926 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
for various reasons, the working days are so few and far between, that 
the yearly earnings of the miners in this field fall below the yearly earn- 
ings of many that are mining in thin seams. In short, the natural ad- 
vantages of the field are lost in a great degree, so far as labor is con- 
cerned. 
The several divisions of the Hocking Valley field will now be 
briefly described. The main divisions are as follows: 
The Sunday Creek Valley. 
The Shawnee and Straitsville district. 
The Monday Creek Valley. 
The Hocking Valley proper. 
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To these main centers, the smaller outlying fields will be attached, 
as convenience dictates. 
1. THE SunpAyY CREEK VALLEY. 
This is the first division of the Hocking Valley coal field that is 
entered in coming from the eastward. It is the largest of the several 
divisions just announced, comprising fully one-half of the entire 
acreage of the field. To it there belongs the southern tier of sections 
of Pleasant, the whole of Monroe, eight to ten sections on the eastern 
side of Salt Lick and Coal, and the whole of Trimble and Dover, with 
the exception of the westernmost line of sections in each. It is the 
latest in order of development of the several divisions of the field, an 
outlet for its coal being first afforded in 1880 by the construction of 
the Ohio Central Railway. The railway company purchased about 
12,000 acres of coal land and began the work of mining and shipping 
at the date above named, on a very large scale. 
The Sunday Creek Valley holds two workable seams of coal, viz., 
the Middle Kittanning, No. 6, and the Upper Freeport, No. 7, which 
is also known as the Bayley’s Run seam. 
The first of these seams, known generally as the “Great Vein”, 
attains in this district the largest measure of any coal seam in the 
State. On Section 18, Monroe, its entire thickness is 13 feet 2 inches, 
and on Section 28, Salt Lick, 14 feet, the partings of the seam being 
included. Through the chief mines of the district it measures about 
11 feet. | . | 
Up to the time of the first real opening of the field in 1880, it 
was universally considered the most important and valuable half of | 
