HOCKING VALLEY. 699 



These three sections are nearly on a line commencing at Straitsville 

 and bearing a little north of east. In the first the upper bench is six 

 feet ten inches thick ; the combined thickness of the two lower benches, 

 three feet eight inches. In the second the upper bench is reduced to 

 three feet with a band of pyritiferous shale, ami the lower benches to- 

 gether men sure two feet ten and one-half inchtd. In the third the upper 

 bench is three feet eleven inches, the combined thickness of the lower 

 benches being i.i"ht feet eleven inches. Those and tne other sections 

 given demonstrate the truthfulness of the statement previously made, 

 that the thinning down of the coal from the Straitsville region toward 

 the Hocking River is due to a loss of a part of the upper bench, and that 

 the increased thickness in the valley of Sunday Creek and in the terri- 

 tory north of the Hocking is due solely to the increased thickness of the 

 lower benches, the thickest coal of all being, in fact, found where the 

 upper bench is nearly three feet thinner than at Straitsville and 

 Shawnee. This line of greater thickness of the lower benches passes 

 southward from near Moxahala through Monroe, Trimble, and Dover 

 townships, and after crossing the Hocking, extends westward into York 

 township. This line indicates the center of the original basin unless, 

 as is more probable, there were three such deep marshes, one in Monroe 

 township, bounded on the north by an elevation where the coal is want- 

 ing, one south of this "want," extending through Trimble and Dover 

 townships, and one in the territory north of Nelsonville. In the Straits- 

 ville region the coal approaches the maximum thickness solely on 

 account of the longer continued deposition after the submergence which 

 deposited the shale parting below the upper bench. 



"When undisturbed, the changes in the thickness of the coal, especially 

 of the lower benches, and in its character, are ordinarily very gradual, 

 the maximum purity being generally coincident with the maximum 

 thickness. The most important of these gradual changes in character 

 are two. From Straitsville northward the coal becomes a little more 

 melting until crossing the Hocking, when, with an increased thickness, 

 it becomes somewhat more dry-burning. In the eastern part of the field 

 it is more laminated, contains a greater number of thin bands of mineral 

 charcoal, and will prove more open-burning. Careful trials show that a 

 very large part of it will swell a very little in burning, and become 

 slightly pasty on the outside, and that while a large part of it can be 

 used successfully in a raw state in the smelting furnace, better results 

 may be anticipated if a moderate admixture of coke is used. Where 

 this is really needed, it is believed that the lower bench of this seam 

 will make a coke which will answer the purpose. 



