IRON MANUFACTURE. 445 
the mouth of the Little Scioto River, a few miles east of Portsmouth, 
in Scioto county. There are thus included within the area of the Coal 
Measures the whole or very nearly all of 22 counties, namely: Mahoning, 
Columbiaza, Stark, Holmes, Tuscarawas, Carroll, Jefferson, Harrison, 
Coshocton, Guernsey, Belmont, Monroe, Noble, Muskingum, Perry, 
Morgan, Washington, Athens, Meigs, Jackson, Gallia and Lawrence, 
and portions of 14 others, namely, Scioto, Vinton, Hocking, Fairfield, 
Licking, Wayne, Medina, Summit, Portage, Geauga and Trumbull, and 
a few detached outliers in Knox, Richland and Ashland. This large 
area is only, however, the northwestern margin of the great Allegheny 
Coal Basin, the largest and most important of our American coal fields, 
which extends over portions of Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, 
Eastern Ohio and Kentucky, and in a narrower belt passes through 
Eastern Tennessee, and terminates in the Black Warrior, Cahawba and 
Coosa basins of Northern Alabama. The whole extent of this great 
coal field in a northeast and southwest direction is about 875 miles. 
The broadest portion, which is across Central Ohio and Pennsylvania, 
is nearly 180 miles, while in Tennessee it is narrowed to 70 and 50 
miles. The total area has been estimated as 59,105 square miles. The 
estimated area in the several States is as follows: * 
\R/GSS. Wiesmann eipnGl Wii zea vol desde ndenccoos soGadecI0GdboGbO 066000000 16,000 square miles. 
Pennsylvania, excluding anthracite basins of Central 
Rennsylvamiary 25302 sin CluSIVer.s.ccnctesdecsicccenersnesces 12,774 is 
Ohionmmer ces. Fete StI CERG seca daiutean ame nugees cele slot nesoattees 10,000 a 
Omit CKavpiese ante see nee atic sles si slenuy selnamedtoaelsies duawa eile ciseanue 8,983 oy 
PAM Ally AIM Arsen sleseesints te ds eases sere sisie ae sists Salsa sissies asislacies 6,000 i 
MOMTMESSEC Mae ece case Se ontoseees dune sceardectaseen) setae ddnsestsenessemoeestes 5,100 ie 
Ohio may thus be seen to possess a very fair proportion of this 
coal field, and to have an area but little inferior to Pennsylvania in ex- 
tent. This is an area nearly equal to that of all the coal fields of Great 
Britain, which have been estimated at 11,859 square miles. However, 
there is a fact too often disregarded when comparing our coal areas 
with those of Europe, etc., which is, that while the entire vertical thick- 
ness of the Coal Measures in the United States is not more than 2,000 
feet, the English basins make up to a great extent what they lack in 
superficial area by their greater depth, in some cases being 12,000, and 
generally above 5,000 feet. 
* C. H. Hitchcock, tenth census. ' 
