MAHONING COUNT y. 789 



few in number to settle this important question. It is probably not an 

 exaggeration to say that of the drillings made for coal in Mahoning 

 county, not more than one in ten has passed through coal of workable 

 thickness, and yet it is certain that here are valuable basins of the block 

 coal, for many of them are known and worked; and it is highly prob- 

 able that in the districts most thoroughly explored, there still remain 

 important deposits of coal to be discovered. Hence we may conclude 

 that many years must elapse before the important question of the south- 

 ward extension of the coal basins of the Mahoning Valley can ba satis- 

 factorily answered. There is now a general feeling of doubt as to the 

 presence of the Briar Hill Coal under the central and southern portions 

 of Mahoning county, and as the borings made to reach the coal must go 

 deeper and deeper as they are carried southward, and even if the coal 

 area were extensive here as farther north, a large majority of the holes 

 bored must prove unsuccessful, the work of exploring this region must 

 necessarily be slow and expensive. It is, however, highly probable that 

 ultimately some valuable deposits of block coal will be found south of 

 any yet known ; at least the probability seems sufficient to encourage 

 those who have machinery in position or other facilities for boring 

 cheaply to make farther explorations in search of the Lower Coal under 

 the southern half of the county. Such efforts with the careful tracing 

 southward of the basins that are now known, or may hereafter be dis- 

 covered, will gradually and surely work out the solution of the problem. 



The quality of the coal obtained from the lower seam in the Mahon- 

 ing Valley has now been so fully demonstrated and understood that 

 words would be wasted Id its praise. It has been shown by a great 

 number of analyses, and by long and varied trials, to be one of the 

 purest and most valuable coals known in the world. Its open-burning 

 cbaraater, its comparative freedom from sulphur, and the small amount 

 of ash it contains, especially fit it for the smelting of iron, of which, if 

 properly managed, it gives a product scarcely inferior in quality to that 

 obtained with the use of charcoal. Bessemer pig and car-wheel iron are 

 constantly made with it, which can hardly be said of any other coal. 

 It has also been largely used for forge and mill purposes, but this has 

 been to a degree a sacrifice, since cheaper coals would have served these 

 purposes nearly as well. The interests of the iron manufacturers of the 

 Mahoning Valley would probably have been best served in the past, as 

 they will be in the future, by using the block coal only for smelting. 



Coal No. 1 is found in all the northern tier of townships, but is not 

 worked in Milton and Jackson. South of this line of townships little 

 exploration has been made that can be regarded as reliable. A well 



