286 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



immediate vicinity of the cut, are rarely cut down to the bed, so that the 

 amount of "crop," or rotten coal, is comparatively small. As the dip is 

 toward the south-east, the available area north from the creek reaches 

 quite into Harrison and Jefferson counties. After making all allowance 

 for waste of every kind, and assuming the thickness of the bfd to be 

 only five feet, we find available for transportation, within one mile north 

 and south from Wheeling Creek, more than one hundred and twenty 

 millions of tons of coal. Along the Central Ohio Railroad, within eight 

 miles from the river, there are, on the north side of the road, calculated 

 in the same way, twenty-five millions of tons. On these two lines the 

 coal can be easily reached. In the western portion of the county trans- 

 portation can not be obtained readily, except along the Central Ohio Rail- 

 road, where the coal is exposed for about three miles. 



It is somewhat unfortunate that, where this coal is present in such vast 

 quantity, it contains impurities which unfit it for direct use in the im- 

 portant manufactures of gas and iron. The ash varies from 4.6 to 8.2 per 

 cent., and the sulphur from 2.19 to 4.11 per cent. Of the sulphur, a very 

 large part remains in the coke, so that it is present, in combination with 

 iron, as pyrites. The coke is so compact that the experiment of washing 

 the coal previous to coking might prove profitable. This bed shows little 

 variation in purity throughout the county. 



Of Coal No. 8c we have no analyses. At the time of examination no 

 opening was in operation, so that no specimens could be obtained except 

 from the outcrop. It is rarely worked north from the railroad, as Coal 

 No. 8 is generally reached with ease. 



Coal No. 10, as a whole, seems to be somewhat superior to Coal No. 8, 

 though, judging from physical characters alone, one would be led to the 

 opposite conclusion. The ash varies from three to eight per cent., While 

 the sulphur in no case exceeds 3.2 per cent., and in one instance fulls to 

 1.56 per cent. The coke every where is compact. This coal is quite as 

 rich in gas as No. 8, and, owing to its lower percentage of sulphur, might 

 be made available as a gas coal if facilities for transportation were afforded. 



Coal No. 11 is rarely of economical importance, but near Bridgeport, 

 in Pease township, it yields an open-burning coal of great puritj'. There 

 it shows only 2.9 per cent, of ash, and 0.68 per cent, of sulphur. This 

 coal should prove valuable, as it can be used raw in smelting iron. 



Iron. — No deposit of iron ore, economically important, was observed in 

 the county. Here and there are shales containing many nodules, but the 

 quantity is nowhere sufficient to be of any value. 



Cement. — The layer of limestone immediately underlying Coal No. 9 

 every where yields a lime possessing hydraulic properties. The Barnes- 



