694 GEOLOGY OF OHIO, 



but slightly from that of the thicker parts, and the percentage of im- 

 purities is very small. It melts slightly, and the surface becomes a little 

 pasty in burning, but not more than the coal from the Mahoning Valley. 

 Professor Hunt regards it as a good iron-making coal, and I have no 

 doubt that it will prove an excellent fuel for the smelting furnace with 

 a moderate admixture of coke. 



Mr, A. B. Waters, cashier of the bank of Marietta, formerly superin- 

 tendent of a 'furnace at Zaleski, states that about the year 1867, under 

 the superintendency of Mr. Haseltine, the Nelson ville coal was tested in 

 that furnace, and with very satisfactory results. The coal was from 

 Peter Hayden's mine, and the product of the smelting was converted 

 .into bar iron of good quality. 



At the Hayden mines, in Green township, the Great Vein is three 

 hundred feet above Lake Erie, about two hundred feet above the valley 

 of Monday Creek, and six feet thick, the general dip bringing it down in 

 the valley of the Snow Fork to about one hundred feet above the lake, 

 the coal varying in thickness from six to eleven feet. It is every where 

 above the valleys of Monday Creek, Poplar Run, Dixon's Run, Brush 

 Pork, and Snow Fork. In all this region, until approaching the valley 

 of the Snow Fork, it appears to be wholly undisturbed, gradually grow- 

 ing thicker from Haydenville to the east, and from Straitsville growing 

 thinner and more melting to the north, the changes being all gradual, 

 and the result of conditions controlling the original deposition of the 

 coal. Along the Snow Fork there is considerable evidence of ancient 

 erosion, the shales having been removed, and a sandstone roof covering 

 the remaining coal. The coal is more reduced in thickness by this cause 

 in the northern part of Ward township than elsewhere, but at none of 

 the outcrops, where this erosion is shown, have drifts been carried into 

 the hill far enough to determine the extent of the disturbance. At the 

 Ogden Furnace, section 2, an opening is made under the sandstone, which 

 in a short distance rises above the coal, giving the latter a shale roof, 

 unevenly bedded, and still showing the results of disturbance. The coal, 

 which contained much sulphur under the sandstone, has greatly im- 

 proved in character and increased in thickness, till the promise is good 

 for a very valuable mine. In some places to the north of this, the coal 

 is reduced to a few feet ; and in all places where this sandstone comes 

 down upon the coal, there is a liability of the coal being suddenly so re- 

 duced in thickness, as to be of little or no value. In all such cases, en- 

 tries should be driven into the undisturbed coal, or borings made in the 

 hill to the horizon of the coal, and its thickness and quality determined 

 before large expenditures are made by the owners of the mineral rights. 



