Survey, says of this region: "The richness of the soil on
the slopes, and even on the summit, is a matter of surprise, supporting
a heavy growth of a walnut, cherry, oak, poplar, locust, and chestnut.
Mr. L. H. DeFreise, in his report on the forests of the North Curn-
berland, after describing the depth of soil on the slopes of the moun-
The description of the resources of this valley is mainly taken from the ' Report on
the Resources of the North Cumberland Valley," by John R. Procter, recently published.
IO
VALLEY OF THE UPPER CUMBERLAND RIVER.-COAL.
tains, says: " The consequence is, that in the parts of the Black
Mountains familiar to me, even on the steepest slopes, there is a rich
soil of from two to four feet in depth. For this reason there is a
growth of chestnut, yellow poplar, black walnut, white and blue ash,
birch, linden, and white hickory that I have never seen surpassed."
The following brief extracts from the above mentioned report show
the great value of the timbers of this region: "About 500 feet below
the crest of the mountains I found a remarkable belt of the 7 .-i
forest walnut timber I have ever seen. This walnut-bearing
belt winds along the mountain as far as I had time to trace it.
On the northern exposure, on the contrar), about thirty-five per cent.
of the timber was massive yellow poplar, many of the trees of which
were six and seven feet in diameter, with trunks sixty to eighty feet
high. The white hickory and blue and black ash rank next
in value, and they all abound; in the Black Mountains especially.
The red maple, which is growing into favor for cabinet work, also
abounds."
Of another sectiop made across these mountains he says: " The
splendor of the forest can hardly be imagined; the belt of walnut before
mentioned begins to show itself here, while the yellow poplar, the
chestnut, and the white hickory are of the finest. At this
height crosses the curious belt, twenty-five percent. of whose timber is
old forest walnut. In size and quality these trees have no supe iorin this
country so far as I know."
Excepting on the cleared farms in the valleys, the timbers of this
section remain almost untouched. The difficulty of running logs and
rafts over the great falls of the Cumberland and the shoals below is a
reason for the preservation of this timber.
COAL.
The coal-measures have here a thickness of over two thousand feet
above drainage-thicker than elsewhere in America. Thus far only-
preliminary reconnoissance work has been done by the Geological
Survey, and the densely wooded condition, with the depth of soil, is
unfavorable to the discovery of c(oal-beds, but enough has been done
to establish the existence of many beds of workable thickness and of
very superior quality.
Part IX, Vol. IV (new series , Kentucky Geological Survey.
I It
PARIS, GEORGETOWN AND FRANKFORT RAILWAY.
In a report on the reconnaissance in the Upper Cumberland section,
Prof. A. R. Crandall says: "The thickness of the coal-measures is
greater by many hundred feet than in any other part of Kentucky; the
number of coals is also greater. The quality of the coals of
this valley is most excellent; the proportion of ash and sulphur is very
low in all that have been analyzed, except one cannel coal, and the
fixed carbon is high."
The following are analyses of some of these coals, sampled by offi-
-cers of the Geological Survey, so as to represent the entire thickness of
the bed. It must be borne in mind that the samples were taken from
imperfect openings near the outcrop, and cannot represent the coal at
its best:
No. I. No. 2. No. 3. No 4 -
Moisture.. . . .. . .. . .. . . . I.70 1.20 1.90 1.00
Volatile combustible matter. 35-70 31.26 37.50 4,3.60
Fixed carbon. ... . .. . . . . 59.60 6o.o8 52.90 47.80
Ash. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . .0 3.46 2.70 7. 60
Coke. . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . . 62.60 65.54 6o. 6o 55. 60
Sulphur.. . 0.750 o.6i8 1.519 0.59 (0
No. 1. Clover Fork coal, Harlan county, fifty-four inches thick.
No. 2. Skidmore Bank, Martin's Fork.
No. 3. Straight Creek coal.
No. 4. Cannel coal, Fork Ridge.
Dr. Robert Peter, Chemist of the Geological Survey, says that these
coals "yield less than the average quantity of ash, and give a large pro-
portion of coke, and are superior coals, especially for the manufacture
of iron." Some of these coals will make excellent coke, whilst others
could be used to smelt iron without the preliminary process of coking.t
The line between Kentucky and Virginia leaves the Cumberland
Mountain about forty miles east from Cumberland Gap, and traverses
one of the ridges of the Black Mountains, the divide between the waters
of the Upper Cumberland and Powell's river, until near Pound Gap,
where the line follows Pine Mountain.
Thus there is an area of coal-measures in Southwest Virginia. A por.:
ion of this area was explored by Prof. J. P. Lesley in i871, and his
report attests the value of the coals of that section. Speaking of the
Part XII, Vol. IV (second series), Kentucky Geological Reports.
tSee Chemical Report, pages 26 and 85, Vol. IV (new series), Kentucky Geological
Survey.
1 2
six-foot bed, he says: "At one place, where the bed has been dug a
little into, it yields the best kind of bituminous coal, fat and caking, but
friable, with no appearance of sulphur, and making no clinker. It is
a good blacksmith coal, and no doubt will make a good coke. A
piece of ill-made coke shows that the best coke can be got from it."
The North Fork of Powell's river cuts through the Cumberland or Big
Stone Mountain, at Pennington's Gap, and the Roaring Fork at Big
Stone Gap, thus giving easy access to the coals of the Black Moun-
tains from the southeast.
Prof. John J. Stevenson, Professor of Geology in the University of
the City of New York, has recently made explorations behind Big
Stone Gap, and reports coal of great thickness and of superior quality.
These coals were analyzed by Mr. A. S. McCreath, Chemist to the
Geological Survey of Pennsylvania.
Referring to these analyses, Mr. McCreath says: "The above analy-
ses speak for themselves, and indicate coals of remarkable purity."
Prof. Stevenson adds: "This eight-foot seam will yield a coke with
considerable less than three per cent. of ash, and with little more than
five tenths of a per cent. of sulphur. Such would be a marvelously rich
coke, the percentage of fixed carbon being somewhat more than ninety-
six. The Connellsville coke has somewhat less than ninety per cent. of
fixed carbon. The ash is between nine and ten per cent., whilst the
average of sulphur is about eight tenths of a per cent."
I have a sample of, coke made from this coal which is excellent, and
of great strength.
It will thus be seen that the entire route of the proposed line from a
few miles southeast of Winchester, Kentucky, to a few miles beyond
the Virginia line, will be in a region abounding in coals of great excel-
lence-probably of greater variety and excellence than is traversed by
any other railway in America.
For the purpose of comparison, I give below analyses of the best
coals from neighboring States. These coals were sampled by officers
of the Kentucky Survey in the same manner as were the Kentucky coals
above mentioned, and were analyzed by the Chemists of the Kentucky
Survey. Dr. Robert Peter says t: "Seven of the best coals from the
State of Ohio, two of the best of those of Illinois, and three of the cel-
ebrated 'block coals' of Indiana, used there for iron smelting, were sub-
m Read before the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, April 21, 1871.
t Page 146, Vol. I (new series), Kentucky Geological Reports.
COAL.
13
PARIS, GEORGETOWN AND FRANKFORT RAILWAY.
Imitted to similar processes of analyses with our Kentucky coals. We
give results as follows: "
No. Volatile corm. Fixed carbon Per cent. Per cent. of
States. analyzed. matter. in coke. of ash. sulphur.
Ohio. .. .7. . . 34.59 55-17 6.43 1494
Indiana... . .. 2 3195 59.06 5.96 1.924
Illinois.... .. 3 35-93 54-24 7.23 1.946
General average.. 12 34-13 56.12 6.54 1.768
Iron ores not so rich nor so pure as can be had near the coals of the
Upper Cumberland and Kentucky river valleys, are carried hundreds of
miles to be smelted by the above coals in the three neighboring States.
IRON ORES.
The position of the rocks and the relation of the Clinton Group, in
-which this ore is situated, known as " Clinton," " Dyestone," and " Fossil
ore," is shown in the section on page IO. This Clinton ore extends
irregularly along the eastern escarpment of the Alleghenies from Canada
to Alabama. It is the principal source for local supply for the furnaces
of Pennsylvania and the furnaces of Middle Tennessee and Eastern
Alabama. This ore is persistent and of good workable thickness along
the entire eastern edge of the coal-field under consideration. At Pen-
-nington's Gap it is thirty-five inches thick, and at or near Big Stone Gap
the several beds range in thickness from twenty-five inches to seven feet
two inches. The quantity along the eastern outcrop of this coal is
unlimited.
'In quality, analyses show it to be superior to the same class of ores
in Pennslyvania and Alabama. The following are analyses of some of
the ores convenient to coal:
No. i. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4.
Metallic iron.... .. . . .. . . . 52.600 52-556 54.166 51.750
Sulphur.. .. . . .. . . .. . . . . o.oi8 0.037 trace. trace.
Phosphorus.. . . .. . . .. . . .. o.ii6 0.051 .140 .140
Insoluble residue..... . .. 18.140 7.840 15.960 11.730
No. i Clinton ore, and No. 2, a brown hematite from near Big Stone
SGap. Analyzed by Mr. McCreath. Other analyses by Dr. Robert
Peter.
Report of Prof. J. J. Stevenson, page 13.
44
IRON ORES.
For purposes of comparison, the reader is referred to the analyses of
Clinton ores of Pennsylvania, in volume " F," " second survey of Penn-
sylvania."
During the high price of iron in i872, the Clinton ores were carried
from Alabama to Louisville by rail, carted through that city and loaded
on boats, and carried to furnaces in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.
The excellent ores described above can be delivered to furnaces along
the eastern border of the Kentucky and Southeast Virginia coal-field at
prices ranging from 5o cents to I .5o a ton. Prof. Stevenson estimates
that pig-iron can be made at Big Stone Gap at 8.25 per ton. The
above is but a small part of the ore supply to be relied upon by this
region-
There are stro