THE LOWER COAL MEASURES. 131 
the Anthracite region of Eastern Pennsylvania, for example, or the New 
River coal-field of West Virginia, in which, possibly, many new 
elements may be found. 
But whatever theoretical advantages a numerical system of desig- 
nating coal seams may possess, it becomes necessary to abandon the sys- 
tem now in force in Ohio un the following grounds : 
1. It is inadequate. There are but 7 numbers used to represent 
the coals of the Lower Measures, and the uppermost one of these beds, 
as counted by Newberry, viz., the Salineville Strip Vein, is above the 
lowest number of the Mahoning sandstone, and therefore a Barren 
Measure coal, if the old boundaries of the subdivisions are respected. 
But as shown in Chapter I, there are certainly 11, and possibly 13 seams 
in the series that deserves enumeration. If the Salineville Strip Vein 
be added, there are 14 seams. One-half of the seams must therefore be 
belittled by intercalated numbers. 7 
2. Thesystem isinconsistent. The number 2, for example, is fixed 
upon a horizon in which there is not a coal mine to be found in the 
State, except in one district of one county, and even here the applica- 
tion of the number is a disputed point. 
This district is an important one, it is true, but there are several 
widely distributed seams that are mined in a number of counties that 
were left without any place in the scale. The Tionesta coal is an ex- 
ample. It is mined in Mahoning, in Tuscarawas and in Vinton coun- 
ties, but it has no number. The Upper Mercer coal is another example. 
It is mined in Mahoning county, and in Holmes and Coshocton coun- 
ties, it furnishes the thickest and most valuable deposit of cannel coal in 
the State, but it rests under the cloud of an intercalated number, viz., 
3a. A still more glaring case of this inequality is found in the treat- 
ment of the Lower Freeport coal, which is the basis of mining in one 
of the most important fields of the State, viz., the Steubenville field. 
This field must be known from Stark county westward as No 6a. 
3. The system is confusing and misleading to a great degree. The 
Freeport coals, one of which has just been cited, are cases in point. 
They are known as Nos. 5 and 6 in Columbiana county. In Stark coun- 
ty they are Nos. 6a and 7. In Carroll county they are 5 and 6 in the 
central and southern parts of the county, and 6a and 7 in the northern 
townships. In Jefferson county, the Lower Freeport is called No. 6. 
Number 4, as has already been shown, is applied to the Putnam 
