MINING CONDITIONS UNDER CITY OF SCRANTON, PA.
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It is to be distinctly understood that such proposed report and study of the situation existing under Scranton would be based upon such information as might be obtained from the second geological survey and from such other maps of the various coal-mining companies and the city and school authorities, to which access could be obtained for the engineers, and from such personal inspection of accessible portions of the mines as, in our judgment, shall be necessary. We would, however, give expression to our belief that such surveys are sufficiently accurate and reliable as a basis for the general conclusions that the report will be expected to set forth.
It seems to us that the information to be secured through such a report would be the first requisite to a subsequent detailed investigation and application of any remedies which might be suggested for the amelioration of the mining conditions under this city.
Yours, respectfully,
(Signed) Wm. Griffith,
Eli. T. Conner,
Mining Engineers.
It therefore remains but for the community, through its city government and the board of control, to employ these two engineers at the price stipulated in order to receive a general report upon the cave problem that should command the respect and the confidence of all parties interested, not only because it will have been prepared by engineers selected by a board composed of experts of national reputation, but also because the very findings of such engineers would, in their turn, be submitted to and reported upon by that same advisory board. In short, the community would then be provided with information as to facts and opinions as to remedies that would form solid ground for both future deliberations and future activities.
I can not refrain from suggesting, assuming the acceptance of this most unselfish offer upon the part of men of high professional equipment and without personal interest in the welfare of Scranton, that, simultaneously with the enactment of the necessary legislation to carry into effect this plan, there should be official appreciation of their proffered assistance.
Respectfully submitted.
J. Benj. Dimmick.
Certified copy.
Evan R. Morris, City Cleric.
September 15, 1910.
GEOLOGY.
The city of Scranton occupies the surface overlying the whole width (5 miles) of the Lackawanna coal field, and extends about 5 miles up and down the valley. The central part of the city is over the center of the coal basin, while the margin of the basin on the East and West Mountains nearly coincides with the city line along those hills.
The floor of this coal basin is formed by the hard Pottsville conglomerate or “pudding stone,” which comes to the surface on the mountain sides east of Roaring Brook, and dipping down under the surface in the form of a deep trough or basin passes under the central part of the city at a depth of several hundred feet, and again reaches the surface on the flanks of the West Mountain. Passengers on the Laurel Line can note this conglomerate on both sides of the Roaring Brook ravine and at the stone quarry on the east near the switch where the Dunmore branch leaves the main line.