656 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



and in the adjacent territory. This field will, also, afford a market for 

 ores from the north and west, beyond the limits of the iron-making coal, 

 if the supply in the hills holding the coal should ever fail. 



The following is a section of the ores and including strata, as exposed 

 on Kitchen Run, Green township; 



Great Vein Coal in top of hills, with nodules of ore below 10 feet. 



Shales 35 " 



Coal No. 5 6 to 18 inches. 



Fire-clay 9 feet. 



Baird ore, with patches of limestone below 2 " 



Sandstone and shale 40 " 



Coal, with limestone locally above 18 inches. 



Shale 18 " 



Coal, lower bench 30 " 



Shales 15 feet. 



Block ore 4 to 10 inches. 



Shales .» 12 feet. 



Block ore 19 to 16 inches. 



Shales 3 feet. 



Block ore 4 io 6 inches. 



The character of the ores and their association with abundance of 

 limestone, and with one of the best iron-making coals of the State, early 

 suggested this as an inviting field for future iron manufacture. But 

 when financial difficulties and the low price of iron had closed a majority 

 of the smelting furnaces in the country, it was generally supposed that 

 the development of this industry here must be deferred indefinitely, or 

 until iron should command a much higher price. 



In 1874, Mr. Samuel Thomas, President of the Columbus Rolling Mill 

 and Smelting Furnace Company, estimated the cost of a ton of iron in 

 the Sunday Creek region, where the conditions are similar to these, as 

 follows : 



Eighty bushels coal, at $1.15 per ton : |3 68 



Two and three-fourths tons ore, at $2.50 6 97i 



Three-fourths ton limestone 56A 



Labor and incidentals 4 qo 



Total $15 21i 



Others made similar estimates, and all who explored the region, con- 

 curred in the opinion that iron could here be manufactured at a mini- 

 mum cost. 



