THE LITTLE TRACY.
The Little Tracy is a solid bed of excellent coal. It is seldom faulty or impure, but it varies considerably in size, ranging gene rally between 3 and 4 feet, but sometimes depreciates to 12 inches, and has been known to exceed 5 feet in thickness. This coal, when the seam is in good condi tion, presents an admirable appearance, and as a fuel for grates or household purposes cannot be excelled.
The vein is worked with much economy when in its average size, considering its diameter, and produces but little waste, and, except a single bone which accompanies the coal, there is no impurity; and this bone, owing to its solidity, is easily separated from the coal without injuring its marketable qualities.
A stratum of "mining" generally underlies the coal-bed as a base. It is usually soft dirt, and presents an advantage to the miner for the purpose of "undermining" the coal; that is, the miner digs out this soft stratum from under the coal, and thus leaves it without support except by its con nection with the seam at the edges. This undermining process, therefore, enables the miner to break down the coal with powder or wedges with much more facility than it can be obtained when solid. It is thus we call these soft strata "mining," because in them the miner "undermines" the coal in the anthracite mines whenever available: they frequently occur in the upper red-ash seams, but seldom in the white-ash. In the latter
the "blasting" process with powder is exclusively made use of.
Bituminous coal-seams seldom contain any softer stratum than the coal itself. Frequently, bands of slate traverse the coal; but these are generally harder than the coal, and, consequently, are not available as mining. The miners usually cut out the lower portion of the seam in the bituminous coals, not only with more labor than is required in digging out our soft strata of mining, but also with much waste of otherwise marketable coal. But this mining process is the most available one known, and is invariably made use of in the English mines, and in all bituminous regions where the mining of coal is conducted systematically and economically.
There is not much difference in the relative sizes of L and I; but there is considerable difference in the economy of working the two seams, as I contains no "mining" stratum, and the coal is therefore "blasted" from the solid with powder, without the great advantage of being undermined, as in L.
The Little Tracy, or L, is sometimes known as the Little Diamond, from the great purity and lustre of its coal. It is also known as the "yard coal," from its size, "Mason's," "Rabbit-hole," "Charley Potts," "Rad cliffe," "Palmer," &c. Its position is from 50 to 100 feet over the Big Tracy, K, and 150 below the Gate, or M.