122 J. J. STEVENSON CARBONIFEROUS OF APPALACHIAN BASIN 



in carrying the section as is the Vanport, Cambridge, or Ames lime- 

 stone. The Lower Freeport limestone, Norris and Snow Fork of Orton, 

 rarely appears in the sections. The Freeport sandstone is conspicuous 

 at the north, but becomes indefinite southward. The Lower Freeport 

 coal is widespread, but varies greatly in thickness ; it is the Black coal of 

 New Lexington, the Fowler of Moxahala, both in Perry; it is the Juniper 

 and Frank coal of Waterloo, in Athens, where it is 15 to 20 feet below 

 the Shawnee limestone and 26 feet above the Middle Kittanning. The 

 Upper Freeport coal bed, known as "Stallsmith," "Norris," and "Bay- 

 ley's run," is mined at many places, but rarely attains commercial im- 

 portance. Occasionally it is 4 to 6 feet thick, but in much of the area 

 it is wanting and its horizon can be traced only by means of the Shawnee 

 limestone. All of the coal beds in this field, except the Middle Kittan- 

 ning, are irregular, but each is workable at some locality. The interval 

 from the Upper Freeport to the Middle Kittanning varies from 107 feet 

 in northern Perry to 76 feet in the southern part of the county. At 

 Nelsonville it is 100 feet, and Andrews found it about 100 feet near 

 Athens, in the central part of the county.* 



Eastward between the Hocking valley and the Ohio are the counties 

 of Morgan, Noble, Monroe, Washington, and Meigs, in which the Alle- 

 gheny is very deeply buried. A few records of oil borings are available, 

 which afford some scanty information. 



. Morgan county, south from Muskingum, east from Perry and Athens, 

 is west from Noble and Washington. On the western border a well 

 shows the Upper Freeport coal bed, 6 feet thick, at .70 feet below the 

 Cambridge and 206 feet below the Ames limestone. It is persistent in 

 this oil district. The wells go no deeper. Midway in the county, at 

 McConnellsville, a coal bed is reported at 347 feet above the Maxville 

 limestone ("Big lime") and underlying a sandstone 44 feet thick. As 

 the Pottsville is very thin here as compared with counties farther east, 

 this may be Upper Freeport. It is only 276 feet from the surface, where 

 the horizon can hardly be much more than 100 feet below the place of 

 the Pittsburg, if Professor Andrews be accurate' in his identifications. f 



Noble county, south from Guernsey and east from Morgan, affords no 

 information. A well in the extreme southern part, near Macksburg, has 

 three coal beds at 339, 383, and 438 feet below the Ames limestone, the 

 lowest bed being about 640 feet below the place of the Pittsburg; it is 

 730 feet below the Meigs coal, which is from 80 to 100 feet above the 



* M. C. Read : Vol. iii, pp. G65, 679, 705. 



E. Orton : Vol. v, pp. 101, 108, 112. 



E. B. Andrews : Kept, for 1869, plate of grouped sections, 

 t J. A. Bownocker : Bulletin no. 3, pp. 142, 145. 



