174 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



of excellent quality, and is now largely used in the manufacture of fire- 

 bricks, both at Mineral Point and Dover. In most localities where this 

 stratum is opened in .Stark county, it seems to be of the ordinary plastic 

 character, but near Waynesburg, in the valley of the Sandy, it exhibits 

 very much the appearance it has at Mineral Point. It will be of some 

 importance to have it generally known that the fire-clay under Coal No. 5 

 is so peculiar in character, and is often of such value, since it runs 

 through several of the more southern townships of Stark county. It 

 may be found to possess its best character in localities where nothing is 

 now known of it. 



Over Coal No. 5 we find, in Tuscarawas county, an important deposit 

 of iron ore, and one which has supplied, much of the "kidney" ore used 

 in that county. This stratum is probably nowhere rich enough to 

 pay for drifting, but where it crops out on the hill-sides it may justify 



stripping. 



Coal No. 6. 



This coal lies some fifty feet above Coal No. 5, or from eighty to one 

 hundred feet above the upper of the two lower limestones, and is one of 

 the most important and wide-spread coal seams of the State. It is the 

 "Big Vein" of Columbiana county, the shaft coal at Steuben ville, the 

 most important seam of Holmes, Tuscarawas, and Coshocton counties, 

 and is also the "Great Vein" of the Hocking Valley district. In Stark 

 county it runs through all the hills east and south of Canton. It is the 

 coal worked at Clark's mine and several others in Osnaburg, and is 

 thence transported for blacksmiths' use to all parts of the county. In 

 this region it varies from four to six feet in thickness, and crops out and 

 is worked in numerous localities in Osnaburg and Mapleton. Passing 

 thence southward, it loses in thickness and importance, until in the edge 

 of Tuscarawas county it becomes less valuable than the next lower seam. 

 At Waynesburg it appears well, and thence reaches round through the 

 highlands of Paris and Washington into Columbiana county, retaining 

 its volume and value all the way to the State line. At New Franklin, 

 in Paris, it is opened on the farm of E. J. Courtney, where it is five feet 

 ten inches thick, and shows, as usual, a slate parting eighteen inches 

 above the bottom. It extends from this point northward, through Wash- 

 ington, as far as Alliance, but becomes thinner in this direction. In all 

 parts of Stark county Coal No. 6 is a coking coal, generally of good thick- 

 ness, and capable of affording an excellent fuel for blacksmiths' use or 

 the generation of steam. When coked it may be used for iron-smelting. 

 It sometimes contains considerable sulphur, but this may, however, be 

 eliminated by washing. In the southern tier of townships — Sugar Creek, 



