556 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



and Shultz's banks, varies in thickness from four to six feet, and in 

 places reaches a thickness of eight feet, and it is in this vicinity that the 

 most valuable deposits of this coal in the county are found. 



At Saunders's and the Hardy Coal Company's mines the roof is shale, 

 containing shells; the bottom is six to ten feet of fire-clay. At Judge 

 Armor's mine the roof is sandstone, bottom fire-clay, with a parting of 

 clay or shale one to six inches thick lit two feet from the bottom; lower 

 bench good blacksmith coal. At Johnson's mine, roof shaly sandstone ; 

 at bottom ten to twelve inches of compact, calcareous, sulphury iron ore. 

 At Shultz's mine, sandstone roof; bottom, fire-clay. At the Taylor mine 

 (No. 2), Knox township, the coal is thirty-two inches, hard and good ; 

 sandstone roof, with a few inches of shale, containing shells. At Sears's 

 mine, Walnut Creek township, the coal is of good quality, three and one- 

 half feet thick ; black shale roof, with sandstone above. 



In the same township, on Henry Coley's land, an entry of one hundred 

 and thirty feet exposes coal three feet seven inches, still increasing in 

 thickness ; coal in one bench of excellent quality ; ash white. It was 

 in this neighborhood that a system of book-keeping was observed^t one 

 of the mines, which bore eloquent testimony to the economy of the pro- 

 prietor and the honesty of the patrons. A large amount of freshly mined 

 coal was accumulated at the dump ; no one in attendance to wait upon 

 the patrons; a bushel measure and a shovel provided for their use; a 

 blackboard and piece of chalk for book-keeping, the board bearing the 

 following instructions to customers : " Put down the name and the num- 

 ber of bushels." It was evident that the expense of outride superin- 

 tendence was reduced to a minimum. 



At Thompson's bank, Parmersville, a section from above gives black 

 shale, in thick sheets, ten feet ; black shale, with a great abundance of 

 shells, eight inches ; cannel coal, two inches ; bituminous coal, three feet ; 

 blue shale, two inches; fire clay at bottom. Coal good; ash white. The 

 cannel coal and the blue shale here appd,rently represent the upper and 

 lower benches of the Hardy township mines. At an abandoned entry 

 upon the same farm, the sandstone rests upon the coal. 



At Berlin village this seam is struck by boring at ninety-five feet from 

 the surface, and is four feet thick. It crops out and is accessible in all 

 the neighboring ravines, and at an opening on Dr. Pomerine's land is 

 three feet thick, and of good quality. 



On the Killbuck Coal and Mining Company's property, in Mechanic 

 township, the horizon of this coal is from seventy to eighty feet below 

 the top of the highest hills, but no explorations have been made for it. 



On the Holmes county mining property, in the same township, the 



