550 SEOLOaY OF OHIO. 



as shown in the section at Motes's bank, where the included shale measures 

 nine feet. The want of good iron-making coal in large quantities will 

 probably prevent the mining of this and the other ores of the county for 

 some time, but when a demand arises this horizon will furnish a large 

 amount of valuable ore. 



Coal No. 2. — Shales, ordinarily varying from eighteen to twenty or 

 thirty feet in thickness, separate the above from Coal No. 2— the Straw- 

 bridge seam — the iron-ore coal, from its local character, not being num- 

 bered. In the south part of Knox township these shales are nearly one 

 hundred feet in thickness, exceeding largely their usual development. 



This coal rests upon from six to ten feet of white fire-clay, apparently 

 quite pure, and of excellent quality. It is capped with sandy shale, in 

 places passing into a shaly sandstone, which at top frequently becomes 

 massive, and contains nodules of silicious iron o-re. At the Strawbridge 

 mine,, in 'the northern part of Killbuck township, now owned by the 

 Hardy Coal Company, this coal is at the outcrop seven feet thick,, a hard, 

 compact, semi-cannel or splint coal, reasonably free from sulphur, con- 

 taining a rather large percentage of ash, but a good domestic and steam- 

 coal. The opening is in a narrow gorge, which apparently cuts the cen- 

 tre of the old coal marsh, from whence the coal will doubtless gradually 

 diminish in thickness as the margin is approached. As this coal is ordi- 

 narily thin, its remarkable development here suggested the possibility of 

 a slip or fold, causing the coal to double on itself, and thus increase ab- 

 normally its thickness. An examination, however, of the rooms and 

 entries shows even, parallel lines of lamination in the coal, and that the 

 unusual thickness is owing to the great depth of the original coal marsh. 

 An unfortunate attempt was niade to mine this coal on a large scale, by 

 a company without any experience in coal mining, and just at the com- 

 mencement of the great depression in the price of coal. Failure, under 

 such circumstances, was inevitable. The work has been abandoned, pil- 

 lars drawn, and the mine left almost a wreck ; while it is evident that 

 there is a large amount of good coal, of workable thickness, in the prop- 

 erty. The seam can not be expected to maintain, in the working rooms, 

 the thickness shown at the mouth of the mine. Outcrops on all sides of 

 the hill show comparatively thin coal, and a gradual reduction in thick- 

 ness is to be anticipated in all directions in the mine. 



At Mitchart's bank, in the south part of Knox township, it is four 

 feet thick, apparently of good quality, but, at the time of visiting it, 

 the entry was not pushed far enough into the hill, to determine accu- 

 rately its character. 



The outcrop of this coal may be seen in the ravines near Mr. Glas- 



