Sullivan. -Area, 430 square miles; population in 1880,
8,073. This county is an eastward continuation of the Allegheny mountain
plateau wilderness of Lycoming county about 2,000` A.T. composed of
a plate of nearly horizontal Pocono sandstone No. X, through which Muncy
creek and the north branch of Lycoming creek, with Elk Creek coming
into the latter from the north, cut deep valleys and gorges, in the
walls of which appear about 500` of Catskill strata No. IX. Between
Muncy Creek and the north branch of Loyalsock runs an exceedingly shallow
east and west trough, along the center line of which flows the Loyalsock
south branch from the Wyoming county line 19 miles westward to Forksville,
gradually cutting down into the Catskill rocks, but most of its course
being on Pocono No. X. The mountain south of Forksville is capped by
a small patch of Red Shale XI and Conglomerate XII. Another such is
preserved north of the south branch at the northern corner of Laporte
township; but where Birch Creek joins the south branch the basin deepens
eastward, and coal measures overlie the conglomerate for about 7 miles,
and are mined at Bernice, where the grade at the terminus of the State
Line and Sullivan railroad is 1,858` A.T.; at Dushore in the Catskill
belt 1,593; at Miller’s station in the Chemung valley 1,330`; and at
Monroeton junction on Towanda Creek in Bradford County (24 miles) 762`;
the turnpike south from Dushore being at Loyalsock creek bridge 1,650`;
at the Lee road 2,284`; and at the Long Pond in the south-east corner
of the county 2,318`; a hill east of the pond rising to 2,383`. The
Bernice coal basin is about 600 yards wide, and holds two minable beds:
On the Jackson tract Coal B 11` thick; fire clay 8`; massive
hard sandstone 22`; massive conglomerate 30`; Coal A, black slate
roof 5`, coal 2`; slate 3 inches, fire-clay floor; -At mine No. 5, sandstone
cover 80`; Coal B, coal 3`, slate 3`, coal 1` 3", slate and coal
1` 6`, coal 4` (total 12` 9"); interval 10`, thin sandstones 20`, interval
20`, black slate 5`; Coal A coal, 1` 11", slate 3"; fire clay
8`; hard sandstone 22`; conglomerate sandstone 30` (total section 215`.)
(For details at other mines, see F. Platt’s Report G2, pp.179;
and C.A. Ashburner’s report (not yet published AA.) The partings of
Coal B increase eastward between mines Nos. 1 and 6 so as to
separate the upper and lower benches of coal by an interval of 67`;
and they separate still further from each other eastward; so that at
the school-house bore hole the section is: upper coal 3`, parting
of slate and fire-clay 45`, middle coal 1` 3``, parting 11`,
lower coal 5`. The Saw-mill bore hole to the north showed
partings of 26 ½` and 32 ½`. The remarkable feature of this basin is
that the coal of Bed B, instead of being semi-bituminous, as
in the Towanda mountain and Blossburg mountain basins, is a genuine
anthracite, in the proportion of about 9 per cent of volatile
matter to 91 of solid carbon. One analysis of Bed A, however
gave 67 carbon, 15 vol. mat., ash 12.7, water 4, and sulphur 0.5. The
Pottsville Conglomerate under Bed A seems to be nearly 200` thick, with
perhaps 25` of red shale under it, and then 450` of Pocono sandstones
exposed above water level at Shimersville.
From: A geological hand atlas of the sixty-seven
counties of Pennsylvania :embodying the results of the field work
of the survey, from 1874 to 1884. By J. P. Lesley. (Report of
progress (Geological Survey of Pennsylvania), v. X ) Harrisburg, PA
: Board of commissioners for the second geological survey, 1885.
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