LITTLE BLACK CREEK BASIN.
In the Little Black Creek basin there is only one operation, which is at its western end and is known as Milnesville. The name of J. Fields appears as the operator on three slopes: two on the north and one on the south dip of the Mammoth. This basin is but little developed. It is probably about half the area of the Big Black Creek basin, which is about 12 miles long and with an average breadth of half a mile, containing six square miles of coal formation; while the Little Black Creek basin is only about seven miles long by 500 to 800 yards in breadth, containing two and a half square miles of coal formation, "more or less." The LOWER BLACK CREEK BASIN lies to the west of the two basins just mentioned, and on the Black Creek, below the junction of the big and little forks of the same, from which are derived the names of the coal basins over which they flow. This lower basin is about ten miles long by 800 yards wide, and contains about five square miles of coal formation. There is some doubt of the existence of the Mammoth in any part of the Lower Black Creek basin, but all the lower veins are- found in large pro portions and in good condition,—the Buck Mountain bed, in some places, being equal in size to the Mammoth. The veins have been generally proved in this basin, but no collieries have been established, and no avenue yet exists for the transportation of its coal. The Lehigh Luzerne Rail
road is projected for extension farther down the stream, and will soon open the upper end of the lower basin. Other avenues for the transportation of its coal have been projected: one from Berwick, on the Susquehanna, up the Nescopeck and Black Creeks, and another from the lower or western end of the basin over the mountains to the Catawissa Railroad, which is but a short distance from this point.
The Green Mountain basin is a comparatively small body of coal, lying on the head of Sandy Creek, which flows into the Lehigh. It may be equal in size to the Little Black Creek basin, but it is yet undeveloped, and but little is known of its character or formation.
The remaining small basins of coal on the lower branches of the Big Black contain only the lower veins, and these to a limited extent; but such coal as exists appears to be good, and even one of those small basins, with but a single square mile of coal formation, and containing only the lower or Buck Mountain bed,—say 12 feet thick,—would produce enough to last a single colliery, producing 100,000 tons per annum, 100 years or more.*