Poe Archive

Wilkes boro, April 23, 1788

Dear Sir,

I rec’d your favour by Capt. Schott. With respect of coal mines, I can give you very little information. That found in many places in this neighborhood is of a peculiar kind. It emits no smoke & the flame is bluish; & when burning the smell of sulphur is perceptible, tho’ the smiths who constantly use it, are insensible of it. It requires a constant blowing to keep it burning, but with the blast of a common smith’s bellows it quickly raises a heat (it seems to me almost in half the time that charcoal does) so that smiths not accustomed to it are apt to let their iron get burnt, & make great waste of it.

Some of the mines here give coal of a much better quality than others. Some parcels are too slaty. The best sort requires a hand stroke of a hammer to break it, & when broken, the surfaces of all the pieces are so glossy & hard, that you might rub a white stocking with them and not soil it. In the few places in which I have seen it, the lands adjoining are stony, & some bearing yellow pine, and others white oak. I have not heard that any kind of oar has yet been discovered in the vicinity of the coal mines.----As Shawanee [sic], on the other side of the river (where also there is coal). I have been told allum is to be found. There are some rocks there which are called the allium rocks: but I have not yet seen them: nor do I know how allum is obtained in Europe. I am indeed utterly unacquainted with the nature of oars & minerals in general; yet a knowledge of them would be useful, particularly in this country, where the hills and mountains probably contain valuable substances besides coal. If you can recommend to me a book (not voluminous) on the subject, I shall be greatly obliged. Between this & autumn I may find opportunities of exploring the country adjacent; & if I obtain any information which can be useful to you, I will communicate it.

I am pleased to find the affair of the roads in so prosperous a way. Dr. Sprague is returned & says he had the offer of employment as a surveyor but tho’ he has some knowledge of the subject, he is not adequate to the duty. He is acquainted with the woods, and to explore a route might be useful.

I have just been told that Franklin (in the new goal) has written his friend Jenkins here, that he soon expects to have the liberty of the yard: lent on what principle this indulgence is to be granted him I know not. If it is wished by any persons to have this county again thrown into confusion, they do well to put him in the way of making his escape: If any plausible tales & professions of his have excited a more favourable opinion of him—I am sorry for their credulity: with singular justness may be applied to him a general declaration, that “his heart deceitful above all things, & desperately wicked.” You feel interested in the quiet of this country, & I would gladly use your endeavors to secure it & consequently will make some use of these hints.

I remain dear Sir, with great respect & esteem your most obed. serv’t,
T. Pickering