GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF KENTUCKY.
N. S. SHALER, DIRECTOR.
REPORT
ON THE
CHINN'S BRANCH CANNEL COAL DISTRICT.
BY A. R. CRANDALL.
PART XII. VOL. V. SECOND SERIES.
StWEUTAD -OE TUE 5313 3Y MJAJO.., jp-SOIl E -to .., DOMAN F05, JUKIPOETT a.
VOL. V.-25
385 386
This page in the original text is blank.
REPORT ON THE CHINN'S BRANCH CANNEL
COAL DISTRICT.
The Chinn's Branch and Indian Run Cannel Coal Region is
one of a number of areas in Eastern Kentucky in which is
found a cannel coal of workable thickness. As these cannel
beds are not continuous over large areas, like the beds of
common bituminous coal, it seems desirable to consider some-
what in detail those areas in which cannel coal is prominent,
to call attention to them as suitable fields for business enter-
prise, and to furnish a ready means of comparison of the can-
nel coal regions when the work shall have been completed.
The Chinn's Branch district is most likely to receive early
attention, from the fact that it is the most easily accessible of
any of the cannel regions, though in extent it is much less
than some others, and though the coal ranks second in qual-
ity to the deposits of some of the interior counties. It is the
nearest coal region to be reached by the lower Ohio river
trade, being but I30 miles from Cincinnati, and at the west-
ernmost outcrop along the river of workable beds of coal.
Indeed, it seems unaccountable that so little should have been
done to develop this locality. It appears, however, that as
early as i859 the Maysville Manufacturing and Mining Com-
pany was formed to develop the cannel coal of what was
known as the Caroline tract, including the greater part of the
cannel coal area of this region, for the purpose of manufactur-
ing illuminating oil. But the discovery of petroleum deposits
in Pennsylvania operated to break up this enterprise; and
what with the breaking out of the civil war, and the want of
method since, the property has not been made profitable to
the company.
An examination of the region shows that it occupies, geo-
logically, that part of the vertical section which includes nearly
all of the valuable beds, both of coal and of iron ore, of this
eastern field. (See General Section, Report on the Geology
of Greenup, Boyd, &c., Vol. II, New Series.) Some of these
387
CHINN S BRANCH CANNEL COAL DISTRICT.
beds are too thin in this locality to be of any economic value
at present. Coal No. i, of the series above the conglomerate,
is below the drainage, and though iiothing is known of its
value here, yet it may properly be left out of the list of worka-
ble beds, as also may Coal No. 2, which is too thin, where ex-
posed, to interest any one except the geologist. Both beds
are important in any comparison with other localities. The
highest beds in this locality are the " Red Kidney" iron ore
and Coal No. 7, the former near the top of the hills at the
head of Chinn's Branch, in its ordinary relation to the latter,
or separated from it by twenty to twenty-five feet of greenish
shaly rock.
The cannel of this district is No. 4 of the series. The beds
above and below are so well marked and so regular as to
leave no doubt as to its place in the general section. Coal 4
is ordinarily a common bituminous bed. In this region this is
replaced, wholly or in part, by cannel coal. The same is true
of Coal No. 4 in the Hunnewell and the Stinson Creek regions.
There are, however, other beds that exhibit local changes to
cannel coal, and, considering this and the local character of
the cannel coals, there would seem to be very little antece-
dent reason for supposing that the beds found at considerable
intervals in the eastern coal field of Kentucky are also the
equivalent of the Chinn's Branch and the Hunnewell deposits.
The evidence at hand goes to show that in Morgan county
the Pierat coal, and the tipper cannel near West Liberty, and
also the Breathitt county cannel, are the equivalent of the
Chinn's Branch cannel seam, though the sections in the sev-
eral localities differ very much as a whole; and further study
of those regions may not sustain this conclusion.
The vertical section in the Chinn's Branch region differs in
no very important respect from the typical section of Green-
up, Boyd, and Carter counties already referred to, all the
horizons of coal and of iron ore in that portion of the general
section represented by the rocks of this region being well
defined. The beds of economic value are of Coals 3, 4, and
7, with the possible addition of Coal 6, and of iron ores, the
388
4
CHINN S BRANCH CANNEL COAL DISTRICT.
limestone ore, and two kidney ores of the upper part of the
section; the block ore near the horizon of Coal 4 being of
little value, as is usual where that bed is prominent, either as
cannel or a common bituminous coal.
Coal 3 is perhaps the most reliable bed in this region. It
has an average thickness of about three feet, separated into
two parts by about ten inches of clay shale or "1 draw-slate."
It is overlaid by a few feet of shale, with thick sandstone
above, and rests on the usual under-clay. This coal has not,
until recently, come into favorable notice in this region, though
the equivalent of this bed in Lawrence county, the Peach
Orchard coal, has long been favorably known. By the enter-
prise of Mr. Bates, of the Eastern Kentucky Railway Com-
pany, this coal, as found in some parts of Greenup, has been
shown to be a valuable bed, and on examination in the region
in question, it is found that No. 3 is an exceptionally good
coal, and that though it is not in great thickness, yet it is con-
stant and easily mined. It is a splint coal, and bears trans-
portation well, and is an exellent grate coal.
An analysis made for the Company by Dr. Peter shows
the following, which may be regarded as an index of the
quality of the coal:
Specific gravity..... .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. 1.319
Moisture.. .................... 5.00
Volatile combustible matter ................. . 39.00
Fixed carbon. .................... 49.88
Ash. .. .. .. .. . . .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. 6.12
Sulphur............. 1.986
The cannel coal of workable thickness appears to be limited
in this region to an area oblong in outline, having its axis
along a line from the old Fulton mines, near the landing, to
a point on Indian Run, in the East Fork valley. How far
beyond Indian Run, and how wide the area of- cannel coal
of workable thickness, has not been fully determined; but it
may reasonably be estimated at from 1,500 to 2,000 acres.
Several hundred acres of this area, belonging to the Fulton
tract, have already been worked out, as also several narrow
points in the valley of Chinn's Branch, on the Caroline tract;
389
5
CHINN S BRANCH CANNEL COAL DISTRICT.
but the great body of coal, covering a considerable portion of
the latter tract, remains to be mined. The best information
obtainable as to the thickness on the old Fulton tract gives
it an average of about three feet. Further up, on Chinn's
Branch, the bed has reached a thickness of four and a half
feet. On Indian Run it is about two feet, but superior to the
thicker part for gas-making. Like all cannel coals, it will
probably be found variable in thickness and quality in the
working of the bed. On the Indian Run the bed is accom-
panied by common bituminous coal, one foot on top and six to
eight inches below, making the whole bed about the same in
thickness as the average on Chinn's Branch, where the whole
thickness is cannel.
In either case, the under-clay and the overlying rocks are
essentially the same, and there are apparently no features on
which more than a rough estimate of the quantity of cannel
coal in this region could be based. A medium specific grav-
ity would give about I,500 tons, of 2,240 pounds to the acre,
for each foot of thickness, or 4,500 tons for three feet, and
4,500,003 tons to the thousand acres. At the very smallest
estimate, both as to the area and the thickness of the bed, the
amount of cannel coal in this field, and lying within three to
six miles of the Ohio river, is sufficient to warrant a systematic
development of the territory, to say nothing of Coal 3, already
described, and the coals above.
The only analyses of the cannel of this locality on record
are two made for the Company by Dr. Peter, as follows:
Chinn's Indian
Branch. Run.
Specific gravity. . ....... .. .. ... . . .. .... 1 331 x.286
Moisture.. ...... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. 4.80 2.00
Volatile combustible matter . . . . . . . . ......... 36.90 47.36
Fixed carbon..... . .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. 51.20 38.24
Ash ......... ... ..7.10 12.40
Sulphur....... .. .. . .. ... . .. .. .. . .. 3-977 X.554
Coal 6 has not been opened sufficiently to show its thick-
ness and value. The evidence goes to show that it is present
390
6
CHINN S BRANCH CANNEL COAL DISTRICT.
at its proper level, 125 to I30 feet above Coal 4, probably over
the whole region.
Coal 7, 45 feet higher up, has a thickness of three to three
and one half feet of excellent coal, though the area is reduced
to a comparatively small limit, the bed being near the top of
the hill. This is the Coalton coal. In quality it is about the
same as elsewhere. Entries have been driven, and a consid-
erable amount of coal shipped from the ridge between Indian
Run and Wolfpen Branch of Ash Creek. The two lower
parts of the bed are uniformly present, separated by the usual
thin parting. The upper part is said to be represented at
some points by a few inches of coal, inferior in quality to the
lower parts, as is usual with this bed elsewhere. The follow-
ing measurements made at one entry agree substantially with
those made at several others along the ridge:
Feet. Inches.
Overlying shaly rock, thickness not shown.
Coal.. .. . . .. .. .. .. . . .. .. . .. .. .. .. 2
Slate parting. .
Coal. . . .. . .. .. . .. .. .. .. l 6
Under-clay, thickness not shown.
The following analysis of an average sample from stock
pile, together with that of the Coalton coal, as mined on Dry
Branch by the Ashland Company, will serve to indicate the
value of the bed, as to quality, in this region. (See remarks
on the iron-making qualities of Coal 7, Part V, Vol. x, New
Series, Kentucky Reports.):
COAL 7. COAL 7.
Head of Chinn's Coalton, Dry
Branch. Branch.
Specific gravity...... .. . .. .. .. .. . 1.324 1.340
oisture. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. 6. oo 4.4
Volatile combustible matter......... .. . 33-48 31.10
Fixed carbon...... . .. .. .. . .. .. . 56.14 57-90
Ash. 4.38 6.6o
Sulphur.2.33 2.098
39t
7
8 CHINN S BRANCH CANNEL COAL DISTRICT.
The iron ores of this locality are those of the Hanging
Rock Region, including all the beds that are relied on for a
supply of ore for the greater number of furnaces in this iron
district. (For an intelligent account of these ores, see Mr.
Moore's Report on the Iron Ores of Greenup, Carter, &c.,
Part III, Vol. i, New Series, Reports on the Geology of Ken-
tucky.)
The accompanying map will serve to give a more definite
notion of the location of the cannel coal district in question.
The dotted outline is only intended to give an approximate
boundary, as sufficient work has not been done to make a
definite boundary possible. The profile section gives a good
notion of the place of the various beds of coal and of iron ore,
in their relation to the drainage, and in their relation one to
another.
392
APPEND IX.
The equivalency of the upper beds of the general section
of Northeast Kentucky vitLh those of Ohio is pretty well
established. Coal 9, as shown opposite the mouth of Garner
Creek, is the same as the Bagley's Run coal, or No. 7 of the
Ohio report. Coal No. 8, Hatcher and Garner Creek, is also
the Hatcher coal of Ohio. or No. 6B. No. 7, the Coalton
seam, is in Ohio the Slhlridani, the Nelsonville. &c., or No. 6.
Coal 6, the Keyes Creek seam,