Occasionally a seam of coal crops to the surface, allowing a clear view of the nature of deposits. This tends to happen most frequently where the dip of the seam moves away from a sea cliff or hill, thereby presenting an opportunity for the development of a drift mine.
The Broad Cove seam is remarkable for its thickness close to five metres in most exposed areas and is much purer than most such outcroppings. Unfortunately, the surface appearance of this particular seam, like so many in the region, proved deceptive; once underground, it petered out quickly and had to be abandoned after only a few years of activity. The Broad Cove Mining Company was dominated by a group of Boston financiers, most of whom took only a passing interest in the operations. Frequently outsiders were interested in turning a quick profit by exposing a seam, but few were prepared for the sustained level of investment necessary for full development This photograph shows a group of investors and mining engineers brought in to admire a fourteen-foot (4.26-metre) outcrop. It appeared in the Canadian Mining Iron and Steel Manual of 1897.
Quite another aspect of the coal industry's impact is highlighted by this photograph. Geologists use coal seams to study formative influences on the earth's upper crust; geological time periods can be analyzed by studying the fossils found at the interface between the coal and surrounding strata or imbedded within the coal itself.
Courtesy: Library, Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology
