158 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



portant basins of coal have been discovered, and it is probable that when 

 the real difficulties of the search on this side of the river are overcome — 

 i. e., when certain clues that can be followed up shall have been found — it 

 will be learned that valuable deposits of coal stretch eastward far beyond 

 any present knowledge. 



Considerable boring has been done in the central and eastern part of 

 the county, and such as might be supposed would go far to decide the 

 question of the reach eastward of the Massillon coal, but I am compelled 

 to say that these explorations have not proved the existence of any con- 

 siderable body of this coal east of the river. It should be said, however, 

 that of the borings made, only such as were made for the express pur- 

 pose of finding coal are worthy of any confidence. The oil wells, by 

 which the whole county has been pierced, were bored for oil, and nothing 

 else. As a general rule, every other product was neglected, and when 

 coal seams were passed through, the evidence of the fact afforded by the 

 sand-pump was unheeded. The borings which to me appear to afford 

 any really important information on the subject are mainly as follows; 



1st. Those made by Mr. H. Foltz, on the Sprankel farm, north of Mill- 

 port. Here the coal is found of good thickness, in a basin of perhaps 

 several hundred acres. 



2d. Borings made near Mud Brook church by Mr. Conrad, showing 

 the presence of a coal basin of which the limits are not yet determined, 

 but it certainly holds coal of workable thickness. 



3d. Borings made by H. S. Belden, at Four-mile Switch, half-way be- 

 tween Canton and Massillon. These show that the lower coal seam is, in 

 this vicinity, only a few inches thick, and of no value. Two borings 

 were made here, about half a mile apart, which gave nearly the same re- 

 sult. The two limestone coals were found in place, the upper one of 

 good thickness and quality. The underlying strata are quite regular, 

 but the coal is too thin to be worked. 



4th. Borings made west of Greentown, on the Foltz farm, two hun- 

 dred and forty-two feet deep. Only five inches of coal were found here at 

 the place of the lower seam. 



6th. Borings made on the Wetmore farm, below Navarre. These 

 failed to furnish any traces of the lower coal. 



In all these last-mentioned localities the limestone seams (Coals No. 3 

 and No. 4) are found in position, and from the failure to find the lower 

 coal of workable thickness beneath these, the impression has come to 

 prevail that wherever the limestone seams are found the Massillon Coal 

 is absent. I need scarcely say that this is a mere superstition, of which 

 time will be sure to reveal the fallacy. There is certainly no such con- 



