COAL, FIELDS. 287 



bear out this view, though the unsatisfactory nature of such testimony is 

 fully recognized. Many years must, however, elapse before mines will 

 be worked in Ohio through shafts 500 feet or more in depth. It is 

 probable that the shallow-lying seams will first have been approximately 

 exhausted. 



(b) The Southern Ohio Division of the Pittsburgh Coal Seam. 

 This division has its chief center of development in Meigs County, 

 where under the name of the Pomeroy coal, it has been extensively 

 mined for the last fifty years. This field was treated of at some length 

 in a chapter of a former report prepared by Ellis L,ovejoy, E. M., (See 

 Geology of Ohio, Vol. VI. Chap. XI.) 



Besides, the great development in Meigs county, the seam is found 

 in good condition in several townships of Athens county, and it also 

 extends in a few unimportant outliers into Morgan county. The general 

 structure of the coal in the Pomeroy field is as follows: 



Roof coal 8 to 14 iuch.es. 



Horn coal 3 inches. 



Main coal 42 to 48 inches. 



Clay 4 inches. 



Bottom coal 7 inches. 



The first two divisions do not furnish marketable coal. The lower 

 bench is also inferior and is not mined. This leaves three and a half to 

 four feet of coal for the general market. 



Pomeroy coal has long been an approved fuel throughout the Ohio 

 and Mississippi valleys for domestic use and steam production, and large 

 areas of the original deposit have been exhausted in meeting these 

 demands. Its average composition is as follows: 



Fixed carbon 50.00 



Volatile matter 38.50 



Ash 6.50 



Moisture 3.50 



Sulphur 1.50 



It is interesting to note that the establishment and development 

 of the salt production of Pomeroy and vicinity have been intimately 

 connected with and dependent upon the character of the Pittsburgh coal. 

 As noted above, the uppermost portion of the seam, eleven to seventeen 

 inches in thickness, consists of inferior coal, which the general market 

 will not accept. To find a use for this waste portion of the seam, 

 the salt manufacture of this portion of the Ohio Valley was pro- 

 jected. By deep drilling a fair source of brine was found in the 

 great sandrock, that has since been known as the L,ogan Conglomerate, 

 and more recently, as the "Big Injun" oil rock of western Pennsylvania 

 and West Virginia. On this supply of fuel and brine, an important 

 business was established, which grew to large proportions between 1865 

 and 1870. Since that time the industry has languished, being unable 

 to meet, with comfort, the competition forced upon it by the new centers 

 and new sources of salt production. 



