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In discussing the questions of coal-mining and iron-smelting, I have called attention to some points connected with these subjects, which, although familiar to technical students, will, it is hoped, not be without value to others who may be interested in the region. With the same end in view, I have added some statistics with regard to coal and iron ores and the iron and steel manufactures of the country. For many of these I am indebted to Mr. Fred. E. Saward'a valuable manual, en titled The Coal Trade, for 1880, and to the excellent annual report for 1880, of Mr. James M. Swank, secretary to the American Iron and Steel Association. Readers will find that pages 7 3-86, including coal-analyses and many details connected with coal, are copied, with some additions and revisions, from my little treatise of 1874. Some notes with regard to clays and salt-wells, I have reserved for an Appendix, where also will be found a detailed inquiry into the dip of the strata, as deduced from observations on the Great Vein in different parts of the coal-field.
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