The Coal Gulch occurrence is located from GSC Open File 637 (Occurrence 216) and is situated 10 kilometres north-northeast of the community of Enderby. Current geology maps indicates the area is close to the contact between a predominantly volcanic succession of andesite, basalt, dacite, trachyte flows, breccias and tuffs, and a sedimentary succession comprised of conglomerate, sandstone, shale, coal and tuff. All rock units are part of the Eocene Kamloops Group.

Cairnes (1932) describes the Tertiary coal occurrences in the area as seams varying from a few centimetres to over 30 centimetres in thickness, composed of alternating thin layers of coal and sandstone or shale. In other instances, the coal seams are merely strata containing abundant, partly to completely carbonized fossil remains of plants.