286 GEOLOGY OF OHIO 



reduce the amount of foreign material and improve the valuable per- 

 centages correspondingly. 



The composition of the Pittsburgh coal as it is sent to market from 

 the great mines of Jefferson and Belmont counties is about as follows 

 the figures being the average of a dozen or more analyses : 



Fixed carbon 50 per cent. 



Volatile matter 40 per cent. 



Ash 7.5 per cent. 



Sulphur 3.5 per cent. 



Moisture 2 per cent. 



Careful mining, on the contrary, yields a coal in which the figures 

 run approximate!}' as follows: 



Fixed carbon - r 4 to 55 percent. 



Volatile matter 37 to 38 per cent. 



Ash 4.5 to 6 percent. 



Sulphur 75 to 2 percent. 



Moisture 1 to 3 percent. 



These results, even the best of them, may seem unfavorable to the 

 character of the Pittsburgh seam in Ohio, but the coal is easily kindled, 

 it burns with a hot fire and the utilization of all its slack is possible 

 These facts outweigh any disadvantage which its composition might lead 

 us, on theoretical grounds, to expect. It is a thorougnly approved steam 

 coal and is especially valued for steamboat use because of the readiness 

 with which it is kindled. It also ranks high as a domestic fuel, and taken 

 all in all, is a welcome addition to any market. 



At some of the great mines, coking ovens have been built for the 

 better utilization of its slack. While, as has been before stated, the slack 

 possesses the coking property in a high degree, the amount of sulphur 

 in the resulting coke, forbids its employment in most kinds of metallur- 

 gical work. It is never an iron making fuel, and can be used but to a 

 limited extent in iron working. This important limitation reduces its 

 market value and the demand for it greatly. 



The extension of the Pittsburgh seam below drainage is one of the 

 important questions pertaining to the coal resources of Ohio. Much is 

 to be expected from it on account ■ of its persistency, but the view of 

 twenty-five years ago, that it was reasonable to count on it as stretching 

 entirely across the interval between Pomeroy and Bellaire, can find no 

 intelligent defenders today. 



The facts, as at present seen, have been indicated, at least by impli- 

 cation, in the preceding statements. The eastern field gives promise of a 

 noble extension under cover throughout the southwestern portion of Bel- 

 mont County. 



In map No. 10, the coal is represented as occupying this area in a 

 solid body. The ground on which this liberty has been taken has been 

 already set forth. On the same ground we have a right to expect the 

 Pittsburgh coal in good condition in the northeastern half of Monroe 

 countv. The facts derived from the recent drilling of oil wells seem to 



