524 GEOLOGT OF OHIO. 



This section is not entirely reliable, as some of the intervals were given 

 from memory ; but the whole dfepth of the well was asserted to be cor- 

 rect. The depth to which the black shale was penetrated may vary 

 somewhat from forty feet. 



In Knox county, where the records of the deep borings were very ac- 

 curately kept, this interval is 1,473 feet, a difference of ninety-seven feet. 

 All the observations concur in showing that the Waverly rocks increase in 

 thickness in passing southward, and this fact fully explains the differ- 

 ence in these intervals. 



It will be observed that the red shale is found at approximately the 

 same horizon as in Knox, but the log of the well is doubtless inaccu- 

 rate, in making it only ten to twelve feet, while in Knox it is sixty 

 feet. 



It is evident that at this place, as in Knox county, upon approaching 

 the coal basin, the material of the Waverly rocks becomes finer and 

 more argillaceous, showing deeper water and weaker currents than ex- 

 isted at the time of its deposition a little to the west and north-west. 



As previously stated, the only coal in the county is in a narrow strip 

 along the eastern part of the south line of Hanover township. The hill 

 rises above it about thirty feet, and this patch of Coal Measure rocks ex- 

 tends about two miles into Knox county. A drift has been driven into 

 the hill, and a small quantity of coal taken out and carried to Loudon- 

 ville. The coal, as far as explored, ranged from one to three feet in 

 thickness, and is of very fair quality, comparing favorably with the 

 best coals of Holmes county. It is Coal No. 1, or the Briar Hill Seam, 

 which no where in this part of the State reaches that high degree of 

 excellence which characterizes it in the counties on the northern margin 

 of the coal-field. Dr. A. J. Scott, of Loudonville, reports that the black- 

 smiths commend this for their uses, and prefer it to the Nashville coal. 

 Unfortunately, the area covered by it is quite limited, and its thickness 

 variable. It may probably be mined successfully in a small way, but the 

 quantity will not justify the construction of first-class appliances for 

 mining. 



Directly below the coal, or separated from it by a thin bed of fire-clay 

 and shale, are found patches of the Sub-carboniferous Conglomerate, 

 which sometimes reaches a thickness of ten feet, and in places is en- 

 tirely wanting. On high hills, north of Pine Fork, this Conglomerate is 

 largely represented by a silicious iron ore, some of it of great purity, and 

 of the same character as that found in Licking county. These knobs 

 are covered with a dense growth of chestnut, and should be permanently 

 appropriated to the growth of this timber. 



