38 EXPEDITION TO THE 



however, that in other parts of the country this coal is 

 worked to advantage. It is the usual fuel in the town, be- 

 ing worth from four to six cents per bushel. 



It is covered by a bed of slaty rock, which in some cases 

 assumes a decided appearance of slate-clay, and in other 

 points runs into a micaceous sandstone, not unlike the mi- 

 caceous parts of that described as the lowest stratum visible 

 in this vicinity ; like the former it is filled with vegetable 

 impressions of a very undecided character. 



Over this slaty rock another bed of limestone occurs, the 

 characters of which, resembling in every respect those of 

 the stratum under the coal, require no further description. 

 The superior bed, as well as the inferior one, is rich in im- 

 pressions of Encrinites, Terebratula, Productus, &c. which 

 shells retain their pearly lustre, and even in some cases 

 their animal matter. 



The limestone is covered with a fine vegetable mould, 

 and affords a rich soil, not inferior to any of the limestone 

 bottoms of Pennsylvania. We had no means of ascertain- 

 ing what rocks lay below the first bed of sandstone ob- 

 served in this break, but from what we could discover in 

 the bed of the canal then digging in the neighbourhood of 

 the town, we believe it to rest upon a sandstone in every 

 respect similar to that described in the first chapter as ex- 

 isting in the neighbourhood of Wheeling, and we have 

 every reason to believe that the same alternation of strata 

 which exists there, would be found in like manner here, 

 and that if shafts were sunk, inferior strata of coal might 

 be reached. 



Zanesville is a pleasant and flourishing town, situated 

 at the junction of the Licking creek and Muskingum, 

 about ninety miles above the confluence of the Muskingum 

 a,nd Ohio. Asa manufacturing town it possesses great ad- 



