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..; i™'"l ""(■'■"■^W^WPHpilBiUBippBB

A HIiTORISAL SEET6H

Of the Discovery and Development of
the Coal Areas of Newfoundland uj
to date.

BY JAMES P. HOWLEY, F.G.S.

The admirable history of the Cape Breton coal fields,
their development, trade, &c., by Richard Brown, F.G.S.,
published in 1871, is a standard work upon all that re-
lates to the important industry which has given to that
fortunate little island a world-wide fame. Mr. Brown
goes back to the earliest occupation of the island, relates
the many vicissitudes connected with its French and
English ownership, its frequent change of hands, and its
final conquest by the latter nation in 1758.

With regard to the development of its coal mines, a
few desultory attempts were made by both nations during
the earlier periods of occupation, but only so far as to

Raise Supplies of Fnel for tlie Troops
garrisoning the fortifications of Louisburg and Halifax.
After the conquest, the English Government, strange to
relate, pursued the same blind policy which has done so
much to retard the development of our own island. They
would neither wc^ v the mines themselves nor allow others
to do so, notwithstanding the frequent and urgent repre-
sentations made by the Colonial Governors and others in
authority, with regard to their extent and value to the
kingdom. For a number of years they merely continued
to raise sufficient for the requirements of the garrisons.
Small bodies of troops were kept constantly on the site
of the principal workings to

Prevent any Attempt at Regular Mining,
and the soldiers themselves were employed in the very un-
congenial work of mining, as colliers. Notwithstanding
all their vigilance, however, vessels from the New England
Colonies carried on a lucrative trade in stealing coal from

the cliffs and conveyng it to their homes. It was some-
what akin to our smuggling traffic with St. Pierre, and
rendered them liable to the seizure and confiscation of
their vessels, if not worse punishment. In the iheantime,
numerous applications were being made to the Govern-
ment, chiefly by army oflflcers of distj action, who had
served in the various wars of the period, for grants to
work the coal mines.

Offers to Pay a Handsome Royalty, Establish
Settlements, Buil<l Towns, &c.,

and every inducement that could be brought forward to
strengthen their applications were made, but all to no
purpose. His Britannic Majesty, with the advice of the
English Board of Trade, invariably refused his assent,
and even went so far as to positively forbid any attempt
to work the mines on an extensive scale. All this time
the illicit traffic by the colonists continued to grow in
proportions, till at length the Government awakened to
the futility of keeping the coal locked up any longer, seeing
their inability to cope with the smugglers. In 1788, the
first lease for mining was granted to one Thomas Moxley.
Other leases followed from time to time, all being of
short duration, from seven to ten years only, and
Subject to a Heavy Royalty Per Ton.
At intervals between the expiration of one lease and the
commencement of another, the Government took over
the mines and worked them ; but, like most enterprises
of the kind worked on Government account, they did not
pay, the profits being eaten up in salaries to numerous
and unncessai-y officials. It does not appear that the
private speculators derived much profit either in their at-
tempts to mine the coal, for nearly all of them failed to
carry out the terms of their leases. This is not a matter
to cause much astonishment, however, when it is con-
sidered they were obliged to pay from three to four shil-
lings sterling per ton royalty, and were at the same time

Compelled to Sell for About Ten or Eleven
Shillings per Ton.

All this has long past now, and the coal industry of the

tight little island of Cape Breton is established on a per

manent footing. It has grown Co large proportions and
has still greater possibilities before it. The industry is
the mainstay of its thrifty and industrious inhabitants,
and without it Cape Breton would, indeed, be a very in-
significant colony. No one who has visited the island of
late years can fail to be struck with the importance of its
coal trade and what it means to the

Prosperity of the Country'.
We must all hope that the day may come when a similar
prosperity awaits our Island home by the development of
her so much neglected mineral resources, not the least of
which, I am convinced, will be her coal mining industry.
With regard to this latter, we have only as yet reached
that stage of beginning to believe that we really do
possess this valuable commodity in available quantity.
The enterprise of the Messrs. Reid, railway contractors,
in mining and bringing into St. John's, on the 1st day of
November last, a car load of native coal, over the N. &
W. Railway, from the Grand Lake region, has marked an
era from whence to date

The flistory of Coal Milling In Newfoundland.

Owing to the lapse of time, and changed circumstances
under which we now live in these North American colon-
ies, we are not likely to create any such interesting
historical record as that surrounding the industry in our
sister colony. The time will come, however, when a
true history of all that is worth recording in this connec-
tion will have to be written. It is with a view, then, to
leave correct data for the future historian, while all
that relates to its discovery is still fresh in memory's re-
ceptacles, as much as for general information, I now pub-
lish the following statement of the

Actual Known Facts.

To begin at the beginning, the earliest mention of the
existence of coal in this island Avas, I believe, made by
the celebrated circumnavigator. Captain Cook. In re-
ference to the country on the western side of the island,
he is quoted as saying: " There are in Newfoundland as
well as in Cape Breton, such rich coal mines that, if the

Crown would but grant leave to work them, their produce
would be sufHcient to supply all Piurope and America
abundantly with this commodity, and some are even so
commodiously situated, that coals might be thrown

Directly from the Coal WorkM

themselves into the ships as they lie close to the shore."
" I had," says the author, (Dr. John Rienhold Foster,
1786), "this intelligence from my late friend, the great
circumnavigator, Capt Cook, who for several years suc-
cessively explored the shores of this island." Mr. Wm.
Ji. Cormack, that intrepid traveller who, in 1822, cross-
ed the island in his philanthropic endeavor to open up
communication with the aboriginal Red Indians, with a
view to bringing them to civilization, is the next au-
thority I can find who refers to our coal deposits.
Cormack was a man of superior education for his time,
and possessed a good knowledge of the natural science,

More Especially of Geology and MineraloKy*
He was a close observer also, and in his itinerary made
many valuable references to the various natural features,
etc., of the country ; most of which have since been fully
verified. Although Cormack did not actually see the
coal deposits of Bay St. George himself, he ir-ust have
seen specimens, for he says, " Coal of excellent quality
is exposed in strata in the bed and banks of a rivulet be-
tween the first and second Barasway River, about seven
and nine miles from its mouth." Again, he says, "the
land betAveen Codroy and where the coal occurs is low
and flat, so that in the event of the coal being raised, it
could be conveyed by means of a railroad from the mines
to the shipping." All this is perfectly true, and now,
after a lapse of nearly three-quarters of a

Century, Cormack's Prognostication

is about to become a fait accompli. Yet this intelligent
man, long since laid to rest in a quiet churchyard at New
Westminster, British Columbia, was looked upon as a
mad enthusiast by his much wiser neighbors, and the
generations who have succeeded him. In 1840, Mr. J. B.
Jukes, M. A., F. G. S., F.C.P.S., who was employed by

the local government in making a geological exploration
of the island, visited the West Coast, and ascended the
Middle Barachois River of Bay St. George to inspect this
coal deposit. lie it was who gave the first authentic
account of the coal seam there, since named after him,
the "Jukes' Seam." He entered pretty fully into the
geological features of this western country, and describes
the seam there measured by him.

As BeinK "Three Feet Thick.**

He adds that, " the quality of the coal exposed was good,
being a bright caking coal." Mr. Jukes on this same
occasion also paid a flying visit to the Grand Lake, and
saw one small seam of coal six inches in thickness on
Coal Brook, which flows into the south-east corner of the
lake. Many references were subsequently made to these
coal finds by Bonnycastle, Pedley and other writers, all
founded upon Jukes' Report. Bonnycastle, writing in
1842, when speaking of thfe western side of the island,
says: "Here, midst profound solitudes, and vast prair-
ies, forests and innumerable large lakes, we find the grand

Mystery Almost Brought to l.lKht
of the continuation of the coal formation of Nova Scotia
and Cape Breton, the great coal basin of the St. Law-
rence, probably the largest in the world, reaching from
the Gasp6 territory on the one hand, and covering a vast
portion of Newfoundland on the other." Again he says,
" former visitors on this part of the coast, beginning with
the French navigators and with Cook, asserted, as Mr.
Jukes has proved, that coal, gypsum, iron, limestone,
marble, the freestone for building, are abundant." And
yet again, he adds : "To show that the coal is similarly
abundant, to that on the opposite side of the gulf, in
Cape Breton and Nova Scotia, we find the rocks associ-
ated with it, and on which it reposes exactly the same»
whOst the quality of the coal in the

(Specimens * I Have fSeen of It *

appears to be perfectly alike in all." These references,
however, with the exception of those of Mr. Jukes, as is.
usually the case with unscientific observers, are not strictly

in accordance witli facts. A new era in geological dis-
covery was inangurated by the estahlishnient of the
present Geological Survey, under the able direction of the
late Alexander Murray, C.M.G., F.G.S., in 1864. Soon
i^'iT knowledge, not only of the geological structure of our
^sland, but of its varied resources, and its hitherto un-
mapped topographical features, began to dawn upon us
as a veritable revelation. Only the very crudest and
most hazy ideas of

ltd MaKnlflcent EtakcH and Water way »,

its unrivalled scenery, and the vastness of its unexplored
interior were prevalent. It was as much a "terra
incognita " as the regions surrounding the poles of the
earth are to-day. Mr. Murray being not only a close
observer and painstaking geologist, but likewise a sur-
veyor of superior attainments, soon began to map in the
principal features of the country from actual survey, and
shape out something liks a presentable map of England's
oldest colony, so long a great blank on the physical
delineation of the globe. In 1865 he made his first jour-
ney across the island, by way' of the Indian Brook of
Hall's Bay and the

Sandy Lake and Grand Lake Waters

of the southern branch of the Humber, to St. George's
Bay, surveying the entire route as he journeyed along.
His map of the Great Lake, this magnificent sheet of
■water nearly fifty-six miles long, with its huge enclosed
island, afforded us the first real idea of this great inland
sea, and henceforth it took its place on the map of the
island as one of its principal and most interesting fea-
tures. But Mr. Murray's main object, as he informs us
in his report for that year, was to ascertain the correct-
ness or otherwise of the existence of coal in the interior.
To use his own words : "I was to a considerable extent
influenced by various

Rumors Regarding the Presence of Coal

in certain parts of the interior, and considered it a matter
of the first importance to do my utmost to develop the
extent and distribution of the formation, should it prove,

■«

as it has done, to exist." Mr. Murray did not, however,
on this occasion, find any actual out-crop of coal on the
Grand I.ake, but met with numerous fragments of that
material washed up on its shores. The six-inch seam
described by Mr. Jukes was not visible, having, as Mr.
Murray says, " probably in the interval since his (Jukes')
visit been covered over by debris from above." Judging
from the abundance of loose pieces of coal near the in-
flowing Sandy Lake River, he adds : ' • There is clearly a
seam of

Coal Near the Outlet of the IVIaln Brook.**

Later on in the same season he examined a portion of
the St. George's Bay carboniferous area, and mentions a
small seam of coal as occurring on Indian Head Brook,
(now Riviere Blanche) , on the north side of the Bay,
but he had not time to examine the Jukes seam on the
Middle Barachois River. Other work, especially amongst
the copper-bearing rocks of Notre Dame Bay, then occu-
pied the attention of the Survey for several years suc-
cessively, and it was not till 1873 that the St. George's
Bay coal region was again visited. This time the present
writer accompanied Mr. Murray in his exploration.
While the latter devoted his attention chiefly to working
<out the

Structural Details of the Geological Features^

the former was occupied in making topographical surveys
of the coast line, ascending and dialling the principal
river courses, etc. We visited and examined the seam
on Riviere Blanche, which proved to be but six inches
thick. Another irregular seam on the same brook was
just discovered, but it was of little importance. The
Jukes seam, aud another laying above it on Middle
Barachois River, were closely examined, and their out-
crops measured. A section is given in the report for
1873 showing, according to Mr. Murray, the Jukes
seam to contain 3 ft. 6 in. of coal, and that above (the
Cleary seam) 1 ft. 5 in. coal. It was the writer's good
fortune while measuring the Robinson's Head River, next
cast of the Middle Barachois,

To Discover Another Good (Seam.

containing four feet of excellent coal. Mr. Murray
named it the Howley seam at the time. Other work
again occupied the attention of the Survey until 1879,
and no further coal discoveries were noted. In the latter
year the Government had concluded to institute a series
of boring tests in the vicinity of the Grand Lake. A
boring apparatus was purchased, and an experienced
man from Scotland engaged to carry out the experiment.
A trial was made near the mouth of Sandy Lake Stream,
where the loose coal was seen strewn on the shore. The
bore-hole reached a depth of 250 feet, and a few thin
coal seams were passed through, the largest of which
only attained a thickness of sixteen inches. The boring
was continued the following year.

But With No Better Result.

This seemed to throw a damper upon the prospects of
available ccal deposits occurring in the Grand Lake
region, and even Mr. Murray himself began to entertain
grave doubts that any appreciable portion of the true
coal measures would be found here. The Bay St. George
area, of which there might be s^me hope, remained in
abeyance also, no further attempt being made to explore
it. In fact, a general consensus of opinion seemed to
have been arrived at, that our coal areas were of too
limited an extent to call for further outlay in that direc-
tion.

With This Opinion I Could Never Concur,
more especially after a visit to Cape Breton, and an
inspection of the Sydney mines section. When, after
the retirement of Mr. Murray, and his decease in 1884,
I succeeded him as Director of the Geological Survey,
the subject of continuing the exploration of our carbon-
iferous areas was repeatedly urged. Not, however, until
several years had elapsed was it entertained again. At
length, in 1889, permission was obtained to devote
another season to the further exploration of the Bay St.
George coal field. Much scepticism was expressed at
the time

By Members of the Executive,

as to tie prospects of there being coal of value in the
region, and it was only after repeated assurances that I
succeeded in convincing them, upon geological grounds,
that the coal should be there, and if it was I would most
certainly find it. I ' told the Colonial Secretary and
Surveyor General of the time, that I believee there were
millions of tons of coal yet undiscovered in the island.
I even asked the former official to take a not'^ of what I
had stated, and see how near I could go to proving my
assertions. The result of that season's work, as set
forth in the report for that year, 1889, I think, speaks
for itself, and amply bore out what was then claimed.

The Coal Seams Already Known To Exist

on Robinson's Head and Middle Barachois Rivers were
first visited, and thoroughly uncovered, so that accurate
measurements, and good average specimens of theii*
quality could be obtained. The Howley Seam was un-
covered for 150 feet along its out-crop, and was found
to attain a thickness of 4 ft. 2 in. good solid coal. The
Jukes Seam was traced over a quarter of a mile, and
various openings made across the strike of the seam. It
was found to vary from three to eight feet in thickness,
and averaged 4 ft. 6 in. It is a beautiful quality of coal,
of a brittle nature, presenting a brilliant, sometimes
iridescent lustre, and would seem to be somewhat
analogous in appearance to what is

Known in Scotland as Cherry Coal,

though it partakes more of the nature of caking coal,
"^he Cleary seam above this gave a thickness of 2 ft. 2
in. It iij a good solid coal, breaking out in oblong
blocks, and much resembles Glace Bay coal. Twelve
other seams, varying in thickness from a few inches to
six feet, were discovered on the Middle Barachois River.
Two others besides the Howley seam on Robinson's
Head River, and four more, including the Shears' seam
on the Northern Feeder, a tributary of the latter River.
The principal seams in the section.

The Actual Existence and Dimensions

of which have been so far ascertained beyond questiou,

;are : —

The Jukes Seam 4 feet 6 inches.

The Cleary Seam 2 " 2 '*

The 18-inch Seam 1 " 6 "

The Slaty Seam 1 " 4 "

The Clay Seam 1 " 8 "

The Rocky Seam 1 " 5 "

The Murray Seam 5 " 4 " i

The Howley Seam 4 " 2 "

The Shears' Seam 1 " 2 "

The Murray Seam, which shows the greatest average
thickness of coal, is made up of alternate layers of coal
and shale. It is a

Tougli, Rattier Slaty Coal,

much inferior, at least, at its out-crop to the others. It
was named after the late Director of the Survey, Alex.
Murray, C.M.G., F.G.S. The Shears seam, though so
small, is a very superior quality of coal, approaching a
semi- anthracite in hardness and brilliancy of lustre. It is
a very clean coal, remarkably free from impurities.
Altogether, the coal seams contained in the St. George's
Bay trough, that have been as yet discovered, aggregate
about 27 feet in thickness. They are all repeated by
being again brought to the surface on the opposite side
of the trough, where several of them were seen and un-
covered. The area occupied by these coal seams has

not as

Yet Been Definitely Ascertained,

nor is it my intention now to make any haphazard asser-
tions as to what it may probably amount to. As set
forth in the commencement of this paper, I shall not go
beyond an actual statement of the facts observed. Were
I permitted to continue the exploration of this region, I
have little doubt that long ere this I should have been
in a position to furnish reliable information on this head.
To illustrate the importance of what such information
would mean, it may be stated that an aggregate of 27
feet of coal, provided the seams maintained their ascer-
tained thickness throughout, should, for every square
mile of superficial area they may be found to underlie,
•contain about

SS5,920,000 Tons of Coal.

All that is known with certainty at the present time is,
that on the Middle Barachois River, the trough has a
width of at least two miles, while in its longitudinal
extent coal has be?n found to outcrop at points five miles
apart in a straight line, from the most easterly to the
most westerly known limits. Turning now to the Grand
Lake, or central carboniferous region, which lays just
one hundred miles to tby northeastward from the Bay
St. George trough, it has been seen how far our knowl-
edge of this coal field extended up to the coal boring
operations in 1879-80. The results of those two season's
work were certainly far from encouraging.

In 1890 the Staff of the Geological Survey

was employed in making the preliminary survey for the
proposed extension of the N. W. Railway, from the
Exploit's valley to the West Coast, upon which the con-
tract for its construction with the Messrs. Reid was sub-
sequently based. It is not necessary to enter into details
of that survey here, but it may be stated that no time
was available for geological research, and consequently,
though the Grand Lake region came within its lunits,
nothing further was ascertained as to its coal deposits.
In the report for that year, however, it was strongly
urged that a further and more minute examination of the
district should be undertaken. To quote the

Exaet Words from the Report In Question,
they are as follows : "I can hardly conceive that in such
an extensive area of over 500 square miles, where the
presence of coal is indicated at all, there should not be
some more promising deposits ; and I think it well worthy
of consideration as to wht Jier this great central carbon-
iferous area does not warrant such an extensive explor-
ation as that hinted at above." "While on this subject,
it may be as well to remark, that previous to last year's
investigation of the St. George's Bay carboniferous area,
it was generally thoug' t the latter also was destitute

of workable coal seam^ . It had been regarded as occu-
pied almost entirely by the lower and unproductive mem-
bers of the series, viz. :

The Carboniferons lilniestone and iTIill-Stone-Grit

Formations,

but 1 now have the satisfaction of informing you, that
upon referring the fossil plants then collected, to Sir
Wm. Dawson, Principal of McGill University, Montreal,
and one of the most eminent authorities upon fossil-
botany in North America, he has, in one of his letters to
me, made the following reference thereto: "I may say
that the specimens now sent, indicate a development of
the coal measures not unlike that of Eastern Cape Breton,
with which I fancy your beds may be connected under
the Gulf." " This is much more evident in the speci-
mens you have sent than in those previously collected by
Mr. Murray, which had the aspect of lower coal measures
or even of the mill-stone-grit series."

This is a Most Important Announcement,

coming as it does from so distinguished a source. In a
later letter Sir Wm. adds: "Your Government might
make a point as to the West Shore, by informing the
English Government of the value of the coals on the
West Coast, and their prospective importance to Britain
and Newfoundland, as well as to the other colonies. You
have the Clearest coal to England on this side of the
Atlantic." In the following year, 1891, the Government
were pleased to adopt the suggestion of giving the Hum-
ber River area a more thorough search for coal, especially
in view of the contemplated extension of the railway
system to the western side of the island. On leaving for
the scene of operations, the

Colonial Secretvry, Hon. R. Bond, Said to Me,
" If you can find a workable coal seam at Grand Lake it
will be the means of insuring the construction of the
railway to the West Coast." I replied that I would do
my utmost, and if it were there I believed I could find it.
The result of this and the succeeding season's work is
contained in the published report of the Geological Sur-
vey for 1891-92, under one cover. As many of those
interested in this subject may not have seen these re-
ports or cared to wade through the geological details,
I shall only give a summary of the

Actual Facts Ascertained from an Economic
Point of View.

The existence of a long, narrow trough of true coal
measures on the south side of Grand Lake was estab-
lished, commencing at a point about four miles from its
head, whi( . was traced easterly as far as Kelvin Brook,
a! distance of over six miles. Here it was lost to view,
being covered over by an immense accumulation of super-
ficial drift, which spread over a large area of flat country,
lying between Grand and Sandy Lakes on the Southern
branch of the Humber River. Several small streams
flowing into Grand Lake afforded the only sections of
the strata which were at all accessible, and these only

After au Immense Amount of liabor

in removing the dense forest growth, and then costean-
ing the banks wherever any prospect of reaching the
bedrock presented itself. The principal brooks thus
explored were Aldery Brook, Coal Brook, and Kelvin
Brook, which occur at intervals of about two miles and a
half, succeeding each other from west t?o east as named
above. Two other smaller rivulets, unnamed, were also
explored. Very perfect sections of the coal measures
were obtained on Aldery and Coal Brooks. On the
former, in a horizontal distance of about one-quarter of
a mile, thirty

Separate Outcrops of Coal were Observed,

crowded together, with but a comparatively small amount
of intervening rock strata. Owing to the doubling up of
the strata composing this section, there is, of course, a
repetition of the different layers, and in reality the thirty
outcrops only represent fifteen actual distinct coal seams.
Most of these are quite small, varying from a few inches
to a foot in thickness. Those over a foot are as follows :

Ft. In.

No. 6 Outcrop contains coal 2

No. 7 " " " 1 6

No. 8 " " " 1 8

No. 12 " " " 1 3

No. 15 " " •' 3

No. IG " " " 2 5

Another section of the same measures, on the opposite

side (jf the brook, gave a betcer showing in some res-
pects,

Mot Six Seam was About the Same,

but Nos. 10, 11, 12 & 13 seemed to have come together ^
forming one large seam, containing fourteen feet of coal.
No. 14 outcrop showed 2f. lOin. coal; No. 15, 2f. 2in.
No. 16, 2f. Gin, and No. 25, If. Tin. The coal con-
tained in Nos. 6, 7, 16 and 25, is of excellent quality,
as is also that of some of the smaller seams ; but the
fourteen foot seam, and also No. 15th outcrop is soft,
and rather impure on surface exposure. On Coal Brook
the same section is exposed in part, and here the trough
has a wider spread, measuring about thirty chains across
in a horizontal line. Eighteen outcrops of coal were
uncovered here representing nine separate seams. The
remainder of those

Seen ou Aldery Brook,

if they exist, could not be reached, owing to the great
depth and toughness of the superficial deposits. Only
four of these seams showed over one foot of coal, viz. :

Ft. lu.

No. 2 Outcrop contains coal 1 4

No. 4 " "• " 3 5

No. 11 '' " " 1 6

No. 12 " " " 2 4

No. 4 is a good seam, and the coal is of excellent quality.
It was from this outcrop the Messrs. Reid obtained the
car load of coal mentioned at the commencement of this
paper. On Kelvin Brook but a very small section of the
measures is exposed. It contains, however,

Six Ontcropsi of Coal.
No. 1 consists of soft coaly and shaly layers alternating,^
three feet eight inches of which is coal. No. 5, con-
tains 2 feet 6 inches of rather impure coal, but No. 6, is
made up of two layers of excellent bright black coal,
divided by a layer of carbonaceous shale. The lower
coal is 3ft. Gin. thick, and the upper 2ft. 8in., making in
all 6ft. 2in. of good coal. The shaly layer in the middle
is about one foot in thickness, but appeared to become
somewhat thinner as thi seam was sunk upon. As it
was impossible to go bpyond a few feet down at the time>

owing to the influx of water from the river, it could not
be clearly ascertained whether it maintained this

Same Character to any Extent.

In all probability, the shale in the middle may thin out
entirely, or become more and more real coal, as the seam
is developed. In either case it will be seen that this is
one of the most promising coal seams so far discovered
in the Grand Lake district, though, perhaps, not the best
coal as regards quality. The results of these two sea-
sons operations were considered of sufficient importance
and promise as to warrant the application of the boring
rod again. In the following year, 1893, the Government
purchased a

Sullivan Diamond Boring Drill,
and after much delay and heavy labour, consequent upon
the transporting of so cumbersome an apparatus to the
Grand Lake, in the then condition of the counti-y, boring
was commenced near the head of the Lake. Seven dif-
ferent attempts were made to reach the bed rock, all of
which, except one, failed. Such was the enormous depth
of the superficial deposits, amounting to over 140 or 150
feet, and made up as they were of tough sand, gravel,,
and innumerable boulders, of all sizes, that could not be
moved out of the way, hole after hole had to be aban-
doned. Only at a bend of Kelvin Brook, near the shore
of the Lake, and about a mile north from the lowest part,
of the section already

Uncovered on Coal Brook,

were we successful in penetrating to the underlying rock
formation. Even here, 105 feet of the surface deposit
had to be passed through. The boring was continued
down to a depth of 335 feet without finding any true
seam of coal. A few thin impure carbonaceous shaly
layers, just showing a sign of coal, were met with. It
became quite evident that we had struck a portion of the
formation below the actual coal bearing measures.
Though this result was of a negative character, it was
not without value in a scientific point of view. It clearly
demonstrated the fact that an anticlinal fold in the strata.

occurred, whereby the coal seams proved to exist near

the mouth of

Sandy Lake River In 1879,

must occupy a separate and distinct trough from those
discovered on the South side of the Lake in 1891-2.
What the value or extent of this more northerly trough
may be can never be determined without the continued
and extensive use of the boiing rod. During the past
season of 1895, our knowledge of the more southern
trough has been greatly increased, by the discovery of
two seams of coal, and indications of others at a point
on the line of railway, four and a half miles to the east-
ward of the Kelvin Brook section.

And on the fSame I^ine of Strike.
This discovery places beyond all reasonable doubt the
fact, that the coal measures form a continuous trough,
from about one mile to the west of Aldery Brook, to the
point on the railway liue above indicated, a total distance
in a straight line of eleven miles. Certain observations
made during this past season also, seem to point towards
a widening of the trough in its easterly extension, but
much yet remains to be accomplished before any definite
conclusion can be arrived at as to what may be the full
extent and importance of this promising coal field. In
conclusion, I m y add, that the foregoing is a plain state-
ment of the actual facts regarding our knowledgeof the
Coal Fields of Newfoundland up to the Present

Time.
I have confined myself strictly to what I know and can
prove to be correct. I have taken considerable pains to
gather all possible information of a reliable character
outside of what was already in my possession, and have
refrained from putting forward anything of a speculative
nature whatever. In the interests of the country gener-
ally, it is to be hoped that authoritative statements which
can be amply borne out, will be the means of attracting
the attention of those whom it would be desii-able to
interest in our coal deposits, which I am convinced, no
overcolored, grossly exaggerated and unsupported asser-
tions are likely to effect.

JAMES P. HOWLEY.