THE LOWER COAL MEASURES. 157 
field, as the Youngstown region, there are many gradations in quality. 
Relatively poor coal—that is, coal high in ash and sulphur—goes to 
market under the name of Block coal, and sells for a higher price than 
the Hocking Valley coals, for example, the best of which are nearly 
equal to the best of the Block coals, and which, taken as a whole, are 
far better than these poorer varieties of this lower seam. 
The Sharon coal is mined in the following named counties, which 
constitute the northeastern corner of the coal field of Ohio, viz., 
Mahoning, Trumbull, Portage, Summit, Stark, Medina, and Wayne. 
In Southern Ohio, a single field of small extent, in Jackson county, is 
referred to the same horizon. 
The acreage of the seam is, however, small, and a considerable part 
of it is already exhausted. The northernmost area, viz., the Mahoning 
Valley, is verging to exhaustion. The Massillon district has probably 
not yet attained its highest development, though most of the first and 
best known mines have been mainly worked out. 
The better coals of the seam contain between 52 and 56 per cent. 
of fixed carbon. The volatile matter varies between 35 and 39 per cent. 
The ash is variable, but the average will not fall below 5 per cent. 
The amount, of sulphur is a little less than 1 per cent. 
2. THE QUAKERTOWN COAL. 
Synonyms.—Coal No. 2, Weilston coal? Jackson Hill coal? 
This seam can scarcely be said to deserve a name or place in the 
Ohio column. Of the 33 counties in the State in which coal is mined, 
there are but a few square miles in a single county in which coal is 
actually worked in the large way at this horizon. Even here, the claim 
is not altogether free from question, but it seems probable that the 
Jackson Hill or Wellston coal is the proper representative of the 
Quakertown seam of the Mahoning Valley. The Wellston coal occu- 
pies a small area near the center of Jackson county, but though em- 
braced within narrow limits it is a seam of great value. It contains 
less ash than any other coal found in the markets of the State, and in 
all respects it stands approved as a fuel of great excellence. It is always 
high in moisture. 
The Elk Fork coal of McArthur is probably the equivalent of the 
Wellston seam. It is not now worked, but several openings have been 
