204 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



years ago tlie same bed was worked near the old mill not far from Free- 

 port. There the thickness is said to be twenty-eight inches. 



In Washington township the valley of the Stillwater oiFers many ex- 

 cellent exposures of this bed, but the people have taken little advantage 

 of it. At Tippecanoe it has an average thickness of about four feet, and 

 is worked somewhat. In Franklin township it has been slightly worked 

 at and near Franklin, beyond which village it disappears under the 

 creek. At Mr. Mulvany's bank, about one mile north-west from Frank- 

 lin, the coal is four feet one inch thick, but is very friable, and is not 

 held in high repute. Mr. Jones's bank, just north from Franklin, has 

 about the same thickness, but yields a coal of very fair quality. In 

 Monroe township the coal is traceable without difficulty, and is of con- 

 siderable economical importance. At Philadelphia Crossing it is found 

 sixty feet above the railroad, and is four feet thick. One mile farther 

 up the creek toward Franklin it is three feet three inches, covered with 

 dark, laminated shales, which pass imperceptibly into olive shales above. 

 On the railroad it is worked by Mr. Williams, a mile from the crossing, 

 for shipment. The bed here is about four feet thick, and yields a coal 

 which is not so soft as that from Coal No. 6, as found at Urichsville and 

 Dennison, in Tuscarawas county. Near the tunnel are seen two coal 

 banks, on the north side of the railroad, where the bed has been slightly 

 worked. The coal here is four feet six inches. At Bowerston the coal 

 has been found four feet six inches. The coal from this bed is usually 

 comract, and bears transportation well. It has not much tendencj^ to 

 cake upon the fire, and burns freely if well supplied with air. Its ex- 

 tent and the quality of the coal are likely to render it of considerable 

 econiimic value. 



The shales immediately overlying the coal are usually black or dark- 

 colored, heavy, more or less compact, and usually contain a notable per- 

 centage of iron. This is the horizon of the "blackband" ore mined in 

 Tuscarawas county. While none of the material yet ob.'crved by us 

 contains sufficient iron to render it valuable, the fact that this is an im- 

 portant iron horizon, together with the constant presence of iron in the 

 shale, is one which should lead property owners to make careful exam- 

 ination wherever an exposure of these shales is seen. 



The heavy sandstone above Coal No. 7 varies much in its structure. In 

 Washington and Freeport townships it is usually of moderately coarse 

 grain, soft, and of a straw color, splitting and dressing nicely. The 

 conglomerate layers are few, and the rock is very massive. In Franklin 

 it becomes shaly, and is seldom fitted for building purposes, while in 

 Monroe it becomes dark gray in color and very conglomeratic, containing 



