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The canneloid coal, cannel-like in grain and fracture but not in chemical
character, varies in percentage of ash from 3-3 to 21-5. In all samples it is
non-caking. The fuel ratio of the canneloid coals sampled have a smaller
range than the ordinary coals, varying between 3-0 and 4-05. Where it
forms a bench in a seam, the rank of the canneloid coal is as high as, or a
little higher than, that of the ordinary coal in other benches. The canneloid
coal occurs as thin seams or as benches in thicker seams.

Variations in thickness have been referred to in describing each seam
and suggestions have been given for further exploration.

As compared with coals of similar age in the Kootenay and Luscar
formations of the south, those of the middle and lower part of the Peace
River Canyon are comparatively thin; eight of the ten seams described
attain a thickness of from 2 feet 6 inches to 4 feet 8 inches in parts of the
area; one seam varies from 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 9 inches, and another,
known over a larger area, varies in thickness of coal from 3 feet 7 inches to
8 feet 4 inches. Against the comparative thinness of the seams must be
balanced low ash content of some of them.

EAST SLOPE OF PORTAGE MOUNTAIN

Some coal seams have been examined on Knight, King, and Irish Creeks
(See Figure 15), on the east slope of Portage Mountain (McLearn and Irish,
1944). Structurally these seams have an east dip, 13 to 35 degrees, on the
east limb of the Bullhead anticline of the Portage-Butler structural zone.

“Near the crest of the [Bullhead] anticline, . . . a fault has thrust
Dunlevy beds over the Gething formation. A small anticlinal fold shows in
the Gething strata just east of the fault. The lower part of the Gething,
although not the actual base, is exposed east of the fault in the upper
reaches of Knight, King, and Irish Creeks. Beds in the middle of the
formation are concealed in the central part of the map-area, but a few
exposures of beds high in the formation were observed near the mouth of
King Creek, and also east of King Creek, on the north side of the canyon...”

King Seam

The ‘King’ is the thickest seam known on the east slope of Portage
Mountain. It is in the lower part of the Gething formation, although the
exact distance above the base is not known. The seam is exposed in the
upper part of King Creek and is worked in the King Gething mine. It can
be traced northwest up the hill about 600 feet from the mine by means of
a ledge of siltstone that immediately overlies the coal. It could not, how-
ever, be traced farther toward Irish Creek without digging deep trenches.
It was not found on Irish Creek, but is probably present somewhere between
the group of exposures near the head of the creek and another group farther
downstream. It could not be traced south from the mine, in which direction
bedrock is heavily drift covered, nor is it exposed on Knight Creek, though
it probably lies east of the exposures on this creek.

“Where measured at the King Gething mine, the King seam is 5-2 feet

thick, including a 0-3-foot shale parting. The section from top to bottom
is as follows: