The Statement of A. Hodge

The McKean Citizen
Saturday August 6, 1859

Philadelphia, June 2nd, 1859.

Having been employed by E.G. Brown & Co. to go to McKean county, PA, to shaft for coal on part of a tract of land purchased of S. A. Backus by E. G. B. & Co., and being a miner of 40 years experience. I examined all the openings and found but 18 inches of coal and no shale's whatever. The said Backus having stated in my hearing that the said vein having been measure by him proved the length of his cane and the breadth of his band over and above - or about 3 feet 6 inches - I bored for shale's along side of a bore made by him or under his superintendence, which he represented, I went through shale's and was left standing in coal; that the bore made by me was only 19 inches from Backus's bore, but I found neither coal nor shale's,although going about 7 inches below the bottom of the old bore which we found carefully plugged up and opened and measured. I also found another vein of coal about 16 inches thick, and these two veins are all which I found after a careful survey. They will not pay for working.
A. Honor

My object in publishing the foregoing statements is not to decay the character of the mineral lands of McKean County. My observations, which are limited warrant me in asserting that the county abounds in large bodies of coal and iron ore, and i do not doubt that many of them are workable veins, but I am fully convinced that none such exist on the "Backus Tract"
Respectfully yours,
E. G. Brown