544 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



tween the Muskingum and Ohio waters in the county extends north- 

 ward through Somerton township into Warren, and thence more easterly 

 through Goshen township, nearly to Burr's mills, and thence northward 

 to the north line of the county. The Central Ohio Railroad, after follow- 

 ing the valley of the Leatherwood from Cambridge eastward, enters Bel- 

 mont county in the extreme south-western corner of Warren township, 

 and from that point rapidly climbs to the summit of the ridge, or divide, 

 at Barnesville. Prom this point the road keeps along the ridge at about 

 the same general elevation to Belmont, in Goshen township, where the 

 head of McMahon Creek is reached, and then follows that stream to the 

 Ohio River. The highest point of the divide in Belmont county visited 

 by me is a knob on Mr. A. Millison's farm, just above a heavy railroad 

 cut, called, I think, Gregg's Cut, about five miles east or north-east of 

 Barnesville. The summit of the knob is about one hundred feet above 

 the level of the railroad. By Locke's level the summit appeared to be a 

 little higher than any other point in sight. Some of the hills along the 

 Ohio River are very high, but they were not measured for altitude. 



The general geological range through the south half of Belmont 

 county is in the Upper Coal Measures, extending down to the Pomeroy 

 seam of coal, which, having been traced through from Meigs county, is 

 believed to be the same as the lower Barnesville coal, which is also the 

 Wheeling or Bellair seam. In the south-west corner of Warren town- 

 ship we obtained a section in the valley of Leatherwood reaching one 

 hundred and twenty feet below the lower Barnesville or Bellair seam, 

 but in the lower space no seam of coal was found. Toward the mouth of 

 McMahon Creek an exposure of forty-five feet below the same seam was 

 obtained, but no other coal was seen. The Bellair or Wheeling seam is 

 the most important one in the southern part of the county. It is the 

 thickest, and the one' usually worked. Another well-developed seam of 

 coal lies from eighty-five to one hundred feet higher, and is known on 

 the Ohio River as the upper Bellair, and at Barnesville as the upper 

 Barnesville seam. 



After much investigation I am convinced that these seams are iden- 

 tical. On the west side of the Barnesville ridge the upper Barnes- 

 ville seam is separated from the lower seam by a somewhat greater 

 distance than are the two corresponding seams near the Ohio River. 

 This is especially true where the limestones are replaced by heavy sand- 

 rock. Mr. Nathan Bundy made a careful measurement of the vertical 

 distance between the two coals on Leatherwood, in Warren township, 

 and found it one hundred and five feet. In the valley of Stillwater 

 Creek, north-east of Barnesville, the distance is only ninety feet. On 



