THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. • 159 



above the river and Coal No. 6, and reaches to about the south line of 

 Carroll. Going thence southward, it exhibits two lines of outcrop, one 

 in the valley of the Ohio, the other traversing the interior in a tortuous 

 but generally south-west direction. At Knoxville and Richmond the 

 coal seam is from three to four and a half feet in thickness, generally with 

 little cover and of poor quality ; thence to Steubenville it is interrupted 

 but southward from this point it is mined almost continuously to and 

 below Wheeling. The dip is here rapid. At Mingo it lies 360 feet above 

 the river, 513 feet above Coal No. 6, where mined in the shaft. At 

 Lagrange it is a little higher than at Mingo, being 378 feet above the 

 Ohio. At Rush Run it is 306 feet above the river, 511 feet above Coal 

 No. 6. At Tiltonville it is 230, Martin's Ferry 148, Kirkwood 135, and 

 at Bellaire 120 feet above the river level. At Wegee it is 15 feet, and at 

 Moundsville 80 feet below the Ohio. Throughout this region its thick- 

 ness varies from five to nine feet, the coal varying somewhat in quality, 

 but always highly coking. It is generally a double bed, consisting of 

 two or more beds separated by partings of fire-clay or shale. 



Along its western line of outcrop Coal No. 8 passes through Jefferson, 

 Harrison, and Belmont into Guernsey, where it crosses the Baltimore 

 and Ohio Railroad. It also forms several outliers, or small islands, in 

 Guernsey, produced by the folds in the strata, to which reference has 

 been already made. South of the railroad it passes through Muskingum, 

 Morgan, Athens, and Meigs to Pomeroy, where it crosses the Ohio, and 

 is extensively mined. Throughout this long line of outcrop the Pitts- 

 burgh coal may be said to be continuous, though it exhibits considerable 

 local diversity of dimensions and character. In Muskingum county it is 

 quite thin, sometimes not more than one foot in thickness, and it is evi- 

 dent that we are there on the extreme western margin of the great basin 

 in which it was formed. In Morgan, Athens, and Meigs counties, the 

 Pittsburgh, or Pomeroy, seam assumes much greater importance, varying 

 from five to nine feet in thickness. It is there often divided by one or 

 several partings, as it is so prone to be elsewhere. In Homer township, 

 Morgan county, it is reported by Prof. Andrews to have an aggregate 

 thickness of eight to nine feet in two nearly equal benches, with a clay 

 parting of one foot. On Federal Creek, Bearne township, Athens county, 

 the Pomeroy seam is from eight to nine feet thick, exclusive of a parting 

 of shale and clay one foot or more in thickness. The coal is here bright, 

 black, and of a very serviceable quality. It has the typical character of 

 the Pittsburgh coal, being highly coking, but with more sulphur than 

 at Pittsburgh or Pomeroy. In other localities in Athens and Morgan 

 the seam is smaller, is frequently without partings, and furnishes a very 

 pure and useful coal. 



