318 



COAL-FIELDS OP OMIO. 



western Virginia, Prof. Rogers remarks : " How 

 magnificent is the piciure of the resources of this 

 region, and how exhilarating the contemplation of 

 all the happy influences upon the enterprise, wealth, 

 and intellectual improvement of its inhabitants, 

 which are rapidly to follow the successive devel- 

 opment of its inexhaustible mineral possessions. 

 In a country where the channels of nearly all the 

 principal rivers have been scooped out, in part, 

 through beds of coal; where some of them are paved 

 with the richest ores of iron ; and where the very 

 rock itself, the steril sandstone of the cliffs and 

 mountains, is enriched at certain depths with abun- 

 dant stores of salt, what more is needed to fulfil 

 the happy destinies that await it, than to awaken 

 enterprise to a due appreciation of the golden 

 promises it holds out, and to direct industrious and 

 active research to the thorough investigation of the 

 character, position, and uses of the treasures it 

 contains ]"* 



COAL-FIELDS OF OHIO. 



Were we to state that the whole of the south and 

 eastern part of the State of Ohio was one magnifi- 

 cent coal-field, we believe we should not vary far 

 from the truth ; but, as explorations have been made ' 

 as yet, comparatively, in few places, we must limit 

 our brief description to such deposites as have been 

 exposed to view, or penetrated in borings for salt. 

 " The immense beds of bituminous coal,'' says Dr. 

 Hildreth, " found in the Valley of the Ohio, fill the 

 mind with wonder and surprise as it reflects on the 

 vast forests of arborescent plants required in their 

 formation. Age after age, successive growths of 

 plants springing up in the same region were en- 



* Besides coal and iron, Virginia contains gold, copper, lead, 

 salt, limestone, marls, gypsum, magnesian, copperas, and alum 

 earths; thermal, chalybeate, and sulphuretted springs; excel- 

 lent marbles, granites, soapstones, sandstones, &c. 



