COAL MINES OF VINTON COUNTY. 995 
SECTION I.—MINES OF VINTON COUNTY. 
The Jackson Shaft and the Wellston Coals (Coals Nos. 1 and 2). 
The horizons of these coals are abundantly displayed in Vinton 
county, inasmuch as the boundary of the Coal Measures traverses a 
large number of its townships. Probably the equivalents of both seams 
are worked in the smallest way in various country banks, but no one of 
these openings has acquired as much repute as the so-called Elk Fork 
coal, of Elk township. It seems to be a very uncertain seam, no trace 
of it being found in farms adjoining those where its best development 
occurs. Nothing has been added to our knowledge of it, except a 
clearer recognition of its unsteadiness and uncertainty, since the date of 
Professor Andrews’s report on Vinton county, report of 1870, page 105. 
The reports of valuable seams in the lowest measures of Vinton county, 
where investigated, have not been found to be well supported thus far, 
bat it is highly probable that within the extensive territory in which 
they are due, some valuable basins will be hereafter discovered. The 
Elk Fork coal is commonly counted the Wellston seam, inasmuch as it 
lies about 100 feet below the Lower Mercer limestone. 
The Lower Mercer Coal (Coal No. 3). 
This well-known seam makes a better showing in Vinton county 
than in any other county of the State, Holmes county alone excepted. 
At various points in Brown, Madison and Elk townships it has a thick- 
ness exceeding 3 feet. In Fraction 19, Brown, the entire seam is said 
to measure 7 feet. Reference is made to this locality on page 114. In 
Section 30, Madison, an opening by the side of, and level with the rail- 
road track, shows a thickness of 4 feet for the seam, which is thus 
divided : 
(CHO eaataBoctec hi cead chic aS NCA a IRM Tis mee ACR A RGN 9, aa 12 to 14 inches. 
Shral egpantiingi mere ated ac ceeeme tracked, Mah, seManumon Ne 12 inches. 
Coal with numerous Slate SCAMS .............ececeseececceceecsceenes 24 inches. 
Fire-clay. 
Near Zaleski the seam has been quite thoroughly proved, in years 
past, by the Zaleski Company. It has a thickness of 4 feet or more in 
many cases, so that it is not volume that is at fault so much as quality. 
The trouble comes from the numerous shale partings of the coal more 
than from the coal itself. When well cleaned the coal is often fairly 
