HOCKING VALLEY COAL FIELD. 929 
seen to consist of two portions, the lower one being a little more, and 
the upper one a little less, than a foot in thickness. 
The lowermost received the designation of the “bone coal” or 
the “hard bone” by way of distinction. The upper portion was 
termed the ‘“‘soft bone”. 
The designation “bone coal” as applied to these bands is not 
well chosen. They have no resemolance to cannel coal, as the term 
would seem to indicate, but the lower consists of thin sheets of bright 
or cherry coal, separated by much thicker layers of black shale or 
mineral charcoal. Upon fracture, the coal shows a peculiar crinkled 
appearance, which often is found, however, in connection with coal of 
good quality. No one would have a right to reject this band on ac- 
count of its appearance, but when once learned, it can be easily dis- 
tinguished. Its specific gravity is somewhat greater than that of good 
coal, and the crinkled appearance already named helps to mark it. 
The miner, however, can be under no doubt in regard to it on account 
of its position in the seam. It measures 12 to 15 inches in thickness. 
The “soft bone” is a layer of impure and sulphurous coal, 
that crumbles and breaks badly on being handled. It lies directly 
above the hard bone, and has a thickness of 10 to 12 inches. It is 
often whitened in the seams by the formation of sulphates of iron and 
alumina. 
The hard coal burns with a dull, dead fire, on account of the large 
amount of earthy matter that it carries, but when the two layers are 
burned together, a troublesome clinker, that runs on the grate, is 
formed. As soon as the character of the so-called bone coal was dis- 
covered, the miner was required to reject both benches, but a part of 
the “soft bone” is quite likely to find its way into the bank cars 
when it is not whitened with the sulphates named above. It mainly 
passes into slack before reaching market. 
These two layers occasion a further reduction of the seam by the 
amount of 18 to 24 inches. 
One other division of the coal it has been found necessary to 
reject, though not on account of quality. The middle bench has a 
thickness here of only 4 to 6 inches. Though the quality is good, the 
miner cannot justly be required under the present system of payment 
59 G. 
