WASHINGTON COUNTY. 467 



* 



is pretty smooth, and the hill-slopes are quite gradual. There are many 

 excellent farms, which show thorough cultivation. No important min- 

 erals were found in sufficient quantities to warrant practical develop- 

 ment. The only coal is the Hobson seam, which was noticed at several 

 points on the Wolf Creek waters, although no where thick enough for 

 profitable mining. On the land of William Bell, in the north-western 

 part of the township, is an exposure of the coal in the bed of the stream. 

 The section is as follows : 



Ft. In. 



1. Sandstone 12 



2. Shale 3 o 



3. Coal, Hobson seam, reported 1J to 2 



(See Map XL, No. 10.) 



Probably little attention has been paid in Barlow to the matter of 

 opening seams of coal, since, as yet, the forests afford sufficient fuel. 

 Careful search might be rewarded in finding at some point the coal thick 

 enough to warrant working. In this township there are beds of shale 

 of considerable thickness, which contain small concretionary lumps of 

 limestone in large quantities, so as to give the shales great value for fer- 

 tilizing purposes. These shales are popularly called "marls." A horizon 

 of this marl is found about eighty feet above that of the coal seam before 

 alluded to. A similar marl is seen near Barlow village and vicinity, 

 which is probably higher in the geological series. About one hundred 

 and forty feet above the same coal is a stratum of red, or chocolate-colored, 

 shale, containing nodules of iron ore. The nodules seen were thoroughly 

 oxidized, and changed from the original blue carbonate into hematite. 

 The quality of the ore is good, but it would be difficult to obtain suffi- 

 cient quantity for the supply of furnaces. 



Many years ago the late Jesse Lawton, Esq., who took a very intelligent 

 interest in geology, discovered on his farm, near the village of Barlow, 

 the evidences of the existence of an ancient lake bed, and called the 

 attention of the late Dr. S. P. Hildreth, of Marietta, who was connected 

 with the former geological survey, to it. Several years since I spent a 

 day with Mr. Lawton in examining the same region. What I saw went 

 to confirm the opinion of Mr. Lawton. I quote from Dr. Hildreth's geo- 

 logical report for 1838 what he says on the subject : "On Mr. Lawton's 

 farm, in Barlow township, Washington county, in the midst of the marl 

 region, is a locality of fossil fresh-water shells of the genus Unio. They 

 are imbedded in coarse sand or gravel, cemented by ferruginous matter. 

 The specimens are casts, replaced by an argillaceous oxide of iron. The 

 spot in which they are found has once evidently been the bed of an 

 ancient lake or pond. It is now a beautiful valley of a mile or more in 



