Dec., 19 °2"] Anthracite of the Third Hil l Mountain. 43I

Mining and Metallurgical Section. Stated ~feeting, heldJamtaJy 8, i9o2.

The Anthracite of the Third Hill /~ountain, West Virginia.

BY WILLIAM GRIFFITH, Mining Engineer.

SITUATION.

The Thi rd Hill and Sleepy Creek Mounta ins are located in Berkley and Morgan Counties, W e s t Virginia. T h e y extend nearly north and south (N. 25 ° E.), the nor ther ly end being abou t I3 miles west of Mar t insbnrg , 7 miles east of Berkiey Springs. Sleepy Creek StaLion, on the Bal t imore and Ohio Rai l road, is the neares t point by rail, be ing three or four miles north of the nor ther ly end of the mounta ins , while Cherry R u n Stat ion (the junc t ion point of B. & O. R. R. and W e s t e r n Maryland R. R.) is 6 miles distant . This s tat ion is I24 miles by rail from Baltimore, 84 miles from Wash ing ton , 68 miles from Cumber land, 18 miles from Hagers town and abou t 2oo miles from Pi t t sburg .

TOPOGRAPIIY.

As before stated, these moun ta ins ex tend sou thward from near the Po tomac River , having general direction of about S. 25 ° W. and are nearly parallel, be ing separa ted by the val ley of Meadow Branch, which rises near the south- erly end of the val ley on the slope of Middle R idge (a hill which gradua l ly rises from the center of the valley, and increasing in he igh t sou thward uni tes the two mountains) . From Middle R i d g e the Meadow Branch flows nor thward and empt ies into Sleepy Creek, a s t ream of eonsiderable size, which drains the val ley ly ing wes t of Sleepy Creek Mountain. The Back Creek Val ley to the east of Thi rd Hill is dra ined by Back Creek and its t r ibutar ies , and flows also into the Po tomac west of Mar t insburg . A good idea of the relat ive posi t ions of these moun ta ins can be obta ined

A.

1)ec., *9 °2"] A,athracile o f t/ze T/aDd Hi l l Mountabz. 433

from the sketch map by no t ing tha t their general outl ine somewhat resembles a fish, Sleepy Creek Mounta in forming the back, Th i rd Hill the belly, and Middle Ridge un i t ing the two at base of the tail. The i r southern extension, including Brush Creek Valley, forms the tail, while the nose and m o n t h are formed by the nor th end of Sleepy Creek Mounta in and Short Mountain, the la t ter being a detached, port ion of the nor th end of Thi rd Hill.

The crests of Th i rd Hill and Sleepy Mounta in are about t,o9o feet above the general level of Sleepy Creek and Back Creek Valleys and about 5oo feet above Meadow Branch Valley, which latter, at Tom Meyer's, i i or i2 miles south of the B. & O. R. R., is 600 feet h igher than Sleepy Creek Station.

The coal beds, which are the especial object of this paper, are found in the rocks which flank the east side of Third Hill. At the souther ly end, i.e., near the fish's tail, the outcrops are near the crest of the m o u n t a i n ; but to the north the rocks conta in ing them gradua l ly separate from the main hill, fo rming Short Mountain, above ment ioned. The space between Short Mounta in and the main r idge is occupied by soft red shales, fo rming a sort of va l l ey , in which several moun ta in s t reams have their source, which have cut channels or passes th rough Short Mountain, thus dividing it into a chain of short r idges lying end to end, parallel to Thi rd Hill proper, and as the crests of these ridges are formed by the hard and almost vert ical s t ra ta in which th'e coal is found, it will be seen tha t the coal out- crop runs lengthwise of the h ighes t crest of Short Mounta in and across the passes th rough which the Cherry R u n and other brooks flow, as above mentioned, and tha t the coal beds are very accessible by water-level drifts lengthwise of the vein from the creek beds.

G E O L O G Y .

A knowledge of the geology of this region is of the Utmost impor tance in de te rmin ing the value of the Anthra- cite coal in Th i rd Hil l ; for if we know posi t ively their geological position, we have gone a long way toward VOL, CLIV. No. 924 . 28

434 G r i f ~ t / z .' EJ. F. I.,

de te rmin ing their economical value. The following ideal cross section will serve to i l lus t ra te :

In the first place, we find tha t both Sleepy Creek and Back Creek Valleys are occupied by the soft red and yellow shales and black slates of the middle and upper Devonian measures, the lowest rocks of the series b e i n g in each val. ley far thes t from the mounta ins in question, while the h ighes t rocks of the Devonian Age (the red shales of the Catskill group, or No. IX of Pennsylvania Geological Sur. vey), are found f lanking the west slope of Sleepy Creek Mounta in and the east Mope of Thi rd Hill. The crest of both of these mounta ins is formed by a ridge or spine of hard white and gray sandstone, being the lowest rocks of the sub-carboniferous or Poeono measures, and these same rocks form the mountain-s ides sloping down to Meadow Branch.

The rocks in the crest and in the east flank of Third Hill and the Black Creek Valley are over turned or inverted, as shown by their decided dip to the east, while in Sleepy Creek Mounta in and Val ley the rocks are regular and dip also to the east. Thus we see tha t the two mountains are formed by a long, narrow, canoe-shaped t rough or basin of hard Pocono sandstone, res t ing upon the soft red rocks of the valley. And it is th rough this basin tha t Meadow Branch flows, breaking its way th rough a precipitous gorge at the nor ther ly end.

Now, while there are coal openings on the west side of Meadow Branch in a number of places, those in Third Hill are par t icular ly in te res t ing in this paper, and we will con- fine ourselves to the developments along its crest.

Anthrac i te coal has long been known to exist in Third Hill, and in fact has been found far to the southward "and also to the nor thward in the same general range of Pocono rocks at various places. At Third Hill, however, more than any other one locality, the coal has been proved by many test.pits dug into the outcrop along the crest of the moun- rain for I2 or 15 miles, and while these provings have been very al lur ing to prospectors, and considerable t ime and money has been spent, both in shaf t ing and boring with

Dec., 19°z.] Anthracite o f the Third Hi l l Molllztabz. 435

diamond drills, as yet no coal beds have been found of suffi- cient va lue to war ran t the expense necessary for t he i r development . T h e t rue carboniferous format ion, wh ich includes the p roduc t ive coal measures of Pennsy lvan ia and West Virginia , are much h ighe r in the geological series of rocks than the Pocono (in which the coal in ques t ion is found). And in Pennsy lvan ia no Anth rac i t e coal of work- able th ickness has ever been found in the Pocono rocks. I t is t rue tha t in a few localities, no tab ly in K e n t u c k y and Tennessee, and in one or two special points in Pennsy lvan ia , b i tuminous coal is mined in the low or carboni ferous meas- ures. At the same time, these beds are not so regula r as to thickness and are more sub jec t to faults and d is turbances , and, consequent ly , are more costly to mine than beds of the true carboni ferous age. As a rule, when b i tuminous coal exists, the measures are not much d is turbed or d is tor ted , and the coal lies flat or on modera te dips, very much as originally depos i ted ; while in the case of An th rac i t e coal, the condi t ions are qui te different, as it only occurs in h i g h l y dis turbed measures , where the coal (original ly supposed to, have been b i tuminous) has been coked or dist i l led u n d e r the heat and grea t pressure, due to the distorl~ion of the rock format ion in which it exists The An th rac i t e beds of Penn- sylvania are there fore found to contain more slaty refuse: and are more sub jec t to fau l ty squeezes, c rushed coal, etc. , than the b i tuminous beds of the same age. Again, the, Pocono rocks are known to be false-bedded and much more, i r regular in thei r s t ra t i f icat ion and more liable to faul ts , crushes and o ther i r regular i t ies , than the rocks of the t r u e coal measures .

As a resul t of the above facts and the known geological position of the beds of Th i r d Hill, in connect ion with t h e i r steep dips (usually inverted) and the evident d is tor t ion and folding of the measures , we mus t expect to find the coal beds more or less crushed t h r o u g h o u t the region, and in much the same s ta te as the crushed and fau l ty coal of t he Pennsylvania An t h rac i t e beds. In addi t ion to this, the beds would p robab ly be found more i r regular and errat ic as to thickness and 'con t inu i ty , exis t ing more or less as " pockets ,"

436 Grzj f / i th : [J. F. 1.0:

and very uncer ta in as a basis upon which to make a large i nve s tme n t of capital necessary to deve lopmen t for rai lroad shipment .

T h e provings noted on Th i rd Hill were made many years ago, the most recent provings west of Shanghi and near the source of Cher ry Run , and it was impossible to get f resh samples of coal from the seam for analysis or tests; It is repor ted that a n u m b e r of wagon-loads of coal were hauled away from the var ious shafts and sold, and found to give very good sa t is fact ion as fuel, and apparen t ly equal to Pennsy lvan ia Anthrac i t e . Analyses of fresh coal have been shown me, which average about as fol lows:

Volatile matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . about Io per cent. Fixed carbon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 84 . . . . Ash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 6 " "

From this we should take the coal to be a semi-Anthra. cite, free-burning, whi te ash, app roach ing in qua l i ty the coals of Shamokin and Bernice, Pa., which are classed as Anthrac i tes . It is probable tha t the above analysis is from picked samples of pure coal, and tha t the average of the vein would show much h igher pe rcen t age of ash, owing to the bony coal and slate which would remain in te rmingled wi th it, even af ter careful prepara t ion . The coal does not yield readi ly to the influence of the a tmosphere , as is shown by the good condi t ion of coal exposed ten or fifteen years a t the p rov ing shafts.

T h e rocks of the moun ta in in the south end, where the recent Shanghi provings were made, are much disturbed, and the coal bed in the prov ing shaf t is inver ted and the coal badly crushed.

At this point a d is t inc t basin is found in the hard PoconO rocks near the crest of the mounta in . Th i s basin is about 5oo feet wide, and shallow. T h e p rov ing shaf t was about 8 feet square, 5 ° or 6o feet deep, and sunk in the coal out- crop on the east marg in of the basin. T h e wr i t e r wsS lowered into the shaf t by means of a bucket and rope a t t ached to the ho is t ing engine, and found the coal bed-- which was supposed to be about Io feet t h i c k - - m u c h

l)ec., ,9oz.] ~tllthracite of [he Tlziret Hil l 3Io~lntab~. 437

crushed and faulty, as has before been mentioned, and practically worthless. Near the bot tom of the shaft the bed seemed to be parted by layers of fire-clay or slate, and in worse condit ion than at the top. This shaf t was short ly afterwards abandoned.

On the western outcrop of this narrow basin the rocks were regular, d ipping to the east about 40 °. A short tun- nel had been driven westward into the hill, cu t t ing a bed of coal about 5½ feet thick. The wri ter examined this vein, after hav ing the tunnel cleaned out, and found tha t though the dip was regular and bed r ight side up, the coal was in much the same condition as in the shaf t ; and tha t while a small quan t i t y had evident ly been mined out and used locally by the farmers in the valley, the bed was vi r tual ly valueless for general development .

Previous to s inking the shaft above mentioned, much money had been spent in dr iving a tunnel horizontal ly into the east flank mounta in , about half-way down, all the way through red rocks of No. IX, in hopes of cu t t ing the vertical coal bed 200 or 3o0 feet below the surface. The tunnel (about 7 x 8 feet) was driven several hundred feet into the moun- tain, and at its end diamond-dri l l holes were bored horizon- tally zoo feet or more, unt i l the water-pressure forced the drills out and stopped the fu ture progress of the work. This tunnel would not cut the coal if it had been extended clear through the mounta in , as it was probably far below the bot tom.of the shallow basin conta in ing the bed. A diamond- drill hole had also been bored in top of the mounta in , but outside of the coal basin.

As noticed above, as we go nor th from the Shanghi prov- ings, the r idge conta in ing the eastern coal outcrop gradual ly separates from the main ridge, and if the same basin-struc- ture is main ta ined it becomes wider and deeper, al lowing an area of red shale between Short Mounta in and the main range, as priorly noted, and permi t t ing the coal to cut down as low as the bot tom of the lowest creek beds in the foot- hills near the valley. At the provings nor th of Shanghi the rocks seemed to be more regular, in some places vertieal or with s l ight aresterly dip, and not being inverted, owing

il 438 G r i S * l ~ ." [J. ~. i ~

perhaps to their being h igher and nearer to the summi t o[I the overturn. The coal, except on the dumps, which hadi been taken from the shaft ings, showed s l ight ly bet ter frae.~ ture, though much crushed and faulted. Fu r the r to t h e nor thward , in the vicini ty (if the lands near the head ofl Cherry Run, about the same condit ions are found, the strata d ipping about 8o ° to the eas tward and inverted. The out- crop has recently been cut by a drift on the nor th side o f Cherry R u n Gap of Short Mountain, and more recently a t a shaf t in the gap sou thwes t of Norr ington ' s peach orchard. Th i s shaf t is about 5 x 8 feet, and it is said to be over 56 feet deep. Coal was s truck about half-way down, and it is said to be about 4 or 5 feet thick. A number of tons were sold to the farmers nearby for upwards of $4 per ton, and was pronounced of sa t isfactory quali ty. A l though this shaf t was filled wi th w a t e r - - a n d we were not permit ted to examine the coal in p laces- -we were able to judge of its s t ruc ture and condit ion by the heap of coal, dirt, etc., still piled near the top of the shaft. I t is unques t ionab ly in the same crushed and faul ted condit ion as found at every other point in the region where openings have been made.

As to the thickness and general condit ion of the coal in the beds north of Shanghi I cannot say, except from infer- ence, as all the openings were long since filled. We noticed, however, tha t the pieces of slate exposed on the dumps had not the fiat, l amina ted s t ruc ture of the inters t ra t i f ied slate of the Pennsy lvan ia Anthrac i t e beds, bu t had the same shape and crushed appearance tha t characterized the coal, and was hard to d is t inguish from the coal, except by its g rea te r weight or by breaking. This fact is an indication of the crushed, faul ty condition of the beds, and of the great pressure to which they must have been subjected, as it is ev ident tha t the pressure was sufficient to crush not only the coal but the slate also, and force it out of its true strati- fied condition. The slate carries considerable iron and is much heavier than coal. Owing to this fact, it could be readi ly separated from the coal by the process of j igg ing common in Pennsylvania An th rac i t e regions. The writer had a proving-hole dug into the outcrop of a bed of coal in

Dec., I9°z"] Notes aJtd Comments. 439

Meadow Branch Valley, west of Tom Meyer's house, and found a 3½ to 4-feet thickness, ly ing in good posit ion between regular dipping rocks, bu t the coal was of the same crushed and slippery character referred to above; and while the coal would probably burn good, the crushed condit ion would cause an excessively large percentage of fine coal, such as pea, buckwheat , and dust, which would much reduce the market value of the product, as would also its soft and friable na ture ; on account of which it could not s tand much handling, bu t would readi ly crumble, caus ing much fine culm and waste.

Our invest igat ions of this curious coal field have led us to regard the coal beds of Thi rd Hill as a sort of natura l curiosity or geological freak, and, owing to uncer ta in ty as to thickness and cont inui ty , and probable unrel iable or "poukety " and fau l ty nature of the beds, their economical value is small. There can be no doubt tha t the above- described crushed condit ion of the coal beds extends throughout the region, inc luding the deeper parts of the seam, far below the surface, as well as near the outcrop. Of course, if the coal beds in Thi rd Hill were proved to be 3 or 4 feet thick or more, cont inuous and reliable, the large investment required to develop for rai lroad sh ipment would be justifiable, no tw i th s t and ing the crushed condit ion of the coal, for the location, excellent railroad facilities, and good market, at h igh prices, would go a long way toward coun- terbalancing the loss due to poor f racture or faul ty coal. But to a t t empt to prove the rel iabil i ty of these seams as to thickness, cont inui ty , etc., would require a considerable expenditure, which would, in the writer 's opinion, be very likely to result unfavorably.

SULPHURIC ACID BY ELECTROLYSIS.

Mr. Clinton Paul Townsend, in the Electr ical World and l~ttgineer, says : " Faraday and a host of subsequent exper imenters have invest igated the elec- trolytic oxidat ion oF sulphur dioxide in aqueous solution, and have found t ha t under normal condit ions one-half the oxide undergoes oxidat ion to sulphuric acid at the anode, the remainder appear ing as su lphur or sulphureted hydro-