142 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



has no value in this part of the State, and requires here no further 

 notice. 



From one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet ahove Coal No. 1 two 

 other seams come in, which are sometimes of workable thickness. These 

 we have designated as Coals No. 3 and No. 4. They are separated by a 

 distance of thirty to fifty feet, and are usually both overlain by lime- 

 stone. Sometimes, however, one or both of the limestones are replaced by 

 shale. These coal seams, here as elsewhere, have proved to be quite 

 irregular in their thickness, although in a general way continuous from 

 Portage through Summit, Stark, Wayne, Holmes, Coshocton, etc., to and 

 beyond the National Road. Both these coals may be seen in the north- 

 eastern corner of Atwater, where the north and south road crosses a small 

 stream, and not far from the locality where so much fire-clay is dug. 

 Here the limestone of No. 3 shows in the bed of the brook at a level of 

 twenty feet above the railroad at Atwater, or five hundred and eighty 

 feet above Lake Erie. It is about four feet in thickness, and, as usual, 

 has iron ore over it. The coal beneath is only a few inches thick. Some 

 twenty feet above the limestone Coal No. 4 is seen in the road, here ap- 

 parently four feet thick, but with scarcely any covering. No limestone 

 is visible over it. 



In Limestone Ridge, in Freedom, both these strata are shown. The 

 upper one is thin, but is overlain by limestone, which is here burned for 

 quicklime. Coal No. 3 is seen in the road at the south end of Limestone 

 Ridge ; as usual, it is underlain by a thick bed of fire-clay. 



On the farm of Wilson Davidson, about half a mile distant from the 

 last-named locality, this coal has been mined, thotigh not largely, for a 

 number of years. It is here about twenty-two inches thick. From the 

 fact that this seam was represented as Coal No. 1 by the geologist who, 

 when connected with the first Geological Survey of the State, made an 

 examination of this region (Annual Report of 1838, p. 59), no thorough 

 exploration has ever been made of the strata below it. Possibly such ex- 

 plorations would have been fruitless, as the lower seam is so frequently 

 absent from its place ; but as the true position of Coal No. 1 is at least 

 one hundred and fifty feet below Mr. Davidson's coal, it is evident that a 

 large area in the vicinity dererves examination by deep boring. Con- 

 siderable money has been spent in boring in Freedom, but, so far as I can 

 learn, none of the wells have been carried deep enough to determine the 

 presence or absence of the lower coal. One well bored on Limestone 

 Ridge is reported to have furnished the following section : 



FT. IK. 



1. Earth 14 



2. Limestone _- 3 



3. Shale 54 



