PITTSTON DISTRICT.
This portion of the coal-field lies indefinitely between the Lackawanna and Wyoming regions, and in the vicinity of the junction of the Lacka wanna with the Susquehanna, at the entrance of the latter into the valley.
The coal measures are more disturbed and irregular in this locality than in any other portion of the field. The veins, of course, partake of the same influences, and are found dipping to every point of the compass; they are, therefore, not as reliable nor as economically mined as in the more uniform portions of the field. Generally, the formations of the northern anthracite fields are remarkably uniform,—much more so, in fact, than either of the other anthracite fields.
When we state that the Pittston district is less reliable as a mining district than some other portions of the field, we do not, by any means, condemn it., In comparison with our coal-fields generally, its condition is favorable. Though the coal is not generally as uniform as that of the Scranton district, it contains less slate and impurity; and while not as productive as the Wilkesbarre district, the coal will be more accessible from the surface, eventually, than that of the deeper basins to the west.
There are some peculiarities in this district and vicinity which claim our attention. First, the intermediate basins are irregular, and the uniform east-and-west axis, which prevails generally throughout the field, is inter rupted by frequent swells. These basins are less elongated or trough-like, and more elliptical and round,—more frequent, and, of course, more con tracted in area. There is no uniform dip and strike, but the undulations of veins are in all directions. To this rule, however, there are notable exceptions, as we before stated; and one of these seems to be on the north side of the Lackawanna, where the measures show a long stretch of gently inclining south dip.
The second peculiarity which we note is the exceeding coarseness of grain prominent in the coal measures in the Pittston district. There are localities in both the first and middle coal-fields where the same coarseness exists; but in the Northern coal-field we have nowhere else noticed this prominent feature of the Pittston district.
A third peculiarity exists in the frequent erosions or denudation of the coal-seams to a great depth in this locality. At a depth of from 100 to 160 feet from the surface, the measures have been removed, in certain localities, and their place filled with sand and boulder-stone.
The accompanying illustration, figure 32, will convey an idea of this form of denudation. Its locality is nearly opposite the entrance of the Susquehanna through the mountain into the valley. It does not seem to
be the regular bed of a channel, but rather the effect of rushing and re bounding waters since the formation of the coal-beds; and the portions swept away may be taken as an evidence of the violence with which the river first made its entrance into the valley. The same evidence of vio lence exists in the denudations of the strata at many points in the vicinity of the present bed of the river, from Pittston to Kingston, which may be noticed in our transverse section illustrating the basin at or near Wilkes barre. These erosions can only be explained as the effects of the violence of the waters of the Susquehanna at an early period, yet long after the formation of coal. It does not appear that the river broke through the huge Shawanee at one violent effort, but rather on the slow, eating prin ciple of the cataract, which would have just the effect which we find resulting, since the precipitated waters would cut away the comparatively soft, rocks of the coal measures to a considerable depth and great distance.
There is some probability that the waters of the basin or ancient lake in which this coal was formed came into the valley at the point now occu pied by the Susquehanna. Only on such an hypothesis can we account for the peculiar coarseness of the deposits and the irregularity of the basins here, while the sediment diminishes in amount and in coarseness of texture east, and increases in amount, though not in coarseness, west.
We have not been able to obtain a reliable vertical section in the Pittston district. The only parties in possession of the information access ible were the Pennsylvania Coal Company, and they refuse to impart it. From the facts ascertained, however, we do not consider the total thickness of workable coal to be as great as it is in the Scranton district.
We can furnish nothing reliable concerning the measures, or the coal below the Pittston or 14-foot vein, which corresponds to E, or the Mammoth.
We illustrate the Pittston 14-feet, or Mammoth, with two sections,—one in its maximum and the other in its minimum condition. We note in figures several other sections in the same vicinity.
The depth of the measures in the vicinity of Pittston is not over five hundred feet generally, and rather less, as a rule, than in the Scranton dis trict ; though there may be localities where the measures will exceed 700 feet in thickness.
The Pittston coals are not as hard as the coals in the lower end of the basin, nor as tenacious as the coals of the Scranton district ; but they are considered by some a better steam coal than the former, while they contain less ash than the latter.