Cie AGE AM EVES 9x 
THE GAS COALS OF OHIO. 
By Emerson MoMiiin, Superintendent of Columbus Gas- Works. 
To determine the commercial value of any particular coal for gas- 
making, several points must be considered. First, convenience to 
market; second, quantity and illuminating power of gas to be obtained 
from the coal; third, character and weight of coke; fourth, freedom 
from impurities. 
The first point—convenience to market—is one of great importance. 
Mines located along navigable streams and water-ways for transporta- 
tion, have greatly the advantage of coal that must be transported by 
rail, Youghiogheny coal being carried down the Ohio river, a distance 
of 500 miles, to the largest market of the State, at a less cost than coal 
can be transported by rail from the great coal fields of Hocking and 
Perry counties, distant only 120 to 200 miles from the same market. 
So far but little effort seems to have been made to introduce the 
coals from mines located along the Ohio river, in this State, into gas- 
works. : 
The great Pittsburgh seam is accessible to the river at several 
points, and notably so at Pomeroy. The coal from the numerous mines 
at Pomeroy has been in the market for many years asa favorite domes- 
tic and steam coal, and recently it has been tried at some gas-works in 
this State and in some Eastern cities with fair results. The coal tested, 
however, was rather better than the coal known in the market as 
Pomeroy or Ohio river coal, it being from a mine recently opened, but 
still in the Pittsburgh seam. Could the rich cannel coal of numbers 3, 
3a and 3b seams, mined in Vinton, Jackson, Licking and other coun- 
ties of the State, be put into gas-works at same cost as Youghiogheny 
coal, the former would be very largely used, and possibly to the exclu- 
sion of the latter, where gas of high illuminating power is sought for. 
This brings us to the second point of consideration—quantity and 
illuminating power of gas to be obtained from a given quantity of coal. 
Coal yielding ;4 feet to the pound is not worth four-fifths the value 
