MASSILLON COAL FIELD. 7179 
known as white cap. As to its effect upon the strength of the coal, 
there is a difference of opinion. In some mines it is held to reduce the 
strength of the coal, causing the seam to yield more nut and slack. In 
others it is claimed that the coal is cemented at the joints by this means 
and is thus enabled to bear handling with less loss. It is quite a dis- 
 tinctive mark of the coal in the lake markets, but it is not limited to 
this seam as is popularly held. 
The usual price of mining is 85 cents per ton, with an allowance 
of 4 cents for every 3 inches below 4 feet. The miner makes from 2 to 
4 tons per day of clean coal. 
3. USES OF THE MASSILLON COAL. 
A coal of the character already described is seen to be adapted to 
almost all of the important uses to which bituminous coals are put. It 
is an approved furnace and mill coal, and a steam coal of high grade, 
but for household use it is so happily adapted that not only is it the 
standard in this respect in the markets that it reaches, but a constantly 
increasing per centage of it is being turned to this service. The pro- 
portion now used as domestic coal is variously estimated at 60 to 80 per 
cent. Its adaptations to household use have been already pointed out 
(page 150). It is to be regretted that any large amounts of a coal of 
such high grade, and which exists in such limited quantity, should be 
used up in the manufacture of steam in locomotive and stationary 
engines, for which far inferior qualities are available, but this result 
follows necessarily from the present state of the coal market, and a | 
considerable amount of the comparatively small acreage left of this 
famous field is annually turned to these inferior uses. But little of it 
is used in blast-furnaces at the present time. 
4, MINES oF THE MAsSILLON CoAL FIELD. 
A brief account of the chief centers of present production and of 
many of the leading mines of the field will now be given. 
a. Mines of Tallmadge Township. 
The coal of this township was the first coal mined for the northern 
market in the State. A considerable acreage has already been exhausted. 
Mr. Philip Thomas has leased all the known remnants, aggregating 
possibly 20 acres. A new tract on his own land has lately been proved 
