THE LOWER COAL MEASURES. 167 
12. Tuer Urrer FREEPORT COAL. 
Synonyms.—Coal No. 6, in southern Columbiana county ; Coal No. 7, in Stark county 
and southwestward; Blackband coal of Stark, Tuscarawas, etc.; Big 
Vein of Salineville; Dell Roy and Sherrodsville coal ; Cambridge coal; 
Alexander coal of Muskingum county; Blue Rock coal of the Mus- 
kingum Valley; Bayley’s Run and Norris coal of the Hocking Valley ; 
Waterloo coal of Gallia county; Coal No. 9 of the Kentucky series 
(Crandall). 
This seam is the second in importance of the coal seams of the 
State, ranking next to the Middle Kittanning in the quantity of coal 
that it holds, and is now producing. It is the center of three well- 
developed and. important fields, viz., Salineville, Sherrodsville, and 
Cambridge, it makes an important contribution to the fuel supply of 
other large districts, as central Muskingum, and parts of Perry and 
Athens counties, and finally it awaits development in what appears to 
be one of its most promising basins, the Waterloo district of Gallia and 
Lawrence counties. Of greater value even than the coal of any of 
these fields is the Blackband ore, which replaces the seam, in whole or 
in part, in Stark and Tuscarawas counties, and elsewhere. 
The Upper Freeport seam is generally a moderately cementing 
coal, well-jointed, rather soft, without excessive ash, but apt to be high 
in sulphur. It carries 52 to 55 per cent. of fixed carbon, and always 
less than 40 per cent. of volatile matter. In its best phases it is highly 
valued as a steam coal. Its slack cements in the coke-oven, and aside 
from the presence of sulphur, forms a good coke. 
The seam is generally characterized by a considerable number of 
thin slate partings or binders, in addition to its main and persistent 
partings. Its normal thickness is 5 to 6 feet, and it is certain that the 
_ seam once existed in full and regular development over very large areas, 
though never in a marginal fringe like the Kittanning coals. Its floor is 
generally even, but there belongs just above it the coarse and con- 
glomeritic Mahoning sandstone, from which it is separated by a few feet 
of shale in normal sections, and this is the source of its trouble. The 
strong currents that brought in the sandstone have carried away the 
shale, and have cut channels of varying width throughout the body of 
the coal in all of the fields in which the seam has thus far been devel- 
oped. These sandstone channels give rise to the “ wants” and “ horse- 
