COSHOCTON COUNTY. 573 



^'blossom" of coal beneath it. Chert ia considerable quantity is often 

 associated with it. At one place the blue limestone appears to be seven 

 or eight feet thick. Immediately over it is a large bed of chert, and about 

 forty feet higher up the blossom of coal, but no appearance of the gray 

 limestone. 



In the south-east corner of Mill Creek, and in the adjoining lands in 

 the three townships of Keene, White Eyes, and Crawford, are several coal 

 banks, all in Coal No. 6, which is recognized, both by its position (about 

 one hundred feet above the grey limestone) and by its peculiar purplish 

 ash. The outcrop of other coal beds is seen at several places on these lands 

 but the only bed worked is No. 6. The coal is mined only in the winter 

 season, and chiefly on the farms of A. Overholts, in Mill Creek; ofThos. 

 Davis, adjoining this, in Keene ; of Scott, Funk, Boyd, and Miller, in 

 White Eyes; and of Boyd, Graham, and Swigert, in Crawford. The bed 

 where it was accessible was found varying from two feet ten inches, at 

 Davis's and at Overholts's, to four feet three inches thick at Scott's ; but 

 the openings being all deserted, nothing could be determined as to the 

 quality of the coal. Some pyrites is seen, one seam of it an inch thick 

 near the floor, but the quantity is small. As this group of mines sup- 

 plies the demand of a large portion of the four townships, the coal is, 

 without doubt, the best the country affords. It is, moreover, obtained 

 exclusively from the bed well known to be the most important one in 

 the county. The summit level in this vicinity is about one hu'ndred 

 feet above the plane of the coal bed ; and immediately over the coal is a 

 lieavy bed of slaty sandstone, apparently not under thirty-five feet thick. 

 On Alexander Hanlon's farm, half a mile north-west from Overholts's, 

 and also on Oliver Crawford's, nearly a mile farther north, are seen a 

 number of exposures of coal and limestone beds, which, taken together, 

 give sections not readily explained in connection with the barometrical 

 ■elevations obtained, and which were verified in part by repeating in 

 going and returning. Coal No. 6 is opened on the south side of the 

 hill, on Mr. Hanlon's farm, about one hundred and twenty feet below its 

 summit. A bed of limestone, about one foot six inches thick, shows 

 itself sixty-five feet above the coal bed. To the south about one -quarter 

 of a mile, and two hundred feet below the coal bed, is the top of a great 

 Tjed of gray limestone, which, followed by successive steps down the bed 

 of a run, presents a thickness of about twenty-five feet, as leveled with 

 the hand-level. This may be somewhat exaggerated, as there is a strong 

 dip to the south, and the exposure is down the run in this direction for 

 nearly two hundred and fifty feet. Under the upper layers is seen some 

 coal smut, and under the whole is a bed of coal, said to be two feet thick. 



