A comparison of the various horizon lines with the contour lines on the map will reveal a number of minor undulations, producing local dips at different points; these are to be attributed both to irregularities of movement in the uplifting and depressing which this area was subjected to, as well as to unequal settling of the subjacent strata during the period of their deposition and to inequalities in original deposition.

ECONOMIC GEOLOGY.

The mineral of most economic importance in the Higginsville area is, at present, emphatically coal. Of minor import. ance are the clays, shales and building stones.

COAL.

Coal is mined on a large or small scale at a great number of points, most of which are designated on the map. The mining is prosecuted chiefly in one bed, which is known as the Lexington bed, from its early discovery and extensive later development in the vicinity of the town of Lexington, further west in the county. In addition to this, however, three other separate beds are recognized as operated within our area. These are, in descending order, first, the Mulky coal bed, named from its occurrence on Mulky creek, a few miles south of Aullville; next, the coal bed operated at Edwards station, on the Missouri river, and last, the Waverly coal bed, operated by shafts at that point. These beds we will now describe successively, beginning with the lowest.

THE WAVERLY COAL BED. By reference to the sections of the section sheet, and to sections I and II on previous pages, it will be seen that the Waverly coal bed is assigned a position about 130 feet below the top of the Lower Coal Measures. The existence of a coal bed at about this horizon has been suspected from the results of deep drilling in past years in this neighborhood, and its presence has been considered possible from the knowledge that there yet existed a great thickness of comparatively unexplored Coal Measure rocks beneath the coal beds worked in this neighborhood. Not

until the spring of 1891, however, was this conclusively demonstrated, when a trial shaft was put down at Waverly by the Middleton Coal Co. This shaft is located immediately north of the railway on the river bank; a section of it is given in section II. The total depth is about 75 feet. Two other coal seams, it will be noticed, were passed through before the lowest, or Waverly bed, was reached; these were, however, too thin to be of economic importance. The following section of the Waverly bed was measured here by Mr. Gluck :

SECTION XXXIII.

WAVERLY COAL BED AT MIDDLETON COAL CO.'S SHAFT.

1. Shale, soft, dark brown, growing darker toward the coal, with thin, lenticular layers of coal.

Feet. Inches.

10

1012-12

14-12

13-16

12-22

6

Mr. Gluck reports that the coal contains pyrite in plates about one-sixteenth of an inch thick, which occurs along the joint planes. Little calcite or selenite was observed. The coal appeared hard and clean, breaking with a sharp fracture.

The Waverly Coal and Mining Co.'s shaft is about oneeighth of a mile east of the last, and is located on the map. The platform is about 10 feet above the railway, and the shaft is about 102 feet deep. Notes from the record of this shaft are given under section 1. Five thin streaks of coal are shown there to overlie the bed operated; none of them of economic value, however.

The following section of the Waverly bed was measured by the writer:

SECTION XXXIV.

WAVERLY COAL BED AT WAVERLY COAL & MINING CO.'S SHAFT.

A sample of this coal was collected by the writer for anal. ysis, chips being taken across the face of several large blocks of coal representing the whole face of the bed.

The following are the results of the analysis made by Mr. J. D. Robertson, in the Survey Laboratory:

ANALYSIS OF WAVERLY COAL, WAVERLY C. & M. CO.'S SHAFT.

LABORATORY NOTES. The coal ranks by composition as a highly bituminous coal. The specimens of the sample were of medium hardness, had a bright lustre, contained much selenite and calcite along the joint planes, but little pyrite. The sulphur contents is high, as is also the per centage of ash. The moisture is abnormally low. In a small porcelain crucible the powdered coal yields a firm porous cake with a sub-metallic, graphitic lustre. The ash is of a dark violet red color.

The results of the laboratory work show that this coal has an ample supply of hydro-carbon to permit its use for the manufacturing of gas, but whether this is of sufficient candle power can be determined only by a more elaborate "ultimate analysis." The high sulphur percentage does not, however recommend it for such use, and unless this can be reduced the, coal could not, at present, compete with other gas coals. The crucible test shows that this coal may possibly be a coking coal, but experimental work on a large scale is necessary to determine this. The high sulphur and ash contents would injure the sale of the coke in the market.

The Francisco shaft is located on the map, and is there seen to be on the west edge of the town of Waverly, adjacent to the railway. The shaft is 105 feet deep and the top is about at the level of the railway. The following section of the coal bed was here measured by the writer:

These are all the openings which have thus far been made in the Waverly coal bed. At other points within the area, however, coal has been struck at depths by drilling, which probably belongs to this horizon. Thus, in the Catron well (Section XII, No. 7), a coal bed about three feet thick is reported to have been encountered at a depth of about 130 feet below the top of the Lower Coal Measures, which, if present, is doubtless the Waverly bed. Similarly in the deep well at Aullville (Section XV, No. 15, p. 33), the record shows the presence of a coal bed over two feet thick at a depth of about 150 feet below where we place the top line of the Lower Coal Measures, which coal we would also class as the Waverly bed. Finally, the lowest coal bed, five inches thick, struck in the drill-hole at Corder (Section XXVI, No. 52, p. 40), is at the proper horizon to be classed as the Waverly bed; whether the apparant thinness of the bed is an actual fact, or whether it is a result of the imperfections of the churndrill, we are unable to say. At the Froeschly place, in section 8, township 49 N., 25 W., a drill-hole was put down to a depth of 240 feet or more, and the driller reports that a coal bed three to four feet thick was encountered, about 200 feet below the Lexington bed, or about 130 feet below the top of the Lower Coal Measures.

The suggestions conveyed by these results of drilling, together with the demonstration of the existence of this coal bed at Waverly, are sufficient to warrant further drilling and exploration in search of it over the contiguous country. The

results of drilling done between Waverly and Edwards station, which are withheld from publication, indicate both that this bed dips to the west from the former point, and that there is a thickening of the overlying rocks westward.

The horizon of this bed is so deep below the surface here that it extends under the whole area represented by the sheet, and the questions to be determined are its exact depth beneath the surface and its thickness and character at different points. The nature of the coal and of the associated strata as developed at Waverly, strongly suggest that the bed is the same as that mined so extensively in Randolph county, at Huntsville and elsewhere. We postpone decision concerning such correlation, however, until the intervening area is more thoroughly studied.

THE EDWARDS COAL BED.

The shaft of the Riverside Coal Company, at Edwards station, is described under Sec. IX. The coal operated here, which occurs at the base of this shaft, is about 15 inches thick, and is assigned a position about 100 feet below the top of the Lower Coal Measures. This is some 30 feet higher stratigraphically than is the Waverly bed at Waverly. This fact, together with considerations of the thickness of the coal and the association of the strata, combined with the inference from the results of the drilling between Edwards station and Waverly, above referred to, lead to the conclusion that the coal bed at Edwards station is not the Waverly bed, but that it belongs higher in the section and is, perhaps, as much as 100 feet above the latter at this point. This bed is below the level of the Missouri river over the whole area, and hence is not exposed nor does not crop out anywhere here. The following section of this coal was measured in the shaft by the writer: