USA > Alabama > Memorial record of Alabama. A concise account of the state's political, military, professional and industrial progress, together with the personal memoirs of many of its people. Volume I > Part 33
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Dr. Otto Wuth of Pittsburgh made an analysis of the coal from the Blackshale seam, with the following result:
Water. 0.20
Bitumen 33.29
Fixed carbon 64.10
Ash .. 2.34
Sulphur 0.07
The same chemist made an analysis of a barrelful of coal from a channeled section of the Wadsworth seam as follows:
Water
0.42
Bitumen 31.97
Fixed carbon 63.99
Ash
3.09
Sulphur
0.53
The Cahawba basin is situated west and northwest of the Helena basin and is bounded on the northeast end by the Acton basin, on the north- west side by the sub-carboniferous measures of Shade's valley, on the southeast side by the Interior "fault" and on the southwest end by the Gould basin. Its length is about three and a half miles from the south- west to the northeast end; the average width is two miles, and has an area of seven square miles. The amount of good workable coal in the
276
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
basin is estimated at 23,000,000 of gross tons. In this estimate, coal beds less than two feet in thickness, and at a greater depth than 2,200 feet, are not considered. Mr. Squire thinks that about three-fourths of the coal in this basin is suitable for coking. The Cahawba river, Buck creek, Bailey's branch, Black creek, Martin's branch, and other tributa- ries of the Cahawba, afford abundant drainage for this basin. The principal coal seams are called the Gould, Cahawba, Harkness and Wadsworth seams. The prominent ridges are Shade's mountain, Pine and Red or Chestnut. ridges. The rate of dip on the northwest side is very regular, varying from about fifteen to twenty degrees; on the opposite (southeast) side the rate is much steeper, ranging from twenty-five to seventy-five degrees. The Gould and Wadsworth seams are the principal working seams of this basin, both making excellent coke. The South Birmingham Coal & Iron company are working the Wadsworth seam at Sydenton. The slope is driven down southeastward from the northwest outcrop. The main line of the Louisville & Nashville railroad runs through the middle of this seam, giving it a great advantage. An analysis of the coke of this seam made by Mr. Alfred Brainard of Birmingham gave the following results: Specific gravity 1.763
Moisture
0.100
Volatile 2.050
Fixed carbon 90.183
Sulphur
0.617
Ash
7.050
100.000
The color was ash brick red, and the analysis shows it to be a first-class coke, one of the best made in the south. The under seam of the Wads- worth is called the Whetrock and is separated from it by forty feet of "gritty slates and laminated sandstone." The Wadsworth seam in this sec- tion was three and a fourth feet in thickness of good coal. This seam was mined during the war by Woodson & Gould. Mr. Squire found, after thor- ough examination, that the Gould seam in this basin averages three feet in thickness, is easily mined, has a good roof and is solid coal, without any serious layers of slate. The same seam extends into the Coosa field, where the explorer found a twelve inch layer of slate in the middle of it.
The Eureka basin is southwest of Helena, the northern end being about half a mile from the railroad station. It is drained principally by the Cahawba river and Beaver Dam creek. The basin is three miles long by an average width of one and eight-tenth miles. Its area is five and four-tenths square miles and its estimated yield gross of coal is 83,000,000 tons. Mr. Squire found the strike of the measures and coal outcrops in the ends of this basin to afford a notable contrast with the appearance at the ends of the other basins in the Cahawba coal field. In this basin a. portion of them bend sharply around at an acute angle. In the other
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INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS.
277
.
basins the bends are more gradual, some of them forming a half circle or fish hook looking shape. The lowest workable seam in the Eureka basin is the Wadsworth; the next above that, the Buck; immediately above that is the Blackshale; above these and to the southwest of them, are the Lit- tle Pittsburg, the Conglomerate and the Helena seams. The Eureka com- pany are working the last named seam by means of a slope driven down from the outcrop to the southeast. This seam has been shown to have an average thickness of over four feet of solid coal, which is much valued for domestic uses, but is chiefly used for coke-making, . in the numerous ovens owned by the Eureka company, who apply the coke to the iron smelting at their Oxmoor furnaces, six miles south of Birmingham. The company have a branch railroad connecting their coal and coke works with the Louisville & Nashville railroad. The rate of dip of the measures in this basin varies from twenty-eight to forty-two degrees. The seams are mostly of good quality, the Wadsworth seam averaging about three and a fourth feet; the Buck about four feet; the Blackshale, three to three and a half feet; the Little Pittsburg, two and a half to three feet; the Con- glomerate ranges three to five feet; and the Helena about four feet. The coal is generally of good quality, and that from four of the seams named will make a very good coke. The method of working is "on the run," which is thus described: "Drive the slope down in the direction of the dip, drive the gangways horizontally from it, work the rooms up the raise at right angles from the gangways, allowing the coal to run down the room of chutes by its own gravity into the mine cars." Mr. Squire considers this method the best for all dips of forty degrees and upward, but not where the rate of dip is so low as to prevent the coal from de- scending the chute by its own gravity, because then it would not be feasible to "keep the chute full of coal up to the room breast." Dr. Otto Wuth made an analysis of samples from each of four seams of coal-each sample being a "barrelful of coal obtained by cutting a channeled section with a pick through the whole seam." The sample from the Helena seam was constituted as follows:
Water.
.23
Bitumen
32.53
Fixed carbon
61.26
Ash
5.85
Sulphur
.13
100.00
The analysis from the Conglomerate seam was:
Water.
.30
Bitumen.
31.36
Fixed carbon
65.45
Ash.
2.81
Sulphur
.08
100.00
The analyses of the sample from the Little Pittsburg and Moyle seams
278
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
varied but little from the foregoing and are therefore not repeated here.
The Dry Creek basin is bounded on the north by Eureka basin, on the east by the Great Boundary fault, on the south by the Piney Woods fault and anticlinal, which separate it from the Lolley basin, and on the south- west by the Interior fault vertical coal measures. This basin is well drained by the Cahawba river and its numerous tributaries. It is five and a half miles long and has an average width of two and two-tenths miles. It has a surface area of twelve and one-tenth square miles and is estimated to contain 210,000,000 of tons of coal within a limit of 4,300 feet in verti- cal depth. Three or four good wagon roads and the Briarfield, Blocton & Birmingham, and the Blocton branch of the Birmingham Mineral rail- road, afford ample facilities for transportation in this basin. Its principal workable seams are the Buck, Blackshale, Conglomerate, Helena, and Montevalla seams. The only coal as yet taken from this basin has been mined by the farmers for blacksmithing purposes. No underground mining has yet been attempted in any part of the basin. The country was wild and sparsely settled until the railroads named above were con- structed. Mr. Squire says that there is an immense amount of coal nearly level in the basın, and he thinks that it will ere long "become the scene of busy mining operations."
The Gould basin is bounded on the northeast end by the Cahawba basin, on the southeast by the Interior fault vertical coal measures of Shade's valley, and on the southwest by the Blocton basin. It is drained by the Cahawba river and nearly a dozen creeks which empty into that river. The most prominent ridge is Shade's mountain, called, at the southwest end, Sand mountain. Pine ridge, called House mountain in the middle, and Hurricane ridge in the southwest part, is the next eleva- tion. The next in size is Red ridge. These elevations are all parallel with each other and are cut (except Sand mountain) by some of the smaller creeks, and the average breadth of the basin is two and two-tenths miles. It is estimated to contain, in seams of two feet and upward, 77,000,000 of tons of workable coal within a limit of 2,500 feet in vertical depth. The surface area is twenty-one and a half square miles. Five wagon roads lead from or through this basin and it is penetrated by two railroads. The best known and most vaulable seam in this basin is the Gould seam, already noticed, which extends through its entire length. Mr. J. L. Davis made a series of tests along the outcrop for about six miles in this basin, and reported that the average thickness of this seam was about three feet. The coke made from this seam is highly valued and said to be equal to the Pocahontas coke for iron smelting purposes. The next seam in extent is the Nunnaly seam, which contains two feet and nine inches coal. The Wadsworth seam also extends some distance into this basin, having here an average thickness of three feet three inches. The rate of dip varied between fifteen and twenty-two degrees. There had been no mining undertaken in this basin up to 1891, on account
279
INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS.
of the lack of transportation facilities, but as these have since been fur nished active operations will probably soon be reported.
The Lolley basin is situated to the east of Gurnee, to the southwest of Helena, and to the northwest of Montevallo. It is bounded on the north by the Piney Woods fault and Dry Creek basin, on the east by the Great Boundary fault, on the west by Dailey creek and a portion of the Montevallo basin, and on the south by the Montevallo basin and the anticlinal between it and the Lolley basin. It is drained by Piney Woods, Beaver Dam, Shoal, King's, Jesse's and Lick creeks. The most prominent ridge is called the Divide, which separates the waters draining into the Cahawba river from those draining into Shoal creek or Little Cahawba river. This ridge has hitherto been the great obstacle to_the construction of a straight line of railroad through this portion of the Cahawba coal field. The Briarfield, Blocton & Birmingham railroad had to make a considerable bend at Lacey depot to secure reasonable grades. There are no public roads in this basin, and scarcely any roads fit to be traveled except by oxen. The length of this basin is five and a fourth miles, the width three and fourteen-hundredths miles, and the surface area is sixteen and a half square miles. The amount of workable coal, in seams of two feet and upward, is estimated at 357,000,000 of tons within a vertical depth of 44,000 feet, making, as in the case of all these esti- mates, no allowance for waste in mining or loss in mining pillars. The lowest workable seam outcropping in this basin is called the Gholson, which outcrops in a few places along the Piney Woods fault. Mr. Squire thinks this an excellent seam, with a good sandstone roof, and that it will average in thickness four feet of good coal without slate partings. Above this and further south is the Little Pittsburg; above this is the Thompson or Conglomerate seam, and the outcrop of the Helena seam, which has here four feet and eight inches of coal. The next seam of workable thickness is the Yeshic seam, which, while not more than two and a half to three feet thick in this basin, yet becomes from four to five feet in thickness in the Dailey creek and Blocton basins. The next work- able seam is the Montevallo, which outcrops still further south, and above this a conglomerate formation (nearly 500 feet of conglomerate interlarded with sandstones and slate) in which are four seams of coal, but all of them too thin or too impure to be workable. These are called respectively the Air Shaft, the Black Fire Clay, the Stine and the Luke. The rate of dip of the measures in this basin varies from one or two to fifty degrees. There has been no mining there as yet and it is sparsely settled. In 1888 six families constituted the entire population.
The Montevallo basin is situated to the northwest of Montevallo and to the southeast of Gurnee. It is well drained by some of the numerous creeks hereinbefore mentioned. The highest ridge is called Pea ridge, which divides the waters flowing into the Little Cahawba and those flow- ing into the Big Cahawba river. There are numerous other ridges in this
280
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
basin, remarkable chiefly for the large amount of conglomerate pebbles scattered over the ground. There are five good wagon roads, beside a number of roads partly overgrown, used as cattle trails or bridle paths. Two railroads enter this basin: the Briarfield, Blocton & Birmingham skirts the eastern edge, and the Montevallo Coal & Transportation com- pany have a short line running from their slope on the Montevallo seam to Aldrich on the first named railroad. This basin is four and one-tenth miles in length, with an average width of three and three-tenths miles, and has a surface area of thirteen and eighty-six-hundredths square miles. It contains, in seams of two feet and upward in thickness, 300,000,000 tons of workable coal, without allowing anything for loss in inining. The Montevallo seam is at once the lowest and the highest out. cropping in this basin. There are six other seams which outcrop in the basin, but all of them are too thin or too impure to be profitably worked. The Montevallo seam was discovered and mined as long ago as 1858. It was leased by Mr. Squire himself in 1859, who mined and shipped coal (by way of Talladega and Selma by railroad, and thence by the Alabama river) to Montgomery and Mobile. Up to January, 1860, it was the only coal in the state shipped to market by railway. The average thickness of this seam is two and a half feet. In mining a light pick is used to get out the smut above the coal, and then the coal is blasted out with powder or wedged up with hammer and wedges. It is noticeable that all the other workable seams of the Cahawba coal field are in this basin and under- neath the Montevallo seam. The rate of dip of the measures in this basin varies from flat or level to nine degrees elevation. During the past thirty-five years, several different persons and corporations have worked the Montevallo seam along a distance of two miles, but now the Monte- vallo Coal & Transportation company, of which William F. Aldrich is president, and James L. McConaughy is secretary and treasurer, is the only party engaged in mining it. An analysis of coal from the Monte- vallo seam by the above named company resulted as follows:
Moisture
1.858
Volatile matter
36.592
Fixed carbon.
54.002 }
Coke 61.550
Ash.
7.548 S
100.000
Sulphur in coal.
1.726
Sulphur left in coke
1.156
Per cent. of sulphur in coke.
1.876
The Dailey Creek basin is situated to the east and northeast of Bloc- ton, to the west and northwest of Montevallo, and to the southwest of Helena. Gurnee is in the north end of the basin. It is drained by the Cahawba river and not less than twenty creeks tributary to that stream. Pea ridge is the most prominent elevation in this basin, having an alti- tude, in places, of 400 feet above the river. The principal wagon road
281
INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS.
is the Montevallo and Tuscaloosa, or Booth's Ferry road, a county road on which ordinary vehicles can be used. Another wagon road leads from the Aldrich mines, near Montevallo, to Blocton, crossing the river at Lily shoals. Two other wagon roads pass through this basin and three railroads supply means of transportation for the product of the mines. Prior to the construction of these railroads, some three years ago, the population of Dailey Creek station did not average one family to a square mile, but since the completion of the railroads and the Excelsior Coal company have opened new slopes, the population has increased more than ten-fold. This basin has a length of thirteen miles and an average width of three and two-tenths miles, and a surface area of forty-one and a half square miles. It is estimated to contain, in seams of over two feet in thickness and within a depth, vertically, of 4,500 feet, 771,000,000 tons of workable coal, making as heretofore 110 allowance for waste in working mines.
The lowest seam which outcrops in this basin is called the Big Vein. Its thickness is reported as aggregating eight feet in the south end, but the examiner says that a part of this is impure and shaly, leaving four feet of good coal. The Clean Coal seam, which is only two and a half feet in thickness, is considered the best for working. The seam above this is called the Beech Tree seam. Two thin seams near the Coal and Beech Tree form with these a group between the Big Vein and Coke seams. The last named seam lies near Dailey creek and ranges from three to three and a half feet in thickness. It is a good coal and makes excellent coke. The next workable seam is the "Clark," formerly called the Spring Vein. Above this is the Gholson, remarkable for the solidity of the coal, the thickness of the seam, and the excellence of its sand- stone roof. Mr. Squire thinks the seam at the old Gholson mine had a. thickness of more than five feet. The next seam of workable size is the Middle Vein, two and a half feet thick, a continuation of the Little Pitts- burg, to which reference has already been made. Above this is the Thompson seam, varying in size here from three to six feet. Next comes the Helena, then the Yeshic-a seam generally four to five feet thick-and then the Montevallo, from two and a half to four feet in thick- ness. This seam has a wide reputation for the excellence of the coal for domestic purposes. The rate of dip of the measures of this basin varies from nearly a level at the Berea church to ten to fifteen degrees at the Gholson seam and forty-five degrees at the Big Vein. The first mining done in this basin was during the civil war by refugees from Missis- sippi and elsewhere. The coal was hauled by wagons to the nearest rail- way station and was used by the confederate government at their foun- dry in Selma. They worked three seams, the Clark, the Gholson, and the Thompson, mining by "drift" and horse power slopes. Only one ton per day could be hauled, by a teani of wagon and four mules, to the ship- ping point. All work stopped with the close of the war and was only
282
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
recommenced in 1889. The construction of railroads penetrating this basin and the increasing demand for coal, caused by the new outlets by sea, have stimulated action and will cause an early development of these valuable seams. The Excelsior Coal company have recently sunk two large slopes in the Gholson seam; one of them, the Gurnee slope, has penetrated to a depth of over 800 feet, and Mr. Squire thinks that when driven down a little further they will reach "an immense region of flat and nearly level seams sufficient to permit continuous work for several generations of miners." An analysis of the coal from this seam (Slope No. 1) made by Mr. J. L. Beeson gives the following result:
Moisture.
1.589
Volatile matter
35.760 58.871 }
Fixed carbon
Coke 62.651
Ash . .
3.780
100.000
Sulphur in coal.
1.547
Sulphur left in coke.
.781
Per cent. of sulphur in coke 1.249
The Blocton basin is probably the best known of any in the coal fields. of Alabama, and its reputation is deservedly high both for the quality of its mines and the intelligence and enterprise which have characterized their management. This basin is situated to the south and southwest of Bessemer, to the southwest of Woodstock and Vance's, to the north of Centreville, to the west of Aldrich and to the southwest of Gurnee, the town of Blocton occupying about the center of the basin. It is drained by the Cahawba river and its numerous tributaries. Along the valley of Caffey's creek, one of these tributaries, the Cahawba Coal Mining company has built a railroad. enabling them to open up their mines, at a cost of $160,000. This expedniture for a railroad only nine miles long indicates. the character of the engineering difficulties which had to be surmounted. Sand mountain is the highest elevation in this basin. There are several wagon roads, but none of them very good. The railroads are the Cahawba Coal Mining company's road, connecting Blocton mines with the Alabama Great Southern railroad at Woodstock and a branch of the Briar- field, Blocton & Birmingham railroad, from Gurnee to Blocton. This basin has connections by rail with the Alabama Great Southern railroad, the Birmingham Mineral system, the main line of the Louisville & Nash- ville and the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia, through its Selma, Rome & Dalton division. The Blocton basin is eighteen miles long, and has an average width of five and a fourth miles, having a surface area of ninety-four and a half square miles. It is estimated to contain, in seams. of workable coal, of two feet and upward in thickness, within 3,800 feet of vertical depth, 567,000,000 of tons of good workable coal, not allowing for loss in pillars or waste in mining. The western edge of the basin is disturbed by three narrow faults or fractures of the measures, causing inequality in adjoining measures. The Gould seam outcrops in these
283
INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS.
measures. The lowest workable seam outcropping in the flat portion of the basin is the Wadsworth, which shows two feet and nine inches at the surface outcrop. The next workable seam above is the Beech Tree, which is of good quality and, in places, three feet in thickness. Next to this is the Coke seam, also near Dailey creek, and three feet in thickness, hav- ing good coal of superior coking qualities. Next above is the Gholson seam, which in this basin averages from three to three and a half feet of solid coal, good for coking, steam making and domestic uses. There is a large area of this coal near Blocton. The next seam aboye is the Un- derwood or Thompson seam, which contains a solid bench of five and a half feet of good coal, having the same qualities as the Gholson seam. The Helena seam comes next, but shows only two feet in thickness at the outcrop, above the No. 2 slope in this basin. The following two analyses of the coal of the Woodstock or Gholson seam were made by Porter & Going of Cincinnati:
Moisture
Sample No. 1. 1.45
Sample No. 2. 1.40
Volatile
32.21
34.05
Fixed carbon
61.83
60.30
Sulphur.
1.10
1.14
Ash
3.41
3.11
100.00
100.00
The same firm made two analyses of the coal of the Underwood seam as follows:
Sample No. 1. 1.70
Sample No. 2.
Moisture
1.50
Volatile.
32.21
30.95
Fixed carbon
60.02
61.72
Sulphur.
.82
1.13
Ash
5.25
4.70
100.00
100.00
The following analysis of the coke from the Underwood coal was. made by Alfred Gaither, chemist, Philadelphia, Pa. :
Volatile.
4.508
Fixed carbon
87.607
Sulphur
.745
Ash
7.140
100.000
The general manager of the Cambrian Iron company of Johnstown, Pa., Mr. John Fulton, made an analysis of the Woodstock and Under- wood coals mixed, from samples taken from twenty-four ovens with the. following result:
Moisture
.08
Volatile.
1.11
Fixed carbon
90.48
Sulphur
.83
Ash.
7.50
100.00
284
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
. The main part of this basin is nearly level, the rate of dip varying from one degree up to fifteen degrees. The first mining done in this basin was in 1884, when the Cahawba Coal Mining company began to sink slopes and construct a railroad to connect their mines with Woodstock on the Alabama Great Southern railroad. This company have now in this basin about twenty miles of railroad, counting branches and sidings, have increased their mine openings to ten or more, mostly slopes but some vertical shafts and drifts, and are yearly increasing their output which has grown to large proportions. They have, beside, some 450 coke ovens of the bee-hive pattern, with the latest improvements, manu- facturing coke of excellent quality.
Having described the several basins in the Cahawba coal field it remains to notice what are called the Overturned Measures, which constitute an important feature in this field. They are situated to the west of Monte- vallo and to the northwest of Briarfield depot, and are drained by branches running into Shoal creek, by Little and Big Mayberry, two prongs of Four Mile and Alligator creeks. The principal elevation is the Con- glomerate ridge, which is found near the north end of the Overturned Measures. The Briarfied Coal & Iron company's branch railroad connects the Peter's mines with the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia railroad; the Briarfield, Blocton & Birmingham railroad, and a branch railroad belonging to the Montevallo Coal & Transportation company, run along the end of the Overturned Measures, the latter connecting the company's seam with the former named road. These "Measures" are ten and a fourth miles long, have an average width of one mile and a surface area of two feet and upward in thickness. The amount of workable coal, in seams of two feet and upward in thickness is estimated at 167,000,000 of tons, with a vertical depth of 4,500 feet. Mr. Squire, in his report, states that the Conglomerate, Dodd, Cooper, Shaft, Beebee and the Can- nel seams are all overturned, and all outcrop on Little Mayberry and Big Mayberry creeks. In examining the above mentioned seams he invariably found the positions of the strata reversed, the bottom slate always being found on top. The angle of dip of these seams varies from fifty-six degrees at the Cannel to sixty degrees at the Cooper seam. What is known as the "old shaft or slope" was worked over thirty years ago under the superintendence of Mr. Squire. The Little Mayberry creek at this point cuts directly through the steep dipping measures which contain the above named seams. Those near the south boundary of the Overturned Measures have been worked for several years by the Briar- field Coal & Iron company at Peter's mines. The first mining done in them was by the Alabama Coal Mining company about the year 1857. In 1859 they sunk a slope on the shaft seam to a depth of 160 feet. The name of the company was changed to the Montevallo Coal Mining company. A hoisting engine and boilers, and machinists to put them up, were brought from Pennsylvania. This was the first steam-power
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