Hi Group.......Evidently this came up just after I left last night. If you'll notice ('cause some of y'all have done a ton of homework), you're all/both right. The seams and region numbers correspond. Seams also run at incredibly varying depths and have multiple branches or fingers. King Coal controls much of the economy of Eastern Kentucky and most of the southern mountains. It is estimated that only a little more that 2/5 of the coal has been mined from the Appalachians after all these many years........but certainly it was done at great cost to the land and the people. It's very dichotimous to know the only jobs you can have are destroying the land you love, and often your health.

Coal is a subject near, but not dear, to my heart. I grew up in the most heavily stripped county (Harrison/Ohio) in the nation (based on percentage). It was strange to watch people take a Sunday drive to see two of the largest draglines in the world, "Gem of Egypt" and "Big Muskie" and come home later and complain of the ugliness of the land while totally enthralled by the very machines that did the damage. In the end of course, it's not the machines, but men who do the damage. I was a member of the Appalachian Volunteers and we worked heavily with the locals on minerals rights issues, largely to no avail. One of the fascinating things another AV developed was a chart of "Interlocking Directorates" of coal, steel, rail, and power companies. The damn thing literally covered a wall. Unbelievable, made everything look so hopeless...............

There are ways to mine coal and use it that aren't detrimental to the land and the well being and health of the people, but it's unlikely I will see improvement in my time here on this sphere.

Bad subject....Makes me crazy and I want to go on and on about it.........Nuff said now.

Spaw