COAL FIELDS. 275 



Vinton counties. A few thousand tons, perhaps less than twenty thou- 

 sand, will cover its annual output. Nor is the prospect for the future 

 better than the experience of the present. Where thick enough to justify 

 mining as far as this factor is concerned, the seam is so mixed with slate, 

 as to be a most unsatisfactory fuel. It is safe to say that the Lower 

 Mercer coal will stay in the ground until fuel of all sorts becomes more 

 scarce and more valuable than it is at the present time. The best phases 

 of the Lower Mercer coal now known are found in the first two counties 

 named above, Mahoning and Holmes. To this list we may add the Flint 

 Ridge cannal of Licking county, but this bed seems to have been maimly 

 worked out. 



The Upper Mercer Coal. — A somewhat more favorable account can 

 be given of the next higher seam in the scale, namely, the Upper Mercer 

 Coal; and yet little that is new has been learned in regard to it since 1888. 

 Its position is so well marked, that wherever the seam is developed to 

 any considerable extent, it is sure to be noted. The Upper Mercer lime- 

 stone is frequently' replaced on a large scale by flint. This phase of it is 

 especially conspicuous in its outcrops, which are commonly known as 

 flint ridges. The coal belongs directly below the limestone or flint, or at 

 most is separated from it by only a short interval. Wherever the lime- 

 stone or flint is' exposed, the coal, if present, is sure to be seen. The in- 

 terval between the two Mercer coals generally exceeds 30 feet, and is 

 rarely more than 40 feet. The approximate measure most frequently 

 repeated in experience, and which therefore can be counted the best gen- 

 eral figure, is 35 feet. This interval helps to determine the name and 

 place of the seam in the cases in which the limestone or flint is found 

 wanting. 



This coal is mined in a small way in Mahoning, Holmes, Coshocton 

 and Vinton counties, possibly, also, in a few county banks in Hocking 

 and Jackson counties. It has no constant or established character. In 

 Mahoning county, in the neighborhood of Can field, several banks are 

 opened in the seam, where it is known as the Bruce coal. It is here an 

 open burning coal of ordinary grade. In Holmes county, near Miliers- 

 burg, the seam shows large volume at a few points, but the quality is so 

 low that it is hard to say whether the seam is best described as an impure 

 cannel, or a rich bituminous slate. But in Bedford township, Coshocton 

 county, it occurs as a valuable body of cannel coal. This field was 

 described in some detail in Volume V, and nothing remains to be added 

 at this time except the statement of the fact that railroad facilities have 

 recently been brought to it and practical development has since gone 

 forward on a larger scale than was ever before possible. 



In Vinton county, the seam attains, on the whole, its best develop- 

 ment. It is found in the neighborhood of McArthur, where it is known 

 as the Newland coal. The seam has good volume throughout portions 

 of Hocking, Vinton and Jackson counties, but its quality is unreliable 



