BELMONT COUNTY. 269 



would be altogether above the available coals, oscillating between Nos. 

 11 and 12. In the ravines, some of which are cut three hundred feet 

 below the railroad station at Barnesville, Coals Nos. 8 and 10 are exposed 

 and worked. Coal No. 9 is traceable with some difficulty, and varies 

 from four to eighteen inches in thickness. 



Along the railroad Coals Nos. 8 and 10 are extensively worked. The 

 former has been opened b}"- Mr. T. C. Parker, near Barnesville, to supply 

 his cement works. Here this bed, locally known as the Laurel Vein, 

 varies much in quality in different portions of the seam. The upper 

 pyrites band is fifteen inches from the top, and is one inch thick. The 

 coal from the bottom bench is very good for steam purposes, but is too 

 impure to be of any commercial value. Mr. Parker has also opened No. 

 10, but the quality of the coal is much inferior to that from No. 8. Forty- 

 five feet above No. 8 there is a limestone five feet five inches thick, from 

 which Parker's cement is manufactured. An analysis of this is as 

 follows : 



Carbonic a cid 39.40 



Lime 40.10 



Magnesia 5.30 



Silica 8.50 



Alumina 4.80 



Peroxide of iron 1.50 



Moisture and loss 0.40 



Total 100.00 



The firm of Parker & Sons began the manufacture of cement in 1858, 

 and found a ready market for their product. At the outbreak of the war 

 they shut up their establishment, as public works were stopped and the 

 demand had ceased. In 1868 the manufacture was resumed. In 1869 

 this material was tested by the Atlantic and Great Western Railway 

 Company, in competition with eleven other brands, the result being that 

 Parker's cement was adopted. Eleven thousand barrels were supplied to 

 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company during the construction of 

 the bridge at Bellair. Other tests made on government works, by re- 

 quest of Dr. Newberry, have proved, incontestably, the superior quality 

 of this cement. The sandstone overlying this limestone contains some 

 feldspathic sand and much mica — so large a proportion that it is believed, 

 popularly, to be granite. 



In section 35 Mr. John W. Campbell works Coal No. 8. His opening 

 shows : 



FT. IK. 



1. Sandstone - 40 



2. Bluish shale 8 



3. Bituminous shale 8 



4. Coal 4 -4 



